What Happened to Nancy L. Salzman and Where is The NXIVM Co-Founder Now?

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After two years of waiting, Part 2 of The Vow has finally made its way to HBO and HBO Max. The highly anticipated second installment of the critically-acclaimed documentary series premieres on Monday, October 17 at 9 p.m. ET.

This installment will feature six episodes and the focus will be shifted toward Nancy L. Salzman, the co-founder and former president of NXIVM, a multi-level marketing, and personal development company.

Salzman features throughout the documentary, explaining her role in NXIVM, and her belief she was involved in an unconventional self-help organization, not a cult, and criminal enterprise. She also claims she and her daughter were victims of NXIVM co-founder Keith Raniere's manipulation at times.

Newsweek has everything you need to know about Salzman and where she is now.

What Happened to Nancy Salzman?

In 1998, Nancy Salzman founded NXIVM, a multi-level marketing company and cult based in Albany, New York with Raniere.

The company focused on success programs, self-development, and progression.

When Salzman met Raniere, she was a practicing nurse and trained practitioner of hypnotism and neurolinguistic programming.

At NXIVM, she served as president of the company for over two decades. As second-in-command to Raniere, Salmaz helped promote Raniere's teachings and recruit members to NXIVM. In total, over 16,000 people took courses she helped develop.

However, in 2018 NXIVM was uncovered to have a much darker side.

NXIVM was a cult-like group, where some female members were branded with Raniere's initials and were forced to have sexual relations with him.

Female members were also forced to provide personal and private details, including naked images known as "collateral" that would be used against them.

At NXIVM, Salzman was referred to as the Prefect by cult members. Raniere was referred to as the Vanguard by members.

Nancy Salzman the vow — Nancy Salzman in The Vow, Part 2 on HBO and HBO Max HBO

As seen in HBO's The Vow Part 1, Salzman was featured in numerous video tutorials of NXIVM courses and led Jness, a women's group which served as the gateway into the secret sorority of NXIVM known as DOS, headed by Raniere that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, and sexual assault.

In March 2018, FBI agents raided Salzman's house in Waterford, New York, seizing large amounts of cash amounting to $520,000. They also sized numerous electronic devices, including computers, cameras, mobile phones as well as foreign money.

Four months later, Salzman and her daughter, Lauren Salzman, NXIVM bookkeeper Kathy Russell and NXIVM leader Clare Bronfman were arrested on charges of conspiracy racketeering.

Alongside Keith Raniere and NXIVM follower, former Smallville actress Allison Mack, Nancy, and Lauren Salzman, Russell and Bronfman faced charges of:

Identity theft
Extortion
Forced labor
Sex trafficking
Money laundering
Wire fraud
Obstruction of justice

In March 2019, Salzman pleaded guilty to conspiracy racketeering. She also admitted to doctoring tapes that were set to be used as evidence in a civil lawsuit against a former NXIVM student the Times Union reported.

She also admitted to conspiring to commit identity theft by attempting to obtain names and personal details of alleged NXIVM "enemies."

Kieth Raniere — Chart of Keith Raniere’s alleged inner circle as seen in The Vow, Part Two HBO

Salzman was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and was fined $150,000 in September 2021.

Since pleading guilty, Salzman has publically rejected Raniere. He is serving 120 years in a federal prison in Tuscon, Arizona for sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, and racketeering charged with underlying acts of identity theft, extortion, possessing child pornography, and child exploitation.