Original subtitles

♪ (MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

WOMAN: ESP NXIVM was a tool set to help people

be the ideal version of themselves.

It really felt like I had this secret book of knowledge

about people, about society.

And that's where I feel like I got hooked.

It was so rewarding to share ESP with people.

I remember saying to them,

"I wanna bring this to Vancouver."

Mark and I opened the center

and I felt like I was finding it all.

Then DOS came around.

One day, Lauren said, "I wanna tell you about something."

It's a vow of obedience for women

and a lifetime commitment.

Lauren told me to start making a list of people

that I wanted to do this with.

It became recruit, recruit, recruit,

are they giving collateral?

There were so many things that were not okay

in a very short period of time.

I'm sitting with four other women,

I'm naked, I think I'm in Allison Mack's house,

and I just got branded.

I looked in the mirror and saw it.

Keith's initials.

I'm gonna film this.

I'm trying to step away and do the right thing.

I am passing over the Vancouver Center.

Do not involve anyone else in this.

♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

(seagulls cawing)

Sarah Edmondson: My first goal was "get out."

My plan was to leave ESP quietly.

It was just about escaping.

Preservation of my family.

But when I realized how many women that I'd brought to the community,

who were in DOS,

I mean, that was a whole,

a whole different level of, "what the fuck?"

I decided to start calling people and getting them out.

And part of that was to make sure there weren't more branding sessions.

I brought in so many people to ESP,

so I feel a responsibility.

You need to email her,

and say, "You enrolled me into this based on a lie.

"I want my photos back, I want my videos back,

before I go to a lawyer."

You have a feeling, like, get the fuck out of here.

Those feelings are there to protect you. It's part of being human.

Edmondson: You're going to be okay,

and the question for you is,

do you want to help get other people out?

Edmondson: When you start telling people,

they're going to be outraged.

"You agreed to being a slave?"

"Yeah, but it was an exercise."

To be a slave?

What do you... There's no exercise. You are now somebody's slave.

What does that even fucking mean?

♪

Right. So then I think what we'll do is, we'll talk to Catherine.

Edmondson (on phone): Okay, great.

Mark Vicente: The parents are the way to get to the kids.

Bonnie Piesse: Yep.

♪

("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 ♪

(line ringing)

- (Princess Elizabeth speaking) - Catherine Oxenberg: Mom, hi.

I got a call from Bonnie,

who was involved in NXIVM.

-And she said that she was extremely worried about India. -Princess Elizabeth: Uh-huh.

That she... India had been one of her closest friends.

And she said, "You need to save her."

I was like, "Well, I always assumed that

"India would wake up one day on her own,

"and I wanted to respect her and not

criticize her life choice."

But she said, "You know, Catherine,

I don't know if you know what's really going on right now."

And apparently, there's a secret organization within NXIVM.

It's a supposed sisterhood.

They sign a lifetime vow of obedience.

They have to provide blackmail

that would compromise them or their families,

and they're branding girls.

- (Princess Elizabeth speaking) - Yes.

I mean, it's so far...

This is not my child.

This is not anything that my child would do.

(ethereal music playing)

♪

Piesse: I felt like India was my little sister.

(laughter)

I first met her at an intro that Mark and Sarah were doing.

Edmondson: For us, it's really helpful to know

who you are, and what it is that you want.

Piesse: She was very sweet, but she was quite shy.

And I really liked her.

But we didn't get close

until she started spending more time doing ESP stuff.

India Oxenberg: My belief in myself.

I think I'm scared of...

not doing well.

Piesse: In the beginning,

I felt that she was

settling for, like, a small life.

And as she continued in ESP, she started blossoming.

(crowd applauding)

I never pushed the stripe path on her,

but when she expressed that she might want to do it,

I wanted to take her under my wing

and guide her through that process.

I thought we could do this journey together.

But I started to see really concerning behavior with India.

I noticed she was counting calories.

It seemed like she was starving herself.

I would catch her in lies,

which was strange to me.

And then, she told me that she was gonna move to Albany.

That she'd been working on a secret project

with Keith and Allison.

♪

I believe India's in danger.

So I got in touch with Catherine.

Catherine Oxenberg: I never go through people's stuff.

So I'm very conflicted,

because I'm violating her privacy right now.

But, if any of this information

could actually help us get her out,

I'm willing to do that.

- April of 2016. - Vicente: Okay.

So, had she moved there yet?

