reporter Ayla Ferrone's twats NIXIVM Trial update & details (1 of 2)
1) Have just received transcripts from yesterday's proceedings for the trial against #NXIVM leader Keith Raniere. It's difficult to keep up on the transcripts as they are hundreds of pages long, so be patient. Here's some notes from yesterday where Lauren Salzman testified. #thread
2) Salzman remained on direct examination. I'm told she likely will remain on the stand through tomorrow morning. Yesterday's trial began with attorneys discussing use of certain email evidence with the judge. Judge bars the exhibits due to specific accusations against Raniere.
3) Salzman confirming again, as her testimony begins, that she was a first-line master in DOS. She says this means she was enrolled directly under Raniere and that he was her master. She says aside from him, everyone else in DOS was female.
4) Says Raniere had sexual relationships with all but one first-line DOS member. Salzman then discusses how she first met other first line DOS members, mentions Allison Mack, and also says she was the last first-line member to be brought in.
5) Says she had a conversation with Nicki Clyne in Feb 2018 about a "commitment with Keith." Says Clyne was under the impression she was the only one with this relationship but later found out others were involved as well. Says Clyne and Mack eventually got married.
6) Salzman says she wrote a letter in support of this marriage. She says in total, she had 6 salves under her. Says when recruiting she was not to tell them about Raniere's involvement. She explains the collateral process we've heard about before within DOS.
7) Salzman explains other DOS practices: checking in with your master before bed and first thing in the morning, daily act of self-denial to make themselves uncomfortable, weekly acts of care, other tasks and assignments as well as readiness drills.
8) Salzman says most of the conversations happened in encrypted apps like Telegram or Signal. She says this was for more secrecy and security. Says her slaves did not know who they were reporting to. She says readiness drills were complex and could happen any time.
9) Salzman testifies to the below "buddy system" for her circle of first-line DOS masters. Says she kept a copy on her phone because it was difficult to remember the exact order. Says readiness drills were meant to build discipline.
10)Explains the buddy circle–says following the arrows that's who you were responsible for making sure responded to readiness. If you couldn't find the person you were directly responsible for, you were also responsible for the next person.
11)Says as more people were involved in DOS readiness drills became more complicated, says several could be happening at once. Says she remembers one happening while she was driving, needed to cross 4 lanes of traffic to respond and it was unsafe.
12)Now she describes acts of car she would perform for Raniere: picking up food for him, warming up his car, bringing snacks to volleyball. Says eventually she would help him edit the "DOS book."
13)She says recruitment was a big deal for Raniere. Said he was focused on getting 100 people in DOS. Says he wanted new people outside of NXIVM enrolled, specifically people of power and influence.
14)Salzman next testifies to the requirement to be branded as a member of DOS. Says the brand was Raniere's initials. Says there was also an idea of getting a tattoo over the brand with an additional design to make it prettier and distinguish lineage.
15)Says she never ended up getting the tattoo over the brand because Raniere couldn't decide on a design. Says first-line DOS members had meetings that were recorded. Now describes naked photos Raniere required of them.
16)Says they had to be uniform, fully frontal, and the brand should show, and they should appear happy in the photos. Says he also requested sexually explicit photos. Says she was uncomfortable because she knew Raniere was having sex with DOS masters, but not with her anymore.
17)Salzman now says she was required to submit additional collateral monthly. Says this could include staged crimes that were videotaped. Says eventually he wanted a DOS specific house, a sorority house.
18)Salzman says there were also punishments involved in DOS. This included doing physical activities like burpees, being paddled, etc. Says some other masters told her Raniere had paddled them and it was painful. Says one person told her she had also been kicked by Raniere.
19)Now talking about a dungeon that was being built in the basement of the home purchased for the DOS sorority house. Says there had been a bunch of BDSM items ordered for this purpose, and this happened the weekend DOS became public.
https://twitter.com/AylaFerrone/status/1130854481405472770