Former “Dynasty” star Catherine Oxenberg’s attempt to help her daughter launch a business ended up feeding the young woman into the jaws of a twisted Albany sex cult where she was branded with the leader’s initials.
The former TV drama actor, who has written a tell-all book about her effort to save her daughter from the group, sat down with the “Today” show’s Megyn Kelly to talk about her battle to save her daughter from the clutches of NXIVM, a glorified pyramid scheme in which members groomed recruits to become sex slaves to cult leader Keith Raniere.
By the time Raniere was charged in March in Brooklyn Federal Court with sex trafficking, fraud and attempting to enslave women, he had built an international business giving advice to entrepreneurs on how to run a successful business. That’s what Oxenberg, 56,told Kelly first drew her to the group in 2011.
Her daughter India, now 27, who had toyed around with modeling and acting herself, was looking at launching a new business.
“She was about to launch a business,” the star told Kelly. “She had all these wonderful ideas and I was helping her.”
The mother and daughter had always been close, Oxenberg said.
The nighttime soap opera star, the daughter of a Yugoslav princess, got her start playing Lady Diana when she was just 19. She got her big break when she landed the role of Amanda Carrington on the wildly successful drama “Dynasty.”
Oxenberg had heard about Raniere’s program “Executive Success Program,” or ESP, and thought about looking into it herself. “India happened to be at the house that evening and I said, ‘Hey, do you want to come with me?’ innocently thinking this was just a program geared toward entrepreneurs,” she told the “Today” host.
It wasn’t until sometime last year that a friend texted her that her daughter was in trouble. “She was terrified to speak on the phone,” Oxenberg said of her friend. “She said to me, ‘You need to save India.’ ”
According to federal investigators, ESP was just a front for Raniere’s cult. He promised to empower women and build self-esteem, but he was subordinating women so they would become his sex slaves, according to a federal complaint.
Members would draw others further and further into the ring by getting them to share compromising information, then blackmailing them, prosecutors charge. Raniere’s disciples gained his favor by recruiting young women he could have sex with.
As the ultimate symbol of a member’s submission to Raniere, they would strip naked during a ceremony and be branded with the leader’s initials. “I was horrified,” Oxenberg said of learning of the branding.
India wasn’t the only celebrity spawn to suffer at the hands of Raniere.
Seagram’s liquor heiress Clare Bronfman was charged with racketeering for acting in concert with the cult leader.
The feds also charged “Smallville” actress Allison Mack for taking part in the scheme.
