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Smallville actress Allison Mack was released from prison on Monday after serving two years for playing a role in a sex-trafficking case related to Nxivm, a cultlike group.

Mack was arrested back in 2018 with other high-ranking cult members, ​​Clare Bronfman and Nancy Salzman. She pleaded guilty to multiple crimes, including manipulating women into becoming Keith Raniere’s, the leader of Nxivm, sex slaves, racketeering and racketeering conspiracy in 2020. She additionally was charged $20,000 and began her three-year sentence in 2021.

Raniere is currently in jail serving a 120 years sentence for sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, racketeering, wire fraud conspiracy, attempted sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking conspiracy.

Mack was only sentenced to three years rather than 17 years because she cooperated with the authorities on the case. She assisted prosecutors in gathering evidence on Raniere, including how his secret society, Dos, brainwashed women into forcing them to have sex with him and branded them with his initials.

Allison Mack, the former Smallville star accused of recruiting young women as “slaves” for a secret society within Nxivm, was released from federal prison earlier this week after serving two years of a three-year sentence.

Mack was released on Monday, July 3, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. While Mack had faced up to 17 years in prison, her decision to plead guilty to racketeering charges and provide prosecutors with evidence about Nxivm leader Keith Raniere led to the shortened sentence.

Mack was arrested in Brooklyn in 2018 and initially faced charges of sex trafficking,...

Former Smallville star Allison Mac is released after completing her Nxivm prison sentence.

Per TVLine, Mack was released from prison early Monday, July 3. The release marked the completion of her sentencing in relation to her part in the Nxivm cult scandal, which saw Mack take part in manipulating and trafficking women in an elaborate scheme orchestrated by Nxivm founder Keith Raniere, who himself was sentenced to 120 years in prison for his crimes.

Serving as a front for Raniere's crimes, Nxivm (pronounced Nex-e-um) purported itself to be a self-improvement organization of sorts, attracting numerous high-profile clients with its promises of personal growth and fulfillment. Instead, many of the organization's members including Mack were reportedly tasked with recruiting "sex slaves" for Ranier, with former members testifying that women had been branded with Raniere's initials along with suffering other forms of abuse.

Mack's acting career began with small roles on series such...

Smallville actress Allison Mack, who in 2018 pleaded guilty to manipulating women into becoming sex slaves via the “self-improvement” cult Nxivm, was released from prison Monday, according to federal Bureau of Prisons records and an early report from Albany’s Times Union.

Mack was arrested in 2018 along with a handful of other Nxivm bigwigs, most notably ringleader Keith Raniere, who was sentenced to 120 years in prison. Mack was charged with sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy, and sentenced to three years in jail for her role in the cult’s nefarious activities.

More from TVLineSmallville Vet Allison Mack...

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Jehane Noujaim started her filmmaking journey with HBO’s The Vow in 2009. The award-winning director attended an introductory class for Nxivm’s personal growth Executive Success Program (“Esp”), where she would go on to meet the self-help marketing corporation’s leader and founder Keith Raniere and his co-founder Nancy Salzman. The pair, now convicted felons, were eventually examined in The Vow and now, interviewed for The Vow, Part Two, which premiered Oct. 17, more than a decade after that initial class.

But, back in 2009, Noujaim says she didn’t get the kind of balanced access she was looking for, so she put the project aside. She went on to make other documentaries like Startup.com (2001), focusing on the dark side of the internet boom; Control Room (2004), about the Al-Jazeera network amid the U.S.-Iraq war; and The Square (2013), looking at the unrest in...

The premiere of The Vow: Part II on October 17 comes almost exactly two years after the HBO docuseries’ first season ended with the shocking reveal of Nxivm founders Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman as future interview subjects on the show. As you may recall, Nxivm seemed like a self-help organization — with Hollywood stars among its rank and file — until its inner workings were exposed and the media dubbed it a sex cult. The group’s secrets, such as members being branded with the initials of so-called visionary Raniere and being coerced to have sex with him, dominated headlines in 2017-18. The Vow’s second round does indeed feature Raniere and Salzman sharing their side of the Nxivm story as it “follows the legal and emotional journeys of the group’s founders, supporters, and defectors as new evidence and stunning revelations come to light,” as the Part II synopsis teases. The...

