Self-help guru ran sex slave cult,
with help from Bronfman sisters
By Ray Downs with help from Bronfman sisters
UPI -- A self-help group leader is accused of forcing his female clients into a sexual slavery cult, according to an FBI indictment released Monday.
Keith Raniere, founder of Nxivm, an Albany, N.Y.-based self-group group that aims to "empower people and answer important questions about what it means to be human," was arrested at a luxury resort in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and deported by Mexican authorities Sunday. He faces charges of sex trafficking, sex-trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy. Raniere is scheduled to appear in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday.
"Keith Raniere created a secret society of women whom he had sex with and branded with his initials, coercing them with the threat of releasing their highly personal information and taking their assets," U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said in a statement.
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney Jr. said Raniere "displayed a disgusting abuse of power in his efforts to denigrate and manipulate women he considered his sex slaves" and "allegedly participated in horrifying acts of branding and burning them, with the cooperation of other women operating within this unorthodox pyramid scheme."
Nxivm has been around for more about 20 years and has centers across the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America. The organization sells workshops that cost as much as $5,000 for five days. Participants are encouraged to keep taking classes to reach higher "goal levels."
The New York Times and Vanity Fair have reported that the main funding source of Nxivm are Clare and Sara Bronfman, sisters who are heiresses to the Seagram family liquor fortune.
That funding helped sustain a secret group within Nxivm called "DOS," which loosely translates from Latin to "Lord/Master of the Obedient Female Companions," and operates with levels of women "slaves" who are headed by "masters."
"Slaves were expected to recruit slaves of their own (thus becoming masters themselves), who in turn owed service not only to their own masters but also to masters above them in the DOS pyramid," prosecutors said. "Raniere stood alone at the top of the pyramid. Other than the Raniere, all members of DOS were women."
The indictment said DOS members were compelled to give damaging "collateral" information, including sexual photographs and video recordings of damaging confessions. The collateral would then be used to blackmail the slaves into performing various tasks, ranging from "acts of care," like getting coffee or cleaning up for their master to having sex with Raniere.
"Other assignments appeared designed to groom slaves sexually for Raniere," the indictment says. "For example, Raniere is known to sexually prefer women who are exceptionally thin, and a number of the slaves' assignments required them to adhere to extremely low-calorie diets and to document every food they ate. Other women were assigned to periods of celibacy during which they were not allowed to have sex with anyone or masturbate...DOS victims who received the assignment to have sex with Raniere believed they had to complete the assignment or risk release of their collateral."
In a statement posted on the Nxivm website, Raniere said, "The picture being painted in the media is not how I know our community and friends to be, nor how I experience it myself."
Raniere added that "highly qualified individuals" performed independent investigations into the group and "firmly concluded that there is no merit to the allegations that we are abusing, coercing or harming individuals."
Yesterday, the FBI raided the home of Nancy Salzman, President of Nxivm. Salzman and Clare Bronfman are both, of have both been members of the Clinton Global Initiative. Nxivm members have donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Initiative and to Hillary's Presidential campaign runs.
Yesterday, the FBI raided the home of Nancy Salzman, President of Nxivm. Salzman and Clare Bronfman are both, of have both been members of the Clinton Global Initiative. Nxivm members have donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Initiative and to Hillary's Presidential campaign runs.
Repeat sex offender caught by paedophile hunting group after targeting 14-year-old girl
By Liz Day
A repeat sex offender approached a chat room user he believed to be a 14-year-old girl and asked her if she wanted to see his genitals.
David Taylor, 36, from Barry, who had previously been jailed for serious sexual offences involving children, was caught by a paedophile hunting group after chatting with one of their decoys.
Cardiff Crown Court heard he asked the supposed girl if she had ever seen a man’s genitals before.
Tony Trigg, prosecuting, said Taylor was “snared” by The Guardian Angels – who refer to themselves as online child protection enforcers – on January 6.
The defendant was jailed for three years in June 2005 after being convicted of indecent assault and gross indecency with a child and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
By the end of 2007, he had breached that order five times and there were further breaches in 2010.
In January 2013, he was sent to prison for four years, with a six-year extension, for inciting sexual activity with a child. Prosecutors said he offered cash to a woman he met online if she would let him abuse her children.
Mr Trigg said Taylor had been before the courts for 17 previous offences, which he described as “serious”.
He added the lifelong Sexual Harm Prevention Order had been designed to prevent him from having any contact with children.
Well, I guess that didn't work so well.
But he was caught by The Guardian Angels trying to chat to someone he believed to be a teenage girl.
Mr Trigg said: “They are what is commonly known as paedophile hunters – volunteers who operate outside the normal authorities.”
Details of child sexual abuse presented at
Saskatchewan dangerous offender hearing
Angelina Irinici reports CTV
Warning: This story contains extremely graphic content.
Kenneth John Bowman played a “game” with an eight-year-old boy: injecting his hand with a needle filled with “medicine” before raping him, according to an interview between police and the boy.
The interview was played during a hearing in Saskatoon Provincial Court on Tuesday to determine whether Bowman be designated a dangerous offender.
A judge deems someone a dangerous offender if the Crown proves the person is a threat to the safety and mental well-being of the public. Dangerous offenders can receive an indeterminate prison sentence.
