More of the government’s view of NXIVM:
Jessica Joan AKA Jaye
3. Jay
Jay is an actress and model who began taking Nxivm classes in or about 2016, during which time she became friendly with India Oxenberg, one of Mack’s DOS “slaves.”
In approximately November 2016, India recruited Jay into DOS. Jay was told that DOS was a women’s-only organization. Jay performed uncompensated labor as part of her membership in DOS, including transcribing interviews involving Pamela Cafritz, who had passed away.
After several months, Mack and India gave Jay a “special assignment” to “seduce” Raniere and have Raniere take a photograph of Jay to prove that she had done it. Mack told Jay, “I give you permission to enjoy it,” and Jay understood the assignment as a direction to have sex with Raniere. Jay asked Mack directly if Raniere was part of DOS, which Mack denied. Jay refused to engage in a sex act with Raniere and decided to leave DOS. Before leaving DOS in approximately May 2017, Jay captured images of collateral belonging to other DOS “slaves,” believing that she could protect the release of her own collateral by having other DOS members’ collateral as leverage.
MK10ART painting of Sylvie. Only her first name was used during the trial.
4. Sylvie
Sylvie had worked for Clare Bronfman for nearly ten years when Monica Duran, a First Line master in DOS, approached Sylvie about joining DOS. At that time, Sylvie had recently been married to another member of the Nxivm community.
Both Raniere and Bronfman, at various points, instructed Sylvie not to have sex with her husband for the first two years
of their marriage.
Duran approached Sylvie and invited Sylvie to a secret project that Duran said had nothing to do with Nxivm. Sylvie was told that, in order to learn more, she had to provide “collateral,” which was something capable of destroying her relationships with her family. Sylvie provided a stamped letter addressed to her parents falsely confessing to being a
prostitute and a naked photograph of herself.
Soon thereafter, Duran gave Sylvie an assignment to “seduce” Raniere and send him naked photographs every day. Sylvie was not attracted to Raniere and found him “creepy.” Duran later arranged for Sylvie to meet Raniere at a house, where Raniere took Sylvie upstairs, instructed her to undress and lie down on the bed. Raniere then performed unwanted
oral sex on Sylvie and took close-up photographs of Sylvie’s genitals with Sylvie’s phone. Sylvie felt disgusted by this encounter and acquiesced to it only because she believed her collateral would be released if she did not obey Raniere.
The photographs were then sent to Duran using Telegram, an encrypted messaging service. After Sylvie completed the assignment she had been given, Sylvie deleted the photograph in disgust and shame. The next day, Duran called Sylvie, panicked, because the photographs had been deleted from Duran’s phone. Duran told Sylvie that she would have to go
back to Raniere and have him take new photographs, which Sylvie did.
5. Actions After DOS Was Disclosed
The existence of DOS became known within the Nxivm community in early June 2017, when the husband of Sarah Edmondson, a DOS “slave,” publicly confronted Nxivm members about DOS.
Immediately after the existence of DOS was publicly disclosed, Raniere directed the First Line of DOS to lie about his
involvement in DOS, as well as to compile materials related to DOS and secure them. Raniere also instructed the First
Line to collect “positive” testimonials about DOS and to create a DOS website.
In July and September 2017, Raniere and Bronfman received letters from separate DOS victims describing their collateral and requesting its return. Bronfman hired private investigators and public relations firms to rehabilitate DOS’s public
image and to distance it from Nxivm.
In September 2017, Raniere and Bronfman were alerted to the fact that The New York Times would shortly be publishing an article about DOS. Bronfman and Raniere drafted intimidating cease-and desist letters to DOS victims who Bronfman and Raniere feared would publicly disclose the existence of DOS. These letters were later sent to several DOS victims by attorneys in Mexico.
NXIVM’s Mexican attorney Diego Ruiz Durán sent threatening letters to DOS whistleblowers.
Months later, in December 2017, Bronfman released a public statement characterizing DOS as a “sorority,” stating that it had truly benefited the lives of its members, and does so freely. I find no fault in a group of women (or men for that matter) freely taking a vow of loyalty and friendship with one another to feel safe while pushing back against the fears that have stifled their personal and professional growth.
Raniere also issued a public statement denying his association with DOS and claiming that “experts” had concluded that “members of the sorority…haven’t been coerced.”
After multiple DOS victims spoke publicly about their experiences, Raniere and Nicki Clyne, a member of the First Line, considered releasing an edited video of Sarah’s branding ceremony. The branding video depicted Sarah naked and being
branded and stating, as she had been instructed, “Master, please brand me, it would be an honor.”
In May 2019, during the trial against Raniere, the video of Sarah’s branding video was publicly disseminated and broadcast in Mexican media. Shortly after the media reports were published regarding DOS, Raniere and Bronfman traveled to Mexico.
As media outlets began reporting that the United States Attorney’s Office had launched a criminal investigation, Raniere stopped using the phone number he had previously used for over fifteen years and he and Bronfman began using encrypted email accounts.
Keith Raniere with his younger son in Mexico 2018.
Keith Raniere as photographed for the New York Times in Mexico either late 2017 or early 2018.
Keith Raniere after his ‘arrest’ in Mexico
His last day of freedom: March 26, 2018: Keith Raniere was apprehended in Mexico, outside the jurisdiction of the EDNY.
See other parts in this series:
DOJ’s View of NXIVM #1: Overview
DOJ’s View of NXIVM, #2: Sexual Exploitation of the Child Camila
DOJ’s View of NXIVM #3: Trafficking of Daniela for Labor and Services and Alien Smuggling
DOJ’s View of NXIVM #4: Identity Theft and Unlawful Surveillance – Family Spying on Family
DOJ’s View of NXIVM #5: Obstruction of Justice & Identity Theft Related to Tax Evasion
DOJ’s View of NXIVM #6: The Secret Organization Known as DOS
DOJ’s View of NXIVM #7: Sex Trafficked Slave – Nicole
DOJ’s View of NXIVM #8: Jay, Sylvie and Actions After DOS Was Disclosed
