The Vow (2020) s01e06 Episode Script

1
MAN:
You look like you need a rest.
WOMAN: Truthfully,
my branding story isn't nearly as bad
as some of the other stories
that have emerged.
WOMAN 2: I am desperate.
I don't know what else
we can do at this point.
WOMAN: I've decided to go
on the record and expose this.
MAN: The New York Times
is the last attempt
to just blow this thing open.
REPORTER:
MAN 2: The greatest fear
that everyone was expressing
was the fear of legal retaliation.
WOMAN: NXIVM is trying to get me
arrested on three fronts.
Putting myself out there and
being the face of this is terrifying.
WOMAN 3: I was
the first significant person
in the entire organization
to ever leave.
Buckle your seat belt.
They're coming for you.
Mommy, can I have a waffle?
- For breakfast?
- Yeah.
Yeah.
Hello?
Sarah Edmondson:
Hold on. Let me look for it.
Edmondson: Whoa, whoa,
whoa. Hold on a sec, Troy.
- Mommy!
- Edmondson: Wow.
Mommy!
Edmondson: You know the "MeToo" thing,
right?
Stylist:
Mm-hmm.
If this Harvey Weinstein
story had broke
and I hadn't experienced
what happened in ESP,
I would be this equally not supportive.
Or like, not as compassionate,
apathetic,
because I'd be like, why,
why wouldn't they just leave the room?
Stylist: You know, if anybody's
ever been in an abusive relationship,
it's no different.
You spend most of your time
defending yourself.
Edmondson:
Oh, my God.
(exhales)
Nippy Ames:
Look at the Bill Cosby thing.
Look at the Harvey Weinstein thing.
There isn't a place
in our culture right now
where women who have
these abuses happen to them
can go and get taken seriously.
Unfortunately,
you have to use the media to do that.
(dishes clattering)
♪
Edmondson:
"Waking up this morning
"to almost every woman
friend of mine with this status
"moved me to tears, and then rage.
"I used to think that these
things never happened to me,
"but it has.
"In England at a rave.
In Israel in a bathroom.
"And most recently in Knox Woods,
"Clifton Park, New York.
"Naked, pinned down,
mutilated, and videotaped."
(keyboard keys clacking)
"Me too."
("Dream State" by Son Lux playing)
Days we were young ♪
We took photographs of
everything we could see ♪
We had to run from it ♪
Priest and prophetess ♪
We were nothing
we would defy ♪
Oh, invisible skin ♪
Where is the world within ♪
Invincible skin ♪
It's how we all begin ♪
(phone chiming) - Producer:
I just got a notification.
Catherine Oxenberg:
A notification about what?
- Really?
- Producer: It's, like, popping up.
- Holy shit! Holy shit!
- You just got it? Let's see.
Look!
"To join the self-help
group's inner circle,
"some women provided compromising
material about themselves.
Then they were held down
and branded."
Bonnie Piesse:
It's happening.
Mark Vicente: Wow, no,
this shit's about to explode.
Oxenberg: It's front page
of the "New York Times."
- This is what we wanted!
- Vicente: That's very good.
Oh, my God! Oh, my God! (pants)
Piesse: With the "MeToo" shit,
this is going viral.
Edmondson:
Holy fuck. Nip!
I'm front page of the
"New York" fucking "Times."
(inhaling)
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
- Ames: Wow.
- (exhales)
Shit, Sarah.
Edmondson: Oh, my God.
There's a picture of my brand.
(sighs)
"Albany, last March,
five women gathered in a home near here
to enter a secret sisterhood they were
told was created to empower women."
Oxenberg: "A copy of a text
message Mr. Raniere sent
"to a female follower indicates
"that he knew women were being branded,
and the symbols designed
incorporated his initials."
"If it were Abraham Lincoln's
or Bill Gates' initials,
no one would care."
That's what he said to somebody?
"Several former members
have asked state authorities
"to investigate the group's activities,
but officials have declined
to pursue action."
- Fuck them.
- Vicente: Yep.
Fuck you all.
Shitheads.
(phone ringing)
Edmondson:
Hold on. Mark's calling.
- Hi.
- Vicente (over phone): Holy fuck.
My phone has just been going,
like I'm literally,
- phone call to phone call to phone call.
- Oxenberg: Oh, my God.
Edmondson: Like, I gotta go.
Here's Mark. Gotta go. Here's Mom.
- Gotta go. There's a reporter. There's the
- Woman: There's my chiropractor.
There's my chiropractor. I missed
my chiropractic appointment.
Vicente: In some ways, this is like,
like another beginning now.
Ames: Yeah, no,
the fireworks are gonna start.
Vicente: There's a certain,
like, unloading
- of emotion going on.
- Edmondson: Yeah.
I love you, Bonnie.
I love you, Sarah.
Edmondson: No,
seriously. I really fuckin' love you.
- You were so brave.
