Recently, the two key figures in the US sex cult for the wealthy, claiming to provide self-help courses, were arrested for sex trafficking and conspiracy to arrange forced labour.

Many horrors reportedly took place overtime, including sexual slavery, the branding of women with the leader’s initials, Scientology-style blackmail to prevent members from leaving and maintaining their obedience, constant recruitment of new female fodder for the leader’s harem (including underage women) and so forth.

The details have been emerging for years, yet it has taken very long for charges to be brought against them. Not surprisingly, they were very litigious, going after those describing their experiences with smear campaigns based on dirt digging, as well as lawsuits.

Isn’t it strange how many of these delusional psychos end up in positions of financial prowess, using the legal system, which should be going after them, to persecute others for speaking out?

Adding to that, there was one enigmatic disappearance the police considered a suicide, without having found a body, as well as the very dubious suicide of a struggling member after a late night visit from the group.

The “self help” they offered was remarkably similar to that of Landmark and EST (and therefore Scientology), except more expensive. Courses consisting of intense group therapy for 14 hours a day, out of which people left describing a similar outcome – being able to communicate better, relate better with others, being more efficient in their activities etc. The technique must therefore be similar. NLP and hypnosis are known to have been used on members, one higher-up with the rank of “Prefect” being trained in both. Apparently, they also came up with “an innovative therapy” for Tourette syndrome, partly based on Dianetics.

It’s the same kind of initial high reported after the first Scientology or Landmark courses, with the desire to absorb more and “become even better”. Soon it becomes a fix members are willing to empty their bank accounts for, awaiting the ultimate revelation; the ultimate satisfaction. That goal is never achieved, as on their way to personal “perfection”, they are invited to “transform the lives” of those around them in perpetuity, by bringing them into the group.

To that strategy, the founder of Nxivm added mandatory rituals, as part of his cult of personality (he was strangely known as Vanguard, and besides his harem, held a yearly celebration of his birthday for a whole week, to which members flocked from far away). Low ranking members (read poor) were accepted on the condition that they work full time for the cult, for next to no pay (which also happens in Scientology and Landmark).

The cult, like any other, had established a hierarchy, with titles given according to a member’s rank in the pecking order. To go by the book, they had also developed a jargon, making members feel they were privy to spiritual enlightenment they could not obtain elsewhere, and were set on “changing the world for the better” through “light, love and compassion”.

Hasn’t the world seen this a thousand times before?

What few of the articles on the subject seem to mention is that the modus operandi of this group, at least in its initial phase, is not unique. It’s typical LGAT brainwashing – there are many such groups in the US and across the planet. 

What has happened to Nxivm adherents can easily happen to anyone subjected to these techniques, as they have the same effect. For years family members of those attending such courses have been signalling their distress at their loved ones returning completely changed, almost unrecognisable, as if infected by a mental virus.

Whilst it’s normal for the focus to be on the most shocking details of the case, the other MLM-type cults should not be omitted from the discussion.