NXIVM on Trial

After human remains were found during the construction of a new home in the Hudson Valley in April 2024, it took investigators nearly two months to identify them. When they did, the mystery only deepened. Through newly unearthed records, exclusive interviews and a meticulous examination of the evidence, reporter Phillip Pantuso confronts a haunting question: how does a woman disappear for 44 years...

In the summer of 1908, America was transfixed by the murder of a woman found floating in a country pond in upstate New York. Was she killed by a spurned lover? Was she leading a secret double life outside of her station as a governess to the wealthy residents of Troy, New York? Did she know too many secrets? In this podcast, we’ll go back in time to an era of wealth and prosperity, rampant politic...

The HBO series "The Vow" wrapped up its second season this week with a chronicling of events and players surrounding the sentencings of NXIVM leaders Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman. Both are currently serving prison sentences for crimes that include sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and racketeering.  On this episode of "NXIVM on Trial," we're joined by Moira Penza,...

The testimony of a women shunned by the NXIVM community and confined to a room in a suburban townhouse for two years was the focus of an episode in the second season of HBO's "The Vow." The witness, identified only as Daniela, took the stand for several days during former NXIVM leader Keith Raniere's trial in 2019. She detailed a pattern of years of grooming and manipulation by Raniere, who ordere...

Lauren Salzman's gut-wrenching testimony in the trial of NXIVM founder Keith Raniere took center stage in the fourth episode of the new season of HBO's "The Vow." Salzman's account painted an emotionally disturbing and revealing picture of Raniere's pervasive pattern of physical and emotional abuse of women in the organization—including holding their fertility hostage, forcing them into group sex...

The third episode of the second season of HBO's "The Vow" explores NXIVM's unchecked claim to have used its programming to cure patients with Tourette Syndrome.  On this episode of "NXIVM on Trial," Times Union editor Casey Seiler, producer Jessica Marshall, and reporter Robert Gavin discuss the episode, and how the organization's experiment with Tourette Syndrome affected former members of the or...

NXIVM co-founder and “Prefect” Nancy Salzman takes center stage in the second episode of the new season of HBO’s “The Vow.” We hear from her for the first time since the NXIVM organization fell. Salzman, who pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges connected to NXIVM, is currently serving a three and one half-year prison sentence. In this episode of “NXIVM on Trial,” Times Union Editor Ca...

The six-part, second season of HBO’s documentary series “The Vow” continues to track the downfall of NXIVM, the purported self-help organization based in upstate New York. The new installment of the series follows the trial and sentencing of its leader, Keith Raniere, and features a first-time interview with NXIVM co-founder Nancy Salzman. Both are now serving prison sentences. On this episode of...

A federal judge sentenced NXIVM co-founder Nancy Salzman to three and a half years in prison this week. She was the last of the major players charged in criminal court in the NXIVM saga to receive a sentence. In the courtroom, eight of Salzman's victims described her as a cold, calculating enabler and enforcer for cult leader Keith Raniere. Judge Nicholas Garaufis admonished the 67-year-old Halfmo...

Last month a federal judge spared high-ranking NXIVM defector Lauren Salzman any prison time. Judge Nicholas Garaufis also sharply questioned why authorities in the Capital Region failed to bring a criminal case against Keith Raniere and what he termed the "NXVIM sex cult," despite abundant evidence of wrongdoing. On this episode of "NXIVM on Trial," Times Union Editor Casey Seiler and criminal ju...

A federal judge sentenced Allison Mack to three years in prison this week for her role supplying sex "slaves" to NXIVM leader Keith Raniere. During the sentence hearing in a Brooklyn courtroom, one of Mack's victims compared her to Ghislaine Maxwell, the alleged enabler of late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. Times Union justice reporter Rob Gavin and producer Jessica Marshall traveled to Brookly...

Former television actress and high-ranking NXIVM member Allison Mack awaits sentencing this week for crimes involving Keith Raniere's cult organization. Mack pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges in April 2019 and is scheduled to be sentenced June 30. In a sentencing memo last week, she distanced herself from Raniere, calling him "a twisted man." On this episode of NXI...

The now-convicted NXIVM ringleader Keith Raniere is tucked away in federal prison, likely for the rest of his life. High-ranking members of his inner circle still await sentence hearing dates. And a small faction of former members remain loyal to Raniere as he attempts to clear his name on appeal.  The ongoing NXIVM saga is the focus of former VICE senior editor and Vancouver-based investigative r...

