A Nxivm sex cult “slave’’ took the stand in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday to reveal the twisted inner workings of the upstate group. The woman, referred to on the stand as Sylvie to protect her identity, described how she was recruited to the group at age 18 by Seagram heiress Clare Bronfman — and groomed to perform perverted acts to please the group’s Svengali-like leader, Keith Raniere. Sylvie told jurors she was eventually lured into Raniere’s inner sanctum of female slaves. see also Sex slaves' identities to be kept secret at Nxivm leader's trial The identities of women who claim to be former sex... She described posing nude for a photo in 2015 at the behest of her female “slave master’’ — then got her sickening marching orders. “Your first assignment is to seduce Keith Raniere,’’ the accused slave master told her. Sylvie called Raniere “kind of a short, creepy-looking man’’ and said she reluctantly texted him, “You look sexy in your glasses.’’ Raniere — on trial for allegedly grooming young women, including one minor, for sex with the help of such cronies as “Smallville” TV actress Allison Mack and Bronfman — responded, “You have to do better than that,’’ the woman said. He then pushed her to text “more vulnerable’’ photos of herself, Sylvie said. Hiding in the bathroom of the home in Albany near Nxivm’s compound that she shared with her husband, the now-32-year-old witness said, she sent Raniere, 58, snaps that went lower and lower at his urging — until “literally, in the end, they were just of my vagina.’’ Over the ensuing months, Raniere’s demands became more perverse, said the witness, who is British. The alleged cult leader pestered her for scores of sexually explicit photos of herself — and eventually, “he gave me actual poses to do,’’ she said. Sylvie said she stopped when her father saw some of the images in an iCloud folder of deleted texts that the pair had shared. “I found your medical photos,’’ her father said, according to the mortified witness, who burst into tears as she recounted the moment. Sylvie sobbed so hard at one point that the judge stopped the proceeding to get up and grab a tissue and hand it to her. The former slave said she told her Nxivm master, Monica Duran, that she couldn’t send any more photos. Raniere menacingly responded, “I could stop sending the photos but that the next thing would be in person.” The former teen equestrian said she spent 13 years with the so-called self-empowerment organization after being recruited by its benefactor, Bronfman, beginning when she was 18. After years as a low-level “slave,’’ Sylvie said, she was lured into the coveted top tier of women around Raniere, a group referred to as DOS. The letters reportedly stand for “Dominus Obsequious Sororium,’’ Latin for “Master Over the Slave.’’ That’s when Monica forced her to take the full-frontal nude, claiming no one else would see it, Sylvie said. She said Monica also made her write a letter and film herself
Nxivm ‘slave’ gives jurors look inside alleged sex cult
A Nxivm sex cult “slave’’ took the stand in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday to reveal the twisted inner workings of the upstate group. The woman, referred to on the stand as Sylvie to protect her identity, described how she was recruited to the group at age 18 by Seagram heiress Clare Bronfman — and groomed to perform perverted acts to please the group’s Svengali-like leader, Keith Raniere. Sylvie told jurors she was eventually lured into Raniere’s inner sanctum of female slaves. see also Sex slaves' identities to be kept secret at Nxivm leader's trial The identities of women who claim to be former sex... She described posing nude for a photo in 2015 at the behest of her female “slave master’’ — then got her sickening marching orders. “Your first assignment is to seduce Keith Raniere,’’ the accused slave master told her. Sylvie called Raniere “kind of a short, creepy-looking man’’ and said she reluctantly texted him, “You look sexy in your glasses.’’ Raniere — on trial for allegedly grooming young women, including one minor, for sex with the help of such cronies as “Smallville” TV actress Allison Mack and Bronfman — responded, “You have to do better than that,’’ the woman said. He then pushed her to text “more vulnerable’’ photos of herself, Sylvie said. Hiding in the bathroom of the home in Albany near Nxivm’s compound that she shared with her husband, the now-32-year-old witness said, she sent Raniere, 58, snaps that went lower and lower at his urging — until “literally, in the end, they were just of my vagina.’’ Over the ensuing months, Raniere’s demands became more perverse, said the witness, who is British. The alleged cult leader pestered her for scores of sexually explicit photos of herself — and eventually, “he gave me actual poses to do,’’ she said. Sylvie said she stopped when her father saw some of the images in an iCloud folder of deleted texts that the pair had shared. “I found your medical photos,’’ her father said, according to the mortified witness, who burst into tears as she recounted the moment. Sylvie sobbed so hard at one point that the judge stopped the proceeding to get up and grab a tissue and hand it to her. The former slave said she told her Nxivm master, Monica Duran, that she couldn’t send any more photos. Raniere menacingly responded, “I could stop sending the photos but that the next thing would be in person.” The former teen equestrian said she spent 13 years with the so-called self-empowerment organization after being recruited by its benefactor, Bronfman, beginning when she was 18. After years as a low-level “slave,’’ Sylvie said, she was lured into the coveted top tier of women around Raniere, a group referred to as DOS. The letters reportedly stand for “Dominus Obsequious Sororium,’’ Latin for “Master Over the Slave.’’ That’s when Monica forced her to take the full-frontal nude, claiming no one else would see it, Sylvie said. She said Monica also made her write a letter and film herself
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