- I love you, too.
We're having a moment.
Edmondson: You were the bravest,
first one.
That must have been scary as
fuck to try and leave when you did.
It's just
This is crazy.
Ames: This is gonna
be a roller coaster.
It's gonna have inertia going one way,
inertia going the other.
But I think it's a steady climb,
- towards, whatever. Justice.
- Vicente: Absolutely.
Whatever. I mean
What are they gonna do now?
What is the worst-case scenario
they're gonna do?
Vicente:
Yep. Agreed.
Edmondson:
Love you. Bye.
(line dialing)
Oxenberg:
Barry, it's Catherine Oxenberg.
I just finished reading the article,
and I want to thank you
from the bottom of my heart.
This is gonna help save my daughter.
I'm so incredibly grateful.
- Edmondson: Hi!
- Man: How's it going?
Edmondson: Welcome to
the "New York Times" party.
(people laughing)
The party's gettin' started.
Hi. Just to let you know,
you're on speaker.
There's a bunch of ex-ESPians
at my house.
We're having a "New York Times" party.
- Vicente (on phone): Hey, guys.
- Woman: Hey.
Edmondson: Everyone's on their phone,
texting, tweeting.
Sending it to people who are still in,
making sure the right person sends it,
- so we don't trigger their pride.
- (laughing)
(blowing raspberry)
We're a little, we're a little,
we're a little
Oh, someone's trying to
Barbara Bouchey is trying
to call me right now.
- Oh, my God.
- (phone beeping)
Should I answer that?
Barbara Bouchey: Some people say,
"I'm too busy!
I can't squeeze anything in!"
You're exactly the type of
person that needs the program.
You know why? Your life
is obviously controlling you.
- Bouchey (over phone): Sarah?
- Edmondson: Hi, Barb.
Edmondson: Yeah. I
think that was very smart.
And I posted the "MeToo."
You should go on my Facebook
and check it out.
(Bouchey speaking)
Thank you.
(Bouchey speaking, voice breaking)
Yeah.
Bouchey:
So, I just
Edmondson:
No. You're not alone anymore.
You guys already know this from
Mark. Barbara was my field trainer.
- Barb taught me taught me everything.
- (Bouchey laughing)
- Woman: Everything you know?
- Edmondson: Everything I know.
- That was, that was her?
- That was her.
You told me that story, but I
didn't know it was Barbara Bouchey.
I guess her name was
blacklisted back then.
Yeah.
- Now you're back.
- Now you're back.
(Edmondson laughing)
(Edmondson laughing)
(keyboard keys clacking)
Edmondson: Well, I'm hoping perhaps
the authorities will take another look.
Bouchey:
So this is it.
These are the old VHS.
I haven't seen them in ten years.
And so, we're gonna be
watching them for the first time.
♪
April 2009,
myself and eight key women resigned.
We thought that people
would wake up at NXIVM,
that we could get the government
involved, and hold Keith accountable.
This needs to stop.
It's manipulative and deceptive,
and not transparent,
and you don't know that.
Of course, it didn't do anything.
Bouchey: Yes,
and I decided to surprise Keith.
His father gave me some videos
when he was a little kid,
and so I compiled that.
("Thank You" by Led Zeppelin
playing over computer)
This was his song that he
would play for me all the time,
by Led Zeppelin,
that says "thank you."
So, of course, I put it in there,
'cause, you know
I'm a romantic.
- That's me. So
- Producer: Why'd you make this tape?
It was his birthday.
And, you know, I At this point now,
was in love with him.
Kind woman,
I give you my all ♪
So, yeah, so I started the
trend of creating tribute videos.
I did one for Nancy for her birthday.
(heroic music playing)
Producer:
Okay, are you ready?
Who is Nancy Salzman to you?
Nancy Salzman, I met in the late '80s.
Nancy was a therapist, and I was
referred to her for stress management.
My mom died when I was eight.
My dad was a severe alcoholic.
And, uh, I would get
stressed out about things,
'cause I needed to control
my environment.
So Nancy, she helped me a lot,
and we became friends.
And around the year 1999,
um, she, uh, tried to
convince me to take a workshop.
She and Keith had formed
the company at that time
called Executive Success Programs.
(applause)
It was the first time in my life
that I visited those wounds,
and that childhood trauma.
Keith Raniere: There's
a part of our existence
that is indescribable.
Like, for example,
the experience of pain.
You could say, "Well, you have nerves
that fire and go up into your brain."
Those are signals. That's
not the experience of pain.
Because there are certain
aspects where you really like pain.
Ever have someone hit
the volleyball at you fast?
Really hard, and you receive it?
Doesn't it feel neat when you hit it?
You know that's pain.
Good pain, though.
Let's go! Ooh!
Aye-ya! Oh!
Get it, get it, get it, get it!
Good. Oh! Uh-oh!
Up. Good!
Oh!
