By Dianne Lipson
After Nicole’s cross examination was concluded on Monday, Jaye took the stand. She continued on Tuesday.
Jaye is 29 years old. She grew up in Southern California. She was an actress and model.
She took the 5-day Nxivm intensive and enjoyed it. And on a walk with India Oxenberg, she was told about a women’s-only secret society that would build character.
Jaye was excited about the chance at what was described as a mentoring program to make her into a “badass woman”.
She gave HER first collateral to learn about the secret group known as DOS.
Jaye joined DOS.
Among her collateral [she was to give more subsequently] was a video where Jaye indicated she’d been molested by her uncle. This was, in fact, true. She testified she had been molested and was still recovering from her childhood sexual abuse.
Jaye’s parents, she testified, were drug addicts when she was young. Her mother and father were both arrested and imprisoned. Jaye was raised by grandparents.
At first, Jaye thought India was going to merely be her mentor, but after joining DOS, India informed her that she was to be her slave master.
At some point, Jaye came to Albany where she met Keith Raniere at a volleyball game. She was emotional at the sight of him and gushed at how inspiring he and the Nxivm teachings were.
Jaye wanted to develop a T-shirt business with Raniere-inspired slogans. Keith was interested.
India and her own master, Allison Mack, told Jaye she should move from California to Albany. She was making good money modeling in LA, but she came to Albany anyway.
She was encouraged by India to develop a learning relationship with Keith. Keith took an interest in her too.
This attractive young lady, slender, a model, was considered remarkably lucky to have Keith, the wondrous mentor, take an interest in her [as a mentor] so early in her involvement in Nxivm.
In retrospect, Jaye testified, she realized she was being groomed to be his sex slave.
She was told then that the purpose of the monthly collateral [she did not know Raniere was involved at the time] was to make her bond with DOS and with her master.
Now, she believes it was simply blackmail.
There were assignments from India, “acts of care” and “acts of self-denial”. Readiness drills. Cold showers. Standing for 30 minutes in the middle of the night. One of Jaye’s punishments was to keep a journal of her failures.
Jaye hoped Allison would help her learn about the acting business. But she went from thinking that Allison was a good person, to later believing Allison was vindictive, hurtful, and manipulative.
As a member of DOS, Jaye was expected to recruit slaves.
Jaye actually recruited a model named Val.
Val got admitted into DOS quickly. Allison personally looked after her.
Allison asked her to think about developing an app to do mass recruitment into DOS. [Some people would not necessarily have to make life-long commitments]. It was Consumer’s Buyline [with blackmail and branding] – the more people in DOS, the more buying power they would have.
Jaye was told that her commitment would require a small tattoo. She never thought it would be a brand, with Keith’s initials.
At one point, she had to fill out a lengthy questionnaire about her sexual preferences.
At volleyball, during breaks in the action, [Keith was playing], there would be a line of people waiting to talk to him.
One day she attended volleyball without a bra and Allison scolded her for that, saying the older women were offended.
Jaye observed that everyone kissed Keith on the lips — including the men. People would give him gifts of chocolate, candy, fruit and other items.
At one volleyball event, Keith came up to her and drew a circle with his finger around her bellybutton.
Because Jaye had been sexually abused, she was upset by this. At volleyball, Jaye said she believes she was on display for Keith.
But, Keith was showing a marked interest in helping her, he said. Teaching her.
He took her on walks and say, “Do you know that you’re special?”
Jaye was told by Allison and India how lucky she was to have this great guru taking an interest in her.
After Jaye moved to Albany, she got permission to get access to the Dropbox which contained some of Allison’s slave pod’s collateral. Seeing this, Jaye was concerned that the collateral wasn’t as safe and secure as she was told. She saw other women’s collateral and realized she wasn’t alone in being a slave.
As part of her commands, Jaye was ordered to go on low-calorie diets. First, it was 1000, then 800, then 500-600 calories a day. She had to measure and weigh each item of food and send pictures of the food first to get permission to eat it before she was allowed to consume it.
She had to take a 3-minute cold shower each morning. She observed that all the slaves she knew of were on a diet, and sleep deprived. Everyone, she thought, looked unhealthy.