Piesse: I believe she moved to Albany in May.

She started going to intensives there and just kind of stayed there.

There's a bunch of notes that she wrote,

so I don't know if any of this stuff

could give us some insight into...

- Vicente: Can I see this bottom? - Yeah. Look at all of this.

"Personal mission statement for the rest of my life.

"Willing to put in the effort to make things better for the future,

"because you have a vision for the world.

"Willing to put in the work now,

and protect the innocence in the world."

I will not be the kind of woman who spends my life believing..."

Is that "fact" or "fear"? See?

"Believing fear"?

Catherine Oxenberg: Here she says, "What is my motivation?

"How will I use the tool of a low-cal diet

"to build the me that I want?

"Plan attachment collateral write-up.

KR talk. Vow."

- Piesse: Oh, really? - Vicente: Oh, it's in there?

Oh, my God.

"KR intimacy."

- Catherine Oxenberg: KR. That's Keith. - Piesse: Yep.

- Vicente: Mm-hmm. - Piesse: The women vow something to Keith.

Their understanding is that he's giving such a gift to them

that they're helping themselves.

They wear a chain to symbolize whatever that vow is.

Catherine Oxenberg: Yeah, chain.

- Piesse: Chain. - Catherine Oxenberg: Mm-hmm.

(sighs)

This is India.

- Piesse: Aw. - Catherine Oxenberg: She's so cute.

-Piesse: I love that. That's the India I know. -Catherine Oxenberg: Yes.

Piesse: She's pretending to meditate, right?

-She's got an eye open. -Right, exactly. That's who she was.

She was like the cheeky girl.

That's pre-ESP.

- And then, cult. - That's more recent. Yeah.

Catherine Oxenberg: And I was really worried about

her behavior there, actually.

'Cause she was very distracted.

She was on two phones the whole time.

I'm trying to find a reason why.

I thought she was the happiest,

most evolved, well-adjusted child imaginable.

Piesse: How about that's why?

They're the people they go for.

- What? - Yeah!

People keep trying to fucking tell me it's because you're deficient,

and you're weird and you're damaged and you're vulnerable.

No, they go for the people who are successful,

easy people to get along with.

Capable of doing things. That's, that's who they want to run their cult.

Especially if you're trying to get credibility. Look at this.

- She's beautiful. - Mm-hmm.

They go after beautiful people, too.

Piesse: People don't understand

what it's like to be in this thing.

Like, how could you, you know?

And that's why I think people getting to tell their story

is the most important thing.

(waves crashing)

Jane: Since leaving DOS,

I've noticed that it's easy for people

to put things in categories.

Like this is all bad, or this is all good.

And I tend to keep weighing

the complexities of this whole situation.

What is manipulation and what is consent?

What motivations are pure?

And the reason I don't want you to know my real name

or see my real face,

is that I don't want to be defined

by those who would judge me for the choices that I made.

Anyone can make the decisions that I made.

Anyone can be Jane.

So, I'm just gonna start from the very beginning...

before I became a part of DOS.

I was living in New York City trying to make it and hustle

as a freelance filmmaker.

And I had been getting work,

but I wasn't necessarily getting any happier.

I would wake up unsure why there still was something lacking.

And I felt lonely.

Struggling with certain friendships with women.

But things changed when I met Rachel.

I wanted to make a documentary about a female urban farmer.

And someone told me, "I know exactly who you're looking for."

She was so honest and seemed so comfortable in her skin.

We had this immediate connection.

It sounds kind of simple,

but I really liked her as a person

and I wanted her in my life.

♪

She said, "There's something that I'm involved in

"that I think you would be really interested in.

"And it's really changed my life.

"But before I share it with you,

"it's very confidential,

"and I need you to come up with some collateral

"to prove that you won't share

any of this information with anyone else."

And I was like, "Are you kidding me?" (laughing)

She said, "What are you so scared of?

"If you trusted your word, you could put this stuff easily down

"and know that you would never break it.

"Can you see how this is potentially why

"you're failing in other areas of your life?

You just can't trust yourself."

(mouse clicks)

So, I gave her videos and photos.

A letter to my brother about his girlfriend cheating on him.

And passwords to all of my social media accounts.

She accepted that.

And then she told me about DOS.

But she called it "the vow."

♪

It was a vow to grow beyond your excuses,

and challenge all of your fears.

And to accept her

as, like, my teacher and my guide.

