Saturday, March 5, 2022

This Substance Literally Makes Your Brain Smaller by Nicole Wright

This Substance Literally Makes Your Brain Smaller

by Nicole Wright

March 5, 2022

I LOVE THIS article [from Neuroscience News].

One of my long-term research projects has been about cyber security. When I've interviewed bad actors, they've had one very clear thing in common - severe problems with addiction to drugs and alcohol.

I found it a bizarre wish or belief that these bad actors thought (a) because I took the time to ask several questions for my case(s), they perceived this as attention (like it was a good thing; instead of what any sane person would rationally assume); and they also misconstrued (b) that my questions meant I would understand where they are coming from. Um NO.

While I do believe empathy is important; there is no way that I can comprehend their experience as I have been extremely fortunate to have been raised in a LDS home, without substances, and with peers who modeled the healthy adults around them. The more that I travel and meet people from various cultures; the more I cherish my family and home. (Thanks you guys!).

There is no place for toxins in a healthy body; neither in a healthy home. Period.

If my upbringing wasn't enough of a model for me; this is also modeled in Sports Performance and high level competition. This is modeled in finance and government work. Anywhere anyone is authentically succesful and transparent, they are modeling health.

Your brain is a key asset, to be taken care of. If you can't think, you can't learn, grow, invest, become better, give back.

"The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

This post is not meant to offend. There was a time in my 20's when I invested in a cooking company and was well aware many of my clients enjoyed luxurious wine pairings. Foodies. I get it. I used to think that there was a difference between healthy drinking (as described to me by many healthy European families I knew), and unhealthy drinking. Clinically I do think this is true. Eusocially though, my attitudes have changed - where I think alcohol is damaging - even for people consuming who are not alcoholics. Not throwing the baby out with the bathwater; I believe in free will.

If I'm traveling and meet someone who talks about drinking; they're talking about it as something they like to do. That tells me to go in the opposite direction.

Or if it relates to work, then to take it all with a grain of salt, and simply excuse myself socially.

When it comes to bad actors - there are a handful I've interviewed since 2018 - they exemplify horrificly obvious levels of addiction (by any scale) that a lay person could see. Their addiction, is WHY they have problems socially. It is the MAIN reason. It is why people walk away from them. Why people don't want to be their friends. Why they can only attract friendships with other dysfunctional people. They have victim mentality around this though; which also relates to the Narcissistic triad of Hero Victim Antagonist. They refuse to see the evil Mr. Hyde that lives inside of them that antagonizes others. But just wait until the alcohol relaxes their pre-frontal cortex and the truth comes out.

These bad actors Live, Breath, and Believe a host of Cognitive Thinking Errors. (There is a list Psychologists can reference for their patients. I may post that seperately.) From the outside, seeing what they are doing, it seems like they are adult humans walking around either like a 2 year old or 7 year old pretending to be a grown-up, and behaving like they do have serious brain damage, as Neuroscience News states below. And then, they continue to damage themselves and others every single day. There is no way out for them until they stop drinking and using completely.

Even small amounts of alcohol are damaging for people. And smaller amounts still are damaging for women specifically; like if they want to get pregnant, succeed in work, sports, or drive a car. Just say NO instead. Remember Smoky The Bear? There was a campaign series when I was growing up with commercials about saying no to drugs too. It's simple. Just say no.

I have a hard time understanding the appeal, emotionally. I get off on exercise, meditation, amino acids, green juice. There are a million ways to feel good, sustainably.

I cannot understand cognitively either. Although I used to want to mentally understand why people did what they did; and also be empathetic; I just turned 40, and no longer want to spend my time understanding others when they are unhealthy. Life is too short. There is no time for that. Zero room.

Yesterday, I went for a run in the biting cold. Weather says 24 F right now. I've gotten used to it, and so went without a jacket. I wanted to feel alive. I wanted to feel the crisp cool air deep in my lungs. It was marvelous. Endorphins. Grinning. Laughter.

These natural highs are really the only way to promote a good life with good relationships and good future.

I don't know anyone who drinks. I mean; I never get close to them because their behavior is weird. If you are struggling with alcohol or drugs, the change work tools that CEO's and Athletes use work the same; but the framework or structure for additiction is entirely different. The first step is to make a decision. That's all it takes for CEO's and Athletes. With addiction, generally the patterns are that the decision needs to be recommitted to, over and over, and there needs to be a massive array of help and support and various tools and relearning. Doesn't matter how many times you have to re-commit; because a person can change. Call a helpline. Get healthy. Think about your shriveling brain every time you ingest a toxin. Choose health instead.