When “The Vow” aired what turned out to be a season finale (not series finale) in October 2020, it didn’t necessarily feel like we needed more. The series ended with Keith Raniere under arrest, alongside all of the other major players in the Nxivm scandal – his right hand woman Nancy Salzman, “Smallville” actress and alleged sex slave master Allison Mack, financial backer Clare Bronfman, and more, while the former members who had been fighting for this could finally breathe a sigh of relief. In real life, we saw the rest play out, with Raniere sentenced to 120 years in prison.

That could have been the end of the story, but as we now know, it most certainly wasn’t. Raniere’s final words of that finale foreshadowed what was to come, though maybe not in the way he intended: “There are many ways of presenting a documentary. Your side is only the very top layer,...

“The Vow” became an out-of-the-box hit for HBO when the docuseries debuted in 2020, detailing the rise and fall of Nxivm, a bizarre sex cult masquerading as a self-help movement led by Keith Raniere.

With Raniere currently serving a 120-year prison sentence, the series is back for a second season, with “The Vow, Part 2” promising to take viewers even further down the Nxivm rabbit hole.

According to a review in Variety, the new season offers “a tighter focus that benefits its storytelling” while covering Raniere’s 2019 trial on charges including sex trafficking and conspiracy, a process that reveals shocking new details about the cult.

Read More: HBO Does A Deep Dive Into The Sex-Trafficking Cult Nxivm With New Docuseries ‘The Vow’

The star witness in the new season is Nxivm co-founder Nancy Salzman, who is a wealth of information about Raniere and his methods.

“In all, this series builds upon and...

In late summer 2020, “The Vow” emerged as a creepily potent hit docuseries, which grew virally as it rolled out. Plunging deep within little-understood “self-help group”-turned-cult Nxivm to examine the hold leader Keith Raniere had over his acolytes, the documentary series excelled when depicted sympathetic people in situations the average viewer likely could not imagine. How had these women allowed things to get so out of control that they’d agreed to be branded, or to starve themselves, or to voluntarily hand over compromising materials for potential blackmail? “The Vow” had no hard answers, but it was exacting and thorough in posing the questions.

Almost too thorough, perhaps: Its new follow-up, “The Vow, Part Two,” is three episodes shorter, and has a tighter focus that benefits its storytelling. Having established Nxivm’s methods of exerting control over women in the first go-round, director Jehane Noujaim (without Karin Amer this time...

HBO is bringing more harrowing detail about the Nxivm cult to viewers in The Vow Part Two, a six-part followup to 2020’s gripping true-crime docuseries. Keith Raniere, Nxivm’s co-founder, was convicted of crimes including racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, attempted sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and production and possession of child pornography in June 2019. (Credit: HBO) In addition, several top Nxivm officials, including Smallville star Allison Mack were also arrested. Raniere received a 120-year prison sentence for his crimes. The Vow Part Two is set against the backdrop of the federal trial of the United States against Raniere, offering an exclusive view into Raniere’s innermost circle, including Nxivm co-founder Nancy Salzman. In addition to the interview with Salzman (clad in an ankle monitoring bracelet), the series will also feature a new interview with Raniere from prison. The logline says: The Vow Part...

Nancy Salzman is trying to re-write her story. In the trailer for HBO's The Vow Part II, which further examines the downfall of the Nxivm cult and the legal proceedings of the group's co-founders Salzman and Keith Raniere, those inside Nxivm wrestle with their complicity in the group's actions—and why things aren't any less complicated now. "Five years after Keith Raniere's arrest in Mexico, amid rumors of a secret sex sorority within his self-help company Nxivm," the network says, "The Vow Part II reveals the manifold ways that Raniere and a trusted inner circle of acolytes conspired to induct women into a female only sect called Dos, a name derived from a Latin acronym...

Click here to read the full article.

The Vow is returning with a six-episode second season, promising a rare view into Nxivm founder Keith Raniere’s innermost circle, including co-founder Nancy Salzman.

“My whole company was destroyed and my whole life fell apart,” says Salzman, Nxivm’s president and co-founder with Raniere, in the trailer (below), which also features Raniere speaking from prison. “Going into this, I thought Keith was innocent. I was wrong,” Salzman tells the filmmakers.

The Vow, Part Two begins at the start of Raniere’s trial, with the finale capturing the verdict. The follow-up, directed by Jehane Noujaim, debuts Oct. 17, with weekly episodes on HBO and HBO Max.

Much has happened in the two years since The Vow first exposed Nxivm to a mainstream audience.

