Reporter no, it could not be any weirder. We were all you know, my goodness. Whats going on here . This is so weird. Reporter weird doesnt begin to cover it. Sarah told authorities she thought they were going to get tattoos. Instead she says they found out they were all going to be branded. Reporter it sounds like a horror movie, what youre describing. It was a horror movie. It was the most inhumane, horrific way to treat anybody. Reporter what was that like . It was worse than childbirth. Reporter it was worse than childbirth . Yup. It was imagine a hot laser dragged across your flesh for 30 minutes without anesthetic. Reporter at this point youre probably wondering, how in the world did this happen . Sarah seems so normal. She lives in vancouver where she is a wife and mother with a successful film and television career. Do i know you . I dont think so. Oh no, im forgetting so much recently. But i never forget a face. Reporter but her life changed after she crossed paths with a secretive Selfhelp Group called nxivm and its charismatic leader, Keith Raniere. Im an interesting person, im a controversial person, but most importantly im an unconventional person. Reporter according to promotional materials, even as a child raniere was destined for greatness. Speaking in full sentences at age one, reading at two. Judo champ and concert level pianist at 13. I was told that he was one of the smartest men in the world, and just an incredible man. With that im going to pass the microphone over. Reporter so incredible, it seems, that an ordinary name just wont do. Participants say they are taught to call raniere vanguard. Vanguard . Yes. Itses the name we referred to keith as because he is a leader of the philosophical movement. Reporter the second highest Ranking Member of nxivm is a woman named nancy salzman. Former members say she is known as prefect. So keith and nancy, vanguard and prefect. Reporter at the heart of nxivm training is something called intensives, which former members say are like group therapy, running as long as 14 hours a day for up to 16 days. Edmondson says she attended her first in 2005 when she was 27. I left my fiveday, my initial training as if a veil had been lifted. And i could see things more clearly in my life. I could communicate better with people. Reporter that sounds fantastic. Yeah, it was great. Reporter classes are invitation only and they are not cheap. A fiveday intensive will run you 3,000. The 16day is 7,500. In promotional videos and materials it claims more than 16,000 people world wide have taken nxivm courses. Many testify to its effectiveness. I learned through the tools that there was a different way. Reporter sarah was recruited into the group by filmmaker mark vicente. What was it that was so compelling to you . Just a way to break and understand certain things in my life in a way i never have before. Reporter raniere is fiercely protective of his teachings, requiring participants to sign confidentiality agreements. Everyone signed it. And if you didnt sign it, you couldnt take the curriculum. Reporter we do know that nxivm has its own lingo, students are taught about overcoming disintegrations to become more potent and less suppressive, and avoiding people termed parasites or luciferians. Rick ross studies groups like nxivm. In my opinion, its basically copied from other sources, specifically scientology, ayn rand, and est, so, theres all of that mixed together, and that becomes nxivm. Very unoriginal. Reporter original or not, ranieres teachings were good enough for sarah and her friend mark to spend more than a decade rising through the nxivm ranks and becoming ever more willing to follow their leaders. If youre told, the world could be so much better if you werent quite so screwed up, youre like, youre right. Let me get more un unscrewed up. And pretty soon youre spending years unscrewing yourself. Reporter sarah says she devoted 12 years to nxivm, recruiting hundreds of new members, rising through the organization, even opening and running a center in vancouver. Along the way, becoming best friends with nancy salzmans daughter lauren. Who was maid of honor at sarahs wedding. Shes like my therapist. And in the ranking system shes also above me. Reporter then, in march, after all their years together in nxivm, sarah says lauren approached her about a new and mysterious opportunity. I wanna invite you to something that totally changed my life. Reporter it was a secret sorority, for women only. Life changing, but top secret. And the first step is making a vow of obedience to her as me being a slave, and her being my master. Again reporter slave . She used the word slave . Slave. She used the word slave. Reporter did you object . I of course. Yeah, i objected every stage of the way. And she said, its just its a metaphor. Its like gurudisciple. Reporter then came the night sarah says she and four other women submitted, one by one, to being branded by this woman, she says, dr. Danielle roberts. And the woman on the table screamed out in pain twisted and turned and yelled. And the woman i was with holding her legs down, we looked at each other, and we just wept. Reporter why didnt you let go, and run out of there, even naked . It didnt seem like a choice at the time. Reporter she points to years of nxivm training. All the indoctrination, all the years of women are weak. Women have no character, now is the time to prove i can do it. Reporter sarah gives another explanation for her obedience. Before she joined the secret sorority and got branded, she says Lauren Salzman had demanded highly compromising collateral. You need to provide something to me that im gonna hold forever just to confirm, and to and to solidify that youll never share the secret. Reporter so what did you give her . So i gave her a written confessional. Reporter she says for her and some others, the price of admission to the secret group also included providing nude photos of themselves. So understand when women do that, its very difficult to say, no, im