(laughing)
(laughing)
Bouchey: The last thing I
needed was a boyfriend,
and I didn't find him attractive.
But after taking the program,
I began to admire and respect his mind.
(all laughing)
(Raniere speaking)
(all laughing)
- Woman: Thank you so much.
- (all applauding)
(all laughing)
You take my balls You
take my balls and go home?
Wait a minute now!
- I mean, that's a nice offer, I guess.
- Like, I say that
- (laughter)
- Raniere: Oh.
Bouchey: Keith began flirting
with me and pursuing me.
Do you want to take my balls?
(imitates rimshot)
But it wasn't until months later
that I actually started dating him.
(people chattering)
And he would say
"You are not like
anybody else."
(laughs)
'Cause I was business woman,
and I was all self-made.
I could match him in a way
that other people couldn't.
Keith told me that
we would work together
to help make a difference in the world.
Hello, everyone. It's, uh,
it's an honor to be
on this call this evening.
I was 40 years old,
and had a highly successful
financial planning firm,
a couple million dollars in the bank,
and my business was
worth a couple of million,
and one could say I had it all.
But I didn't.
Bouchey (present day):
And I gave up making millions
to help build the company.
I was the first board member
on the very first executive board.
I created Vanguard week.
(laughing)
(joyful yelling) - They had
no sales or marketing material.
And, you know,
they didn't have any professional image.
Photographer: Do you
feel like a supermodel yet?
Bouchey: So that's my business
sense that I brought to the table.
(Raniere speaking)
Bouchey:
During my time there,
I was personally responsible
for probably enrolling hundreds.
Maybe a thousand.
(computer dings)
Edmondson: So, 24 messages
since I last looked at Facebook.
I'm looking at Twitter now.
Generally, the overall is,
"Holy fuck, I'm so glad
you're out. You're so brave."
Every now and then I'm getting a,
"What the fuck? How
could you let that happen?"
It makes me sound stupid, but whatever.
You don't
People don't understand that, though.
- You don't, you don't get to be neutral.
- (computer beeps)
You're gonna get praised
and punished for it.
Edmondson: "I don't
feel sorry for them at all.
"These people in the Vancouver
chapter were aggressive,
"cliquey, and downright abusive
in some of their recruitment tactics
"of people within the Vancouver
yoga and acting communities.
Predators."
- Ames: Holy shit.
- Wow.
"Why would any woman
subject herself to a tattoo
after being made to say, 'Master,
please brand me. It would be an honor.'"
- (keyboard keys clacking)
- Ames: Sarah? Sarah?
Edmondson: "It's so shockingly
sad that these women felt so lost
in their lives."
"No red flags were flapping?
No one thought,
'Wait a minute? What?'"
"I know we're not supposed
to blame victims, but come on."
(Troy crying)
(crying)
(Troy screams)
- No, no, no, no!
- It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.
It's okay. Come here.
Come here, come here.
(Troy crying, screaming)
This is my life in general,
but it's way worse right now.
Troy:
I want Mommy!
Ames: Okay, but,
but she's busy right now,
so you gotta give her five minutes,
and then she'll come
- (phone dialing)
- Troy: No!
Ames:
Troy, Troy, look at me.
Barb?
The comments on the "New York Times,"
I'm really recognizing specifically how
the main thing that Barry missed
was the steps into getting involved.
And the psychology
behind the coercion. So
Yeah.
Yep.
(Bouchey speaking)
Someone just sent me a link.
"Shocking allegations about
Capital Region calling group a cult."
Let's, let's play it together.
The report out today says that
some female members have been branded
with the founder's initials.
- Edmondson: What?
- Channel 13's Dan Bazile
digs deeper into the
underworld of cults
Edmondson:
Oh, my God.
Does that mean nobody
wants to talk to me?
Reporter:
They shut the door on us,
a sure sign they didn't
want to say a word
about some serious allegations
- in the "New York Times."
- (Bouchey laughing)
What is happening, essentially
Jesus.
These are pictures of me, by the way.
Man (on computer):
your lack of a self.
The person who joins the cult
and the person who invents the cult,
they kind of suffer from
the same disease.
This kind of fragility, or narcissism.
♪
Ames: So, I'd say best-case scenario is
there's enough public outrage
for law enforcement to go,
"Okay. We got it from here."
- Yeah.
- Ames: Look, the branding and all that,
is the headline. Right?
And that's the physical manifestation
of multiple abuses,
primarily in the emotional realm,
which are harder to quantify,
and harder to prove.
It's very important that that's
the narrative of what's being told.
Edmondson:
The Union "Times Union" guy?
- Yeah, I think so, too.
- Ames: Yep.
Oh, my goodness.
- (Brendan Lyons speaking)
- (laughing)
- Edmondson: Yeah.
- (chuckles)
So, what was left on
the cutting room floor
- for you, when you thought
- Yeah. A lot.
