Defendant Founded a Secret Society in Which Women Were Branded with Defendant’s Initials, Served as His Slaves and Coerced Others into Performing Sex Acts.
According to the complaint, in 2015, Raniere created a secret society within Nxivm called “DOS,” which loosely translated to “Lord/Master of the Obedient Female Companions,” or “The Vow.” DOS operated with levels of women “slaves” headed by “masters.” Slaves were expected to recruit slaves of their own (thus becoming masters themselves), who in turn owed service not only to their own masters but also to masters above them in the DOS pyramid. Raniere stood alone at the top of the pyramid. Other than the Raniere, all members of DOS were women.
Most DOS slaves were recruited from within Nxivm’s ranks. When new DOS slaves were recruited, they were explicitly told that the organization was women-only, and that the organization would empower them and eradicate weaknesses that the Nxivm curriculum taught were common in women. Raniere’s status at the top of the structure was concealed from new recruits.
As a pre-condition to joining DOS, women were required to provide “collateral,” which included highly damaging information about friends and family members, nude photographs and/or rights to the recruit’s assets. DOS slaves feared that their collateral could be released for any number of reasons, including telling anyone about DOS’s existence or leaving DOS. Many DOS slaves were branded on their pelvic areas using a cauterizing pen with a symbol which, unbeknownst to them, incorporated Raniere’s initials. During the branding ceremonies, slaves were required to be fully naked, and a master would order one slave to film the branding while the others restrained the slave being branded.
As detailed in the complaint, some DOS masters gave their slaves, including Jane Does 1 and 2 as described in the complaint, work which directly or implicitly required the slaves to have sex with Raniere. These DOS masters received financial benefits from Raniere. According to the complaint, both Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 believed that if they did not have sex with the defendant, their collateral could be released.
The charges in the complaint are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.