But it would be under the name of something a little bit more controversial

which was "master" and "slave."

And that definitely threw me.

I'm surprised. This is a black woman who's agreed to do this.

And I'm a little shocked that this is something she's accepting.

And she said, "You know, trust me.

I've worked through a lot of reactions to this."

And then she said, "You know, you're already a slave to your fear.

"What we need to be stronger women in the world

"is to focus on what are you afraid of

"and how can you break those fears?

"So, you'll be my slave,

but it will be for you."

♪

She was giving me an opportunity

to be a friend to a woman in a really deep way.

Offering me this world of being honest with myself.

And happy with my life.

I couldn't say no.

♪

So, I moved to Albany for two weeks,

which then turned into four weeks.

And then I just stayed.

That's how it began.

She asked me to make a list of goals.

One of them was lose weight.

And she said, "I'm also consulting with my Master,

"who is your Grandmaster,

"and we think that this is a very good place to start.

"Losing weight is like the most tangible way

"for you to see your limitations.

It's just one doorway into your growth."

And that's when the calorie counting began.

(whoosh)

(phone bloops)

I had to request for all of my calories.

"Master, may I please have 84 calories?"

"Master, may I please have 92 calories?"

"I want to build a relationship with my body

"that is loving, kind, present, and aware.

"To not use food as a way of escaping my discomfort.

"It is something that I'll have to work at consistently

to develop myself."

A typical day in Albany was waking up at 6:00 a.m.,

doing a one-to two-minute cold shower,

and then a meditation or, like, journaling.

Make breakfast, measure everything.

Take a picture of it. Ask permission for my calories.

I would do editing work that I had been getting freelance.

Get lunch, measuring my calories.

More work, and throughout the day,

being ready for readiness drills.

-(phone dings) -Which is when you get a text from your Master.

You respond "RM," which is "Ready, Master."

You have to respond within a minute.

-And you had to be ready any time of day for that. -(phone dings)

(phone dings)

It was about having people that I had to be accountable to,

and a routine of things that you try to get done every day.

Things that you told yourself you wanted to do.

And there was something about it that was really fun.

Like, I have the Force behind me.

It's like Jedi training.

"I'm taking on the process of discipline

"because I want to trust myself to do what I say I will do,

"no matter how bad or uncomfortable it feels.

"I want to be someone my friends can rely on,

"and be the kind of person who I admire.

"This is a lifelong commitment.

No turning back."

♪

Through this whole experience,

I don't have the full picture of what DOS is.

I don't know how many women are in it,

and Rachel makes it very clear that I am under no circumstances

to speak to anyone about it.

And she said, "You'll get to find out who your Grandmaster is,

but you need to prove yourself."

Allison Mack: Before I met you,

somebody had asked me in an interview

what I wanted to do in, you know, my career, like,

if I could do one thing, what would I do.

And I said I wanted to change the way that young women

thought and felt about themselves.

I felt like I knew what I didn't want to be,

- but I didn't know what to supplant that with. - Mm-hmm.

Jane: Allison was really interesting to me.

She seemed very self-aware,

and honest about her own flaws.

I guess given the nature of where I feel I am right now in my own journey,

I feel like such a young student on this path.

(giggling)

Jane: She was very sweet to me.

There was a sort of pampering she would do.

I remember she took me to New York City.

She took me shopping.

And she got me to get, like, really thin jeans.

It sort of felt like having an older sister

make you up, or something.

At this point, I'm guessing that Allison is Rachel's Master,

and my Grandmaster.

She would talk about this all-women collective

to build a better self,

and make a better world through that process.

♪

We could be, like, thousands of women.

We could be millions of women doing this.

Which is a beautiful mission.

And now I know that there are other women.

Woman: This is the wonderful and amazing India.

- Are you happy? - I am happy.

Woman: Yay! (laughing)

Jane: India was the first woman who was revealed to be,

like, one of my aunties.

She was in DOS, under Allison.

Meeting India for the first time,

I remember I was really charmed by her.

-(giggling) -Jane: Jesus, you're gonna kill it.

Jane: And so relieved to have somebody to talk to about DOS.

So I felt very close with her.

(chuckles softly)

India Oxenberg: Yeah, I do come from a really bizarre background.

My grandma, she's a princess.

She's related to the British Royal Family

and the czars of Russia...

("Dynasty" theme song playing)

And then I come from a whole different side,

which is more modern and Hollywood.