not doing this. cause you you have something the person has something of you with them. Reporter instantly all my alarm bells are going off. Absolutely. Reporter so why did you do it . I did it because i trusted her. Reporter and can you just stand up and point on your body through your clothes where the brand is . Yep. So its right here under my reporter its right here . Yeah, right there. Right under my underwear line. Reporter she gave us photos. In her complaint to the new York State Department of health, she says she was told the brand was a latin symbol but says she realized it really included the letters k and r, which are also the initials of Keith Raniere. I lost it when i figured that out. Reporter youre stamped as property of somebody . I am not cattle. Im not owned by keith. Reporter Keith Raniere, vanguard, has not responded to our requests for an interview. His website says hes not associated with the secret sorority, and its not part of nxivm. An attorney for dr. Danielle roberts, the alleged brander, tells abc news the allegations are unfounded. Hi, im glenn ruppel with abc news. Oh. Reporter a 20 20 producer caught up with dr. Roberts at a wellness expo in new york city. Id just like to ask you a question about the women who said you branded them . Were at a wellness expo and thats completely irrelevant from the purpose of why we are here today. Okay, does Keith Reniere know that youre been branding, can you tell me how many people have been branded by you . Im sorry, theres no comment about that. Theres a lot of allegations and theres nothing, theres no comment that we have. Reporter still ahead, the man called vanguard, Keith Raniere. The secrets of his attraction. And what some say can happen if you cross him. If you question Keith Raniere, the [ bleep ] hits the fan. Reporter stay with us. Reporter before he was the smoothtalking sage in a vneck sweater on youtube. When you get to something authentic you experience this type of creativity. This soul. Reporter before he founded the strange and Secretive Group with a name like a roman numeral. Keith ranieres first big idea was hawking memberships in an illfated Network MarketingCompany Called consumers buyline his name is Keith Raniere. His idea is called consumers buyline. Reporter this promotional video for consumers buyline from the 1990s features the late eddie albert of green acres fame and a painfully awkward pitchman, 31yearold, Keith Raniere. Keith, happy to see you again. Yes. Happy to see you too. Its an amazing idea. Yes. Well, sometimes it even amazes me. But consumers buyline is wonderful. And its working. It really was a brilliant idea. It was based on the premise of, as a group, collectively, we can buy in bulk, and we can save a lot of money. Reporter toni natalie knew raniere before he was vanguard. She even appears in this 1993 american spotlight program lauding consumers buyline. Traditional markups are between 4 and 800 percent in the cosmetic industry when you met him did he seem like a genius . He seemed like a geek so i sat down and i asked him, so, you have a 240 iq, why are you doing this . Why arent you curing cancer . Why arent you really making a difference . And he said, this is the platform that im gonna use, and im gonna change the world. Reporter even then, the man who would become vanguard had big plans. In that american spotlight video, he sports a beard and a vision. As far as consumers buyline goes, its merely a stepping stone to really change the way we live and maximize human potential. Reporter unlike the guy from green acres, attorneys general in several states didnt think ranieres idea was quite so amazing, or honest. We first told you when the company was accused of being an illegal keep. Reporter they agreed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to the states. After that, the company went bust. By that time, toni natalie was all in. She had left her husband and moved to albany with her young son to be with keith. They were together for nearly 6 years. She says in allnight talks, keith drew out all of her secrets. Heres the smartest man in the world willing to help you through your emotional issues, and the reason that youre stuck in this world and the reason that you cant move on, and the reason you cant grow, is because you havent learned how to heal that thing inside of you. Ill help you im going to help you make it all better. I going to help you heal sexually, im going to help you heal intellectually. Im going to show you the path. Reporter toni saw the early days ranieres partnership with nancy salzman, the creation of nxivm teachings known as rational inquiry and methods that in Court Filings she later likened to brainwashing. What keith does, he elicits all that information from you. My opinion is that what they do from there, is they take that information and they utilize that. Where can i not build you up, but break you down . Reporter according to former members, the sessions came to involve practices such as bowing and a special handshake. At nxivms albany headquarters, people inside can be seen wearing sashes. Former members say different colors denote rank. Former coach margot joy leviton says classes begin with a ritual handclap. And we do something that we would call a huddle. So, everyone would put their arms around each other in this big circle we are committed to our success. And then straight into the mission statement. There are no ultimate victims, therefore i will not choose to be a victim. Reporter maher margos says anyone unwilling to go along with the rituals would be scorned. We would just suppress them and be like, oh, they just dont get it. They dont get it. I mean, if you step out of line you get punished you know, you get a lot of, like, strong thought control, you know, leveled at you. And you get told you what does that mean, strong it means, basically like, using intellect to try to to outlogic you, to basically say, youre the problem. This problem youre bringing us, no, no, youre the problem. If