NXIVM was a cult led by Keith Raniere, a convicted racketeer and sex offender. NXIVM is also the name of the defunct company that Raniere founded in 1998, which provided seminars ostensibly about human potential development, and served as a front organization for criminal activity by Raniere and his close associates. Following Raniere's conviction in 2019, the Department of Justice seized ownership of NXIVM-related entities and their intellectual property through asset forfeiture.