Mark Vicente has announced on his website that he will shortly be releasing a memoir, entitled “Quest, How the Bleep Did That Happen?!”
Vicente, one of the top men in NXIVM for 12 years, chose to leave and disclose unsettling facts about its leader, Keith Raniere, a man he had formerly looked up to as a “profound mentor and older and wiser role model.”
Mark Vicente was one of the high-rank of NXIVM, possessing the green sash.
Mark made disclosures to fellow Nxians, the Frank Report, the New York Times and other media outlets. When law enforcement finally took an interest, Vicente was a witness, providing valuable information for the prosecutors about Raniere.
Vicente was one of the main characters in HBO’s docuseries, The VOW and it is expected there will be a season 2, which may be released sometime this year.
Mark Vicente’s efforts to take down NXIVM is seen in the 9-part HBO Docuseries “The Vow”.
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A Little History
Vicente was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1965.
He studied film and drama, specializing in directing, cinematography and theater lighting design.
He left South Africa and began working in Hollywood, where he became a camera assistant in the late 1980s – then moved up to cinematographer in the 1990s, working on a dozen or more Hollywood films. Among them are Sarafina, starring Whoopi Goldberg – and a Disney film entitled Fatherhood, starring Patrick Swayze and Halle Berry.
Around 1994, Vicente became a member of the Ramtha School of Enlightenment, led by J.Z. Knight, a woman who claims to channel the ghost of Ramtha who lived on earth 35,000 years ago. Vicente stayed with the group for about 10 years.
Vicente, with two other Ramtha students, directed the film What the BLEEP do we Know?!‘”
The plot follows the story of Amanda Matlin, a photographer, using documentary-style interviews of scientists and others, and computer animated graphics, as she encounters obstacles in her life and considers whether mind can influence matter.
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What the BLEEP do we Know?! enjoyed surprising success for a moderately low-budget independent film. The film opened in art-house theaters, won several independent film awards, was picked up by Samuel Goldwyn Films for distribution and wound-up grossing about $16 million.
Around the time Vicente’s film came out, he became disillusioned with Ramtha. He described his time with the group and his exodus on cross examination in the trial of Keith Raniere.
Quest
Vicente’s memoir, QUEST How the Bleep did that Happen?! will chronicle “untold stories of what occurred in NXIVM” and he and his wife, Bonnie Piese’s harrowing campaign to escape and expose the organization.
Here is an excerpt about the upcoming book from Vicente’s website:
When Mark first joined {NXIVM], this group and its leader, Keith Raniere, seemed to provide answers for his lifelong questions about consciousness, reality, and the human behavior equation.
Over a 12-year period… he worked his way up their ranking system to become an owner of two NXIVM Centers, a trainer of salespeople, a leader of a men’s movement, [the Society of Protectors] the head of their media company, a member of the [NXIVM] Executive Board and a man who saw Keith Raniere as both a profound mentor and older and wiser role model.
In his twelfth year, he discovered illicit and morally abhorrent activities…. A secret… BDSM sex slavery ring, [DOS] fueled by coercive blackmail enforcement… that had trapped and enslaved many of his dearest friends. The entire thing was strategically orchestrated by Raniere.
The book details Vicente’s wife, Bonnie Piese’s attempts to “wake him up, even while the entire organization tries to destroy her.”
Horrified and confused, he embarks with his wife, on an investigative journey and asks himself the most terrifying of all questions: What if everything he has been doing for 12 years has not served nobility and goodness but has been a front for evil?
Keith Raniere, a saintly scientist?
And… what if the man he considers his greatest mentor and most cherished example of nobility, is actually a malignant, narcissistic sociopath… posing for decades as a saintly scientist? A scientist who taught him about ethics, sociopathy, and the dangers of losing empathy and conscience. Teasing him in plain sight… as to his true nature.
What if Mark has been duped? What if for 12 years, he has unknowingly been in a Cult, led by a seemingly gentle …. maniac?
This is a journey from innocent pursuit… to the shattering collapse of his psyche… to a sobering awakening…
Is Keith Raniere a man with anti-social disorder who sought malevolent dominion over others or is he just plain misunderstood?
[W]ith the help of his wife and a small plucky band of whistleblowers, Mark would implore numerous law enforcement agencies in multiple countries to take action… and when all else failed, they would risk their safety and reputation, to go public….
Mark attempts to find the strength to bring this monster to justice…. fighting against some of his former best friends….
Inevitably, he will have to face Raniere (his former mentor) and his army of lawyers, in federal court.
On this rocky and circuitous road, he will re-assess EVERYTHING.
His life-long pursuit of spirituality, the message of his film “What the Bleep”, the nature of covert sociopathy and an analysis of the true intent of NXIVM’s ‘Tech’, now understanding precisely how the coercion worked. The educational model had codified abuse baked into it.
At the end of the road, he will find the asset which Raniere tried with all his might to destroy. Goodness. The pursuit of which, has been the driving force of Mark’s life since he was a small boy, growing up in apartheid South Africa.
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For those who are interested in learning more about the NXIVM story and what Vicente learned, this will certainly be a book to read – and Frank Report will inform readers of its availability as soon as it is published.
In addition to the book, Vicente is in production on ‘NARCS: Invisible Epidemic’, a documentary about Malignant Narcissism, and developing several other films.
