An American "self-help" guru, who allegedly presided over a secretive society of women sex slaves branded with his initials, has been charged with sex trafficking.
Keith Raniere, 57, faces court on Tuesday and could be jailed for between 15 years and life if convicted, US prosecutors said on Monday.
The FBI and Mexican police tracked him down on Sunday at a luxury villa in Mexico, following his escape from the US with an unnamed heiress after The New York Times exposed the organisation last October.
FBI senior official William Sweeney accused Raniere, known as "The Vanguard", of displaying "a disgusting abuse of power in his efforts to denigrate and manipulate women he considered his sex slaves."
The case involved "serious crimes against humanity," said Mr Sweeney, "and we are putting an end to this torture today."
Raniere set up supposed self-help workshops called "Executive Success Programs" in 1998, whose umbrella organisation Nxivm has operated in Canada, Mexico, South America and the US, and recruited in Brooklyn, officials said.
Participants paid up to $US5,000 for a five-day workshop with members often required to sign non-disclosure agreements, US prosecutors said.
Each August, they also paid $US2,000 to gather in the New York lakeside hamlet of Silver Bay to honour Raniere for his birthday.
Carrying on polyamorous relations from the start, in 2015 he is accused of creating a secret society called "DOS" - a pyramid scheme of women "slaves" and "masters" with Raniere - the sole man - alone at the top.
Members were allegedly told that they would be empowered, but were instead treated as slaves - branded with Raniere's initials on their pelvic areas while being pinned down naked and filmed at initiation ceremonies.
As a pre-condition of joining, women allegedly had to provide "collateral" such as damaging information about friends and family, nude photographs and rights to their assets, which they feared they would lose if they did not have sex.
Some were forced onto low-calorie diets as Raniere preferred exceptionally thin women, and none were allowed to sleep with anyone but him, prosecutors said.
Slaves were also required to fetch coffee and groceries, make lunch and clean the houses of their "masters", officials alleged.
