On Tuesday, 80 people filed a civil lawsuit against the NXIVM ringleader, Keith Raniere.

In June, Raniere was found guilty of sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, human trafficking, and racketeering — including sexual exploitation of a child.

The lawsuit details other allegations of misconduct by the "self-improvement" group, including fraud, unlawful medical experiments, forced labor, and human trafficking.

The former members of NXIVM now seek damages for the emotional, psychological, and sometimes physical injuries they say were inflicted during their involvement with the organization.

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Under the guise of altruism and self-improvement, the NXIVM leader Keith Raniere and his "inner circle" of celebrities and heiresses secretly ran an insidious sex cult, coercing and blackmailing women into becoming "sex slaves" for "masters" in the movement.

The criminal charges against Raniere, the "Smallville" actress Allison Mack, and the Seagram heiresses Clare and Sara Bronfman focused on the sex-trafficking ring run by NXIVM, an umbrella for several companies and a social movement. A new lawsuit, however, claims the abuses of the self-proclaimed self-help group on their victims are far more "insidious" — and included illegal human experiments.

On Tuesday, 80 people filed a lawsuit naming Raniere and other NXIVM leaders claiming that many who fell prey to NXIVM's promises of success were subject to much more than sexual and psychological abuse covered in the criminal trial. The complaint claims that many lost their life savings paying for self-improvement lessons priced from $25,000 to $100,000 and were traumatized in the process.

Former members of NXIVM are now seeking damages for emotional, psychological, and sometimes physical injuries they say were inflicted during their involvement with the organization.

NXIVM members say they were unwillingly part of 'human fright' experiments

In court documents obtained by Insider, former members detail being subjected to a series of human experiments conducted by the former psychotherapy nurse Nancy Salzman and Dr. Brandon Porter without voluntary informed consent.

"All of our clients who were subject to these experiments were traumatized and are still troubled deeply," Neil Glazer, the attorney representing the NXIVM victims, told Insider.

The lawsuit claims as many as 200 people were placed in front of a screen with electroencephalogram electrodes placed on their skulls to measure brain waves and a camera to record their emotional response.

In the "human fright experiment," members believed they were going to watch a video of Raniere to test the effectiveness of the cult's ringleader. Instead, participants were shown "scenes of escalating violence including actual, extremely graphic footage of the brutal beheading and dismemberment of five women in Mexico," according to the complaint.

The duo are also accused of telling the plaintiffs that NXIVM's nonprofit, the Ethical Science Foundation, was conducting a clinical study that might "cure" participants' Tourette's syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The actress Jennifer Kobelt reported Porter to the New York Health Department after being a subject in the "human fright experiment," prompting an investigation into Porter, the New York Post first reported.

"He continued to film my reaction for at least 10 minutes as I just sat there, dry heaving like I was going to puke and crying very hard," Kobelt, told the health department in the complaint. "He failed me, not only as a friend but as the medical practitioner I had trusted on numerous occasions with my health while I was in New York."

The New York State Board for Professional Medical Conduct conducted multiple hearings on these studies, accusing Porter of "moral unfitness, gross negligence, and gross incompetence among other charges," according to the Post. His New York medical license was revoked as a result.

The complaint also implicated the Bronfmans and accused the Seagram heiresses of fronting money for the studies despite concerns raised that the studies did not follow "scientific protocol" from a person with experience in medical research.

The complaint also accused NXIVM of using various "pseudo-scientific hodgepodge of psychotherapeutic methods" to essentially brainwash members by "radically refram[ing] gender roles and relations," teaching that women were "inherently weak and untrustworthy and that to become stronger and more empowered they first had to experience extreme humiliation and degradation."

"Through an insidious process of slow, subtle indoctrination and manipulation, NXIVM's leaders drew ever closer to its Albany headquarters those students who had become most vulnerable to defendants' abusive and coercive methods," Glazer said in a statement.

The lawsuit claims NXIVM engaged in forced labor, fraud, human trafficking, and unlawful human experiments

Though the ringleader of this complex scheme is now behind bars, Glazer says his clients want more than remuneration — they want justice.

Beyond the illegal medical experiments, the new lawsuit lays out a "progression of criminal activity" in the organization, including forced labor, fraud, human trafficking, and unlawful human experiments. Glazer says his clients hope people will understand the extent of NXIVM's manipulation — and that anyone could be vulnerable to their tactics, "even intelligent, well-meaning people."

"Nobody willingly volunteered for all of these horrible things that were done and the system was created in such a way that once you were pulled inside, the deeper you got pulled, the less you were able to recognize what was going on," Glazer told Insider.

Though Sarah Edmondson and two other outspoken NXIVM victims are named in the lawsuit, other victims have chosen to join the civil lawsuit anonymously. The 58 "Jane Does" and 19 "John Does" fear retaliation from those who still see Raniere as an "ethical humanitarian" and are concerned about the possible negative impacts of being associated with the notorious group.

However, Glazer and the former NXIVM members hope to send a message to others that they are not alone.

"No victim should have to feel ashamed or humiliated, or afraid to talk about what was done to her to talk to authorities," Glazer told Insider. "There are a lot of people out there who understand and care, and understand and won't judge and, and our clients set an example and demonstrate that there are people... we can reach out to if you've been victimized."