A lot. And, you know,
they broke the story, but you can, um,
you can you can do the rest.
They left out the nuances
of how the recruitment was done.
If they had said, "Hey, do you
wanna get Keith's and Allison's initials
branded on your vagina?"
I definitely would have said no.
Um, but it was step
by step by step by step.
You know, people's boundaries
and conscience
are being messed with here.
Keith assumes this moral high
ground that he just doesn't have,
but he's convinced an insular
group of people that it exists.
And then, they don't take in any
more information from the real world.
Edmondson: And also, they left
out that with the women at the top,
sex with Keith is part of
the enlightenment.
(people chattering)
There are people sitting
over in the chairs there.
I don't think they need to.
- Who?
- To our left.
Bouchey:
Around 2006,
a lot of people had
bought into the belief
that Keith was really, truly
an enlightened being.
And if you have sex with the guru,
it actually moves your evolution.
No, it's up here.
Bouchey: But did they
see a halo over his head?
Did the bells ring, you know?
No, I didn't have any of that.
But the truth is,
I had a lot of intimacy problems.
If you grew up without touch,
without cuddling,
without being hugged
I don't know You can't receive.
Keith was very loving, gentle,
attentive, affectionate.
And he helped me
work through a lot of that.
To accept love, to receive love.
I really felt that, um,
he was my soulmate.
And the women in the inner circle
who lived with him
for decades said that.
Raniere:
Recorder on you.
(playing chords)
Bouchey: He was living
with Karen Unterreiner.
(laughing)
Pam Cafritz.
Woman:
What's Odin?
- Odin?
- Woman: Mm-hmm.
Is a Norse God.
Bouchey:
And Kristin Keeffe.
Kristin Keeffe:
Which color
do you think I should dye my hair?
This is an important question.
Raniere:
This. Has more red.
Can you make it lighter or darker,
depending on how long you treat it?
Bouchey:
You can look back
and always see the red flags.
But, they presented it like,
you know, a dormitory.
When I walked into his house,
whoever was in there made
room for me to sit next to him.
So, for all general purposes,
what I could see,
I was the girlfriend.
There's something about me
that I can carry on
a very odd life.
And in some ways
Yeah, it's odd in a lot of ways.
Like again, the number of women
that have been with me a long time.
You've been with me almost 30 years.
You've been with me almost 20 years.
How does that happen?
Why me?
♪
Everyone that's ever received
a Hallmark card,
someone said something about
someone touching their heart.
It sounds good and it may be true,
but how do you express to an
audience who doesn't know me at all,
do you say, "He touches my"
If you saw a video about
A bunch of people saying
a guy touches someone's heart,
what do you get from that?
Do you really get it?
Why is that I can have
a relationship with
multiple women for a long time?
Not for about a year.
(people cheering, chattering)
Emcee: Woo!
Ladies and gentlemen,
put your hands together
and get ready to sing
a very happy birthday one time
The count of three,
from everybody One!
Crowd:
Two! Three!
(crowd cheering)
(whistling)
Emcee: Well,
this is the party if you wanna
I think Nancy can't help herself
(emcee continues indistinctly)
(both laughing)
I know.
To the (indistinct).
Oh, all right.
Barbara Jeske.
(chatter, laughter)
Rubber penis,
you're the one ♪
Man: You make dance
time lots - of fun ♪
Keith said,
"So I have sex with Barbara.
What's the big deal?"
And maybe once,
twice a year, that's all,
he had sex with her
as her guru teacher.
(dance music playing, party chatter)
But then, I found out
about the next woman.
Pamela Cafritz.
And I confronted them.
And they didn't hold back.
"Yep."
And then all this other stuff came out.
Karen Unterreiner.
'Cause now I'm suspicious of everybody
he's living with in that house.
(woman speaking)
I'm looking for someone.
(crowd chattering)
Woman:
It's getting hot.
Bouchey:
During my nine years there,
there were 12 women
he was intimate with.
I was humiliated.
I felt betrayed.
I was in shock.
But you don't know things and
you don't know people, until you do.
And everybody is a blend
of good and bad.
And you can't see the bad if you
don't understand how they use the good.
Oh, thanks, babe.
Thank you.
Okay, here we go.
First radio interview.
Thank you.
- Woman: Sit right here.
- Edmondson: Okay.
The last 12 hours have been
actually pretty insane.
All of a sudden, it's like,
"Holy shit. The whole world knows."
(clears throat) It's hard to
know how it reads to people
who don't know about any of this.
Because now that I'm out and I'm
looking at the people who are still in,
they just look crazy.
And so like, the, you know,
the frog in the pot of boiling water,
what was implanted from the
very beginning that's caused,
um
you know, such a fracture
in my psychology
that I would even get to
the point where I said, "Okay,
Master, it would be
an honor to brand me."
Um
That night, it was like a horror show.
And then there's Lauren saying,
"You a green. You need to do this." And,
"What does it mean, Sarah?"
