HOSTAGE SITUATION

NXIVM Sex Cult Member Lauren Salzman Admits to Locking Woman in Room for Two Years: Report

Lauren Salzman said she threatened the woman with deportation if “she did not complete labor requested by [her] and others.”

A NXIVM sex cult member who pleaded guilty in Brooklyn court last week told a judge she kept a woman locked in a room in her home for two years, the New York Post reports. “I knowingly and intentionally harbored Jane Doe 4, a woman whose identity is known to me, in a room in the home in the Northern District of New York,” member Lauren Salzman told to Judge Nicholas Garaufis last week, according to court transcripts. Salzman said she kept the woman in her home between March 2010 and April 2012 and threatened to deport her back to Mexico if “she did not complete labor requested by [her] and others.” Salzman also reportedly admitted to being a member of NXIVM's inner organization, DOS, which prosecutors allege of starving, branding, and grooming women to have sex with cult leader Keith Raniere. The group reportedly marketed itself as a women’s empowerment organization, but prosecutors claim at least one DOS member was coerced into having sex with Raniere. Salzman reportedly apologized during her hearing, claiming that her “poor decision-making” resulted in “harm to others,” families, and communities. According to the Post, she faces up to 20 years in prison for racketeering conspiracy. Salzman’s mother, Nancy Salzman, is reportedly the only other cult member to have pleaded guilty so far. In addition to racketeering charges, Raniere is accused of producing and possessing child porn.

MEGALOMANIA

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