My parents are from that business.

Hi, Daddy.

- Have a good night, darling. - I love you, Mommy!

India Oxenberg: I think my background and how I was raised,

it's a privilege.

And I always thought,

"What do you, what do you do with that?"

I think a lot of people have stigmas of what it means

to come from those types of families.

But it's not necessarily true.

-(camera shutter clicking) -Like, people want to be better.

They want to do good things in the world.

And that's kind of what I always wanted to do.

Figure out what I think is good,

and use whatever privilege I had

to express those things.

♪

(waves washing, seagulls calling)

Catherine Oxenberg: So, I just spoke to India.

She thinks there's no victims in this story.

Everyone can make their own decisions,

and it's consensual, and she should be allowed to live her lifestyle.

And I just asked her point-blank,

"Are you branded?"

And she didn't lie.

She did admit to being branded.

And that she thought it was wonderful.

She says, "Mom, I've never felt so happy

and purposeful in my life."

(wind whooshing)

Jane: Before I had been a part of DOS,

I didn't feel like I had the ability to believe in anything...

other than just buying and using and being in the rat race.

In Albany, we were focusing on something really genuine.

It was so hopeful.

And at the same time, really hard.

Every day, I had to do a failure form

at the end of the day,

looking at all the things that you failed on that day.

How did that affect you, your Master,

your Grandmaster, your community of people.

Thinking about how I could be better.

And if you did something bad,

you've made a breach.

Which is sort of like, you've just broken yourself.

Because you did something that's actually against your own morals and values.

And you have to figure out, what is this betrayal,

and then figure out how to fix it.

You have to come up with consequences...

which were called "penances."

"What's the penance for reacting to fear

by indulging in pride and anger?"

I'm gonna wake up at 5:00 a.m.

and stand for 10 minutes.

"What's the penance for reacting violently to your own pain?"

Fast the next day.

By taking on these self-inflicted punishments,

I would train myself to not do that behavior anymore.

I was told, "Your lack of obedience

just shows where you're failing."

And I started to wonder if the more obedient I would be,

I would actually start to succeed more in my life.

(phone dings)

At this point, I was being asked to

go lower and lower on my weight.

And Rachel asked me for more collateral.

More videos, more photos, more documents.

I said, "This wasn't the initial agreement."

And she was like, "Yes, it was.

"When you said that you accepted me as your Master,

that was you saying, 'I submit to you for everything.'"

You know, "Get used to it. This is gonna be the rest of your life."

And there were a lot of moments where I judged the whole process.

You feel like, "This is ridiculous."

I ended up having some conversations with Allison.

And she said all these things that I was freaking out about

were just fears and limitations that I had.

And she said, "You're so conceited.

"Your pride is like cellophane across your eyes.

"And everyone can see it but you.

"There's so much more beyond this,

"but you're not even willing to let go

of this attachment to your own ego."

And that was when I had this turning point.

I either am gonna keep suffering through this,

or I need to just buck up.

And it was also kind of when I gave up fighting.

As you do these practices,

you overcome fears.

You remove bonds of suffering,

and replace them with joy.

You come to have a relationship with human pain,

so that you have a deep conscience.

Because when we have a conscience over something,

it is marked by pain. And that pain is good.

Mm-hmm.

Well, the truth of the matter is,

when pain is no longer tied with suffering...

Yeah, we do have more pain in our life, but no suffering.

This is my porch. (chuckles)

And I love you guys and I miss you,

and I'm sending you a big kiss. (kisses)

Jane: My relationship with India developed over time.

I saw her going through similar things emotionally that I was.

You know, you could tell when someone was crying.

Going through these roller coasters of emotion.

I think the way India changed is the same way I changed.

If I can just push against

the things that I feel afraid of,

I think I'll feel a lot more proud of what I leave behind.

Catherine Oxenberg: India texted me.

She had told me that she hadn't had a period in a year,

and that her hair was falling out.

So, she went to the doctor.

And the doctor said,

"You have the uterine lining of a woman

"who's in her mid-40s.

"You're severely compromising your ability

"to perhaps ever reproduce.

And you need serious psychiatric care."

♪

Edmondson: I think that Nippy and I felt responsible in some ways

for getting India out,

because we were there for her first intro,

for her first five-day.

We were part of the team that was ushering her in.

So, when I got a call from Catherine,

I told her that we'd do whatever we could

to help get India back.

