The arrest of NXIVM leader Keith Raniere in March 2018 occurred just moments before he was about to have group sex with six “slaves,” a former member testified on Tuesday.
Lauren Salzman spoke in Brooklyn federal court about the moments before and after Raniere was arrested by Mexican federal agents, who raided the Puerto Vallarta compound where they were staying.
Salzman, the daughter of NXIVM co-founder Nancy Salzman, said she had barricaded herself in a master suite while Raniere hid in a closet, according to the Daily Beast.
“My main concern was to protect Keith. It was almost automatic,” Salzman said. “I chose love over everything, just like we were taught by Keith.”
The raid happened just as Salzman and other female members of the cult were about to perform a “recommitment ceremony” to prove their loyalty to Raniere.
Buzzfeed reported Salzman testified that she assumed this meant they would be engaging in group sex ― and the prospect didn’t excite her.
“There has to be a way that I can grow that isn’t this,” Salzman said she thought to herself. “I have no way of growing except [by participating in] a group blow job?”
Although the “recommitment ceremony” never took place, Salzman testified the arrest showed her Raniere’s true colors.
Salzman said the officers kicked in the door, threw her to the floor and surrounded her with guns drawn, while Raniere hid in a closet.
Feeling scared, Salzman cried out for Raniere’s help. He eventually came out to read her the indictment she said federal authorities “thrusted in his face.”
That’s when Salzman said she realized Raniere was not her protector, “but a coward,” according to the New York Post.
“It never crossed my mind that I would choose Keith and Keith would choose Keith,” Salzman said on Tuesday. “For months after that I felt like such a failure for not being strong enough. I felt like I let him down.”
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Thailand
On Aug. 18, 2009, a bar girl waits for customers outside a bar in Sungai Kolok in Thailand's southern province of Narathiwat. The sun hasn't set, but already the music is pumping and the disco ball is rolling in the Sumtime Bar, where Malaysian men are enjoying the drinks and women available on this side of the Thai border. (Photo credit: Madaree Tohlala/AFP/Getty Images)
Bangladesh
A Bangladeshi sex worker takes an Oradexon tablet in a government-registered brothel in Faridpur, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) outside Dhaka on June 20, 2010. Whenever Bangladeshi brothel owner Rokeya, 50, signs up a new sex worker, she gives her a course of steroid drugs often used to fatten cattle. For older sex workers, tablets work well, said Rokeya, but for younger girls of 12 to 14 -- who are normally sold to the brothel by their families -- injections are more effective. (Photo credit: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images)
China
Chinese police watch over a group of massage girls suspected of prostitution during a June 21, 2011, raid in Beijing, part of a vice crackdown ahead of celebrations for the founding of the Chinese Communist Party 90 years ago. Rapid social and economic changes have made China "prone to corruption." and the ruling Communist Party faces a major challenge stamping out deep-rooted official graft, an official said on June 22. (Photo credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images)
New York City
New York City Council member Melissa Mark-Viverito places a child's shoes onto a stack children's shoes, used as a symbol for child sex trafficking, during a protest rally outside the Village Voice on Thursday, March 29, 2012 in New York. A coalition of religious and civic leaders demanded that the Village Voice stop running their adult classified section. The protesters say the section is being used by sex traffickers peddling underage prostitutes. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
New Mexico
This undated photo provided by New Mexico Attorney General Gary King
England
A newspaper advertising board outside a corner shop in the Lancashire town of Rochdale, England, after nine men were arrested for child sexual exploitation on Jan. 11, 2011. Greater Manchester Police arrested nine men as part of an investigation into sexual exploitation and questioned them on suspicion of rape, inciting child prostitution, allowing premises to be used for prostitution and sexual activity with a child. (Photo credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Guatemala City
Firefighters help rescue a prostitute after she became trapped in a tunnel from an offensive against human trafficking at the Super Frontera bar late on April 21, 2012, in Guatemala City. (Photo credit: Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images)
United Kingdom