More Alcohol, Less Brain: Association Begins With an Average of Just One Drink a Day

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles·March 4, 2022

Summary: Light-to-moderate regular alcohol consumption is linked to reductions in overall brain volume, a new study reports.

Source: University of Pennsylvania

The science on heavy drinking and the brain is clear: The two don’t have a healthy relationship. People who drink heavily have alterations in brain structure and size that are associated with cognitive impairments.

But according to a new study, alcohol consumption even at levels most would consider modest—a few beers or glasses of wine a week—may also carry risks to the brain. An analysis of data from more than 36,000 adults, led by a team from the University of Pennsylvania, found that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption was associated with reductions in overall brain volume.

The link grew stronger the greater the level of alcohol consumption, the researchers showed. As an example, in 50-year-olds, as average drinking among individuals increases from one alcohol unit (about half a beer) a day to two units (a pint of beer or a glass of wine) there are associated changes in the brain equivalent to aging two years. Going from two to three alcohol units at the same age was like aging three and a half years.

The team reported their findings in the journal Nature Communications.

“The fact that we have such a large sample size allows us to find subtle patterns, even between drinking the equivalent of half a beer and one beer a day,” says Gideon Nave, a corresponding author on the study and faculty member at Penn’s Wharton School. He collaborated with former postdoc and co-corresponding author Remi Daviet, now at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Perelman School of Medicine colleagues Reagan Wetherill—also a corresponding author on the study—and Henry Kranzler, as well as other researchers.

Continue reading at: https://neurosciencenews.com/alcohol-brain-shrinkage-20135

Sunday, February 27, 2022

Bryant Perkins, NYU Athletics turns to Racketeering as a profession, utilizing malware containing payloads for bitcoin redemption of crime-as-a-service.

Bryant Perkins, NYU Athletics turns to Racketeering as a profession, utilizing malware containing payloads for bitcoin redemption of crime-as-a-service. He films his crimes using a technology that CBS built; and helps felons do the same

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Bryant Perkins, Racketeer, Stalker, Harasser. Felon criminal financial fraud enterprise.

He promotes marketing and the filming of the felons crimes, using gaming technology as well as a sports technology that CBS built.

He targeted me as a journalist at a hotel I stayed while doing nature photography from Arcadia to Lassen; Joshua Tree to Big Bend. Stopping in Austin before driving out to DC.

I a guest, and he, a worker at the hotel, I first reported the malware to him, as it was a proximity attack that happened onsite. His response, told me that he already knew, he was involved, and not a bystander, but guilty himself. He was also alarmed that I had discovered it.

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He proceed to steal my ID (although that could be postulated that it happened first, since he is running a Racketeering operation). He tampered with my phone, laptop, watch, and then told me he would make me pay for reporting the malware to the police.

He then asked the General Manager to make sure the hotel was full, so that my accommodation would have to be cancelled. They upgraded me to a nicer hotel within a mile and paid for the suite for the night.

I spent the weekend there, before renting a different car to finish my nature photography tour.

I proceeded to be physically followed by a group of felons in their vehicles, filming me, from Austin to Big Bend. To Mt. Davis. To Dallas. All the way to DC. I photographed much of the harassment.

From Austin to Dallas specifically, criminal Bryant Perkins took the Felon Ride or Die attitude, as well as what he learned in Track & Field at NYU; escalating competition insults to a new level, and engaging in standard cheating principles (which is something losers and those desperate to win do - real winners work hard and follow the law - which is why some cheating can work if a criminal - Perkins - wants to gain a short term lead).

Near Ft. Worth, a dark SUV pulled in front of me and my rental car at a light. I had my phone out as I had been recording the felon group of drivers who had been following me from Austin. The plate said Perkins. The windows were tinted. The music was bumpin'. This is Narcissistic Personality Disorder at it's classic finest. [Read anything by Dr. Sam Vaknin.] The perpetrator requires it to be known that they are involved, and orchestrating this, even if that piece of evidence will seal the deal against them. Their ego requires the glory and they cannot help themselves.

