Cult

Lawrence Ray was charged with 9 counts including sex trafficking, forced labor and money laundering, and faces life in prison.

Raniere and his top lieutenants allegedly knew that "some of what they were doing ... was not kosher."

"They should probably say that before they're held down, so it doesn't seem like they're being coerced."

Former Nxivm members say the alleged sex cult leader used abusive tactics, including branding and dangerous dietary restrictions, to keep members in check.

"Everything was just lies and deceit and darkness."

Allison Mack may also testify in a trial where the jury will hear about alleged cult leader Keith Raniere's habit of treating abortion like standard birth control.

In a plea to get Keith Raniere's charges dismissed, his lawyer argues that all that forced sex amounted to "manifestations of each member's commitment" to Nxivm.

Raniere's lawyer penned a 13-page plea—complete with footnotes and appendix—for his client's release pending trial.

Seagram's heiress and alleged sex cult benefactor Clare Bronfman would like a little latitude in her current home confinement, and has requested that a Brooklyn judge let her visit Manhattan while she awaits trial.

They are accused of sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, and identity theft.

A former member said one of the leaders "made it sound like a bad-ass bitch boot camp."

There was a cult run out of the Upper West Side in the 1970s and '80s. Little has been written about them in the years following its dissolution.