In HBO’s ‘The Vow‘ true-crime miniseries, audiences get in-depth retellings from former NXIVM members (pronounced Nex-e-um) by former cult members who ruled the headlines a few years earlier when it was announced that an NXIVM secret society was acting as a front for human slavery.
In 2018, the creator, Keith Raniere, and actress Allison Mack, a leading member of the party, were both arrested, among others, on trafficking charges.
Following a six-week trial in 2019, Raniere was convicted in June 2019 on charges of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, child labour conspiracy, sex slavery, child trafficking conspiracy, and attempted sex trafficking.
The Vow includes former representatives, including actresses Sarah Edmondson and Bonnie Piesse, as well as director Mark Vicente, Piesse’s spouse.
Much before 2018, the scandals around Raniere and NXIVM began, but even former participants failed to bring to light his even heinous crimes.
Barbara Bouchey and Susan Dones, who were also members of the Executive Council, with the former being the spouse of Raniere for many years, had also left the company and, in doing so, were the frequent ambitions of NXIVM as well as the financial backers of the company and were both avid followers of Raniere, the sisters of Bronfman, Clare and Sara, heiresses of the kingdom of Seagram.
Raniere began to follow a new mission through these sisters: to visit the Dalai Lama and have his self-help organization certified by him to cool down the accusations surrounding Raniere and his party.
Even though it had faced some roadblocks, the new episode of ‘The Vow’ delves into what went down and how the meeting with the Dalai Lama was planned.
According to sources, Sara Bronfman specifically played a key role in making this possible.
We’re also learning a lot more about Barbara Bouchey, who was dating Raniere almost ten years before she left NXIVM. The couple met through Nancy Salzman, a former psychiatrist, and associate of Bouchey’s who the co-founder of NXIVM was also.
Even though Bouchey assumed Raniere was in a serious relationship with her, she later learned that he was with the organization’s 12 other employees. After this, Bouchey went further away from Raniere and NXIVM.
‘The Promise’ airs on HBO at 10/9c on Sunday evenings.