Lauren Salzman: What
does it mean to be afraid?
Edmondson: Like,
this is the kind of mind-fuckery.
It was immediately always flipped
back to you, being your issue.
A lot of people are reaching out,
like, "Oh, my God.
Like, what man did this to you?"
And technically, it was the women.
It was the women who pinned me down.
It was the women who scarred me.
It was the women who
did the manipulation.
But it was under direction of a man.
And it was all for, in my opinion,
a man's pleasure.
And I didn't really recognize how much
that was a massive, um,
assault on me emotionally
and physically,
and I just felt compelled to share it.
And these women feel it's a beautiful,
noble attempt
to teach women strength,
and to teach women empowerment.
To be the type of women
that they could be,
and I am fucking that up for them.
Bouchey: This is from
Keith. "Happy birthday."
"Dance like no one's watching you.
"Sing like no one can hear you.
"Love like you've never
been hurt before.
And live like it's
heaven on Earth."
And he wrote, "I just think
of you every time I read this.
I love you, Keith."
There's a lot of people
think there's nothing wrong
with multiple consenting
sexual relationships.
And these women
bought into that concept,
and also the concept that it
was the way to evolve your soul.
(camera shutter clicking)
I just had a problem with it all.
(applauding)
We have an amazing show.
So, once I found out about
some of the other women,
Keith stopped talking to me.
Until the inner circle all
met with me for three days.
You know,
"Keith is your soulmate."
"What's the big deal?"
"Makes you really angry and jealous.
Wouldn't you rather not
have those feelings anymore?"
And I did love Keith.
And I wanted to get through my issues.
I didn't like feeling jealous.
I didn't like feeling angry.
I felt out of control.
I gave it the Girl Scout try to
not be so attached to the penis.
But anytime Keith and I
had a disagreement,
or an argument, he'd hang up.
And then I'd get the phone call
within five minutes
from one of those other women.
"Keith says that
you're blaming him."
"He's flat out on the couch.
You wiped him out."
"Keith is not gonna talk to you,
"until we work through
this issue with you,
and we give you
the green light."
They made me think
that I was just crazy.
That went on for years.
I mean, I remember one time,
they came in 60 days in a row.
Groups to mentor me.
So what is blame?
A way to be right.
Being a victim.
Reporter: NXIVM
released a statement saying
they firmly oppose violence and abuse.
They also say the allegations
are unfounded.
Oxenberg: Uh,
I'm looking at India's Facebook.
Okay, so she posted the
official NXIVM statement.
And she says, "For anyone who's read
"the recent article from
the 'New York Times, '
"this may help answer some questions,
and alleviate any confusion."
Which it doesn't.
It doesn't address anything.
It makes us even more confused.
"Thank you for your care and concern,
"It's been an incredibly sad situation,
"and I've anticipated this article.
"I am absolutely fine.
Great, actually.
"I would never put myself or
the people I love into any danger.
"These are my friends and colleagues.
"I've never seen anything but
good come out of this work.
Please share if you feel
compelled to let people know
what's really going on. India."
Oxenberg: I doubt it.
Uh, I think she has people pushing her.
Oxenberg:
I mean,
this is so hard. Oh, my God.
So this woman says,
"I don't know you as a woman and sister,
"but I'm compelled to write to you.
"We live in intense
and confusing times,
"and we've all a drive to feel that
"we play a meaningful part
in this mysterious life.
"Being without meaning can be scary.
"Not knowing how to navigate
this life can be scary.
"But maybe ask yourself,
what exactly are you so invested in
guarding, hiding,
keeping in the shadows?"
Bouchey:
Come on.
Before I quit, I broke up with Keith.
And then we needed to figure out how
I could work within the organization,
which I still thought
had a lot of good,
where Keith and I had
a platonic relationship.
Well, Keith stopped talking to me.
And you cannot be a high-ranking
person in an organization
where the leader is not talking to you.
And then Keith and the inner circle
secretly told people that the
reason they saw me distressed
and emotional
was because my soul
had an ethical breach.
They actually told people
I was going crazy.
And nobody told anybody
that I had had
a relationship with Keith,
and that it was all because
I broke up with him.
How dare I?
Raniere:
Where are you going?
No, I was just waiting
to talk to you before I left.
- I was gonna go check on Lauren.
- Okay.
Bouchey: By using sex
and intimacy with women,
it allowed him to then
unduly influence them,
and gain more control and power.
(chatter, laughter)
In Keith's world, not having
an intimate relationship
with someone key in the organization
was the kiss of death for him.
He was losing control of me fast.
I had about 40 NXIVM
coaches and proctors
who confided in me issues
with leadership and hierarchy,
and I was gaining momentum with this.
- What is this?
- This is my "V" meter.
(crowd laughing)
It tells you how close you are
to being fully integrated.
Bouchey:
One of them was Susan Dones,
who ran the center in Seattle.
