Blinded by love: “I chose what I believed we had been training for this entire time. I chose love,” she said. “It never occurred to me that I would choose Keith and Keith would also choose Keith.” NXIVM leader’s ex-lover Lauren Salzman, testified
Nxivm leader Keith Raniere, 58, fancied himself an all-powerful “Grandmaster” to his harem of sex slaves, yet ran and hid in a closet when the feds stormed his Mexico hideout, a key witness testified Tuesday
The self-styled guru left his slave master and longtime lover, 42-year-old Lauren Salzman, to confront the heavily armed police at their Puerto Vallarta compound during the March 2018 raid, she recalled.

Lauren who is also the daughter of co-founder Nancy Salzman said: “I could see outside the window that federal police with machine guns and vests, some wearing masks, were surrounding the property,” Salzman testified.
“They were banging on the door” as Raniere made his way toward a closet in their locked suite, she said.
Salzman previously testified that she spent years as a high-level slave master as part of Raniere’s secret sex-slave sorority called DOS, for Dominant Over Submissive.
The court heard that Raniere had been planning a “re-commitment” orgy in Mexico with his upper-crust slave masters, including Salzman, “Smallville” actress Allison Mack, “Battlestar Galactica” star Nicki Clyne and others.
“My understanding of it is that it’s going to be us pleasuring him,” said Salzman, recalling not wanting to partake in the sex act.
Clyne, however, pressured her, she said.
“I have no way of surrendering except to a group blow job,” Salzman said.
The exotic commitment renewal ceremony with his front-line followers was nothing more than a “group (oral sex)” session for alleged sex cult leader Keith Raniere that was interrupted when federal agents busted into his Mexican hideaway to arrest him, a former member testified Tuesday.
NXIVM lieutenant Lauren Salzman said she was taking a nap with Raniere before the “ceremony” began when agents surrounded the villa in March 2018.Nancy Salzman took the first plea deal and got the best deal. Lauren came a few weeks later. Her deal was not as good.
Among the NXIVM top members Nancy Salzman [right] took the first plea deal and got the best deal. Her daughter Lauren [right] came a few weeks later. Her deal was not as good.
Inside were several other women followers, one of whom screamed out “The police are at the door … They’re here for Keith.”
Salzman said she immediately went into protective mode, urging Raniere to flee while she tried to stall the feds, who stood outside the house armed with machine guns.
“I ran and tried to protect Keith,” Saltzman told jurors at Raniere’s sex trafficking trial in Brooklyn Federal Court, on Tuesday.
“`You need to leave,’” she said she told him, begging him to flee out a window.
Honestly, I went into one mode — protect Keith. I closed all the doors, all the blinds.”
Earlier testimonies by cult members revealed that the alleged Nxivm cult leader played twisted sex games with his top female lieutenants — and even planned to build a basement dungeon to cage some of them, a former disciple testified Monday.
Supposed self-help guru Keith Raniere’s sick methods of control included having his female “slave masters’’ whipped when he thought they transgressed and viciously paddling them with a rubber-spiked sex toy, Lauren Salzman said in Brooklyn federal court.
Other oddball information that emerged was that Raniere was planning to build a dungeon in a home the group bought in upstate Waterford, while one of his top lieutenants was ordering “BDSM sex-torture things … handcuffs, nipple clamps … all things that were sexual in nature,’’ said Salzman, 42.
“They were making a dungeon in the basement. There would be a cage for the people who were most committed to growth,’’ Salzman, a onetime “slave master’’ and longtime lover of Raniere, said she was told by the Svengali and a top sidekick, Daniela Padilla Bergeron.
Alleged sex cult leader Keith Raniere is on trial for sex-trafficking in Brooklyn federal court
While “they were banging on the door” Raniere made his way toward a closet in their locked suite, she said.
“Ask them if they have a warrant,” he directed Salzman before hiding.
Salzman relived the harrowing ordeal in the third week of Raniere’s sex-trafficking trial in Brooklyn federal court.
“The whole time I kept thinking they could just shoot in this door, thinking really legitimately, ‘I could get shot right now,’” the 42-year-old testified.
“They were banging on the door,” Salzman said. “The whole time I was thinking they could just shoot through the door. Legitimately, I could get shot right now,” the 42-year-old testified.
“I kept interacting with them because my higher priority was Keith.”
Raniere told her to ask if they had a warrant.
“Open the door and I’ll show it to you,” the agent said.
Moments later, the agents knocked down the door and made the arrest.
Frightened by officers who kicked in the door, threw her to the floor and surrounded her with guns drawn, Salzman uttered Raniere’s name — effectively ratting him out.
“They held me on the floor with four machine guns pointing at me,” Salzman said.
For months afterwards, Salzman said, she blamed herself for Raniere’s arrest. – Although frightened, all the while, her focus was still on protecting the man she called “Grandmaster.”
“I chose what I believed we had been training for this entire time. I chose love,” she said. “It never occurred to me that I would choose Keith and Keith would also choose Keith.”
Raniere, instead, hid in a walk-in closet while Salzman and the other women tried to hold off the agents.
This was how she felt even after confronting Raniere about the commitment ceremony after another one of the women told her it involved a “group b—–b.”
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