Thread by @AylaFerrone

We're into the 6th week of the trial for #NXIVM leader Keith Raniere. Former DOS member "Nicole" remains on the stand this morning. I've just received the transcripts from Friday's proceedings so will be updating in this #thread. news10.com/news/local-new…

Nicole begins her testimony still under direct examination talking about a Facebook message from Allison Mack. Talks about a thumbs down that is in the message and explains she hit it on accident when showing the FBI at a later date. news10.com/news/local-new…

The date on the message is April 16, 2016. Nicole talking about emails sent to Raniere. Says Mack was urging her to get a response in a certain time period. Says she was instructed to do this by asking a question. Emails are entered into evidence. news10.com/news/local-new…

The question she sent Raniere was: "how do I constantly challenge my fears and be joyful at the same time? While I'm challenging and facing my fears, my body feels constantly in fight or flight." Says she really felt that way, about to take 5 day intensive
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Nicole says Raniere did not respond so she sent him two other emails. Says she did not want to be emailing him. He finally responded to the 3rd email. Says she didn't understand what his response meant. Says she was checking in with Mack during this.
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She emailed Raniere back talking about her interests in improving as an actor, he responded in part saying: "Our ability to feel human
pain determines the depth and strength of our love." Says she did not know at this time Raneire was part of DOS.
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Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Penza now shows Nicole an email chain between her and Mack. Says this was about an interview with Mack's agency, and off-Broadway audition, and mentorship. Says this paired with DOS activities was confusing for her.
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Nicole says at this time her schedule was crazy. Working at a nightclub 4 days a week and then would take the bus to Albany to spend time in Clifton Park. Says Mack told her she should be coming to the area. Says she tried to push back once.
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Mack told her it needed to be a priority. Nicole says she was paying for the trips herself. Says money was a concern for her at the time. Says she would sleep at Mack's house in her bed when she would come to Clifton Park.
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Says in April 2016 while she was stay at Mack's, Raniere walked by. She said hi to him and he asked if she wanted to go for a walk. Says she knew going on walks with him was an important thing. He said she had "earned it" from the emails.
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Says during the walk it started to rain and Raniere said "isn't this funny that this is our first date." She says she was "shell shocked." Says she said goodbye and ran back to Mack's house. Says she was not attracted to Raniere, did not want to date him.
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Says at this point she felt like there was a plot to get her to Clifton Park for Raniere. She confided in Mack about this and she told her that wasn't true. Says she went on more walks with Raniere arranged by Mack, often in early morning hours.
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Says Mack had a special alert for Raniere on her phone so she'd know when it was coming. Says he never acknowledged that he was part of DOS, but that at points she felt like he was talking about it on the walks.
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On the walks Raniere would ask her personal questions including what's the worst thing you've ever done, what are you afraid of, etc. Says she asked Mack if Raniere was involved in DOS and she said no, it wasn't connected to NXIVM at all.
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Says Mack gave her another assignment on her way for a walk with Raniere. It was to tell him she would do anything he asked her to do. Says she felt she didn't have a choice in this. Mack said: "now go be a good slave" before she left.
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Says during this walk he asked her what the worst thing he could ask her to do would be. She said it would be to hurt herself or her family or someone else. Says they also talked about bravery and commitment on this walk.
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Says Raniere told her to come back when she really meant that she'd do anything he asked. She reported this back to Mack and she said she would go back the next day. Another walk was arranged. Says she was feeling scared as she headed out for this walk.
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Says she told him again she'd do anything he asked. This time he took her hand and brought her to Flintlock, directly across from Mack's. He asked her to trust him and then to take off all her clothes. Says he commented on her body and her pubic hair.
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She says this is when she started to connect the dots that he was involved. Next he told her to get dressed and put two blindfolds on her. He then drove her somewhere. She thinks they walked through woods to a small room with a table.
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He told her to get undressed again but keep the blindfolds on. He led her to the table and tied her wrists and feet to each of the corners. Says someone started going down on her and then she realized there was another person in the room.