Nxivm, a company that masqueraded as a self-help group but was actually running a secret sex cult, and its leader Raniere...

The trial of Nxivm co-founder Keith Raniere is captured by the HBO cameras.

Docuseries “The Vow” returns for a second half, helmed by Emmy-winning and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Jehane Noujaim. “The Vow, Part Two” premieres October 17, with new episodes airing every Monday and available to stream on HBO Max.

“Part Two” centers on the inner workings of the organization and its co-founders Raniere and Nancy Salzman. The official synopsis reads: Set against the backdrop of the federal trial of the United States against Keith Raniere, “The Vow, Part Two” offers a rare view into Raniere’s innermost circle, including Nxivm co-founder Nancy Salzman. It follows the legal and emotional journeys of the group’s founders, supporters, and defectors as new evidence and stunning revelations come to light, while federal prosecutors and defense attorneys engage in a trial in the national spotlight.

Five years after Keith Raniere’s arrest in Mexico,...

HBO's "The Vow" is returning for a second season, and the official trailer, which dropped on Sept. 22, shows that it will pick up where the first season left off: Diving into the Nxivm cult's downfall after the exposure of its sordid inner workings.

The streamer first confirmed that a second installment was coming in October 2020, after filmmaker Jehane Noujain teased the possibility to Variety, saying, "We reached out to everybody involved - many people, on all sides of the story - and we are continuing to film."

The second season will be titled "The Vow Part Two" and will center on Nxivm founder Keith Raniere's federal trial. Raniere was arrested back in March 2018 on several charges, including racketeering, sex trafficking, and forced labor conspiracy. In June 2019, he was convicted, and was sentenced to 120 years in prison in 2020. Several other members associated with Nxivm - including Allison Mack, cofounder and president Nancy Salzman,...

The HBO Original six-part documentary series The Vow Part Two, directed by Emmy(R)-winning and Academy Award(R) nominated Jehane Noujaim, debuts Monday, October 17 (9:00-10:00 p.m. Et/Pt) with new episodes on subsequent Mondays on HBO and will also be available to stream on HBO Max. Set against the backdrop of the federal trial of The United States against Keith Raniere, The Vow Part Two offers an exclusive view into Raniere’s innermost circle, including Nxivm co-founder Nancy Salzman. It follows the legal and emotional journeys of the group’s founders, supporters and defectors as new evidence and stunning revelations come to light, while federal prosecutors and defense attorneys battle with opposing views of justice in a case caught in the national spotlight. In June 2019, Nxivm co-founder Keith Raniere was convicted of crimes including racketeering, sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, identity theft, and production and possession of child pornography.

HBO is bringing more harrowing detail about the Nxivm cult to viewers in The Vow Part Two, a six-part followup to the 2020 documentary. The Vow Part Two will debut Monday, October 17 with new episodes on subsequent Mondays on HBO. The series will also be available to stream on HBO Max. Keith Raniere, Nxivm’s co-founder, was convicted of crimes including racketeering, sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, identity theft, and production and possession of child pornography in June 2019. He received a 120-year prison sentence for his crimes. The Vow Part Two is set against the backdrop of the federal trial of The United States against Raniere, offering an exclusive view into Raniere’s innermost circle, including Nxivm co-founder Nancy Salzman. As the logline describes, the series “follows the legal and emotional journeys of the group’s founders, supporters, and defectors as new evidence and stunning revelations come to light, while federal...

The HBO documentary series “The Vow,” from filmmakers Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer will return for its second installment on October 17. The network shared a teaser for “The Vow Part Two” — a six-part continuation of the series, which became a sensation — with new episodes airing on subsequent Mondays.

The series follows the story of the Nxivm organization, and the second installment will be set against the backdrop of the federal trial of against Keith Raniere. It will offer looks into Raniere’s innermost circle, including Nxivm co-founder Nancy Salzman, who wasn’t interviewed for “The Vow,” but has been for this second installment. According to its logline, “The docuseries will chronicle the legal and emotional journeys of the group’s founders, supporters and defectors, as new evidence comes to light in a case at the forefront of the national spotlight.”

Raniere was sentenced to 120 years of imprisonment in October 2020, having...

HBO’s The Vow docuseries is ready to dive even deeper into Nxivm founder Keith Raniere’s innermost circle, as seen in the first trailer for Part 2 (premiering Monday, Oct. 17 at 9/8c).

