Keith Raniere got far more than he bargained for last April while planning some group play at the Mexican hideaway where he and his harem of sex slaves decamped amid fears the cult leader might be indicted.
Lauren Salzman testified on Tuesday that Raniere and the women who joined him in Mexico were planning to engage in an orgy when things suddenly took an unexpected turn and federal agents stormed the property.
The Nxivm founder responded by hiding himself away in a closet said Salzman, while she and the other girls were left to fend for themselves as armed agents with bulletproof vests started to storm the property.
'My main concern was to protect Keith,' testified Salzman, who was on the stand for the third day.
Scroll down for video
New details: Keith Raniere hid in a closet while armed agents stormed his hideaway in mexico last year, Lauren Salzman (above in January) testified on Tuesday
Away they go: Salzman said she gave up Raniere after federal agents (above) kicked down the door and drew guns on her, and noted she felt guilty for months about this
Salzman said that the women - who included Nicki Clyne, Allison Mack and Loreta Graza - were planning to have a group session in which each of the women planned to perform oral sex on Raniere.
On Tuesday, Salzman said she was not looking forward to this 'recommitment ceremony.'
Salzman managed to avoid the ceremony in the end after federal agents stormed the property, located in Puerto Vallarta.
She was in the house with Raniere at the time, and shocked at the scene that was unfolding in front of her eyes.
'I looked outside the window and all I could see was agents with machine guns all around the property,' said Salzman.
'But Keith refused to leave.'
She tried to hold the agents at bay while Raniere fled and hid inside a closet, but eventually she shouted out his name when the men kicked in the door and drew their guns.
'For months after that I felt like such a failure for not being strong enough. I felt like I let him down,' said Salzman.
Salzman, a co-defendant in the case who accepted a plea deal last month, spoke about the plans to build a sex dungeon during her second day on the stand.
She also read excerpts from a manual given to the women in the group.
'Your sole highest desire must be to further your Master from whom all good things come and are related,' said the text, which was allegedly written by Raniere and Allison Mack.
That is why the dungeon was being built with a cage where women could be locked away until the master, Raniere, wanted to let them free
'The best slave derives the highest pleasure from being her Master's ultimate tool,' said Salzman while reading another passage from the manual.
'It doesn't matter what the command is, it matters that you obey. It doesn't matter that you understand the command, it matters that you obey.'
Close bond: Salzman's mother Nancy founded Nxivm with Raniere (above in a promotional video) in the 1990s
Salzman could prove to be a problematic witness given the fact that she herself helped Raneire keep a girl locked in her room for close to two years.
She is also the daughter of Nxivm's co-founder, Nancy Salzman.
Salzman also declared that