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She describes this moment as "terrifying" says she was trying to figure out how many people were in the room. Says Raniere was walking around the table asking her questions during this. Says she realized it was a woman performing oral sex on her.
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The questions Raniere was asking were about her sexual history. Says when it was done he untied her and helped her get dressed because she was still blindfolded and drove her back to Flintlock where he took off the blindfolds.
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Raniere told her not to tell anyone about what had happened. She asked if she could tell Mack and he said yes. She says she left and it was daylight. She told Mack what happened and Mack said she was brave. After this Raniere would text Nicole directly.
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Penza shows another email chain between her and Mack. Nicole says there were journal entries. Explains she was angry that she was stuck in this situation as far as handing over collateral. Says she wasn't always completely truthful in the entries.
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In one entry she write "I'm excited about embracing the vow and working with Keith." She writes more about being angry with herself. Mack responded telling her in part: "find the calm in the eye of the storm." Says all of this was confusing.
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Looking back she says she realizes all of this was extremely abusive behavior. Now talking about the next walk she took with Raniere, says he took her to the library which she had not been to before. Says there were books, white board, and a hot tub.
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She says all the windows in the library were blacked out. Raniere said this was a place he had stayed previously that was a safe spot when he would get death threats. The library is located at 8 Hale.
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She says there were specific rules about being there. Says she couldn't touch or move anything. Says eventually Raniere told her he created DOS and that he was the grandmaster and had other slaves in addition to Mack. Says it was all a hierarchy.
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Says Mack wanted her to check in after every walk with Raniere. Says it was important for her relationship with Mack to make Raniere happy. Said she needed "to be well behaved." Says she remained in DOS for just over a year after the table incident.
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She now talks about the readiness drills we've heard about before in testimony. Says there was one time her phone died and Mack called her managers and co-workers and said there was a family emergency. Nicole says this was "necessary and ridiculous."
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Says Raniere first kissed her that July. Says there were various sexual encounters with him while she was in DOS. Says they had sex 3-4 times, but that oral sex was his preference. Says she was very uncomfortable with all of it but felt like she was stuck.
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Says she had no one to turn to but him. He would say learn to like it for it to be less awkward. This is where court takes the mid-morning break.
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When they return, Penza asks if Raniere spoke to Nicole about his sexual relationship with Mack. She says yes. Now talking about V Week 2016. Nicole had not had sex with Raniere at this point. Says he tried but she wanted to go for a walk.
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Says after that she went on vacation with her family and texted Raniere telling him she was overwhelmed and could they take the sexual aspect out of it. She says his response was long and basically said sex was a part of it.
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Says during her time in DOS her emotions were all over the place in terms of the sexual nature of things. Says she would often be crying or have meltdowns. Raniere would tell her he didn't need her.
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Penza asks if there were conversations about Raniere "breaking" her. Nicole says yes, that he said she needed to be broken to be rebuilt so she could understand obedience. Says at times she felt broken.
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Says there came a time in 2017 when she fell for a family friend. Says she had made a one year commitment to Raniere at this point. Says he didn't care she had met someone.
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Says the one year commitment was for having sex with Raniere, but that DOS was a lifetime commitment. Says Raniere talked about legal issues, punishing other women, etc. with her. Eventually told him being in DOS was hurting her financially.
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Says he pulled out a plastic bag with $10k and asked "will this help?" Says she used it for rent and for the train and for EMs with Daniela. Says eventually she figured out Daniela was in DOS too.
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Says she contemplated getting out of DOS in several ways including suicide and the witness protection program. Says she was given a task of keeping track of someone named Robbie.
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Says she had to make up a fake name and facebook and was supposed to get him to meet another woman but he was leaving for the Navy and said it wasn't a good time for him. Says the plan didn't work. This is where they take the lunch break.
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