Bryant also owns a marketing company and creates audio/video streaming and engagement for felons and racketeers. He additionally picked up a new podcasting "hobby". He has recorded interviews with three hotel owners that engage in cyber crime, bitcoin gaming, and the illegal recording of women in showers.

The hostel, Drifter Jack's, ended up closing. An employee admitted to me that they were illegally filming the female guests. I spoke with a second employee who helped install the orange lights in the woman's bathroom drain, pointing up towards the lady's most private area. That employee is a known drug user, and was repeatedly talking about female child sex abuse, Jeffrey Epstein, and payloads for submitting solo female traveler names to drug and sex trafficking enterprises. I honestly thought that individual was having a psychotic drug induced mental breakdown when he started telling others about this while he was clearly high. I am Mormon. I work in Finance. I don't know what this person was talking about, other than clearly he is a bad person who hurts women.

The hostel, Firehouse on Brazos Street, told me they had nothing to do with what Bryant was up to. Bryant's co-host, fellow criminal and high school drop out Krysta Murphy, told me she was a writer, and liked getting paid to help write the narrative for how the illegal game was going to get set-up, acted out with MMORPG, and associated bitcoin payload rewards, for disturbing crimes committed against the unknowing guests at each hotel. She told me this was the fourth hostel she'd been to and that besides writing a script for these illegal games, that she took pride in helping get them set-up. I.e. illegally breach the router and data systems of the hotel; that is - if making the right or wrong assumption the hotel owner is not involved, but rather a ghost host for the crime.

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FIREHOUSE HOSTEL - 605 Brazos St, Austin TX

GM stated that she was not involved.

She added that her highest sales were from Gamers, Gaming Conventions, and also Australian Travelers. Even though this hotel caters to a gaming community, she said that the gaming she personally engaged in was legal.

Her statement made to me was that she and her company enjoyed legal gaming, gaming Conventions, and the money that gaming brought to the hotel, being a majority of their revenues. She stated that the gaming she was aware of, was above board. She said she was unaware that Bryant and his underground criminal group were Racketeering. She said that she was uncertain how to stop it without the forensics. I turned my forensic data and reports into the Austin Police.

The IT Director suggested he was not part of it, and that the attack was through Bryant's Whatsapp account and over WiFi, 2G, low-level packets. Although the IT Director accepted a subsequent position at a Dental Office.

The owners failed to respond.

PERPETRATORS

Bryant Perkins is an owner and partner of a marketing company that explicitly coaches entrepreneurs on media presence; sets up audio/video for each game; handles streaming and marketing.

He has been abusing people for a long time and was shot in the leg before in college - a message for him to stop hurting women and girls. He clearly has only gained momentum and a following of abusers that help him.

Krysta Murphy is a writer, who helps coach other players and black-market game participants and co-owners (they pay a fee to join each game, sign a non-disclosure agreement, as well as take a cut of the profits). She is instrumental in setting up the illegal technology, boasting to having done it many times, with Firehouse being her fourth engagement.

Terrilyn was in the US on a short term work VISA. She is a self=proclaimed Borderline, who is obsessed with MMORPG. She thinks hacking is cool. She admires felons. She has severe problems with logic, critical thinking, and self-control. If she is still in the US, she may be here illegally. The last time I spoke to her, she said she had no option for renewal.

Firehouse Hostel GM Jessica

Firehouse Hostel IT Director from Vermont

THEIR RACKETEERING SCHEME ALSO INCLUDES HOSTEL HORROR

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REGARDING TEXAS BEING A ONE PARTY CONSENT STATE

Data breaches on are illegal.

Pushing malware into a phone is illegal. Even if it is done via Radio Controls (the specific legality of wireless radio is a strategy these cyber racketeers use thinking that law and their technology saves them from prosecution).

Recording others, even in a one party consent state, such as Texas, is illegal if it happens in a place where the other party has reasonable grounds to believe they would not be recorded. Like in a room, behind closed doors at a hotel, in a bathroom or shower.

For me specifically, my rights to confidentiality are protected as a participant in State Address Confidentiality Program(s). It is illegal to record me specifically, even in one party consent states. With my specific ACP participation, 100% of any electronic, virtual or physical recording, or any identification of me, is legally required to occur with two party consent in writing, and verified that it is authentic vs. fraud. Otherwise punishable by various fines up to $4,000 per incident, per day. (Every 24 hours is considered a new crime.)

