As readers know, NXIVM conducts “human potential and ethics” seminars in Albany and elsewhere. Keith Raniere is the company’s founder. And Clare and Sara Bronfman (two of heiresses of the Seagram’s fortune) started investing with Raniere around 2003.
By 2007 the Bronfman sisters had invested more than $100 million in commodities, real estate and in litigation to sue adversaries who were preventing NXIVM from reaching its full potential.
Some of the litigation was aimed at indicting adversaries, including one of Raniere’s harem members who left the NXIVM group.
In Idaho, in 2007, Sara Bronfman met the Venerable Lama Tenzin Dhonden, a special emissary of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The title venerable is given to Buddhist monks who take a vow of celibacy and poverty.
Sara told Lama Dhonden that the Dalai Lama might find NXIVM’s tools useful.
Tenzin visited Sara in Albany and met NXIVM members. Raniere thought that the Dalai Lama should come to Albany since his teachings were consonant with his own.
Despite allegations that NXIVM was a cult, Lama Tenzin said, “I have my own intellectual resource, capacity, to know persons, to feel persons. I can pick up like that, very easily.”
Lama Tenzin arranged for Sara and Clare Bronfman and Nancy Salzman, president of NXIVM, to meet with the Dalai Lama in India. There they expressed their desire to invite His Holiness to Albany to meet Raniere and offered to make a suitable contribution to the Dalai Lama for his worthwhile causes.
The Dalai Lama agreed.
Back in Albany, Clare told the Albany Times Union that she had a vision of “bringing His Holiness together with Keith, believing that we may have certain tools that His Holiness would think would be good and beneficial for humanity.”
Venerable Lama Tenzin Dhonden lent his voice, as well, announcing, “With the ethical tools developed by Keith Raniere, and the presence, wisdom and guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, we have the essential ingredients to transform our society.”
It wasn’t long before the Venerable Lama Tenzin Dhonden was transformed by Raniere’s ethical tools. The monk began an affair with Sara Bronfman, according to witnesses.
One night, Sara’s mother’s friend came to Sara’s house unexpectedly and found Sara and Lama Tenzin in the hot tub cuddling amorously, or, as NXIVM inner circle and Raniere (ex)harem member, Kristin Keeffe called it, “canoodling.”
Barbara Bouchey, another (ex)harem member, said, “Yeah, they weren’t having sex, but they were in the hot tub in a hot-necking embrace.”
From monk to a hot tub with an heiresses; it was mere paces to the bedroom.
Bouchey said, “I’ve showed up to her house a couple of times and the two of them come out of that bedroom.”
Keeffe said, “I’ve seen him come out of the fucking bedroom. It wasn’t even a secret.”
Raniere knew. So did his harem.
Raniere use to say to Sara in front of others, referring to Lama Tenzin, ‘how’s your husband?’”
Sara Bronfman purchased a home for her lover Lama in Half Moon, a suburb of Albany.
While things were hot with the Lama and Sara, her sister, Clare, announced to the media that the Dalai Lama was to appear in Albany for four days of talks and meetings, side by side with Raniere and capped by an appearance on Sunday, April 9, 2009, at the Albany Times Union Center, where His Holiness would give a public address on compassion and ethics and announce the confluence of greatness – the Dalai Lama and Keith Raniere.
There was shock when it was reported. Stories in the Albany Times Union, the Albany Student Press, The Daily Gazette and Metroland reported people’s astonishment at the coupling of the Dalai Lama with Raniere.
Attempts to get a college to cosponsor [at no cost] the event failed.
The Albany Times-Union reported that, despite the stature of the Dalai Lama as a religious leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Skidmore College and Raniere’s own Alma Mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic, declined to host the event.
A Rensselaer spokesperson explained, “While we have the highest respect for the Dalai Lama and his teachings, we chose not to accept the invitation based on a variety of considerations.”
The University of Albany agreed to rent out an arena with a strict condition, “that by no means were we going to allow NXIVM to be part of our relationship with the Dalai Lama. NXIVM and the organization were not going to have any part with dealing with our students, or advertising or recruiting,” according to U Albany’s vice president for development, Fardin Sanai.
Daniel Weaver, in the Schenectady Gazette, summed up what many felt about the leader of NXIVM: “Keith Raniere has been involved in controversy for the last 20 years. He’s been the subject of lawsuits and investigations. He has initiated numerous lawsuits, many of which appear to be frivolous. He also harasses people…. He is hardly a poster boy for humanitarianism, peace and ethics; and his invitation to the Dalai Lama to speak makes one question the motive of the invitation.…. Raniere has not utilized compassionate ethical methods and solutions to address problems. Keith Raniere has brought anything but peace to the Capital Region.”
