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'The Vow' Episode 6 Preview: Keith Raniere lobbied to meet Dalai Lama amid rising controversies

The latest episode of the HBO true-crime miniseries unpacks Raniere's infamous meeting with the Dalai Lama and looks at his former partner and NXIVM member, Barbara Bouchey
PUBLISHED SEP 28, 2020
'The Vow' (HBO)
'The Vow' (HBO)

In HBO's true-crime miniseries, 'The Vow', viewers get in-depth retellings from former members of NXIVM (pronounced Nex-e-um) from former members of the cult that dominated the news a few years ago when it was revealed that a secret society within NXIVM was operating as a sex trafficking front. Both the founder, Keith Raniere, and actress Allison Mack -- a prominent member of the group -- were arrested on trafficking charges among others in 2018.

After a six-week trial in 2019, Raniere was convicted in June 2019 of charges including racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and attempted sex trafficking. 'The Vow' features former members including actresses Sarah Edmondson and Bonnie Piesse, as well as Piesse's spouse, filmmaker Mark Vicente.

The controversies surrounding Raniere and NXIVM began much before 2018; however, many former members struggled to bring to light his many heinous crimes. Barbara Bouchey and Susan Dones -- who were both Executive Board members, with the former being Raniere's partner for many years -- had both left the group and after doing so, they were the constant targets of NXIVM as well as the group's financial backers who were also ardent supporters of Raniere, the Bronfman sisters, Clare and Sara, heiresses to the Seagram empire.

It was through these sisters that Raniere started pursuing a new goal: to meet the Dalai Lama and get his self-help organization validated by him in order to quiet down the allegations around Raniere and his group. The latest episode of 'The Vow' dives into what really went down and how that visit with the Dalai Lama was arranged, even though it had met multiple roadblocks. Sara Bronfman particularly played a crucial role in making this happen, according to reports.

We also learn a lot more about Barbara Bouchey who dated Raniere for nearly a decade before she left NXIVM. The pair met through Nancy Salzman, Bouchey's former therapist and friend, who was also the co-founder of NXIVM. Though Bouchey believed Raniere was in a committed relationship with her, she later found out that he was with 12 other women from the organization. It was after this that Bouchey grew more distant from Raniere and NXIVM.

'The Vow' airs on Sunday nights on HBO at 10/9c.

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