On March 26, 2018 (February 10, 2018 in the lunar calendar), American cult master Keith Raniere was arrested. Another cult leader in the United States was arrested! According to the Associated Press, cult leader Keith Raniere was arrested in Mexico on March 26, 2018 and deported to Texas. Raniere, the leader of the so-called "self-help organization" Nxivm, was accused of "brainwashing" female members by branding them with his initials and saying that the best way to "progress" is to become a sex slave controlled by his master. According to reports, Raniere is known as a "pioneer" within Nxivm. Female members of the organization are often forced to have sex with Raniere, handle chores for him, and are told not to disclose these secret acts to the outside world. The New York Times exposed Nxivm's misdeeds in October last year. During the "initiation ceremony", the new members were pressed naked on a massage table, and the "master" guided them to read the "oath": "Please give me a brand, this is my honor." Then, the staff branded the women's abdomens with a 5-centimeter-square "mark", which is the initials of Raniere's name. The entire "operation" lasted about half an hour, and the whole process was filmed. Some victims said that the smell of burnt skin filled the air at that time, and many girls were almost painful to feel. And many people initially thought they were joining a secret sorority aimed at empowering women. This secret cult has a "pyramid" structure inside, with Raniere promoting officials to act as "masters", who continue to develop offline and recruit new "slaves". According to media reports, Nxivm has many brainwashing methods, such as requiring members to greet their masters "clock in" during training. For members who do not obey discipline, the group will require them to wear imitation cow breasts as a humiliation. Since Raniere prefers extremely thin women, members are ordered to strictly control their diet and stay thin until they meet their perverted aesthetic requirements. The New York Times said that it is difficult for these women who are trapped in the den to escape, and it is difficult to seek help from the outside world. Because at the beginning of membership, they have to hand over a lot of "collateral", such as nude photos, personal financial information or various "scandals" hidden in their hearts, and the cult continues to exploit and blackmail them. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Lanier, 57, used to run a business in his early years and was later investigated for suspected "pyramid scheme". In the 1990s, Lanier packaged himself as a "master of human psychodynamics" and a "super genius" who had made achievements in various fields. He preached that he could talk fluently at the age of 1, read and write at the age of 2, and self-taught high school mathematics courses in 19 hours. In 1998, Raniere co-founded Nxivm with a former psychiatric nurse who claimed to be an "expert on human potential". Under the guise of "leading a new era of human evolution", Nxivm recruited a wide range of members and provided expensive "potential training" for several days. The New York Times said that since the late 1990s, Nxivm has recruited about 16,000 members and has branches in various parts of the United States, Canada and Mexico. Some "iron fans" are willing to follow the footsteps of "masters" and even leave their homes and businesses, and there are many social elites among their followers. There are also media reports that Nxivm has grabbed hundreds of millions of wealth from the heirs of famous corporate consortia. In recent years, the US media have begun to expose Raniere's various heinous acts at Nxivm, and local and federal law enforcement agencies in New York have also been involved in investigations. After the New York Times report was published, Raniere fled the country at the end of last year. When the police found Raniere in a famous tourist city in Mexico, he was living in an upscale house with several women. At present, Raniere faces a number of charges such as sex trafficking and founding a secret society. He appeared in court on the 27th local time. "Master" has previously denied "branding" and other acts. Nxivm also bills itself as a "mutual aid organization" and does not recognize it as a cult. The organization has previously denounced the media reports as "nonsense". "Women who join the club are obviously very happy." According to some media reports, Nxivm has sued several journalists and whistleblowers in the past few years. In 2014, a reporter in New York State was "forced to take leave" for reporting on the group. For a long time after that, few people were willing to touch the topic of Nxivm.