The moment a cult leader's financial records got read in court last year

I was watching the NXIVM sentencing hearings online from my living room, and when the prosecutor read out Keith Raniere's personal spending for just 3 months, I nearly fell off my chair. Over $200,000 on private jets and luxury hotels, all while his followers were asked to donate plasma and work 16 hour days without pay. Has anyone else noticed this pattern where the leader lives like a billionaire while preaching simplicity?

3 comments

3 Comments

cameron_hernandez691d ago

Jaw dropped when they read off the jet bill alone, $80,000 in three months.

the_jake1d ago

Whoa, hold on a second. I get the shock, $80k on a jet is insane money no matter how you slice it. But calling someone a cult leader just for having expensive taste feels like a stretch. Plenty of regular pastors and influencers fly private and don't get that label thrown at them. The real issue should be if the money was actually stolen or if people gave willingly knowing where it was going. Lot of folks donate to flashy ministries and get exactly what they paid for.

ray_sullivan1d ago

My own finances are a mess, so I can't throw stones from my glass house, but that jet bill alone is more than I paid for my first house back in 1998. At least my bad spending habits only hurt me and my credit score, not an army of brainwashed followers donating their plasma. I guess when you're a cult leader, the "share everything" rule only applies to everyone else's paychecks.