In June 2019, Nxivm co-founder Keith Raniere was convicted of crimes including racketeering, sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, identity theft, and production and possession of child pornography, and sentenced to 120 years in prison. Smallville alum Allison Mack, a high-ranking Nxivm member, in turn, was sentenced to three years in prison after she pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges.

More from TVLineHouse of the Dragon Audience Rises in...

A former nurse who co-founded and once ran the cult-like Nxivm group, where prosecutors say some women were brainwashed, branded like animals and coerced into sex, was sentenced Wednesday to 42 months in prison but won’t be locked up until January.

Nancy Salzman, the former president and co-founder of Nxivm, must also pay a $150,000 fine, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis said. She has agreed to forfeit more than $500,000 in cash, several properties and a Steinway grand piano.

Salzman must report to prison by Jan. 19, Garaufis said. Her lawyers said she has been caring for ...

A former nurse who co-founded and once ran the cult-like Nxivm group, where prosecutors say some women were brainwashed, branded like animals and coerced into sex, was sentenced Wednesday to 42 months in prison but won’t be locked up until January.

Nancy Salzman, the former president and co-founder of Nxivm, must also pay a $150,000 fine, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis said. She has agreed to forfeit more than $500,000 in cash, several properties and a Steinway grand piano.

Salzman must report to prison by Jan. 19, Garaufis said. Her lawyers said she has been caring for ...

Nancy Salzman, the co-founder and former president of Nxivm, has been sentenced to 42 months in prison. Salzman, 66, who was close with cult leader Keith Raniere, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in March 2019, and received her sentence in a Brooklyn courtroom on Wednesday.

In a sentencing memo, prosecutors has asked that Salzman be sentenced in the upper range of the recommended 33 to 41 months, and they got their wish: “The conduct underlying the defendant’s conviction warrants a substantial sentence,” wrote assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Hajjar in a pre-sentencing court filing.

Salzman was featured, though not interviewed, in the phenomenon that was the HBO docuseries “The Vow” last year. The second season of the show — directed and executive produced by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer — is currently in production.

Sarah Edmondson — the Nxivm whistleblower who was one of the stars of “The Vow,” if such a charaterization can be made about...

Former high-ranking Nxivm member Lauren Salzman has avoided prison time for her role in the cult.

While Salzman could have ended up serving seven to nine years behind bars, she was sentenced on Wednesday to time served, five years of probation, and 300 hours of community service.

Salzman had previously spent a number of years in home confinement, after pleading guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges in April of 2019.

Her mother, Nancy Salzman, co-founded Nxivm with Keith Raniere in 1998. While the younger Salzman was once a close confidante of Raniere’s, she would ultimately testify against him in his 2019 trial, proving key in securing his conviction. It appears that her cooperation (as the highest-ranking Nxivm member to take the stand) may have resulted in a lighter sentence.

“The defendant helped Keith Raniere implement some of the most twisted, manipulative and reprehensible schemes,” Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis said of Salzman on Wednesday,...

Lauren Salzman, 45, a former Nxivm collaborator of cult leader Keith Raniere, was sentenced on Wednesday to time served and five years of probation. Salzman, the daughter of Nxivm co-founder Nancy Salzman, had pleaded guilty in April 2019 to racketeering and conspiracy charges.

Salzman was featured in the HBO docuseries “The Vow” last year, which became a sensation. A second season of the show — directed and executive produced by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer — is currently in production.

Salzman is the fourth Nxivm member to be sentenced. In September, Clare Bronfman, was sentenced to 81 months; in October, Raniere himself was sentenced to 120 years in prison; and last month, former “Smallville” actor and top Nxivm recruiter Allison Mack was sentenced to three years. Nancy Salzman has also pleaded guilty, and according to the Albany Times-Union, her sentencing is set for next week.

At Raniere’s trial in spring 2019, Salzman testified against him for four days.

Updated, 7:39 Pm: A judge has ordered Keith Raniere to pay $3.4 million to 21 individuals victimized by his Nxivm sex cult, according to a report in The New York Times.

Some of the funds will reportedly be used to remove brandings of Raniere’s initials from the skin of victims. Raniere is said to have attended today’s federal restitution hearing by video, from the Arizona federal prison where he is serving 120 years.