Following the negative publicity, the Dalai Lama canceled his appearance. Times Union Publisher George Hearst spoke with a representative of the Dalai Lama. Hearst said, “there’s enough stuff out there that (they) don’t need to expose His Holiness to this kind of risk.”
For NXIVM, this was a PR nightmare.
Sara wrote on her blog: “The highly paid media campaign designed to destroy our company, or any person or entity related to it, reared its ugly head at the news of his visit. We had naively believed people would be excited about his visit and that our community would put their pettiness aside to unite for this momentous occasion. We were wrong. His visit was met with fear and cynicism and some of our local media sources worked ardently to destroy the honor faster than we could build it.”
But through the teachings of Raniere, they had learned to be persistent.
Sara, Clare, Salzman and Raniere went to India to persuade the Dalai Lama to come..
While the Dalai Lama would not consent to the original four-day planned visit, to teach side by side with Raniere, he agreed to deliver a single lecture.
He was coming to the US for a Harvard University sponsored engagement and could spare one day in Albany.
Sara called it a success.
“After an onslaught of negative articles and powerful local personalities voicing their lack of support for his proposed visit, His Holiness postponed until the truth became evident,” Sara wrote on her blog. “In the end the truth prevailed, but in the process we lost participants, money and good faith.”
The press that announced the cancellation, now announced the rescheduling, noting that the Dalai Lama event moved from the 7,500 seat Albany Times-Union Center to the much smaller, 2,800 seat Albany Palace Theater. .
Meanwhile critics took shots at the Dalai Lama. It was widely assumed Bronfman money changed his mind
When questioned if there was any financial incentive from the Bronfmans connected to his visit to Albany, Lobsang Nyandak, representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Americas, told the Times Union that the Dalai Lama would not receive money for his trip. When pressed for clarification, however, he said that whatever money was received would be “used for charitable and other purposes as per His Holiness’ guidance.”
Two days before the Dalai Lama’s rescheduled appearance in Albany, the Dalai Lama Trust was registered in New York State and, according to sources at NXIVM, the Bronfmans donated $1 million to the Dalai Lama through this trust.
On May 6, the Dalai Lama spoke at Albany’s Palace Theatre to a crowd of about 2600.
Onstage, the Dalai Lama presented Sara and Clare with white silk scarves, called “kataks,” which, according to Tibetan culture, symbolize purity. Seated cross legged on a chair, The Dalai Lama spoke about compassion for an hour and a half.
During question and answer, the Dalai Lama, asked about his canceled visit, said of Raniere, “…. If you have done something wrong, you must accept, you must admit, change, make correction. If you have not done (anything wrong), make clear all these allegations (are untrue), truthfully, honestly, openly, transparently.’”
Then he asked the media to investigate Raniere and report the truth of their findings.
Then the Dalai Lama called Raniere on stage and placed a katak around his neck.
After the event, Sara wrote on her blog, “As we stood in the rain to say goodbye to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he touched each of our cheeks and held our faces next to his with the words ‘thank you’ and ‘see you again.’ Tears started running uncontrollably down my cheeks.… his visit was a privilege we fought for….. It was a long road, and one paved with hardship, adversity, and tremendous growth…. However my hope for humanity was restored by possibly the greatest leader of our time…. who has a strong enough sense of himself not to seek external security, and who conforms to truth as his standard …. It was a victory for us, for this region and for humanity. I feel proud to have been a part of this great feat.”
Clare also wrote on her blog. “Due to the ongoing struggle several of my closest friends and I have (had) here in Albany – how we have been portrayed in the media – his visiting and message was particularly moving. His coming brought about a certain contradiction: what is written about NXIVM, Keith, Sara and myself in the press – being labeled as a cult – and a world leader showing his support for us after thorough investigation.”
Despite the happy blogs, the media thought little about the great feat of bringing the Dalai Lama to Albany.
Shortly after his visit, the Albany Times Union reported that the Bronfmans lost more than $100 million in bad real estate investments and commodities losses, plus detailed their serial litigation calling NXIVM a “litigation machine.”
The Dalai Lama had asked the media to investigate Raniere and the New York Post, Vanity Fair, Forbes, The New York Observer, the Nation, and other magazines and newspapers, but especially the Albany Times Union, uncovered and reported many more items unknown to the public about Raniere including allegations of statutory rape; the efforts to hide the paternity of his son, the lovesick letters he sent followed by veiled death threats to ex lovers, the suicide of an ex lover and lawsuits pursued against ex-lovers and much more.
Indeed the investigation has only just begun.