She learned that Keith [for scientific and ethical reasons] preferred women not to shave their pubic hair. Keith said grooming was propaganda from the porn industry and violence against women.
She was told it was an honor and a privilege. That both Allison and India had done this fortunate act before. Jaye was assigned to seduce Keith and have him take a naked picture of her to prove she had accomplished her assignment.
Jaye was told that only the most privileged of all women ever got this happy assignment.
Jaye did not feel special. She said it was her worst nightmare. She realized this was a cult, and that they were going to force her to sleep with someone. She was told this would help with her sex abuse issues.
She was also told that Keith wasn’t involved in DOS.
Allison told Jaye that she must seduce Keith subtly [as if he did not know this was planned with Allison] but Allison added kindly to Jaye, “And I give you permission to enjoy it.”
What was Jaye thinking about Allison when she was ordered to seduce Keith?
“You fucking bitch” was her thought, she testified.
Allison was re-traumatizing her. And clearly Jaye did not want to do this obscene act, but she pretended she would do it. From this moment on, she planned to escape DOS.
[Now what would prevent a woman from simply refusing and saying no? You guessed it: Collateral.]
Jaye was thinking about her collateral. What would they do with it if she refused to seduce Keith and leave?
After hearing her order to seduce Keith, Jaye felt the whole room was spinning. She almost blacked out.
She started Googling and found a website [Frank Report?] describing Keith having a “harem.”
Jaye even asked India – what it was like – she asked India about her experience seducing Keith.
India said that Jaye should have her own unique experience, but India said that Keith was incredibly fit and that sex with him was amazing.
Jaye knew she needed to get out of Albany. But she had to play along for a while.
She devised an idea. She had permission from her DOS masters to go on a family trip. Before she left, she went into the Dropbox account and took screenshots of all the collateral. She took copies of the collateral in the Dropbox. She did this in order to protect herself in case the DOS folks tried to blackmail her.
If she failed in her assignment to seduce Keith Alan Raniere, she thought her collateral would be released. She felt trapped. But with the other women’s collateral: [Dr. Danielle Roberts, Michelle Hatchette, Nicole’s and others in Allison’s slave pod – she could have a little reverse blackmail of her own.]
Jaye went on her family vacation. Afterward, she claimed her grandmother in California was ill and she needed to stay out there for a time and not go back to Albany.
She started doing less and less DOS work.
But Allison still had her car. Jaye hoped to just walk away from DOS. India said this was a lifetime commitment.
Allison said Jaye needed to meet with her.
Allison said, “You can do this [DOS] as hard or easy as you want. We just want to help you.”
Jaye told her to “Just back off.”
Allison said, “I feel like I failed you.”
Jaye said, “It’s nothing personal, but you’re ‘entitled to feel that way’ (throwing the DOS lingo back at Allison).
Jaye did manage to get her car back. Allison gave her the keys but did not tell her where the car was. Jaye had to find it herself.
Jaye told Allison she had Googled Keith and search results showed a story [stories] that Keith was a pedophile [The Albany Times Union reported it first in 2012. Frank Report also had numerous stories on pedo-Keith starting in 2015].
Allison was upset. She said, ”Do you think I would follow a child molester?”
Jaye had gotten Val in DOS and she asked Val to go on a hike. During that hike, Catherine Oxenberg and Bonnie Piesse (Mark Vicente’s wife) called.
Bonnie warned her: Don’t go to the branding ceremony coming up.
Catherine warned her to get out of Albany.
Jaye decided she had to get out of the cult. She made peace with the fact that it could mean her collateral would be released. Going was more important. She accepted the fact that it could happen.
She sent the collateral of the other women she had to her ex-boyfriend. She told him to store it safely but not to look at it. [It might come in handy – and it did – for it ultimately was given to law enforcement.]
Soon after Jaye left, she got a threatening letter from an attorney from Mexico. It was in Spanish with an English translation. The letter warned her that she was facing “criminal responsibility”.
As it turned out, Jaye’s collateral was not released.
Prosecutor: Would you have provided DOS collateral if you knew Keith was in charge?
Jaye: No.
Stay tuned for Jaye’s cross-examination.