Thread by @AylaFitz

It seems I hit my #THREAD limit, so here's a new one continuing details on the first witness in the #NXIVM trial of Keith Raniere.

The student application was denied and the witness moved to London and got a job with Goldman Sachs. She started running with a club there and got a boyfriend. She was still checking in with Bronfman and Raniere daily on her weight.

The witness returned to New York for V-Week again in 2011 and says she was doing very well with her running. She thought she could become an elite athlete and Raniere offered to coach and train her in running. She had never seen him run.

She planned to quit her job in early 2012 to focus on running but was asked to quit the London running club. She "thought this was a sacrifice I had to make." She ran the 2012 Freihofer's 5K which was encouraged to show Raniere was a good coach.

The witness says once on a walk with Raniere he mentioned a sexual relationship but says she had no interest in this. She stayed in the U.S. following V-Week 2012 to continue her running training with Raniere.

This is when Jness, pegged as a women empowerment group, started to gear up. Nancy Salzman would generally give these lessons. Jness Tracks was formed and included men in the teachings.

The witness says she did not want to take Jness Tracks and it was suggested she take a walk with Raniere. On this walk he told her she was cold, cold hearted, and if she ever had children they would hate her. He told her Jness tracks would prevent that.

One section of Jness tracks focused on 3 men explaining to one "focus" woman what it was like to be a man. The witness explains there was also a men only group called the Society of Protectors.

The witness also explained EMs (exploration of meaning) which was meant to meld two competing ideas that didn't match up. Generally she was suggested to take EMs when she didn't want to do something.

At this point, the witness was staying in Vancouver and did not want to some back to Albany. Eventually she did and took more NXIVM classes. She mentions in the end of 2012 she got very sick and talked about that more later in testimony.

She says she was staying with Bronfman again and went back and forth to London on a tourist visa. Says Bronfman suggested not using JFK because of immigration issues.

Even when out of the U.S. the witness sent Raneire and Bronfman her running schedule and results. She says some of the programs involved running at a 4:49 pace on a treadmill for as long as she could. She had to take EMs when she stopped too soon.

She says she was doing cardio for 6 hours a day and ended up getting very sick. She had an abscess and a doctor told her she was on the verge of sepsis.

Next, we saw emails in evidence that show the witness told Bronfman and Raniere in 2012 she would wake "with pain and fear in the night."

Bronfman's response was that the witness had slipped back into "Silvi-bot" and was resorting to what was comfortable. The witness did not follow doctor's orders to stop training, even after surgeries.

The check-ins with Raniere and Bronfman continued and with a couple of weeks left in recovery from surgery (the witness had a packed wound) she traveled back to Albany and an ESP member would pack the wound for her until healed.

She was still running and biking and had no visa. She says Raniere joked with her abbout getting married for a visa. She says she knew others in NXIVM had done this, but she did not want to marry someone random.

Within NXIVM she met a man named John who she thought she may actually like to marry. She asked Raniere's permission to propose this idea and Raniere said "It's a shame, we could have had fun." The witness and John married in July of 2015.

The witness was told to not have sex with her husband for 2 years. They came up with a contract for their marriage, including living arrangements, monogamy, etc.

During Jness training in 2015, the witness was approached by a friend within NXIVM named Monica who said she thought the witness seemed unhappy and that she had a special project outside of NXIVM/ESP that would change her life.

If the witness wanted to hear about the project, however, she needed to provide collateral. What she offered wasn't enough, so eventually she wrote a (fake) letter about being a prostitute, took a full frontal naked photo, and addressed the letter to her parents.

Then Monica told her this would be a master and slave project to help push her through her fears. She was told the collateral was needed to make sure she didn't talk about the project, and that it needed to be made stronger on a monthly basis.

The witness explained "readiness drills" where she needed to be available to respond to her phone messages at all hours of the day. If she didn't respond in time she would be physically punished.

She also would be required to complete assignments. The first assignment was to seduce Raniere. She didn't want to do it but says she felt she didn't have a choice because of the collateral.

Eventually she messaged Raniere: "You look hot in your glasses." To which he responded "you're going to have to do better than that." She was surprised by this because she thought he didn't know about her assignment or DOS.