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Bryant, Krysta, and Terrilyn, intentionally set-up, hosted, and received profits, for the illegal game, as did all players pay a fee to buy in, illegally record, illegally stream, and earn / receive profit sharing amounts for their participation.

There is a limit to the GM's liability regarding what her team members are doing that she does not know about. It is also a crime to perjure oneself.

There is a limit as well as to what the GM can and cannot control about other's actions.

The GM should be responsible for the end result and impact on her guests though.

If one were to assume her innocence, then what do you think her response should be about her team members who broke the law? What should her standards be regarding her commitment to her guests? And what actions do you think she should she take?

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Wednesday, October 20, 2021

DOJ: Australian National Sentenced To More Than 9 Years In Prison For Multimillion-Dollar Text-Messaging Consumer Fraud Scheme

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Southern District of New York

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Australian National Sentenced To More Than 9 Years In Prison For Multimillion-Dollar Text-Messaging Consumer Fraud Scheme

Damian Williams, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that MICHAEL PEARSE, an Australian national who was extradited to the United States from Australia in January 2021, was sentenced today to 109 months in prison for his participation in a fraudulent scheme to charge hundreds of thousands of mobile phone customers millions of dollars in monthly fees for unsolicited, recurring text messages without the customers’ knowledge or consent – a practice the conspirators referred to as “auto-subscribing.” PEARSE played a key role in the scheme as CEO of a company that created the computer program that was used to enroll victims into the text message services without their knowledge or consent. PEARSE previously pled guilty before United States District Judge Analisa Torres, who imposed today’s sentence.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Michael Pearse played a vital role in an international consumer fraud conspiracy that swindled hundreds of thousands of mobile phone customers out of millions, and ‘earned’ Pearse and his co-conspirators at least $50 million, of which Pearse pocketed more than $10 million. Thanks to IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI, as well as our international partners, Pearse was apprehended, prosecuted, and now sentenced for his crime.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment, evidence presented at the trial of co-conspirator Darcy Wedd, court filings, and statements made during plea proceedings:

From in or about 2011 through in or about 2013, PEARSE and his co-conspirators engaged in a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud U.S.-based consumers (and others) by placing unauthorized charges for premium text messaging services on consumers’ cellular phone bills. To carry out the scheme, PEARSE and others caused unsolicited and recurring text messages to be sent to mobile phone users containing content such as horoscopes, celebrity gossip, or trivia facts. The victims of the fraud scheme never ordered these services, which were known in the industry as premium text messaging (“PSMS”) services, but were fraudulently “auto-subscribed” and billed for them at a rate of $9.99 per month. The $9.99 charge recurred each month unless and until consumers noticed the charges and took action to unsubscribe. Even then, consumers’ attempts to dispute the charges and obtain refunds were often unsuccessful.

During the relevant period, co-conspirator Lin Miao operated a company called Tatto Inc., a/k/a “Tatto Media” (“Tatto”), that offered PSMS services to mobile phone customers. PEARSE was the CEO of a company called Bullroarer, which was affiliated with Tatto. To enable Tatto to auto-subscribe consumers to unwanted PSMS services, PEARSE and co-defendant Yongchao Liu, a/k/a “Kevin Liu,” who worked as a Java Development Engineer for Bullroarer, agreed to build a computer program that could spoof the required consumer authorizations – i.e., a program that could generate the text message correspondence that one would ordinarily see with genuine PSMS subscriptions. PEARSE and Liu agreed to build the program (the “Auto-Subscription Platform”), which was operational by in or about the middle of 2011. PEARSE, Liu, and Miao then used the Auto-Subscription Platform to fraudulently auto-subscribe hundreds of thousands of mobile phone customers, using phone numbers provided by co-conspirators at Mobile Messenger, a U.S. aggregation company operated by Darcy Wedd that served as a middleman between content providers such as Tatto and mobile phone carriers. Through their successful orchestration of the fraudulent scheme, PEARSE and his co-conspirators generated more than $50 million in fraud proceeds for themselves and PEARSE personally pocketed more than $10 million.

* * *

In addition to the prison sentence, PEARSE was ordered PEARSE to forfeit $10,162,937.96, as well as his interest in three real properties in Australia and other assets, representing proceeds traceable to the fraud that PEARSE personally obtained.

