Voting Station

Keith Raniere

Please vote to return to collections.

Cultist

The Resume

    (August 26, 1960- )
    Born in Brooklyn, New York
    Founded the multi-level marketing personal development company NXIVM (1989)
    Found guilty of sex trafficking, forced labor, wire fraud, and racketeering (June 19, 2019)

Why he might be annoying:

    He had sex with multiple teenage girls.
    An associate said he was fascinated by Scientology, Amway, and neurolinguistic programming.
    His pre-NIXVM company, Consumers Buyline, was shut down amid investigations by 20 states that it was a pyramid scheme (1993).
    His followers were required to pay $2,000 each to fund a week-long celebration of his birthday.
    He told two followers, 'I've had people killed because of my beliefs.'
    A former follower claimed that after she left, he hired people to stalk and harass her, including poisoning her dog.
    After learning that a member of his inner circle had kissed another man, he ordered her confined to her room for two years.
    To produce some positive publicity for the group, he arranged for the Dalai Lama to appear at a NIXVM-sponsored event -- allegedly by bribing the monk who served as the Dalai Lama's 'gatekeeper.' (2009)
    He created a secret inner circle of female 'slaves' who were branded with his initials.
    Members of the inner circle were required to provide 'collateral' in the form of incriminating photos or embarrassing confessions about themselves or family members that could be used to blackmail them to keep them from leaving.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was once listed in the Australian edition of the Guinness Book of Records for 'Highest IQ,' based on his getting the highest recorded score on the entrance test for the Mega Society (a high-IQ organization more selective than <10428>).
    He claimed NIXVM was inspired by Isaac Asimov's novel 'Second Foundation.'
    His company offered self-improvement seminars, with graduates including Richard Branson, former Surgeon General Antonia Novello, and BET co-founder Sheila Johnson.
    He managed to convince Seagram's heiresses Sara and Clare Bronfman to invest $150 million in his organization.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 32 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 37 Votes: 10.81% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 93.33% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 332 Votes: 53.31% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 29 Votes: 37.93% Annoying