Assurances to sources: I will not reveal your identity

NXIVM officials are trying to determine who leaked V-Week information and photographs to me.

For those who leak information about NXIVM or Keith Raniere, let me assure you, I never reveal sources.  As a journalist and owner of The Niagara Falls Reporter, I have experience in protecting sources and getting results.

Three Niagara Falls Reporter stories should give you confidence:

1: Through a series of investigative reports, The Niagara Falls Reporter [The Reporter] exposed criminal conduct by members of Laborers Local 91 in Niagara Falls.  These led to multiple indictments of Local 91 members. The Reporter was subpoenaed to disclose its notes.  Since the notes would reveal sources, The Reporter chose to face contempt rather than disclose notes.  The judge chose not to hold The Reporter in contempt. The conviction of 14 Local 91 members ended the stranglehold of the Mafia on construction jobs in Niagara Falls.

2:  A source leaked information about the mayor of Niagara Falls and a prominent businessman. The Reporter published a series of stories. In this instance, one of the sources was willing to assist the FBI.  The Reporter facilitated the meeting while protecting the identity of sources from the public. The mayor took a plea deal and served 12 months in prison. The businessman copped an early plea and got off with a non-prison felony.

3:  A source from the Niagara Parks Commission [NPC] leaked that the NPC signed a new lease with the Maid of the Mist two years ahead of its due date. We discovered that another company was seeking a chance to bid which is why they sped up the lease. The NPC claimed they raised rent on Maid of the Mist.  A source leaked the terms of the new lease. Another source leaked the old lease. The old lease was 15 percent of revenues for rent. The new lease was 17.5 percent. Buried in the new lease was provisions for sliding scale rent reductions.  The benchmarks were low, and did not factor inflation. The new lease actually brought the rent down to about 6 percent over the life of the lease. The NPC tried to spin this with big sounding numbers. They said the new lease would bring in $81 million over 25 years.

The Reporter hammered out story after story [I wrote more than 80,000 words on the topic – the size of a book]. No other local paper in Ontario or New York covered the story.

Desperate NPC commissioners and the Maid of the Mist sought to find out who leaked the info. I invited them to sue.

The Toronto Globe and Mail [Canada’s national newspaper] contacted me. I provided them with leaked documents [redacting info to protect sources]. The Globe coverage made it national news. The Integrity Commission began an investigation. The Ontario Minister of Tourism ordered the NPC to put the boat tour concession out to bid. The high bidder – Hornblower Tours – won the bidding at 22.5 percent. The estimated total rent Hornblower would pay was $300 million more than the canceled Maid of the Mist lease.

The Ontario Minister of Tourism ordered the firing of every one of the NPC commissioners and upper management – more than a dozen firings.

Our sources were never revealed.

I am not taking credit for protecting sources. All good newspapers and journalists do the same.

When Keith Raniere went after me and paid good Bronfman money to have me indicted on bogus charges, [even directing Clare Bronfman to perjure herself], there was an effort made by government to force The Buffalo News to reveal notes or tapes of interviews I may have given a reporter on Bronfman-Raniere.

The newspaper refused to comply. Frankly, I did not care if they released everything and anything I said. But the News said it is a matter of principle to refuse to honor subpoenas that are government intrusions on the First Amendment.

In what seems similar to what happened with the Maid of the Mist, national media has contacted me about Keith Raniere and his blackmail and branding. I shared my information. I did not reveal sources, except those willing to talk to reporters.

I suspect the DOS branding story will be national  news. Once this happens, the stench of such foul deeds will force the closure of NXIVM, much like media exposure of Raniere’s swindling of thousands forced the closure of his Consumers’ Buy Line business in the 1990s.

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Keith Raniere is always keeping secrets about everything. He even lied about being the father of his own son. I believe in transparency. In this, I am the opposite of him.

I think I am a little smarter too. I know something Keith doesn’t know: Sooner or later, the truth always comes out.

In fact, I am in the business of bringing out the truth.

There’s plenty more to come for Keith Raniere. Indeed, this is just the beginning of the end of his reign of perversity and illegal acts.

Frank Parlato