What Is DOS — Neil Glazer Gives Hard Line View of NXIVM’s Master-Slave Sorority

In his amended complaint in the civil lawsuit [see What Is NXIVM? Civil Lawsuit Lawyer Neil Glazer Explains in Damning Detail in Amended Complaint], attorney Neil Glazer goes to town on DOS. Before we read his shocking description of a nightmarish world, keep in mind that he represents more than a dozen ex-DOS “slaves” and has heard their stories in gripping detail.

Of course, and this is a fair statement, and must be made, all these women who are part of his lawsuit stand to make some money if Glazer prevails. Still, there is a truth and there will be a jury if this goes to trial.

Speaking of which – if Sara Bronfman had a brain cell in her head, she would settle this lawsuit because the disclosures that might come out about her during discovery might be very unpleasant indeed. Who knows – and I have no inside information – she might be able to settle it for less than what she will pay in legal fees and loss of business from the stench that will waft in her direction.

That said, she won’t be advised to be smart. I tried to advise her not to sue me but she did not listen and it cost her millions and helped put her sister in prison.

Without further ado, here is Neil Glazer on

DOS – The Subjugation and Exploitation of Women

1. Beginning in or about 2015, the Defendants formed an organization within NXIVM called “DOS” (or the “Vow”), secretly headed by Keith Raniere.

Defendants Allison Mack, Lauren Salzman, Nicki Clyne, Rosa Laura Junco, Daniela Padilla Bergeron, Loreta J. Garza Davila, and Monica Duran held high positions in DOS as “First Line Masters.”

2. First Line Masters were tasked with selecting attractive, trustworthy women who could become sexual partners for Raniere. Recruits were told they were being invited to join a sisterhood, which would empower them to overcome the weaknesses that Raniere and the other Defendants taught held them back in life.

Recruits were told that DOS offered a unique opportunity to enter a one-on-one mentorship with women who had been elevated in stature within the [NXIVM] community, and who thus were looked up to as role models.

3. Recruits were also told that DOS was an all-female group in which no male had a role. These features made DOS appear unique and desirable for women who, through subjection to Defendants’ methods, had been primed to want precisely just such a once-in-a-lifetime “opportunity.”

4. In order to find out more about this sisterhood, prospective DOS recruits were required to provide “collateral” to prove their trustworthiness. The collateral could consist of assets, compromising confessionals, letters falsely accusing close family members or friends of unethical, immoral or illegal conduct, nude photos, videos, or other materials that would, if released, subject the recruits or their loved ones to loss, humiliation or shame.

5. After supplying collateral, which had to be approved by the First Line Masters and Raniere, DOS was revealed to the recruits. But to their surprise and dismay, they were told that now, before they could learn about the structure and nature of this sisterhood, they had to provide additional humiliating and damaging collateral.

Thus, before knowing anything about the internal workings of DOS, they were trapped, fearful that if they did not do precisely as
instructed, the collateral that they had already provided would be released.

6. Once that second collateral had been given and approved, the recruiter/master revealed a little more about DOS: that it was a pyramid of “master/slave” relationships, explained as no different from a guru and disciple or a mentor-mentee relationship, which would strengthen women by testing and challenging their boundaries but would require absolute trust and obedience by “slaves” to their “masters.”

Shortly after being admitted into the group, slaves were commanded to provide additional collateral every month.

7. Even after providing abundant collateral, however, the slaves were never told certain material facts: that Raniere created and ran DOS with the assistance of the First Line Masters (if asked, the First Line Masters denied Raniere’s involvement); that the gathering of collateral was intended to coerce women into a lifetime of personal servitude; and that the ultimate objective of DOS was to recruit and groom women for sexual slavery under their “grandmaster” – Raniere.

In connection with Raniere’s sentencing, the District Court found that “DOS operated to abuse and exploit young women for sex, labor and financial gain.”

8. In exchange for developing and operating this pipeline of attractive young women for Raniere, the First Line Masters of DOS acquired personal servants or “slaves,” garnered favor with Raniere and achieved elevated status, stature, and power within NXIVM.

9. DOS “slaves” were subjected to a severely abusive environment, which included caloric deprivation, sleep deprivation, arduous physical labor, performance of menial tasks, and a variety of punishments for any failure to fully comply with their masters’ commands. They had to “check in” with their masters when they awoke and when they went to bed with text messages of “good morning M” and “goodnight M.”

10. Further, they had to be available to their masters twenty-four hours a day, because they were subjected to a stress-inducing sleep-deprivation technique referred to as “readiness drills,” in which they would receive a message on their phones with a “?”, to which they had a mere sixty seconds to respond “ready M.”

11. Failure to timely respond to their masters’ calls resulted in punishments called “penances” or “consequences,” which included long cold showers, extended periods during which they had to hold themselves in a physically demanding position known as a “plank,” ridicule, extreme diets, being forced to strip naked and be paddled on the buttocks, and, if a master so chose, imposition of these same punishments on other “slaves.”

12. “Slaves” were also required to clean their masters’ homes, shop for their groceries (at times with their own money), buy gifts for their masters, do their work for them and, for some “slaves,” be available for sex with Raniere on demand.

As the District Court found, DOS slaves “were terrified to leave or speak out against DOS out of fear that their ‘collateral’ would be released. All the while . . . DOS ‘slaves’ were coerced into providing labor and services for their ‘masters’ and Mr. Raniere.”

13. At all times, in addition to the continual threat of punishments within this highly regimented and abusive environment, “slaves” were acutely aware of the ultimate punishment hanging over their heads: the very real threat that their collateral would be released. Thus, “slaves” were rendered fully compliant, striving to achieve extremely unhealthy weight loss goals, adhering to diets of as little as 500-800 calories per day, having to ask permission to eat, having to weigh their food and calculate calories precisely, even having to send photographs of everything they ate to their masters.

 

14. “Slaves” were thus in a constant state of near-starvation, sleep deprivation, forced to physically exert themselves and push themselves well beyond exhaustion, always anxious and fearful that anything they said or asked might be interpreted as rebellious and subject them to punishments, both mental and corporeal.

15. Not a single DOS member understood when she gave that first collateral that she was signing up for a life of servitude and sexual slavery under a cruel grandmaster and his circle of mistresses.

Branding

16. Some DOS “slaves” were branded. In a secret ceremony, they were forced to disrobe, read from a script stating they requested to be branded, lie down on a table, and submit to branding by Defendant Danielle Roberts with a cauterizing iron in their pubic region. No anesthesia was administered during this procedure, which was extremely painful.

The ceremonies were recorded, thereby creating an additional piece of collateral. They were told that the brand was a symbol representing the elements of nature. Only later did they come to realize that they would be carrying Keith Raniere’s initials around with them for the rest of their lives.