NEW YORK — A woman testified on Wednesday that she became a “slave” under the control of a self-help guru who counted her calories, preached that women too often play victim and, ultimately, used her for unwanted sex. Mack, described in court papers as a “master” in the “master-slave” subgroup, could be called as a witness. In two days of testimony, the first witness described herself as a lost soul from England who was introduced to NXIVM at age 18 by Bronfman, a fellow equestrian and deep-pocket benefactor of Rainere and his group. She described hoping to overcome her fears in life by taking courses that earned her a position as a “coach” in NXIVM. On cross-examination, the witness was confronted with private text chats — sprinkled with heart emoji — in which she told Raniere in the months leading up to his arrest how much she appreciated him.

Source: National Post May 08, 2019 16:30 UTC