NEW YORK—In dramatic testimony on May 21, a former member who was part of NXIVM leader Keith Raniere’s inner circle detailed how federal police surrounded Raniere’s Mexico hideout to arrest him in 2018—and how the “grandmaster” tried to hide in a walk-in closet rather than protect her.
Lauren Salzman, 42, told jurors in a Brooklyn federal court that she and Raniere were alone in a bedroom in the Puerto Vallarta house, where other female inner-circle members were also present, when authorities suddenly showed up to arrest him. She recounted that her first instinct was to protect Raniere.