Two 16-days,
- four level twos, and about 500 EMs.
- Wow!
♪
It's like I had one foot in
and one foot out.
Well, what's the difference
between a hundred percent honesty
and a hundred percent disclosure?
What's the difference between those?
Susan Dones:
And, you know,
I spent hardly any time
at all with Keith Raniere,
but I didn't like the whole, um,
guru-y kind of thing with him.
So, back to the
whole thing about titles.
So, we have We all got together,
and
"Vanguard" got the
highest number of votes.
I didn't want to be
called "master."
Dones:
I asked Barbara, I said,
"Why is Keith not
talking to you?"
And she said, "I can assure you that
"I haven't done anything bad.
"But I can't talk to you about why,
um, Keith and I
aren't talking."
And so then I shared with her
that I was thinking of leaving.
And she said, "Don't leave yet.
Come back to Albany
and let's, let's talk."
And I held a forum at my home
to discuss the issues of NXIVM,
with the intent to address
and confront Keith.
And that's when I found out
the board consisted of all the
women Keith had been sleeping with.
♪
And there were nine strong
women who wanted to confront him.
(all chattering)
It was like, "Oh, my gosh.
I'm in a cult."
Bouchey: The nine of us,
after 11 hours with Keith, all resigned.
I shut my center down,
and I told the people I trusted,
and so, we wrote
our resignation letter
asking for money that we
believed that was owed to us.
Bouchey: Some were owed commission,
some were owed trainer fees.
Dones: I asked for the value of
what I believed my center was.
Bouchey: Keith and Nancy
personally owed me $1.6 million.
And so, we wrote,
"If these requests are not met,
we are going to move forward
by contacting the press."
- (all applauding)
- Oh, thank you.
Please be seated.
Am I sitting Okay.
I almost sat on the table.
(all laughing)
So, I'm here to give you a
It's sort of a
Well, it's a mixed thing.
Um
I had a series of meetings.
Um, the meetings were to
give me feedback on myself,
on the organization,
on a number of different things.
And all the feedback's valid,
by the way.
Now, the long and the short of it is,
I think there are a group
of people who are probably
going to leave our community.
It is believed, in this group,
that I have a group
of intimate relationships,
some sexual, some not,
and they say this intimacy
is a control strategy.
Well, clearly is.
I have to be able to trust 'em.
And there are things that are secret.
I believe in strategic secret
Especially when I believe that
there are people with bad intent.
And I do believe that
a very, very small minority
in this group
may not be well-intentioned.
And in a specific case,
there is a personal issue
that I have with one of them.
And I've worked to try to fix it,
worked to try to fix it,
to the best of my ability,
and I failed.
Where did it cross the line?
It crossed the line when
the executive board get a letter
and essentially the letter says,
"We want" It works out to
two over two million dollars.
"Uh, and if you don't give us
"coming up this Thursday, a certified
check for the two million dollars,
um, we're going to the press."
- This is extortion.
- (crowd murmuring)
So, we are filing criminal charges.
It's already in process.
Um
This is very difficult for me,
because these are people I care about.
And people I've known a very long time.
- (Raniere laughing)
- (group laughing)
Raniere: In some ways it's a
death. In some ways it's a, a birth.
And in some ways, it's a relief.
I hate to say that.
But there a physical relief.
I can divert, um,
my attention, my focus,
even my physical being,
to some other things now.
Bouchey: I have a beautiful
picture in here of the two of them.
Let me find it.
That's Sara and Clare Bronfman.
2005,
Keith convinced me to become
their financial planner.
I left April 2009,
and then what happened is, Clare
Bronfman went to the Saratoga D.A.,
to tell them that her financial planner,
Barbara Bouchey,
had an ethical violation with her
and she fired her because of it,
and that Barbara Bouchey,
in revenge and spite,
tried to extort two million dollars
from her and blackmail her.
They used the resignation letter.
Um, had a knock on my door.
And I was being served,
uh, legal documents
that said that Keith Raniere,
NXIVM, and the Bronfmans
were going to bring civil and
criminal charges against me.
How did they take people
who should have known me,
and experienced me,
and how did they twist it?
- Man: Yeah, we're winning, right?
- Raniere: No.
- Man: No?
- Man 2: Not yet.
- (horns honking)
- (siren blaring)
Oxenberg:
Thank you so much, Rick.
- Rick Ross: Okay.
- All right. Bye-bye.
Okay.
Oxenberg:
He is a cult expert,
and he knows Keith intimately,
because they kept him in
litigation for about 15 years.
He's been helping me all along.
- Hey, Rick.
- Ross: Hi.
So, this is Stanley.
- This is Rick Ross.
- Ross: Hi.
Oxenberg: Stanley has been
a friend of mine since I was 18.
And India actually
So she just texted me
for the first time
since the, uh,
"New York Times" article.
So, this is what she says.