Raniere founded Nxivm alongside Nancy Salzman in 1998. While the organization claimed for many years to be a multi-level marketing company, that label ultimately belied much more sinister activity, on the part of Raniere, former Smallville actress Allison Mack and other members, including sex trafficking, forced labor and racketeering.

Raniere was convicted in June of 2019 on charges of sexual exploitation of a child, sex trafficking conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and more.

His prison sentence...

Allison Mack has been sentenced to three years in federal prison, a stunning downfall for the fresh-faced actor who spent a decade as a fan favorite on “Smallville” but then became a key figure in the Nxivm cult led by convicted sex trafficker Keith Raniere.

Mack, 38, learned her fate Wednesday morning in federal court in Brooklyn from U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis. She was arrested in April 2018 in Brooklyn after a wild trek with Raniere and others to Mexico, where Raniere was arrested in a villa outside Puerto Vallarta in March of that year.

“I made choices I will forever regret,” Mack told the judge, according to the Associated Press, adding that she was filled with “remorse and guilt.”

Mack also received a $20,000 fine and was ordered to perform 1,000 hours of community service. She will surrender to authorities on Sept. 29. Her attorneys have requested that she be allowed...

Image Source: HBO

Keith Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison on Oct. 27, the United States Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of New York confirmed on Twitter. The leader of the Nxivm cult was found guilty of federal sex trafficking, extortion, obstruction, and racketeering charges back in June 2019, but his sentencing was delayed several times due to the shutdown of courtrooms resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

Nxivm was originally founded by Raniere and Nancy Salzman in the 1990s, but a 2017 New York Times investigation uncovered the horrifying truths of the cult. The cult has since served as the focus for two documentary series: HBO's The Vow, which premiered in August, and Starz's Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult, which premiered in October. Clare Bronfman, one of Nxivm's financial backers, was sentenced to 81 months in September, while former members Salzman, Allison Mack, and Lauren Salzman are still awaiting sentencing.

On Monday afternoon, the day before Keith Raniere was set to be sentenced, Make Justice Blind, an assortment of ardent Nxivm devotees, gathered to hold a press conference in front of the Brooklyn federal courthouse in downtown Brooklyn. The group, including Battlestar Galactica‘s Nicki Clyne, set out to present what they referred to as “smoking gun” evidence that would supposedly justify a call for a delay in sentencing for Keith Raniere, the leader of the alleged sex cult Nxivm who has been incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center since his 2018 arrest.

Keith Raniere, the leader of the alleged sex cult Nxivm, has given an interview which aired on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt tonight and will also be featured on the network’s Dateline.

In the interview, Raniere denies his convictions for sex trafficking, racketeering and possession of child pornography. Raniere said he was the victim of unethical prosecution in the interview. He asked for a new trial, but was denied Friday by a judge. He will be sentenced on Tuesday and could face life in prison.

The activities of Nvxim was captured by the documentary series The Vow, which is coming back in 2021 for a second season on HBO. Directors and exec producers Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer, to continue to the story of the Nxivm cult and its top leadership.

Raniere admitted to NBC interviewer Frank Parlato and Dateline NBC that he was the leader of Nxivm, which...

HBO has released the first teaser for “The Vow: Part 2,” which sees Keith Raniere, leader of the Nxivm cult, head to court.

On Friday, HBO announced that the hit docuseries would be returning for a second installment with filmmakers Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer after the success of the premiere season. The news also comes before Raniere’s sentencing on Oct. 27, where he faces a minimum of 15 years and a possible life sentence for charges of sex trafficking of children, conspiracy and conspiracy to commit forced labor.

The new episodes will follow Raniere into the courtroom after he was convicted on June 19, 2019, and share more stories from top members of the Nxivm cult and Dos, its secret master-slave group where women were allegedly subjected to sexual slavery. The teaser features voices of members who still support Raniere, hinting at several new interviews in the second season.

The first season ended on a cliffhanger,...

HBO's documentary, The Vow, explores the shocking and creepy world of the cult-like group Nxivm and its founder, Keith Raniere. Where is Raniere now, you might want to know? Following the exposure of Nxivm's more horrifying practices, Raniere is finally paying the price for his crimes, although what that price is has yet to be officially determined.

Nxivm was originally founded by Raniere and Nancy Salzman in the 1990s and marketed as a business-coaching and self-help company. A 2017 New York Times investigation revealed the depths of horrifying things happening under the cover of the "self-help" program, particularly in a supersecret subgroup dubbed "Dos." Victims were told they were being initiated into an empowering sorority, but what really happened was more like a cult: they were forced to give up compromising material such as nude photos as collateral that would be released if they revealed the group's existence.