Undated handout composite image issued Tuesday May 8, 2012, by Greater Manchester Police showing eight of the nine men who have been convicted for luring girls as young as 13-years old into sexual encounters using alcohol and drugs, top row left to right, Abdul Rauf, Hamid Safi, Mohammed Sajid and Abdul Aziz, and with Bottom row left to right, Abdul Qayyum, Adil Khan, Mohammed Amin and Kabeer Hassan. The nine men aged between 22 and 59 are convicted of charges including rape, assault, sex trafficking and conspiracy and will be sentenced Wednesday May 9, 2012 at court in Liverpool, England. The ninth man in the group, a 59-year-old man cannot be named for legal reasons. (AP Photo / Greater Manchester Police)
Paris
A man demonstrates with prostitutes and members of the Union of Sex Workers on June 2, 2012, at Paris' Pigalle square, asserting their rights to work with dignity and respect. (Photo credit: Bertrand Langlois/AFP/Getty Images)
Nicaragua
Wendy, a Nicaraguan sex worker and member of NGO Girasoles Nicaragua (Nicaragua Sunflowers), waits for clients on a street in Managua on April 18, 2012. (Photo credit: Elmer Martinez/AFP/Getty Images)
Virginia
In this Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 photo, Holly Smith, 33, looks out form her porch after talking about her experiences when she was caught up in a child sex trafficking ring during an interview in her home in Richmond, Va. A new report says 41 states have failed to adopt strong penalties against human trafficking, and advocates say a patchwork of differing state laws makes it difficult for authorities to target the crime. Smith said a man at a mall promised her a job after she ran away from home at age 14. She said she was swiftly brought to a motel where two adults gave her a dress, put makeup on her face and dyed her hair.
California
The Polaris Project, a nonprofit combatting human trafficking in the United States, has ranked the 10 most important state statutes that should be enforced to prevent or end human trafficking. Having implemented 7-9 of the 10 statutes, California is one of the states that does the most to stop trafficking.
Connecticut
The Polaris Project, a nonprofit combatting human trafficking in the United States, has ranked the 10 most important state statutes that should be enforced to prevent or end human trafficking. Having implemented 7-9 of the 10 statutes, Connecticut is one of the states that does the most to stop trafficking.
Florida
The Polaris Project, a nonprofit combatting human trafficking in the United States, has ranked the 10 most important state statutes that should be enforced to prevent or end human trafficking. Having implemented 7-9 of the 10 statutes, Florida is one of the states that does the most to stop trafficking.
Georgia
The Polaris Project, a nonprofit combatting human trafficking in the United States, has ranked the 10 most important state statutes that should be enforced to prevent or end human trafficking. Having implemented 7-9 of the 10 statutes, Georgia is one of the states that does the most to stop trafficking.
Illinois
The Polaris Project, a nonprofit combatting human trafficking in the United States, has ranked the 10 most important state statutes that should be enforced to prevent or end human trafficking. Having implemented 7-9 of the 10 statutes, Illinois is one of the states that does the most to stop trafficking.
Minnesota
The Polaris Project, a nonprofit combatting human trafficking in the United States, has ranked the 10 most important state statutes that should be enforced to prevent or end human trafficking. Having implemented 7-9 of the 10 statutes, Minnesota is one of the states that does the most to stop trafficking.
Missouri
The Polaris Project, a nonprofit combatting human trafficking in the United States, has ranked the 10 most important state statutes that should be enforced to prevent or end human trafficking. Having implemented 7-9 of the 10 statutes, Missouri is one of the states that does the most to stop trafficking.
New York
The Polaris Project, a nonprofit combatting human trafficking in the United States, has ranked the 10 most important state statutes that should be enforced to prevent or end human trafficking. Having implemented 7-9 of the 10 statutes, New York is one of the states that does the most to stop trafficking.
Texas
The Polaris Project, a nonprofit combatting human trafficking in the United States, has ranked the 10 most important state statutes that should be enforced to prevent or end human trafficking. Having implemented 7-9 of the 10 statutes, Texas is one of the states that does the most to stop trafficking.
Vermont
The Polaris Project, a nonprofit combatting human trafficking in the United States, has ranked the 10 most important state statutes that should be enforced to prevent or end human trafficking. Having implemented 7-9 of the 10 statutes, Vermont is one of the states that does the most to stop trafficking.
Washington
The Polaris Project, a nonprofit combatting human trafficking in the United States, has ranked the 10 most important state statutes that should be enforced to prevent or end human trafficking. Having implemented 7-9 of the 10 statutes, Washington is one of the states that does the most to stop trafficking.
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