Nancy.
We cut to Nancy, at home, having a video session with cult expert and counselor, Diane Benscoter. I heard a podcast interview with Diane that discusses how she became involved in working with victims of cults. It was really interesting.
Nancy tells her she believes the ESP “tech” was good, it’s just Keith that was bad. Diane gently tries to explain the manipulation was built into the program. Nancy’s expression and attitude is like, nahhh, I don’t think so. You can tell confronting this is a bridge too far for her right now.
After she gets off the call, Nancy admits she feels “resistant.” She doesn’t want to believe ESP might have been harmful. She doesn’t know how she’s going to deal with that if it’s true.
She’s still at the feeling defensive stage of the process. Breaking down, she says when it came to dealing with Keith, she doesn’t feel she had a choice. It’s kind of amazing this is coming from a woman who for 20 years, taught (and shamed) people that in all things they are responsible for their choices and circumstances. Crying, Nancy says Keith was always sending her in to deal with his various women and all the drama. He manipulated her by making her feel guilty by crying about his health and whatnot.
Keith really was an incredible drama queen when it came to playing sick. From reading trial transcripts, I learned he’d say pretty much anything: He was coughing up blood, his energy was draining and his life force was slipping away. Death was looming. Just whatever nonsense. Nancy tells us she was just trying to keep it together. She was all alone and had no one to talk to.
She feels guilty because she couldn’t do better. Gesturing towards a book of photographs of the old days at Nxivm, she cries and says, “These people are going to come to my sentencing and maybe I should go to jail because this is what I did!” She and Lauren “didn’t know what to do. We couldn’t manage it.” Lauren’s like, Hey Mom, did you not see me testify? I owned my shit.
Susan Dones said in an interview (I think this is it) Nancy would confide in her now and again. Susan described her as having frequent meltdowns behind the scenes. And from what Susan said in the interview, Nancy very much knew illegal shit was going on. I think she knew Keith was bad news early in their partnership. I bet Keith enjoyed watching her sell herself out over and over again, too. I think the more she sold herself out by ignoring his shit, the tighter the grip she had on “the company.” That’s what she was selling herself out for, right?
And I really do believe she had a death grip on Nxivm. She wasn’t going to give that up, even for her own daughter. She knew Keith had preyed on Lauren and she chose Nxivm. Not because she doesn’t love Lauren, but because she was already in the pattern of rationalizing Keith’s behavior if not completely denying it.
We cut to Barbra Bouchey. She tells us she has known Nancy since 1988. Barbra trusted, admired and cared about her. She sums up what led to Nancy becoming so ensnared. “Keith put Nancy on a stage and gave her what she wanted the most. That sense of belonging and being revered and being able to do what she thought was her life’s work. And… she lost her way.”
Yeah, sure, but she deferred to him from their first meeting. Who spent 20 years counseling people to help them overcome their problems? It wasn’t fucking Keith Raniere. Before Nancy and ESP, Keith spent 20 years of his life trying to rip people off in pyramid schemes. Yet, Nancy gave him authority over her.
I’m aware Keith had connections. Cons can be good networkers. So, he did have assets that enabled the two of them to build Nxivm together. But Keith was constantly taking people’s talents and handing them back like he just gave them a present. Nxivm would not have existed without Nancy. That’s a dubious honor, but I’m not really talking about Nxivm or ESP. I’m talking about the dynamic between them. He was her boss? Bitch, please. That is insane.
Sentencing Day.
We cut to outside of the courthouse. We hear the voice of Judge Garaufis reading his sentencing statement. He says Nancy was Keith’s 2nd in command. For 20 years she helped him consolidate his power and shared it. She went to extreme lengths to protect Nxivm which safeguarded and enhanced her own status within the group. In 20 years she never rejected Keith and though the door was open, she never left.
The judge acknowledges she was the first to plead guilty. He also describes her as a loving caretaker to her elderly parents. But, he says, she lured Lauren into Nxivm when she was just out of college. As a result, Keith was able to take advantage of and manipulate Lauren for 20 years. The sentence is 42 months.
We cut to Nancy, who clearly has been crying, in her hotel room with her friend, Carmen Gutierrez. Carmen is sympathetic. She thinks the judge doesn’t understand. Nancy is a combo of shocked, outraged and hurt the judge blamed her for what happened to Lauren. “He blamed me for that! The judge said, you could have left at any time! How could I enroll my daughter in something that’s so- I love my daughter! …there’s nothing more important to me than my children!” Crying hard she says, “And I’m that??”
Judge Garaufis really paid attention and understood what the prosecution was laying down. I’m not confident all male judges would. As soon as I read Keith got 120 years, I was like, whoa! I was so impressed. And grateful, too. Obviously, I became very emotionally invested in this case. “The Vow” series was really well done. Plus, writing these recaps, I was paying extra close attention to many details I might have normally missed. As journalist Emily Saul said, I came to loathe Keith in a way that feels personal.
Keith preyed on everyone, but he mostly was about preying on women. It’s to the benefit of all society when courts take predators like Keith- -leaving out gender politics—and the crimes they commit seriously. So, I do feel gratitude the judge understood how dangerous Keith is. And I think he was fair with Nancy. He chose his words to her carefully.
In her hotel room, Nancy talks to Lauren on the phone. Lauren is very sweet and supportive. Nancy is lucky to have her. Though I’m sure they have a lot of shit to work through between them, I’m glad Keith was not able to break their bond. Nancy tells Lauren she just wants to go to her mom’s house (her dad passed away shortly before she was sentenced.) She is devastated.
As we watch various clips, we read about the sentences of Clare Bronfman, who stands by Keith and Allison Mack, who renounced him.
We read Lauren received many letters of support, including from Sarah and Daniela, asking Judge Garaufis for a lenient sentence. Back in Vancouver, Sarah reads Lauren received five years probation which makes her cry with relief.
Back to Nancy who is relieved for Lauren, too.
Nippy and Sarah have two sons and they also gave birth to a podcast called “A Little Bit Culty.” I have listened to pretty much all of their interviews pertaining to Nxivm and others as well. They were all really interesting. It’s a good podcast.
Vero earned her masters in psychotherapy. She continues to act as well.
Mark and Bonnie have continued with their film careers. Bonnie is on a television series, “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and Mark is in post-production for a documentary called “Empathy Not Included.”
Keith got new lawyers, appealed his sentence or his conviction? not sure which, but got turned down. I’ll get the details for my wrap-up post if I ever get to it.
Lauren drove Nancy 16 hours to Hazelton, West Virginia where Nancy served her sentence. Judge Garaufis granted her an early release after 20 months. The administration at her prison failed to give her follow up care after an abnormal mammogram. “It’s not supposed to be a death sentence,” he said.
We close out with Nancy’s final thoughts. “I think most people look at this story and say, that could never happen to me.” In Nancy’s opinion the whole Nxivm saga had many similarities to decisions people make in every day life, just exaggerated. “People trade away the things they really want, because they don’t want to create a catastrophe, or they don’t want to end a marriage or quit their job” Making trade after trade, people end up losing themselves. “So, I think it’s not so strange of a story as one might think.”
***
Want more Nxivm? India Oxenberg’s doc series Seduced “Hooked” episode 1
Recapulet 
Leave a comment