Ex-members of Nxivm say leader Keith Raniere brainwashed women into starving themselves

• Nxivm cult leader and founder Keith Raniere used various brainwashing tactics to manipulate his followers into obeying him, ex-members said at Raniere's prison sentencing. One of those methods was extreme diet restriction.
• He specifically restricted his sex slaves' calories in an attempt to make them lose weight and appear more child-like, former member India Oxenberg said.
• Raniere told followers diet control was one of the best ways to work through underlying psychological issues, they said.
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Former members of alleged sex cult Nxivm have spoken out about founder and leader Keith Raniere's various manipulation tactics, like providing family secrets and notarized house deeds under the guise of personal accountability.

During Raniere's lifetime prison sentence hearing on October 27, former members talked about Raniere's request for diet restriction among multiple women members, including those in Nxivm's secret sorority DOS.

According to India Oxenberg, who executive produced the docuseries "Seduced" about her seven years in the cult and two years as a DOS sex slave, Raniere framed diet restriction as the ultimate show of self-improvement and convinced some followers to believe that. 

In reality, Raniere restricted women's diets to make them look more child-like, Oxenberg said during her victim impact statement at the sentencing.

Oxenberg, who was also branded with Raniere's initials, isn't the only former Nxivm member to say Raniere restricted her diet.

When Ivy Nevares defied Raniere's strict diet, eating pumpkin seeds to stave off her hunger, he became angry, Nevares said during her own victim impact statement.

Camila, who didn't share her last name during her testimony, said Raniere raped her when she was 15 and he was 45. She said Raniere was obsessed with her weight for the entirety of their relationship, which lasted until she left Nxivm at 27.

"From the time we started having sex, he would ask me my weight every single day," Camila said at Raniere's sentencing. "This continued into my adulthood. His goal for me was to be 100 pounds or less." 

During an appearance on Dr. Oz that airs October 29, former member Tabby Chapman said Raniere falsely told her diet restriction was a useful tool for self-improvement. 

"I was originally food-restricted because Keith had everyone convinced that the fastest way to work your issues was to work your relationship with food," Chapman told Oz.

She said she often wondered how eating fewer calories would lead her to business success, but continued to eat between 500 and 900 calories daily as Raniere requested.

Bonnie Piesse, a former member, left Nxivm when she noticed various women were restricting their food intake and looked dangerously underweight, she said in HBO's docuseries "The Vow." She said one of those women was "Smallville" actress Allison Mack, who recruited Oxenberg and others into DOS. Mack now awaits her own sentencing, and pleaded guilty to racketeering for her involvement in the cult.

Raniere, 60, was sentenced to 120 years in prison after being found guilty of child sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor.

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