To date, nine other defendants – Liu, Miao, Andrew Bachman, Michael Pajaczkowski, Erdolo Eromo, Jonathan Murad, Francis Assifuah, Jason Lee, and Christopher Goff – have pled guilty in connection with their participation in the fraud. Two additional defendants, Darcy Wedd and Fraser Thompson, were convicted in 2017 following jury trials.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In addition, Mr. Williams thanked law enforcement partners in Australia, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs of the Department’s Criminal Division, for their support and assistance with the extradition of PEARSE and codefendant Liu.

This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jilan Kamal and Olga I. Zverovich are in charge of the prosecution.

Topic(s):

Consumer Protection

Financial Fraud

Component(s):

USAO - New York, Southern

Contact:

james.margolin@usdoj.gov nicholas.biase@usdoj.gov (212) 637-2600

Press Release Number:

21-291

Updated October 20, 2021

Saturday, October 2, 2021

Nxivm doctor accused of branding ‘sex slaves’ loses medical license by Jesse O'Neill

https://nypost.com/2021/10/02/nxivm-doctor-danielle-roberts-accused-of-branding-women-loses-medical-license/

The New York State Department of Health stripped Dr. Danielle Roberts of her medical license after officials found she branded NXIVM "sex slaves."Gregory P. Mango

The New York doctor who branded “slaves” in the Nxivm sex cult with leader Keith Raniere’s initials has been stripped of her medical license.

A state Department of Health hearing committee sustained multiple counts of professional misconduct against Dr. Danielle Roberts, who was part of the master-slave group within Nxivm known as DOS.

Health officials found that Roberts used a cauterizing machine to write “KAR” on the pelvic region of at least 17 women without anesthesia, “to intentionally cause them pain.”

The disgraced former doctor was defiant and evasive as she testified before the health committee, officials said.

Roberts “denies being brainwashed, yet she expressed no real remorse, which represented to the hearing committee her distorted reality and the very real concern that others remain vulnerable to her future brandings,” the decision read.

Raniere, 61, landed 120 year in prison last year on seven felony convictions involving everything from sex-trafficking to racketeering, child pornography and forced labor.

Roberts (far right) “expressed no remorse,” according to the decision.

Nxivm member-turned-whistleblower Mark Vincente testified about the sickening branding process at Raniere’s trial in Brooklyn federal court.

Jurors were shown photos of the brands that Raniere allegedly used to mark his “slaves.” The insignia looked like a backwards K and R, which Vicente said was “a combination of two sets of initials” — the first being Raniere’s.

“I believe she was a slave and a master, and the person who actually did the branding,” Vicente said about Roberts. “She was the brander.”

With Post wires

Friday, October 1, 2021

Doctor who branded women for Raniere loses medical license by Robert Gavin

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/NXIVM-loyalist-Danielle-Roberts-loses-license-for-16501584.php

NEWS

Doctor who branded women for Raniere loses medical license

Danielle Roberts, second NXIVM doctor punished for misconduct, faulted for saying she wasn't "brainwashed, yet she expressed no real remorse" about involvement in group

Robert Gavin

Oct. 1, 2021Updated: Oct. 1, 2021 6:31 p.m.

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Danielle Roberts, a doctor and NXIVM loyalist, defends her branding of women in Keith Raniere's "master/slave" club during an interview with Dateline NBC reporter Kate Snow.
Dateline NBC

ALBANY – The state Department of Health has revoked the medical license of NXIVM loyalist Danielle Roberts, the physician who branded the initials of cult leader Keith Raniere onto the pelvic areas of 17 of her fellow “slaves.”

In a 3-0 decision, a hearing committee agreed with allegations of the department's Board of Professional Medical Conduct that Roberts engaged in 12 forms of professional misconduct. The committee said Roberts had tremendous potential as a physician but was "deeply troubled" by her refusal to admit regrets of her poor choices.

"(Roberts) denies being brainwashed, yet she expressed no real remorse, which represented to the hearing committee her distorted reality and the very real concern that others remain vulnerable to her future brandings," the decision said.

Roberts, who belonged to Raniere’s secret “master/slave” club known as Dominus Obsequious Sororium (DOS), used a cauterizing pen to brand the women. As preparation, she was branded herself by an artist in Brooklyn — and practiced on "fruit and pigs knuckles," the decision said.

