Star to his teachings . Makes me want to cry. Its beautiful. And the daughter of this former dynasty star. She was in great danger. Former followers describe strange rituals and lives changed forever. Its right here. I think Brain Washing is a wonderful term in terms of trying to define what happened to me. Im david muir. Im Elizabeth Vargas and this is 20 20. Reporter we are told the rendezvous was a secret, five women summoned to a house outside albany, new york, one night this past march. Sarah edmondson says she was one of them, willingly participating in a strange initiation ritual led by a woman who told everyone to take off their clothes and put on a blindfold. Led us in blindfolded, and sat us in a semicircle, buck naked, no clothes, on a sheeki like, could you could that be any weirder . 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. 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. Reporter so vanguard is the because he is the leader of a 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 togeth 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. 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. 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. 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 . Im sorry, were at a wellness expo and thats completely irrelevant from t 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. This holiday, the real gift isnt whats inside the box. Its whats inside the person who opens it. Give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions. And open up a world of possibilities. Save 20 for the holidays at ancestrydna. Com. You are a city city wall, city wall she could be dancing down a hall, dancing down a hall were turning heads, were turning heads, were turning heads, oh yeah and nothing can stop us now with advils fast relief, youll ask, what pulled muscle . What headache . Nothing works faster to make pain a distant memory. Advil liquigels and advil liquigels minis. What pain . Advil liquigels and advil liquigels minis. You like it. Little bit. Nothing gets a reaction like a gift from kay jewelers. Where everything is 25 off. Save 25 off all rings, all necklaces, and all bracelets. Thats 25 off everything december 14th through 18th. At kay, the 1 Jewelry Store in america. Dad . Every kiss begins with kay without a new computer. All i see is darkness. Give intel 8th gen core to power all the latest tech. Reporter before he was the smoothtalking sage in a vneck sweater on youtube. When you get to something authentic you experience this type 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 app 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 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 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 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, without my consent. Reporter and then theres a case mentioned in Court Filings involving a woman named Kristin Snyder she went missing in 2003 after 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, a. K. A. 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 has never been 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. And. Exhale. Breath in. Aflac and a gentle wavelike motion. Liberate your spine. Aflac and reach, toes blossoming. Not that great at yoga ya but when i slipped a disc, he paid my claim in just one day. So he had your back . Yup in just one day, we process, approve and pay. One day pay. Only from aflac essential for vinyl, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Because there are options. Like an unjection™. Xeljanz xr. A once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. Tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. Your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Needles. A must for vinyl. But for you, one pill a day may provide symptom relief. Ask your doctor about xeljanz xr. An unjection™. Shop early to save big kohls Super Saturday and get kohls cash present for them, kohls cash for you give joy with a sweater for her a Star Wars Toy or a diamond bracelet plus take an extra 20 off when you spend 100 or more give joy, get joy at kohls. That Airline Credit card yout . Have. It could be better. Its time to shake things up. With the capital one venture card, you get double miles on everything you buy, not just airline purchases. E things you buy. Great. Is this why you asked me to coffee . Well yeah. But also to catchup. Whats in your wallet . 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 d