Several women...

“The Vow” finale hinted at several big interviews gearing up for the second installment on HBO. Any additional details on what we can expect for season two will have to wait until 2021 (when next set of episodes is scheduled to drop). Until then, here’s an update on all the major players in the docuseries that exposes the practices of the self improvement organization and cult known as Nxivm. What’s next for Nxivm founder Keith Raniere, Nancy Salzman and whistleblowers Mark Vicente, Bonnie Piesse and Sarah Edmondson?

Do not read if you haven’t watched the season one finale of “The Vow” — spoilers ahead.

What do we know about the future? In September, filmmakers Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim revealed their plans to interview all parties involved in Nxivm to Variety “We reached out to everybody involved — many people, on all sides of the story — and we are continuing to film.

HBO’s buzzy Nxivm sex cult docuseries “The Vow” has been criticized for dragging at times over the course of its nine-episode run. But the closing moments of Sunday’s season finale left no doubt about where the storyline is headed in season two, which HBO formally ordered last week.

Warning, spoilers for the finale episode of “The Vow” ahead.

Here comes the counterspin from now-convicted felons Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman, co-founders of the self-help programs at the heart of the whole of shocking story that led to federal human trafficking, sex abuse and racketeering charges. “The Fall,” episode 9 of “The Vow,” ends with hints that the pair will go on camera, or at least on the record, with “Vow” directors/executive producers Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer.

The closing sequence features what appears to be a glimpse of Salzman under house arrest, complete with a shot of her...

Image Source: YouTube user Today

HBO's The Vow dives deep into the history of Nxivm and its former members, including founder Keith Raniere's ex-girlfriend, Barbara Bouchey. Bouchey first met Raniere in the spring of 2000 through her friend and former therapist, Nancy Salzman. Bouchey - who was working as a financial planner - was going through a divorce at the time, so Salzman encouraged her to join the "self-help group," where she was introduced to Raniere. "Keith was a very dynamic person," Bouchey said in a 2018 interview with Megyn Kelly. "He was very soft-spoken, very engaging in dialogues. He was funny, he was witty, he could play the piano."

A few months later, a romantic connection formed between Bouchey and Raniere, and the two began dating. "Dating Keith Raniere did not look like going to dinner or a weekend at the beach. Keith didn't do those kind of social things,...

Episode five of HBO's The Vow takes a deep dive into Keith Raniere's shady dealings, focusing on his Dos group and the convoluted efforts to clear his name. The episode opens with a clip of former Nxivm legal liaison Kristin Keeffe as she ardently defends Nxivm's troubles with the law. Soon, The Vow shifts to Keeffe voicing her suspicions against Raniere, and it becomes strikingly clear that she has a lot of information on Nxivm. But Keeffe wasn't just a high-ranking member who defected. From 2007 to 2014, she was Raniere's partner, and they even had a son together named Gaelyn. Worrying for her and her son's well-being, Keeffe eventually left Raniere and Nxivm in 2014.

So what is Keeffe's story with Raniere? Keeffe was an Executive Success Program proctor in Nxivm and worked closely with lawyers to combat lawsuits against the company. She also targeted people spreading negative press about Raniere and Nancy Salzman,...

Lauren Salzman is a name that you'll hear prominently in the unraveling of the self-help group Nxivm. HBO's The Vow, inevitably, features her story. Not only is she the daughter of Nxivm cofounder Nancy Salzman, but she also ranked high in Nxivm leader Keith Raniere's inner circle, Dos. As Nxivm's legacy crumbled and as people have been implicated for its activities, Salzman too has been caught in the aftermath. Along with other coconspirators, she has pleaded guilty to racketeering charges and confessed to being a part of Dos, but still awaits her sentence.

According to Rolling Stone, Salzman first met Raniere at age 21 in 1998 and later began a sexual relationship with him in 2001. Eventually, she found her way to Nxivm's secret society Dos, a sex cult where women found themselves branded and coerced into having sex with Raniere. Her role was that of a "master" who recruited "slaves" - at one point,...

HBO's The Vow details the stories of several former members of the Nxivm cult, including Barbara Bouchey, the ex-girlfriend of founder Keith Raniere. Today, Bouchey seems to be steering clear of public life, but she's taken the time, in the past year or so, to share more details of her story with the media and the public.

