Sara and Clare Bronfman. Their father is rich. Their brother is sort of dumb. Their nephew is married to MIA(paper-planes). Sara is a poet, and Clare an equestrian. Now they have handed over $100 million to a cult called NXIVM.
https://www.metafilter.com/94664/Rich-Girls-Give-It-Away
WTF is this. A connection of NXIVM to Scientology.
https://www.metafilter.com/94664/Rich-Girls-Give-It-Away
Also, it sounds funny when people with tons of money to lose get wrapped up in this stuff. But it's not just rich people, and it's actually not that funny:
An ESP student she met in Anchorage invited her to seminars, where she became fascinated with videotapes of Raniere and Salzman, Clifford said.
Kristin Snyder’s first 16-day ESP intensive course was taught by Salzman in Anchorage in November 2002, Clifford said. She ate it up and demanded more, her partner said.
The Snyders said they knew something had changed when Kristin Snyder visited the family’s 300-acre cotton farm a few weeks after her first intensive. They say they hardly recognized the tearful, angry woman.
When her parents challenged her about NXIVM, Kristin Snyder would cut off discussion and telephone her ESP “coach,” her mother said.
“She had this ‘We can do anything we want to do’ attitude,” Jonnie Snyder said. “She thought Keith was incredible.”
Kristin Snyder visited ESP headquarters in Halfmoon for several days in January 2003 to learn more about the group. When she returned to Anchorage, she was sleep-deprived and seemed irrational, but intent to start another $7,000, 16-day intensive, Clifford said.
“She went to Albany and said, ‘Vanguard doesn’t sleep, so I don’t need to sleep,’ ” Clifford said.
NXIVM’s customs made Clifford uncomfortable, but she said she signed up for an ESP intensive to support her partner.
Kristin Snyder became emotionally disturbed on about the 10th day of that session, Clifford recalled, but a NXIVM instructor told her and other students to ignore suicide threats Kristin Snyder was making, saying they were just attempts at getting noticed. After being rebuffed for medical attention, Kristin Snyder left the hotel. Clearly upset, she waved goodbye to Clifford through a window as she walked away.
“I was told (by a NXIVM instructor) not to bring her to the hospital. That’s what makes me feel really bad,” Clifford said.
Snyder committed suicide in February 2003.