Catherine Oxenberg: Now that I have been given enough information,

I can see how the whole thing mapped out,

because Bonnie said to me that Keith always had his eye on her.

Signaling her from across the room... "Hey, India!"

Like, always trying to get her attention.

And that her instinct was to stay away.

And then, all that shifted, and she said to her,

"Oh, I just went on a walk with Keith."

And she was, like, all googly-eyed and...

So he's got his hooks into her, and she's no longer resisting.

He basically manipulated this whole thing from the beginning.

Because then Allie Mack went on this kind of crusade

to befriend her and get her away from Bonnie...

- is what I understand. - Edmondson: Mentor her.

"Mentor her," yeah, into Keith's bed.

I will do whatever I can to get India out.

I promise you.

Mm-mm.

Edmondson: I really do believe we can get her out.

I honestly... I don't know how.

♪

(indistinct chatter)

Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

(laughs softly)

(laughs, then sniffles)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

(Allison cries softly)

Mm-hmm.

(laughs)

(laughing)

Jane: Allison was just so excited for me to meet Keith.

It was like, "You gotta meet Keith.

Come to volleyball."

She sort of inspires me to go ask him a question.

She said, "You know, I think it'd be really good for you two to talk."

Keith Raniere: Hmm.

Jane: Mm-hmm.

(Raniere speaking)

Jane: Mm-hmm.

The reason why you feel fear is because it's not familiar.

And the unknown is scary.

And some of the consequences are harsh.

You can feel awful.

You can feel all sorts of things,

and still do the right thing.

An act of character, you feel all those emotions,

and there's a part of you that is unflappable.

Absolutely committed.

And the first time you feel it, it's great.

If you want to be a millionaire of joy,

look at these things as

positive affirmations that you're on the road.

- (applause) - Thank you.

Jane: I would take these classes that were life changing.

And I was like, "Oh, this came from this man's mind."

-I always feel funny. Thank you. -(applause)

Jane: So I was very active in pursuing him.

I was like, "I wanna be your friend."

You know, "If I'm gonna learn, I wanna learn from you."

Jane: Uh-huh.

Jane: I felt like I was learning from him

and he was helping me understanding things about myself.

And that sort of continued on

the more I took curriculum.

Nancy Salzman: Our understanding of ourselves

as women has been muddled,

because our culture and our language has been dominated

by the male principle.

Jane: I heard about Jness from Rachel.

It was offered solely to women

to explore how gender influences our role in society,

and our relationships.

Nancy Salzman: It's gonna take a long time to change

the indoctrination that kind of goes underneath that.

It's a societally induced problem.

Jane: Jness helped inform

why we were doing what we were doing in DOS:

to teach women what female empowerment looks like

outside of a male-dominated world.

Pam Cafritz: When women come out of Jness,

they are more understanding of the conflict

that men and women have.

That does not mean they have to be submissive,

but they actually are going to have to fight for their point of view.

And I think that's new languaging for women.

Jane: Jness was based on Keith's ideas,

but the person who started it was a woman named Pam Cafritz.

She was a life partner to Keith.

Keith asked me to film Pam.

She was already dying of cancer

when I met her.

(inaudible)

I was there when they announced Pam's death.

I made the memorial video.

She could see all the things that I didn't want to

or couldn't see in myself.

She would say,

"You don't have to choose that conventional path."

It was like she predetermined

my potential.

So, I miss you, Pam.

(sniffles)

I'll keep practicing.

(laughter)

Lauren Salzman: Pam believed in Keith and was 100% on board.

- Like 100% trust. - Woman: Mm-hmm.

That it was good and that he knew what was right,

and that...

that it really could happen.

♪

Mack: Pam truly had a connection to what women bring to the world.

That is so undervalued.

She saw Jness as the key to unlocking the power that they truly held.

And she loved relationships.

And Jness focuses on teaching women how to be friends with each other.

Jane: I was looking through all of this footage

of people talking about how much she meant to them,

and how much she loved Keith.

I was getting to know Pam,

and to know Keith through Pam.

I met Pamela about 30 years ago on a ski slope.

Cafritz: I think I was 26.

He started explaining where he wanted to go,

and what he wanted to do,

and I remember just looking at him

and, you know, sensing he was different.

He said, "Follow me."

And I said, "Okay."

Raniere: You're blazing a trail. We're blazing a trail.

