FLASHBACK: Starstruck 'Smallville' Actress/Sex-Cult Recruiter, Allison Mack, Breaks down Crying When Interviewing Sex Cult Leader Keith Raniere

The difficult-to-pronounce word on everybody’s lips this week is Nxivm, the self-help “company” that former members have deemed a cult.



Nxivm (pronounced “Nexium”) is currently in the press because its leader Keith Raniere was arrested in Mexico on Sunday. Subsequently, he’s been charged with sex-trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor. FBI official William Sweeney detailed on Monday that, “As alleged, Keith Raniere displayed a disgusting abuse of power in his efforts to denigrate and manipulate women he considered his sex slaves.”



Sweeney continued, “He allegedly participated in horrifying acts of branding and burning them, with the co-operation of other women operating within this unorthodox pyramid scheme. These serious crimes against humanity are not only shocking, but disconcerting to say the least, and we are putting an end to this torture today.”



Unlike other, less glamorous cults, Nxivm has always flirted with celebrity. A 2010 Vanity Fair piece alleged that Raniere went out of his way to court wealthy and influential followers. That article, “The Heiresses and the Cult,” told the story of Seagrams heiresses Sara and Clare Bronfman, who quickly rose through the Nxivm ranks, helping to organize high profile events like the Dalai Lama’s visit to Albany in 2009.



Vanity Fair reported that the Bronfman sisters’ relationship with Raniere lead to a “massive gutting” of their trust funds “to help finance nxivm and the alleged investment schemes of its leader.” The article continued, “According to legal filings and public documents, in the last six years as much as $150 million was taken out of the Bronfmans’ trusts and bank accounts, including $66 million allegedly used to cover Raniere’s failed bets in the commodities market, $30 million to buy real estate in Los Angeles and around Albany, $11 million for a 22-seat, two-engine Canadair CL-600 jet, and millions more to support a barrage of lawsuits across the country against nxivm’s enemies.”