you question Keith Raniere, the [ bleep ] hits the fan. Like what . You are you are prideful, how dare you, dont you realize you owe everything to him . Im like what . Reporter jen kobelt is an aspiring actress in vancouver, but when she joined nxivm she says her classmates treated her like a star. It was like i was a celebrity, like i walked in and everyone was like whos that girl and they were so nice to me. Reporter she says members were encouraged to socialize with other members, outside friends faded away. We were told things not directly, but subtly do you wanna be surrounded by people who are, you know, just living their life, or do you wanna be surrounded by people who have an Ethical Mission to change the world. Reporter in a recent statement, nxivm claims a ten year study shows extraordinary psychological benefits and results from its teachings. And margot the former coach says nxivm changed her life in positive ways. But she also describes feeling bullied and manipulated by some of the training, which she says caused her psychological trauma. It feels like they got in there and they messed with my wiring, or how i think, or my perceptions. Reporter and then theres a case mentioned in Court Filings involving a woman named Kristin Snyder she went missing in 2003 after walking out of a nxivm intensive in alaska, Police Believe she paddled a kayak out into the bone chilling waters of resurrection bay and committed suicide. Her friend hillary, who asked us not to use her last name, reads a note that kristin left. I attended a course called executive success programs, aka nxium, i was brainwashed, and my Emotional Center of the brain was killed, turned off. Please contact my parents. Sorry. If you find me or this note. I am sorry, life. I didnt know i was already dead. Reporter Kristin Snyders body was never found. Coming up claims that Keith Raniere is not just interested in the mind. With keith, sex and his having a relationship with you is how he shares his energy. Reporter with how many people is he sharing his energy . Stay with us. Reporter if you go in search of nxivm founder Keith Raniere, you may get a glimpse of him taking one of his legendary long walks, as we did in 2012. Or you might find his followers enjoying an extended celebration of ranieres birthday at this local resort an annual tradition known as vanguard week. Because it takes a week to celebrate his birthday. People would fly in from all over the world, from mexico, canada, europe, and spend 10 days, 12 days now together celebrating keith. Vanguard is the name. And hes our conceptual leader. Keith raniere is his name. I loved vweek. I loved it. It was like my favorite time of year. I missed my best friends wedding, and it still makes me emotional, because i thought thats more important, to be at vweek. And i missed her wedding. I was so in. Reporter you were deeply in. I was deep in. Reporter Sarah Edmondson says one of ranieres favorite past times was holding court. Literally on a volleyball court. At all hours of the night. So volleyball was his passion he still plays multiple times a week in upstate new york. In between games, there were all these there was rows of, like, women waiting there for him. And the minute the game was over, theyd all rush up. It was like, this weird rock star thing. If there was enough people there, he might stop volleyball and do what he called a forum where people could ask questions and he would answer them. They hung on his every single word. And hed say something. And theyd go up and think, okay, well, he said blah, blah, blah. Wonder what that means. What if its this. What if and theyd spend, i dont know, weeks trying to understand that statement. Reporter one thing Sarah Edmondson says was taught consistently was ranieres philosophy of womens empowerment, a theory he called jness. One of the key principles in jness was understanding that the main difference between men and women was that men are designed genetically to not be monogamous, spread their seed. And women genetically are designed to be monogamous. Reporter okay. And not only that, but subservient to men. Reporter subservient . Subservient. Reporter toni natalie says that attitude toward women certainly came through in her experience with keith. In a federal court filing she alleged that nxivm was a cult presided over by Keith Raniere and that he had raped her repeatedly. Keiths need to share what he calls his energy, became pretty aggressive. Reporter his energy . With keith, sex and him having a relationship with you is how he shares his energy. So, when i no longer wanted to have relationships with him any longer, he would force, he would rape me. Reporter in their filings, nxivm lawyers say her allegations are false. They call them scurrilous, scandalous, and slanderous. But the philosopher, some former followers say, was also a philanderer with what amounts to a harem of women around him. I have spoken to five different women who were in the harem, and they have all said, he was kind, and gentle. And it was like having a normal boyfriend except you didnt know when you were gonna see him next. And then hed go off with another woman the next day. And that was incredibly painful, and very hard. Theres all these adoring women. And theyre all skinny beyond belief. They dont seem to do anything without his permission. Reporter how does he do it . Because to be honest, he looks like schlub. Right, right. My personal belief is that its one, gigantic hypnotic induction. Youre stripped away from everything so youre isolated in the fact where, from my experience then, that the only people around you are the people that follow his philosophies. Reporter Barbara Bouchey joined Keith Ranieres Selfhelp Group almost 20 years ago. She was a financial planner. I was grossing about 1 million a year. My client minimum was 1 million. And i was financially independent. Reporter in spite of her success, it was a difficult time in barbaras life. She was in the midst of a divorce and had lost a close