It's gonna be walked on by, hopefully, millions of people.

When I created the modules, I thought,

many, many people will be going trotting through these modules.

And hopefully, people will come to have a deeper understanding.

That's what this is for.

Jane: That was a huge turning point in my relationship to Keith.

Raniere: When I was little, I'd always look back

at the different heroes into history,

and say, "Gee, I wish I could be there,

wish I could be there, wish I could do that."

And then coming to the recognition

that now is such a time, and we are here.

And we are doing it.

And all provided by all of your support.

I, I would never imagine

that we could bring a group together

and we all stand together.

And if you believe I've done something good,

that's important, because

I always want to earn my authority.

Thank you so much.

Jane: The dude is the leader of this philosophical movement

when men and women alike are looking at him with admiration,

because he really had changed their lives.

But I had no notions that he was any god

or demigod.

He felt familiar.

And he said, "You can understand things

"that I'm explaining to you

"much faster than other people.

And that's really nice for me."

And I felt very flattered that he thought I was special,

and that he wanted to spend time with me.

Jane: I remember I was at volleyball

after everyone had left.

And he was asking me about how I saw relationships.

And how I wanted to relate to him.

And he would always ask me, "Well, what do you want? What do you want?"

Always asking what do I want.

And I was like, "I don't know.

"I would like to learn from you as a person.

"I don't necessarily think that needs to be physical,

but I'm open."

And we kissed.

That was when it became more of a physical relationship with him.

But it was not until I lost a certain amount of weight

that we actually had sex.

He would bring me to this little library.

It was basically like his study.

And there's, like, a little loft bed.

We'd have these, like, moments in time.

And I would just kind of feel loopy afterwards.

Nauseous and shaky.

Strange in my body.

You know, I would ask him about it.

He was like, "You know, some people are just

"really, really sensitive to energy.

And what I'm doing is I'm giving you a lot of energy."

Allison knew about my relationship with Keith.

She would say things like,

"Well, I know that Keith is working with you on body stuff.

"And some people get really confused about that.

But he's really just trying to help people."

He told me a lot of things,

and I would ask him why he trusted me.

And he said, "The reason I felt so close to you

was because you had given so much collateral."

And it was then that he told me he was the head of DOS.

He said, "I know what it is that you've been doing,

"and it was my idea.

"I created it.

"Allison is my slave,

"and I am technically your great Grandmaster.

And no one will ever really know that I'm involved."

And I was like, "So, does that mean you can command me to do anything?"

And he said, "I could. But I'm not going to."

♪

His explanation of why he created DOS

was that he saw women being thwarted

by men in positions of power

when they tried to make a difference in the world.

He explained that it could be used to serve

a larger vision.

To mobilize the things we had been learning personally

and apply them to the outside world.

And, yeah, it crossed my mind

that it could be used for harm,

but I wanted to believe.

And it just comes down to that.

I wanted to believe he was good.

Catherine Oxenberg: I don't know what will happen

to get India out of there

if she's truly intimate with Keith

and he's got this Svengali hold over her.

My mind constantly goes to,

there's gotta be a way. There's a gotta be a way.

And I don't know what that way is.

Everything they do is intentional.

And it's posing as human growth...

character building, bonding.

And then they think they have the moral high ground.

- Yeah. Yeah. - That's what pissed me off the most.

Nippy Ames: Get the fuck off the moral high ground.

I wanna text Lauren, Nancy, and Keith.

And I want to say, "Listen, you're gonna destroy all the collateral.

"I'm gonna go to the police. I'm gonna go to the FBI.

Or I'm gonna come up there..."

I'm not gonna say that, but...

If I didn't have a wife and kid,

I think I'd be in jail right now.

'Cause I was gonna destroy that fuckin' place.

When I started doing research, like, why brand?

When a human being goes through that,

you're actually forcing a dissociative state.

That you literally belong...

to another human being.

Do you want to see it?

I've actually seen pictures of your brand.

But if you want to show me,

I will, I will see it.

We don't have to do it right now, do we?

♪

(line ringing)

(line continues ringing, picks up)

Vicente: Yeah.

Vicente: Yeah.

Vicente: Frank Parlato used to work for Keith and NXIVM.

He left on bad terms, and the company went after him.

To fight back,

he created a blog called the "Frank Report"

to share news he was hearing about NXIVM.

Back then, I was very wary of him.

Vicente: We knew there was another branding ceremony

that was about to happen.