"Mom, I love you,
but I don't agree with your approach,
"publicly shaming me
and people I care for.
"That's not very considerate
of our private relationship.
"I've been cautious
about our communication,
"and don't think the people
you're working with
have your or mine
best interests."
Ross: What that kind of verbiage,
to me,
it's like, it's all your fault.
NXIVM never does anything wrong.
Keith Raniere never does
anything wrong.
They never have anything to address.
Oxenberg: Well,
this is what I was going to say.
"You have every right
to be angry with me.
"In spite of that, I hope you can
understand that I am coming from love.
I'm a mother afraid
for her daughter."
- Is there anything else I should change?
- Ross: That, that's good.
And, and you can say,
"I respect your right to make choices,
and I hope that you
can do the same for me."
Oxenberg: Mm-hmm. Except
that my choice is to out her publicly.
How do I justify that?
- Ross: I think you have to be careful.
- Okay.
Because once you start
to get into an argument
- Okay.
- That there is probably somebody,
uh, coaching her on her text.
And this is the training.
So he determines
the parameters of reality.
And the women
that are the closest to him
who live in the Albany area,
are the most controlled people
in the entire group.
We don't want to admit that that
could happen to someone we love,
but the human mind is much more fragile
than we would like to believe.
We are all subject to
influence techniques.
Any anybody,
especially a woman, that says,
"I'm done with you, Keith Raniere,"
he doesn't like that.
And I've seen people who he's
he's utterly destroyed their life.
(siren blaring)
Newscaster:
A significant cultural event
for the Capital region.
The appearance of the iconic
spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
The Tibetan Buddhist monk
who won a Nobel Peace Prize
and who has admirers all over
the globe came to Albany today,
as a result of an invitation from
the World Ethical Foundation,
which is founded by two sisters,
heiresses of the Seagram's
liquor corporation.
Bouchey:
Two weeks after I quit,
the Dalai Lama agreed to tack on Albany
to his already 23-city tour.
And then they milked it. I mean,
it was all over their website,
and articles went out,
and, you know, letters.
- (camera shutters clicking)
- (people chattering)
In the meantime, behind the scenes,
my whole criminal case was going on.
And the Bronfmans and Keith
had already networked locally
with many prominent law firms.
The name carried weight,
and I couldn't find an attorney.
Who do you think wants to represent me?
Raniere: Um, well, sometimes
there are some people that come
that seem to have bad intent.
But I, I never want to believe that.
Um, at what point
do you take action definitively?
Oh.
Uh, that, that, uh
- (all laughing)
- (Raniere speaking)
- Oh?
- (Raniere speaking)
Oh.
♪
Good.
(crowd applauding)
Bouchey:
And after that,
I have the actual NXIVM announcement.
They announced proudly
that they were improving things
and they're gonna change the board.
He took all the girlfriends off.
And then he put Clare Bronfman,
Emiliano Salinas,
and Mark Vicente on the board.
That's what I'm talkin' about.
Bouchey:
They kind of pulled Mark into the fold.
Edmondson: The person who
was my field trainer originally,
and Mark's field trainer,
is no longer in the company.
(applauding)
Bouchey: So now in the meantime,
they lost Seattle,
because of Susan Dones quitting.
And you had all those
people in Vancouver
that used to sometimes go down
to Seattle for some classes.
Bouchey:
So, Mark and Sarah,
Keith and Nancy very strategically
took a stronger interest in them.
Edmondson:
We're going down the stairs.
The front, which has a reception.
This would be like a study hall.
White board.
Bouchey: And they got to
open the center in Vancouver.
(applauding)
You could say from image, to financial,
they got lots of benefits.
And as this went on, the Bronfmans
started accusing me of more accusations.
I stole their money, I misappropriated.
They were bombarding the court.
Dones:
They said that I had, you know,
done all of these crimes against them.
And so I had to defend all of those.
Bouchey: I think there
was 360 court filings filed
in that 10-month period of time.
Three hundred and sixty.
Dones: And I couldn't
work during that time,
because I had to constantly
write motions
and go to hearings, and,
and that kind of stuff.
Bouchey:
I was broke.
I didn't have $20 in my pocket.
I was shuffling between
being able to buy food,
or pay my lawyers.
Dones:
I think it was, like, 2011,
myself and a couple other people I know
talked to the, um,
New York State Attorney General,
and we were asked to turn over
lots of documents to them.
And finally they said,
"Stop sending us stuff."
A nd we thought, "Okay,
they have enough information."
Nothing ever happened.
Nothing ever happened.
And the attitude was,
"Well, you know, Miss Bouchey,
"like, aren't you and Keith just
bickering, like in a bad divorce?
"And you know, really,
this is just probably just a big fight.
We've got
bigger fish to fry."
I am terrified every time
the doorbell rings,
the phone rings,
every time I open up my email,
that it is another voluminous filing.
