NEW YORK (AP) - The leader of a secretive group in upstate New York
turned female followers into brainwashed "slaves" who were branded with
his initials and coerced into having sex, authorities alleged on Monday
in a criminal complaint charging him with sex-trafficking.
Keith Raniere, co-founder of the group called Nxivm, was
arrested in Mexico and returned to Texas Monday, authorities said. He
was to appear in court on Tuesday in Fort Worth on the charges filed by
federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.
According to the complaint,
Raniere-known within the group as "Vanguard"-oversaw a barbaric system
in which women were told the best way to advance was to become a "slave"
overseen by "masters." They also were expected to have sex with him and
do menial chores for masters, and to keep the arrangement a secret or
be publicly humiliated, the complaint says.
Elle reports