For Catherine, the hope was that India might even read it,

and realize, "Holy shit, this is, this is bad."

It was like, we cannot wait.

W e have to get this story out,

and Frank will report it.

(line ringing)

♪

Edmondson: I decided to tell Frank about the branding.

It was pretty terrifying.

But my name wasn't attached,

so I felt safe.

And by this point, I was kind of like...

a vigilante on a mission.

I was so angry. I was like, "Fuck you.

You fuckin' messed with the wrong person."

♪

Vicente: When Frank came out with the news,

it sent the whole organization into a panic.

A lot of people began asking questions.

And that was the idea.

It's not just to expose what was going on.

It was also about just getting people to leave.

Getting people away from danger.

♪

Jane: When the "Frank Report" came out, I was in shock.

I didn't know about the branding,

o r Keith's initials on the brand.

I started, for the first time,

to realize that things were not as they seemed.

Then I found out about an assignment

that a friend of mine had been given:

to seduce Keith, and take a picture

to show that they'd completed the task.

And I have a huge freak-out.

And Keith got on the phone with me.

He said, "Are you okay?"

I was like, "No. I feel pretty unsafe."

He was like, "Unsafe with me?"

I was like, "Yes."

And I wanted answers from him.

If something is so good,

how could it have gotten this bad?

He said, "Different Masters have different approaches

with their slaves."

And I have to respect that.

Which didn't make sense to me.

I kept asking questions about why this was okay.

And his arguments were all framed around

what I wanted and what I was scared of.

And yet, he didn't answer my questions.

He's such a good salesman.

And the longer I talked to him,

the more I realized the depth of the deception.

It was about control.

At the time, I hadn't shared anything with anyone.

And there was this woman who I knew was in DOS.

We make a plan that we're gonna spend some time and talk.

I just sort of dumped everything.

And I just remember the horrified look on her face.

I hadn't thought of myself as having been traumatized

until that moment.

I was sort of like, "Well, what do we do?"

And she was like, "We fucking leave!"

This option was opened.

"Oh, that is something that I can do."

I was terrified about my collateral.

But I just wanted out.

So, we made a plan to leave together.

I ended up talking to India before I left.

I asked her to go on a walk with me.

She said, you know, "I heard you're leaving."

I was like, "Yes."

She said, "Well, I'm gonna miss you."

I was asking her how she felt about what people were saying.

And she said, "You know, I don't feel like a victim.

"I'm going through tough shit but I feel like I'm stronger.

"And I feel really cared for.

And so, my experience is really different."

She seemed very confident

that what she was doing was the right thing.

And she said, "I hope you...

you know, find what you're looking for."

(waves crashing)

When you leave something like this,

you're not just losing your memories,

or your community.

You're losing this idea of what you were fighting for, too.

And that's really hard to rebuild.

The only authority that can lead your life is you.

And I'm just grateful that I know what it's like

to give that away...

so that I can feel the power of taking it back again.

♪

(phone dings)

Catherine Oxenberg: There's no way

with a child that I've known for 26 years,

that she would be involved, condone,

the things that she's participating in right now.

There's no way.

She's convinced herself that being branded

with some man's initials,

and being recruited for sex...

that that's a good thing and this is character building.

This organization has taken my child.

And I will do whatever it takes...

to get her back.

("Lanterns Lit" by Son Lux playing)

♪

♪ Memory rushes in ♪

♪ Then washes you away ♪

♪ I am losing you to the sea ♪

♪

♪ I'll keep my lanterns lit ♪

♪ I'll keep my lanterns lit ♪

♪ I'll keep my lanterns lit ♪

♪ I'll keep my lanterns lit ♪

♪ You just could not last forever ♪

♪ Could you ♪

INTERVIEWER:

The central thing was how extraordinarily vulnerable

we are as people.

♪ (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

MARK: The New York Times said to me

I need quite a few people on the record.

WOMAN: I think they're trying to attack

anyone speaking to the press.

MARK: How do you get law enforcement to move?

Blow it up in the press.

SARAH: I couldn't talk about it 'cause I didn't want my collateral to be released.

He's gonna find a way to get us.

The things written about me are not true.

WOMAN: They don't think there's any urgency to this story.

But they don't have a kid in there that's wasting away.

I am desperate. Like, give us an option.

♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

Subtitles Diego Moraes(oakislandtk) www.opensubtitles.org