In a 2019 interview with CBC, Bouchey revealed details about her time with Nxivm, including how she first got involved with Raniere after being introduced through Nxivm cofounder Nancy Salzman. She joined Nxivm in 2000, she said, and he confided details of his childhood to her.

"Keith also told me that when he was 13 years old, he believes that's when he had what he deems this transformation of himself. That's when he believes he, quote, 'became enlightened.' And his last, quote, 'attachment to the outside world' disappeared," she explained. Bouchey also revealed that Raniere's...

In Nxivm, the self-help and self-discovery organization that was later exposed as a sex-trafficking ring, members wore colored sashes around their necks to denote rank, which is touched on in HBO's documentary The Vow. When entering the program, students start out with a white sash that shows they're students, and as they're promoted, they earn stripes on their sashes before moving up to a new color. The "stripe path" was what they referred to this as, as you had to earn four stripes on your sash before progressing to the next level.

The process for moving up in rank was up to leader Keith Raniere (who wore a white sash and considered himself a student), but it generally involved taking more classes (and paying more money) and recruiting new members. Frank Parlato, who once worked for Nxivm before helping expose the group, compiled a firsthand account of the sash color system for Art Voice.

HBO's true-crime docuseries The Vow takes on the unsavory case of Nxivm, a multilevel marketing company that, on the surface, promoted personal-development classes. While claiming to offer self-help, Nxivm has become associated with a disturbing sex cult and a pyramid scheme in recent years. At the center of Nxivm's chaos is its leader, Keith Raniere, a self-proclaimed genius who, with a cadre of top associates, preyed on women. Not long ago, Nxivm members faced multiple charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. To complement your viewing of the HBO documentary, read ahead for a timeline that gives a detailed look at the events that mark Nxivm's rise and fall.

1993: The New York attorney general files a lawsuit against Raniere's business, Consumers' Buyline, accusing it of being a pyramid scheme. A multilevel marketing company, Consumers' Buyline promoted commissions to existing customers for recruiting new ones. When served with the lawsuit, Raniere...

Nancy Salzman may not have been the highest-profile name caught up in the Nxivm scandal, but as new HBO documentary The Vow shows, she was one of the most important members of Keith Raniere's horrifying cult group. Where is Salzman now, years after the Nxivm scandal broke wide open? For now, Nxivm's "Prefect" is in something of a state of legal limbo, having admitted to some of her involvement in the "self-help" organization but still awaiting news on what, exactly, her sentence will be.

According to The New York Times,

Salzman helped Raniere found the group

back in the 1990s. She reportedly assisted Raniere in developing the "behavioral programs that formed the basis of Nxivm" and continued to have a strong influence on the group until its exposure in 2018 as a cover for recruiting into a cult involving sexual slavery and blackmail. Specifically, according to the court case against her,...

An addition to HBO's library of powerful documentaries, The Vow takes a closer look into the unsettling world of Nxivm. On the surface, Nxivm had been known as a secretive self-help organization for its members, including celebrities and other well-to-do figures. But beneath the veneer of personal development were more sinister structures, namely, a sex cult and a pyramid scheme. Here's everything you need to know about the true story of the enigmatic Nxivm cult before catching the documentary.

Looking at the Origins of Nxivm

Founded by Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman

in 1998

, Nxivm first started as a multi-level marketing company that celebrated ideas of self-empowerment. According to Rolling Stone, it blended together ideologies similar to Scientology, the self-help group Est, and Ayn Rand's objectivism. The company promoted personal development courses and training workshops called "Executive Success Programs." Over the years, roughly 16,000 people have flocked to its headquarters in Upstate New York.

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Given the outlandish and bewildering nature of the allegations made against Nxivm, the New York-based "self-help group" co-founded by Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman in 1998 that ultimately served to recruit women for a sex cult that included high-profile members like Smallville actress Allison Mack

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Other Links From TVGuide.com The VowSarah EdmondsonMark VicenteAllison Mack...

The sex cult that struck at the heart of Smallville will be explored in depth on HBO. Directed by Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmakers Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer, The Vow is a nine-part documentary series focusing on the world surrounding the controversial self-improvement group Nxivm. The first episode debuts Sunday, Aug. 23 at 10:00 p.m. New episodes will air on the subsequent Sundays.