For Sarah Edmondson and Anthony "Nippy" Ames, life after NXIVM has been busy. The whistleblowers were heavily featured in the HBO Documentary "The Vow," Sarah wrote a book, and now they've started a new podcast together called "A Little Bit Culty," focused on cult psychology and the stories of survivors. Through it all, they say they're focused on their family, healing from the emotional trauma th...

Former NXIVM leader Keith Raniere is now in federal prison in Arizona, planning the appeal of his 120-year sentence with a new attorney who once defended Bill Cosby. On this episode of NXIVM on Trial, Times Union Editor Casey Seiler and reporter Robert Gavin discuss the latest developments in the NXIVM saga, including Raniere's new residence, a reported letter sent to former President Donald Trump...

The sentencing of Keith Raniere and Clare Bronfman capped off a long year of delays, documentaries and major developments in the NXIVM saga. As the end of 2020 nears, Times Union Editor Casey Seiler and reporter Robert Gavin look back at what transpired in the past year, and what's likely to come in 2021. Could Allison Mack face sentencing? Mack, Nancy Salzman and others still await their fate. An...

A federal judge in Brooklyn sentenced NXIVM leader Keith Raniere to 120 years in prison this week, following several hours of statements from victims who leveled words like monster, predator, parasite and terrorist at the man whose crimes included the sexual abuse of a 15-year-old Mexican girl. In this episode, Times Union Editor Casey Seiler, Managing Editor Brendan Lyons and Courts reporter Rob...

NXIVM leader Keith Raniere is finally facing his sentencing in Federal court in Brooklyn in a few short days. Times Union Editor Casey Seiler and reporter Rob Gavin discuss the potential outcome, and take a retrospective look at why Raniere and his co-defendants' cases were tried downstate rather in than in their Capital Region backyard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...

India Oxenberg did not intend to become a “slave” or a television celebrity's “pet” in a strange city on the other side of the country from her family’s home in southern California. Yet the daughter of actress Catherine Oxenberg spent seven years entrenched in Keith Raniere's cult-like organization, NXIVM. She was branded with Raniere's initials as a member of the secret female "master/slave" grou...

Seagram's heiress and NXIVM financier Clare Bronfman was sentenced to more than six years in prison this week, following an hours-long hearing before a judge in Brooklyn during which victims read emotionally charged impact statements. Bronfman had pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and forced labor related to her role in the shadowy organization known as NXIVM. Times Union Editor Casey Seiler and...

As Keith Raniere's October 27 sentencing nears, Times Union Editor Casey Seiler and courts reporter Robert Gavin discuss several developments in the NXIVM saga. That includes a revelation that Raniere recently told a loyal NXIVM disciple that he wanted to "get scrutiny" on Judge Nicholas Garaufis, and Seagrams' heiress Clare Bronfman's refusal to disavow NXIVM and Raniere as she stands convicted o...

NXIVM founder Keith Raniere faces sentencing October 27 for his 2019 conviction on federal charges of sex trafficking, conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit forced labor. NXIVM whistleblower Toni Natalie and cult expert Rick Ross played large roles in the investigation that led to Raniere's downfall as head of the shadowy organization. On this episode of NXIVM on Trial, hear the second half of a 20...

On the eve of what would have been a week-long celebration of the birthday of disgraced former leader of NXIVM Keith Raniere, HBO's new documentary series "The Vow" will premiere the first of nine episodes looking back at the organization and the downfall of its leader. The series, which will air weekly, coincidentally times out to conclude in tandem with Raniere's long-delayed October 27 sentenci...

Every night since July 3, a group of people turn on music and dance on the street outside Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. The group that organized the dancing say it's meant to support federal inmates during the pandemic, including one in particular: Kay Rose. There is, however, no inmate by that name in the Brooklyn facility — or anywhere else in the federal prison population, for that...

Times Union editor Brendan Lyons moderates a conversation between NXIVM whistleblower Toni Natalie and cult expert Rick Ross. The episode highlights their personal interactions with NXIVM and its founder, Keith Raniere, who was convicted this summer on federal charges of sex trafficking, conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit forced labor. Ross and Natalie shine a light on the inner workings of NXIV...