A few years ago, Vanessa Grigoriadis started to tell the story of a lifetime. That story would take her to a suburb north of Albany, New York, and to a mysterious location in Mexico. That story would put her in front of people from Clare Bronfman, heir to the Seagram's fortune, to "Smallville" actor Allison Mack. All in pursuit of the tale of NXIVM, a group first founded as a (now defunct) corporation by Keith Raniere, which peddled personal development courses and videos for a price.
Starting as a multi-level marketing company, NXIVM offered seminars like the "Executive Success Programs," and eventually had an estimated 16,000 members. Women within the organization were used to recruit more women for secretive groups inside the group, which used coercive techniques including threats and blackmail. Women were branded and sexually assaulted.