Nxivm was founded in 1998 by Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman. Within a few years, it grew into an influential, international organization. It had thousands of members, including high-profile followers like Smallville actress Allison Mack and Seagram liquor heiress Clare Bronfman.

Nxivm billed itself as a “a company whose mission is to raise human awareness, foster an ethical humanitarian civilization, and celebrate what it means to be human,” according to its official website. It offered workshops and coaching. The Vow follows a range of people who joined Nxivm,...

If you’re unfamiliar with the controversial cult Nxivm, allow one of its members to sum up her feelings in a teaser for HBO’s docuseries The Vow: “It is manipulative, but it’s a good manipulation.”

Premiering Sunday, Aug. 23, The Vow will take a “deep, nuanced look” at Nxivm, which was co-founded by Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman in 1998. Though the organization claimed to provide personal and professional improvement opportunities to those who joined, it has since made headlines for various charges brought against its leaders, including sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.

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There was a method to the branding. It was supposed to be precisely seven strokes — one line across, and two diagonal lines down to form the sideways K; then four smaller lines to form the sideways R beneath, the little spoon to the big spoon of the K. The women were supposed to be naked. They were supposed to be videotaped. They were supposed to be held down on a table, arms above the head, legs spread, ankles and wrists bound; helpless,...

Half a dozen projects about Nxivm have emerged since the accusations arose that the group is a sex-trafficking cult that kept women as sex slaves for its founder, Keith Raniere, and that he branded them with his initials.

So far, Lifetime, HBO and ID have all announced new projects in development or production. No doubt more are coming — and a handful already exist to quell the public’s insatiable thirst for insider information about the organization that presented itself as a self-improvement group.

Nxivm first captured attention from national media and Hollywood last year after charges including sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy were brought against some of its highest-ranking members, most notably former “Smallville” star Allison Mack and Raniere himself.

Also Read: 'The Lost Women of Nxivm': ID Orders 2-Hour Special on Sex-Trafficking Cult

Lifetime’s is the most recent project to be announced, with a film in the works...

When Toni Natalie spoke to Rolling Stone on the morning of jury deliberations for the Keith Raniere trial, she predicted the jury would reach a guilty verdict by, “3, 3:30.”

The former girlfriend of Raniere, the leader of the spiritual organization Nxivm, was only about an hour off. After six weeks of grueling testimony, during which witnesses gave grueling testimony about being held down and branded, beaten with paddles, and coerced into having sex with the defendant, Raniere has been found guilty of all seven of the criminal charges against him.

Teah Brown was born into an evangelical Christian sect called the Radio Church of God. Founded in the 1930s by an advertising sales representative turned minister, the insular group promoted an ultra-fundamentalist reading of the Old Testament, eschewing divorce, premarital sex and even wearing makeup. “It was a super closed religion,” Brown, now 42, remembers. “We had pictures of the leader in our home. We worshipped him like he was a god.”

Although Brown started having questions about the group, she attended services until her 20s, when she was expelled from the organization.

In March 2018, Lauren Salzman, a high-ranking member in the self-empowerment organization Nxivm and a so-called “master” in the alleged sex cult Dos, was making a smoothie in the kitchen of a house outside Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, when her friend Loreta Garza, another Nxivm member, burst into the room. She told Salzman that cops had just arrived at the house to arrest Keith Raniere, the group’s charismatic head, and Salzman’s on-off lover of nearly 20 years.

Salzman flew into a panic. Raniere had fled to Mexico the year before, following...

A former member of Nxivm testified on Monday that members of the alleged cult tried to buy power and influence by currying favor with politicians and making illegal campaign contributions to the Clintons.

Mark Vicente, a documentary filmmaker and former high-ranking member of the group, testified at the trial of Nxivm head Keith Raniere that Clare Bronfman, the billionaire Seagram’s heiress and alleged benefactor of the organization, approached him and a few other members of the group to help her make a contribution to a Clinton campaign. Bronfman, the...

Beginning Tuesday, Keith Raniere, founder and leader of the self-empowerment group and alleged sex cult Nxivm, will stand trial for criminal charges including racketeering and sex trafficking, and faces life imprisonment if convicted on all counts. The details of the allegations against him are as well-publicized as they are horrific: Raniere stands accused of running Nxivm as his own personal sex cult, coercing female followers into sleeping with him, having his initials branded into their flesh and punishing them by threatening to release “collateral,” such as pornographic photos, if they...