[Dragan]

This reads like something you would see in Russia. TLDR: Cult leader responsible for alleged sex ring, allegedly manipulated (potential)actress girls by branding them and taking advantage of them.

Quote:

ALBANY, N.Y. — The leader of a controversial cult-like self-help group in New York will remain in custody as he's transported to Brooklyn to face charges that he led a secret society that used woman as sex slaves and branded them with a logo bearing his initials.

Followers of NXIVM know Keith Raniere, 57, as "The Vanguard." The FBI arrested him Monday and charged him with sex trafficking, sex trafficking and forced labor conspiracy.

Quote:

Among the recognizable names who have taken NXIVM courses, according to the (Albany, N.Y.) Times Union: Linda Evans, who played Krystle Carrington on the 1980s nighttime soap opera Dynasty; and Richard Branson, founder of Virgin America airline and the Virgin Group of companies.

Raniere's charismatic personality, on display onstage at NXIVM human-potential sessions, persuaded women to trust him. A 2003 Forbes magazine story on the organization was titled "Cult of Personality."

"Ranerie has maintained a rotating group of 15 to 20 women with whom he maintains sexual relationships," the federal complaint states.

Masters required the slaves to provide "collateral," such as sexually explicit photos or other damning information to keep them from leaving, the complaint said. Many of the victims ended up being branded in their public regions during a 20- to 30-minute ceremony.

“As alleged in the complaint, Keith Raniere created a secret society of women whom he had sex with and branded with his initials, coercing them with the threat of releasing their highly personal information and taking their assets,” U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue in the Eastern District of New York said in a statement.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati...462685002/