Keith Raniere is the former leader of the self-help group NXIVM, who also formed a secret society of women within NXIVM. He was seen as this all knowing and all powerful force that drew people in and wouldn't let them leave. When people did try to leave, he intimidated them and threatened to take them down. He had powerful supporters with boatloads of cash finance lawsuits against his detractors. He destroyed and bankrupted those who dared cross him.
There were several investigations into NXIVM, but none seemed to produce anything worthy of prosecution. Raniere shut down newspaper investigative reports and sued those who held damaging secrets. Everyone knew something was off, but nothing was likely to happen. And Raniere would probably still be leading his mysterious cult right now, had his ego not led him to form the secret society of female devotees, and ordered his initials branded on their bodies.
Once his arrogance and entitlement reached that apex, it was the beginning of the end for Keith Raniere. When the women began to come forward, the walls around him began to crumble. He's now serving 120 years in a federal prison.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has been leading New York with an iron fist for over a decade. He does what he wants, when he wants, with little to no regard for others. He rushed through legislation like the NY SAFE Act in the middle of the night, with no opportunity for debate. He formed the Moreland Commission to investigation unethical behavior in state government but disbanded it when it looked too closely at him. Cuomo let those close to him take the fall for shady business deals, but those investigations stopped just short of him. He made fatal mistakes in the handling of the nursing home crisis and ordered his staffers to lie and cover it up. He looked us in the eye every day during his briefings and lied himself.
He might have gotten away with all of that, too. Until his arrogance led him to feel entitled to grab the breast of a young female staffer. He also felt entitled to suggest a strip poker with another staffer and ask yet another if she was open to having sex with a much older man. In all, there are now six women who accuse the Governor of using his power and influence to sexually harass and grope them.
And that is what could possibly take him down. In all likelihood, he would have escaped the nursing home scandal by deflecting blame. But there is nowhere to deflect this. Attempts by top staff to intimidate the women failed. They have come forward.
In both cases, men with unbelievable arrogance and questionable ethics were able to behave badly for years with no repercussions. Both men were able to use their power to enlist others to do their dirty work and threaten and demean those who were potential threats. But as soon as their sense of entitlement reached a point where they felt justified in treating women as possessions, that was the beginning of the end.
Keith Raniere will spend the rest of his life behind bars. It remains to be seen what will happen with Andrew Cuomo.
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