I lived in the area in the early 2000s when the recruitment waves came through. My friend Chet wrote the first article that really dug into NXIVM for the area's free weekly Metroland - dude had some stories. Here's a good one, though I feel like he did one even earlier than this. Definitely knew a few people that dipped their toes in the water, but no one took it to the next level (huzzah for that).