When women were branded, they cried, screamed, squealed, flipped off the table and bit down on a towel. One woman described the experience as "incredibly painful." Another woman said it felt like "an acute fire in the most sensitive part of my body," the decision said.

The decision followed hearings held between June 2020 and March 2021.

Roberts, 40, a doctor since 2009 and onetime hospitalist at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, committed misconduct that included willfully abusing a patient, practicing medicine with gross negligence, moral unfitness, services not authorized by the patient and failing to use appropriate infection control practices, the decision stated.

Roberts, formerly of Halfmoon and Long Island, is the second doctor in NXIVM to lose a medical license. In 2019, the department revoked the license of NXIVM member Brandon Porter, who conducted human brain activity experiments and other unsanctioned research in Halfmoon on NXIVM-linked people.

Raniere, 61, the self-help guru known as "Vanguard," whose philosophies were behind the teachings at NXIVM and its Executive Success Programs (ESP) based in Colonie, is serving 120 years in federal prison for his trial conviction of sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy and racketeering charges.

Roberts could not be reached. Her attorney, Anthony Z. Scher, told the Times Union that he believed the decision was legally incorrect. Scher argued that Roberts was acting as a "branding technician" and not in her capacity as a doctor. He said Roberts is considering an appeal of the ruling to the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court's Third Department in Albany.

A Long Island-based general surgeon, David Mayer, testified at the hearings on Roberts' behalf that she could "put aside her white coat" during brandings. The decision said Mayer's argument was inconsistent with his referring to himself as "always a physician."

Roberts, who joined NXIVM in 2013, was recruited into DOS, also known as “The Vow,” in 2016. In DOS, various tiers of "slaves" took lifetime vows of obedience to "masters" who, in turn, were slaves for higher-ranking masters who, in turn, were slaves to even higher masters. At the top of the DOS pyramid were eight "first-line" slaves and then, at its zenith, stood Raniere, the only man in DOS and its “grand master.”

The women repeatedly handed over blackmail material known as "collateral" that could be used against them if they ever turned on DOS. On the command of Raniere, DOS members lived on only a few hundred calories a day, wore chains to symbolize collars, were in some cases ordered to sexually please Raniere and, for many others, were branded with the symbol they later learned was Raniere's initials.

Roberts was a "slave" for DOS master Allison Mack, the former actress on the television show "Smallville" who was among Raniere's eight highest-ranking "first-line" slaves in DOS. Raniere instructed Mack that women were to be branded in a sacrificial position and to request the branding so as to not appear coerced.

The decision noted that Roberts said she joined NXIVM to enrich her skills as a doctor.

"The evidence shows, however, that she deliberately chose to adhere to her DOS 'vows of obedience' instead of providing the women she branded with 'all the things that a physician does' because to do so would have resulted in 'breaking (her) vow' and 'went quite the counter to what the whole purpose was,'" the decision said.

"In other words, when faced with any conflict between NXIVM and her responsibilities as a physician, she chose NXIVM," the decision stated. "For these reasons, the hearing committee believes she abdicated her values as a physician and failed her profession, herself, and everyone else involved."

Roberts performed the brandings, which took 20 to 45 minutes to complete, using a cauterizing pen on women who were not given anesthesia, the decision said.

"While an electrocautery device can be used as a scalpel, it is not intended to be used directly on the skin surface because it can cause significantly more skin damage extending beyond the tip or point of contact," the decision said.

The ruling said that Roberts was evasive, defiant and inconsistent when she testified at the hearing. She refused to disclose the circumstances of joining NXIVM, the whereabouts of videotapes of brandings and was hesitant to admit the symbol in the brand was Raniere's initials — then acknowledged it, the decision said.

The committee, in a 2-1 ruling, found Roberts also committed professional misconduct in 2016 when she failed to report a flu-like communicable disease outbreak that severely infected attendees at the YMCA Silver Bay resort on Lake George. The conference, which drew 438 people including 76 children, was at the site where NXIVM for years held "V-Week," an annual weeklong celebration of Raniere's birthday.

She was among NXIVM loyalists who in 2020 danced outside Raniere's former federal lock-up in Brooklyn in a show of support. Roberts is on a website for "The Dossier Project," made of admitted DOS members who defend its purpose and claim that it no longer exists.

Mack, her former "master," cooperated with prosecutors and now rejects NXIVM and DOS. The actress was sentenced to three years in federal prison for racketeering and racketeering conspiracy.