Keith Raniere duped followers that power and growth came through submission
Much fiction, from Pride and Prejudice to The Talented Mr. Ripley, focuses on the male con man— the lothario who engages with the aspirations of beautiful, intelligent, and often wealthy women, enticing them to relinquish their bodies and fortunes. Keith Raniere, the 58-year-old leader of Nxivm, a cult-like organization based for decades near Albany, New York, was one such man, though an unlikely Don Juan. He was a former IT guy who founded a pyramid-scheme like grocery business in the 1980s, then hawked vitamins, and, some 15 years later, transformed into the guru to heiresses, actresses, and general deep-pocketed enlightenment seekers. But the guru thing was merely instrumental, a means to an end. In secret, he was enacting a jaw-droppingly bizarre sex scheme for his own pleasure, intertwining themes of madness, pain, and love like a story by Edgar Allan Poe.
On June 19, Raniere was convicted of sex trafficking, among other charges, in the modern New York City courthouse where cartel lord El Chapo recently lost his case. Raniere has a ruddy face, with large blue eyes concealed by Coke-bottle glasses; though he used to be partial to casual clothes and athletic gear, in court, the collar of a white dress shirt poked above a monochromatic sweater.
The best way to describe Raniere is a nerd Charles Manson, though Raniere didn’t use acid to get people to believe (or instruct them to butcher victims); his flock was stone-cold sober, and his tricks mixed those of a pickup artist, like negging, with the vernacular of many a modern lifestyle business. Just as Manson capitalized on the imperfections of the free love movement, Raniere enticed women into believing he could take the 2010s empowerment smorgasbord—wellness, activism, feminism—to its highest, purest level. Those who followed him, he insisted, would become stronger, emotionally and physically, or, as some of them called themselves, “badass.”
Bu hikaye Vanity Fair dergisinin September 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Vanity Fair dergisinin September 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
ALFRED MOLINA
The actor, currently starring in Uncle Vanya on Broadway, on his love of vinyl, New York, and not being the worst dad in the world
CITIZEN CHAMBERS
Until very recently, Jim \"Fergie\" Chambers was an heir to Cox Enterprises and one of the largest family fortunes in America. With hundreds of millions of dollars on hand, a zeal for revolution, and an innate sense for confrontation, he's becoming America's go-to radical communist
IN VITRO VERITAS
More than half a century ago, in a dusty Roman library, men of science and men of faith gathered together to unlock the mysteries of female fertility. The answer: urine from the brides of Christ. And lo, those nuns gaveth
Out of Sight
Inside Apple Park, CEO Tim Cook talks exclusively to vf about the genesis of a "Mind-blowing" new device that will shape his legacy and, perhaps, how we see the world
ONCE MORE WITH FEELING
For nearly 60 years, CABARET has transfixed-and shocked-audiences the world over. As Broadway welcomes a new revival starring Eddie Redmayne, MICHAEL RIEDEL discusses the musical's enduring power with Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Sam Mendes, and other keepers of the flame
THE CONFESSIONS OF INIGO PHILBRICK
The wunderkind dealer personified the art market's wealth-generating potential and its unregulated excesses-until he pleaded guilty in what was the largest art fraud in US history. Now out of prison and \"wearing the scarlet letter,\" Philbrick is searching for a second act
SOMETHING WICKED
Director Jon M. Chu originally thought unknowns would play Glinda and Elphaba in his adaptation of Wicked, but he had to settle for superstars: ARIANA GRANDE and CYNTHIA ERIVO. VF goes on set for an exclusive peek at the beloved musical's big-screen debut
THE KING'S Gambit
Margrethe II catapulted the Danish royal family to stratospheric heights of popularity. Her sometimes controversial son Frederik X faces a tougher road
DEATH & THE MASQUE
In Hollywood in 1977, punk rock was exploding and a small band of scene-makers were flourishing in a dingy basement club. Little did they know a pair of serial killers would soon claim one of their own
PLAY MATES
Her parents didn't exactly gel with the other families at school, so she spent the first 10 years of her life going to the Playboy Mansion with her nanny. Writer-director LORRAINE NICHOLSON looks back on a childhood spent swimming in the infamous grotto with her eyes open-long before she knew what sex, let alone a sex cave, even was