NXIVM / Executive Success Programs, Inc. - any info?

[Juustin]

A co-worker of mine lives in a nice little town, Clifton Park, NY (about 15-20 miles from Albany, and only a couple miles from where I grew up). She was asking in conversation if I had ever heard of "NXIVM", who apparently just purchased a house in a residential neighborhood right near her home.

The neighbors have been googling, and apparently the company has quite a history of controversy, and has even sued Rick Ross for listing them on their web site.

I had never heard of them, even though they appear to be based locally, and have quite a history around here. They apparently own a "center" in Albany, and purchased an old family restaurant in Clifton Park, which they've been trying to turn into a "center" for over a year. The town has been reluctant to grant them the proper zoning, and now they've purchased this home. Rumor in the neighborhood is they're turning the basement into a conference center, and even had direct entry/exit doors installed to lead to the basement.

It appears to be a mix of a pyramids scheme and extremely dogmatic (cultish) organization masquerading as an "executive life training" course.

Anyone have any details on them? A search on here only reveals one small message, which is a link to a story in a local newspaper that's no longer available online.

Website is here: http://www.nxivm.com/

 

[Drudgewire]

Quick google search immediately brought up a Rick Ross page with tons of links and a link to CultNews... which tells me a lot of what I wanted to know right off the bat.

Both of those pages contain an article from Forbes which the group apparently cherry-picks quotes out of to suggest the magazine endorses them... which no one who reads the article would ever think:

Forbes: Cult of Personality

 

[Juustin]

Here's a story from a local alternative magazine on them.

http://www.metroland.net/back_issues/vol29_no32/features.html

Apparently, after Rick Ross started investigating them, they tried to trick him into getting cornered on a cruise ship with them:

Ross recounts his experience with Interfor: He was told that an old friend of Aviv’s, a woman calling herself Susan L. Zuckerman, was seeking help in extracting her daughter, “Judy,” from NXIVM, and they needed Ross’ help. Interfor even cut him a check for $2,500 in November 2004 from its corporate account, stating that it was a retainer payment from Zuckerman. He met with Aviv, his assistant Anna Moody, and the woman who presented herself as Zuckerman at Interfor’s office. There, he says, they hatched a plan to get Ross on a cruise ship with “Judy Zuckerman” so that he could confront her and work to deprogram her.

“They wanted to know everything that I knew about NXIVM,” he says. “They asked me question after question. What did I really think of Keith Raniere? Did I think he was a cult leader? What did I think of their process of Intensives and seminars? How many complaints have I received [about NXIVM]?”

According to a NXIVM insider, the plan to get Ross on a crusie ship was a sting; the concerned-mother scenario was invented. And the role of daughter “Judy” was going to be performed by one of Raniere’s closest associates, Kristin Keeffe. Perhaps, the insider says, they thought they could convert Ross.