Groups that litigate like this
can drag out these lawsuits for years.
Hoping to exhaust you and drain you,
and ultimately, to gag you.
It took me seven years to pay
off the $700,000 in legal debt.
And I finally was able to
move here and rebuild my life.
Bouchey:
In February 2014,
Kristin Keeffe quit NXIVM and left.
And I was the first person she called.
Great job.
Bouchey: You weren't scared to call me?
- (Keeffe speaking)
- Bouchey: Why?
(Keeffe speaking)
(playing dramatic piano piece)
Bouchey:
He could have been great.
There was so much potential.
And he did do a lot of
great, good things,
and did help thousands
of people, including me.
(playing Beethoven's
"Moonlight Sonata")
It's unfortunate that
his addictions and flaws
destroyed his own consciousness.
In that, I forgive him.
But I want to say to him,
"You belong in jail
for the rest of your life."
You know, I don't begrudge
anybody anything,
and I don't feel bitter.
I totally get how
each one of you, at a young age
(laughing)
was influenced.
(laughing)
Bouchey:
Mm-hmm.
(laughs)
(elevator bell dings)
Oxenberg:
We're headed to, uh, 30 Rock.
30 Rockefeller Plaza
to do the "Megyn Kelly Show."
Everything that I'm doing
right now is targeted
to, uh, pressure
the authorities to step
To do the right thing.
My daughter,
she said I made her look like a lunatic.
(producer speaking)
Sad. I mean, because
I mean, this is the thing, and this
I want to get across on the show
There are times in one's life
as a parent where
my child's safety comes first.
And her safety is more important
than her liking me right now.
And that's a price I have to pay.
And it's a big price, as a parent.
(siren blaring)
Several of the women
went to the authorities,
and the authorities
dismissed their claims.
Megyn Kelly: They said if a woman
consents, there's nothing they can do.
Well, I'd like to counter that,
because to me,
brainwashing is not consent.
Blackmail is not consent.
- (audience applauding)
- Kelly: So what do you do now?
Well, this is my last resort,
going to the media,
to bring awareness. Because without
awareness, there can be no outrage.
And unless there's outrage,
the authorities are not gonna step in
and do what they should do,
which is shut this down,
and stop this from happening.
♪
The fact that they had
all the pictures of us,
like, that was really hard.
I felt, I felt her.
(sobbing)
♪
(boat horn blares)
Edmondson:
Hi, Barb.
Okay. Big hugs.
- Okay. Okay. Bye.
- (Bouchey speaking)
(tapping on phone)
(exhales)
Okay.
Edmondson: In 2009,
when Barbara Bouchey left
and everybody left, I got a promotion.
I believed the lies about them.
Edmondson: Yeah.
I mean, I'm a victim in
terms of I'm a victim of a con.
But I definitely had made choices.
I definitely have lots
of responsibility
in many bad things that happened.
But it's not black and white.
You're not one or the other.
- Let's have a pillow fight.
- You wanna have a pillow fight?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
(both laughing, giggling)
Get the pillows!
Get the pillows!
- Oh, no!
- Get the pillows!
Edmondson: I gotcha.
Oh, we're safe in here.
- (Troy babbles)
- We're safe.
- Woman (over computer): Yay! Thank you.
- (laughing)
This is the wonderful
- and amazing goddess, India.
- (laughing)
India Oxenberg:
(laughing) Oh!
- (keyboard keys clicking)
- (computer dings)
Oh, my God,
it's the Attorney General! Oh, my God.
I'm speechless. Holy shit!
One of the parents
of a girl who escaped
has been in touch with
the chief investigator
in Eric Schneiderman's office,
and he is ready to talk to me.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God!
("Fight" by Mavis Staples playing)
Out on the streets
of Mary Sally old road ♪
Can't get me out
unless you use a shoehorn ♪
Eve of destruction but
you still talking free trade ♪
You give me lemons and I'll
make lemonade - So I pray ♪
Though I'm tired ♪
Well this can't wait ♪
So we fight ♪
They say you earn a penny
each one you save ♪
Easy to save it when you
don't need a dang thing ♪
Freedom and justice well
they ain't your play thing ♪
Prop up your puppets
and you kill the real kings ♪
So I pray ♪
Though I'm tired ♪
So tired, well,
this can't wait ♪
No, no ♪
So we fight ♪
We fight, fight the fight ♪
We fight,
fight the fight ♪
WOMAN: He was a business man
when I met him.
All of a sudden, we were
supposed to call him Vanguard.
And that was the turning point.
I started to feel uncomfortable
with things going on with the company.
I thought, "I'm gonna breakup with him,
and that's going to be
the end of the relationship."
It was just the beginning of hell.
This is a criminal enterprise
masquerading as personal growth.
WOMAN 2: The chief investigator
and the attorney general
has reached out.
What we need is evidence
of criminality.
MAN: The more people that can
go on the record, the better.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