Bowman previously pleaded guilty to eight charges, including making and distributing child pornography, administering a stupefying drug and sexual assault.
Cpl. Jared Clarke with the Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation Unit testified Tuesday that Bowman was arrested March 9, 2016, after chatting with an undercover police officer in Toronto in an online group dedicated to the sexual abuse of children.
Bowman logged on and wrote, “Morning my fellow pervs. I want to **** a boy,” according to Clarke. Bowman then uploaded a photo to the group of him sexually assaulting the eight-year-old.
Bowman believed the undercover officer was a man and invited him to Saskatoon so the two of them could abuse the child. Bowman told the officer he had been raping the child since he was six years old. He detailed how the two men could get the boy high on meth and rape him. The two discussed the officer flying to Saskatoon, paying for methamphetamine and a hotel room, since Bowman would provide the child. Bowman gave his phone number to the officer and arranged to meet him at the airport, according to Clarke.
The officer in Toronto alerted the ICE Unit about Bowman once she confirmed he was in Saskatoon based on his IP address. Police arrested Bowman that day outside his apartment building. Officers were then able to identify the boy and reach out to his family.
In the interview with police, the child said Bowman injected his hand with “medicine” that made his knees feel “wobbly” and his voice sound different.
The boy said Bowman injected him so Bowman’s “pee pee” could go all the way in his “bum.”
Officers found photos on Bowman’s cellphone of the boy being sexually abused and raped by Bowman in his apartment.
Clarke presented a letter to the court in which Bowman apologizes for harming the child.
Bowman testified he is HIV positive. Photos of him and the boy do not show him wearing a condom, Clarke testified. The boy tested negative for HIV.
Bowmans’s testimony was part of an expungement hearing that also began Tuesday. Bowman previously pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual assault against two adult men, but wants those pleas erased. He also wants a guilty plea of aggravated sexual assault against the child to be replaced with the lesser offence of sexual assault causing bodily harm.
These charges stem from Bowman not disclosing his HIV positive status to the men and from the fact a child cannot consent to sex — which includes sex with someone who is HIV positive.
Bowman’s defence lawyer Tanis Talbot argued the charges should be erased and, in the one instance, replaced, because new scientific evidence shows Bowman’s HIV couldn’t be passed on.
Bowman is scheduled back in court next month to set dates for the continuation of the expungement hearing. A judge will eventually decide if he is deemed a dangerous offender.
Bowman also pleaded guilty to one instance of sexually touching a six-year-old boy sometime between 2011 and 2014.
Good grief! Forget expunging his previous guilty pleas. Expunge Bowman! The man should never see another day of freedom in his life!
Probe into handling of Ireland's
'worst ever child sex abuse case'
A good first step to bringing Ireland's Garda and Tusla
into the 21st century
An inquiry is being ordered into the handling by Tusla and An Garda Síochána of what is feared to be the largest paedophile ring the country has ever seen.
The move comes after the Dáil heard claims a whistleblower in the welfare sector had voiced concerns over the urgency of the response of State agencies when allegations first came to light.
TDs were told that up to 20 children have been identified as alleged victims.
Eleven people were arrested in connection with the alleged paedophile ring earlier this month but were later released. Files are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Ms Zappone said that in agreement with Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan she was commissioning an independent review of what she described as "a complex and unusual case of severe neglect and alleged child sexual abuse".
Dr Shannon will be assisted in the inquiry by child welfare consultant Suzanne Phelan and retired Garda chief superintendent Pádraig Kennedy.
Ms Zappone said gardaí and Tusla had been "closely involved" in the case, while some other State bodies had also been involved "to some extent".
"We have agreed that while there is no evidence of any serious mishandling of the case by either Tusla or An Garda Síochána, due to the complexity of the current case it would be good practice to arrange for a short, focused independent serious incident review of the actions to date," said Ms Zappone.
The minister said the review would examine the management of the case, including the inter-agency activity and co-operation which primarily involved Tusla and gardaí.
"The primary purpose of the review is to ensure that any learning which may arise is captured at the earliest possible opportunity and informs future work," she added.
"I am assured that all the children identified as victims of this abuse have been taken into care. No specific details of the case can be discussed, and I am conscious that it is illegal under the Child Care Act 1991 to publish information that could lead to the identification of a child in care."
Dr Shannon will assist in the drafting of the terms of reference for the review and advice will be sought from the Attorney General so that it does not prejudice the Garda inquiry.
The minister said it was intended the review would be completed as soon as possible and publication of its findings considered, subject to legal advice.
Tusla has declined to comment on how matters were handled, stating that it cannot discuss individual cases.
It is understood that Ms Zappone has been informed by Tusla that it managed the case as best it could, but the agency accepted its handling of the matter was not perfect and there were issues which needed to be examined.
Earlier this month, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the scale of what has been alleged was "shocking and may represent a first in this country".
Separately, a senior figure familiar with the investigation told the Irish Independent: "It will be the biggest abuse case in the history of the State and explosive for the State agencies."
Both Ms Zappone and Mr Flanagan were briefed about the situation around the time the arrests were made.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has also expressed concern.
Mr Varadkar told the Dáil the crimes alleged were "shocking, abhorrent and truly disgusting" and that the Government would fully support gardaí in the fight against all forms of child sexual exploitation.
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