Note: Some readers might ask what happened to the canoodling couple, Sara and Lama Tenzin. It may have been Raniere, who decided to seek vengeance on Lama Tenzin, who ordered Sara to break up with him after buying him a house and paying him and the Dalai Lama an untold amount of money.
The torrid affair became tepid, the hot tub sprung a leak and the two split apart.
Sara married a Muslim man, and Lama Tenzin went on to further his spiritual journey.
But Raniere might be gunning for Tenzin, a source says, and with Bronfman money behind him, it could spell substantial legal costs and concerns for Tenzin.
Frank Parlato 
Janine Morrison 
J.J. O'Hara 
Richard Luthmann 
Marie White 
Paul Serran
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LOL at Keith responding in the comments section of this website. From reading so much of the negative press from respectable sources related to his cult/clique/whatever on the internet, the only thing he seems to care about is what satisfies his big head (ego) and his little head (penis). You fucked a twelve year old (what is that like 6th or 7th grade?) who you were only (obviously) supposed to tutor over sixty times when you were nearly thirty and you’re talking about Federal judges being “respectable” people. What a turd.
Business is booming? Really. Can corporate tax records be posted detailing such earnings? Either shills for NXIVM (or Keith Raniere himself) have created a Twitter account and YouTube account to advertise Keith’s verbal ramblings known as “Keith Raniere Conversations”. The former account had its followers artificially boosted to over 1100, which has now dwindled to a little over 900, and the latter, judging from the view counts for the various videos, shows that no one really cares what he has to say. NXIVM has relied on word of mouth recruitment for years via friends who have taken courses, and general ignorance about the ignoble behavior of its leader that is now much more difficult to hide, contain, and rationalize around due to social media. The company which is an amalgamation of various ripped off sources taken from Scientology, prior human potential movements, religion, self-help methodologies, etc., only survives because two naive women with a lot of money and elite connections have supported it and its leader. Otherwise, like his past business multi-level marketing schemes, they would have gone the way of the dodo.
Apparently Lama was as much of a monk as Raniere. LOL.
Listen to the “boohoo” in the words of Sara that insinuate the Raniere influenced idea that the big bad media is out to get NXIVM because of the light it brings to the world (I’m snickering inside). What a bunch of tools. Always deflecting from Raniere’s ignoble past statutory rapist, gambling, and harassing behavior so he can run his little clique where he does nothing all day but rip off past human potential and religious teaching, masturbate his own ego, and attempt to recruit women into it that he can bed.
It seems you do not think you will win your case. What does all this stuff about Keith Raniere have to do with whether the Bronfman’s loaned you money or not? And whether you embezzled money from One Niagara? None of this stuff about NXIVM will be admitted in your trial, which of course your attorney has told you. If you think that by putting pressure on the NXIVM gang via the media is going to get you any leverage in Court you are sorely mistaken. The Times Union didn’t make a dent in NXIVM’s enrollment. Checkout esplosangeles.com for the schedule of their upcoming $3-5 thousand dollar trainings. It seems like business is booming. None of the scandals around NXIVM will be admissible in your case. It’s just about the facts around the $1 million transaction with you and the Bronfman’s – that’s it.
Your indictment states you reported the monies as a loan, and your own statements to the press state “you earned your money”. Pretty contradictory….. But most significant, if they fired you shortly after you received the $1 mil why didn’t you just give it back? Did you need their money so badly? Sad… If they had wronged you, you could have sued – but you didn’t – they sued you.. Seems like you thought you could fall back on the ole “Their a Cult therefore I can keep everything and do whatever I want regardless of the law” defense. What were you thinking? The Courts aren’t going to consider that stuff ever. Yuri Plyam got a $10 million dollar judgement against him by the Bronfman’s with the “their a bad Cult” defense. Joe O’Hara got a $3.2 mil judgement by the Bronfman’s with the “Their a bad Cult” defense. The Bronfman’s got Barbara Bouchey’s bankruptcy dismissed for fraud and that was Bouchey’s defense “Their a bad Cult”. Federal Judges are serious, impartial, respectable people. They are not going to factor in this blog and the Bronfman’s don”t care what you write about them. Matter of fact, it just strengthen’s their resolve. All that matters is the transactions around that million dollars…
The NIagara Gazette wrote today that Judge Geraci said your trial is coming FAST. All this regurgitated Lama Tenzin stuff? Obviously you are feeling pretty desperate. Your poor assistant. She’s going to jail.
Dear Keith Raniere, thanks for your comments. Watch what happens to Clare Bronfman and what ultimately comes from her perjury. It will all come out in trial.
You should know that sooner or later, Keith, you will have to pay for the criminal actions you have committed. At the moment you’re living large. But the trial you mention will expose much. I am leaving your comments in full on this site since a few months from now we will see how it plays out.
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