Here are some highlights. [my comments in bold and brackets]
[Last winter Vanessa Girogiradis met with Nancy Salzman, at her home. Nancy allowed Vanessa to witness an Exploration of Meaning therapy session with Jacqueline {Ronay?}] “a 27-year-old with long dark hair, who was a psychology student in college.”
Salzman connected “Jacqueline’s fear of flying; her belief that her mother was forced into a terrible life by her father; and her inability to be an independent woman” during the session.
“Are you pretending to be a helpless woman?” Salzman said [to Jacqueline in front of Vanessa, almost as if it were staged].
“That’s the way I receive attention, that’s kind of my thing,” Jacqueline said.
After the half-hour EM session, Jacqueline said to Nancy, “I don’t know what happened. I feel really good.”
[Vanessa quotes a former member]: “’[NXIVM is] the most potent way to deconstruct an emotional trigger’ and permanently change the way you process it.”
[She quoted a present member:] “Experiencing integration after integration, the Nxian feels light, buoyant and more powerful than before. ‘We are just trying to create joy.’”.
[Vanessa explains the tech]: “Breaking down identity was only the first part of Nxivm — replacing your identity with another, or ‘replacing data with data,’ in Nxivm speak, was the second part. As Nxians erased their fears, they began doing what they truly wanted to do with their lives….”
[India Oxenberg told Vanessa NXIVM helped her realize she] “didn’t want to be in the entertainment business. She wanted to be a caterer.”
[Vanessa explained] “Raniere’s courses largely teach neurolinguistic programming techniques and introductory ethical and psychological theory, which students are encouraged to understand in the context of their own lives.”
[She endorsed his teachings:] “Mobius [is] about healing the parts of yourself that you reject and not hating them in other people; and Human Pain, about understanding that love and pain often go together. Nxivm taught the power of penance as a time-tested shortcut to achieving self-improvement.”
[She enjoyed meeting Nxians] “Many members and ex-members of Nxivm that I spoke with [are] funny and strikingly perceptive.”
Vanessa concluded NXIVM members], “all agreed on one thing: The ‘technology’ worked. Raniere could program you. He had solved the equation of how to be a joyful human. Decide on your ethics and make them the guiding force in your life; do not make decisions that are not in line with those ethics. Look to create strength and character through discipline. Look to create love. Do not reject your family (unless your family rejects Nxivm, in which case some other steps may be necessary). Do not be a slave to your fears and attachments. Pain creates conscience; do not be afraid of pain.”
[Vanessa traveled to Mexico, where Clare was staying with Raniere in San Pedro Garza Garcia near Monterrey] “I was asked not to reveal [the location] They were staying there on the advice of lawyers and consultants [Bad advice, it seems, for Raniere’s stay in Mexico was interpreted as a flight from US jurisdiction and was one of the reasons that federal prosecutors cited in arguing he should be denied bail] and also because Bronfman was fearful in the United States…. that someone connected with a disgruntled ex-member … might kidnap her when she was out for a jog. [She is afraid of what ex-members might do to her and they are afraid of what she might do to them.]
[Vanessa met Clare at Monterrey ESP Center.] “She walked its airy halls.. a framed photograph of Raniere hanging on one wall and a stenciled quote from him on another — ‘If in the next moment your behavior would affect all of humanity for forever more, how would you behave? Every moment is such a moment.’”
[Vanessa wrote, Clare]“answered my questions directly and seemed highly in touch with her emotions.”
[Vanessa wrote, Pam Cafritz was] “a bubbly woman who was Raniere’s most important long-term girlfriend and a beloved mother figure to Nxivm members.” [Did she know Pam?] Clare Bronfman “began crying as she told me about her friend’s death.”
“A number of colorful sashes hung on hooks. Each color in the hierarchy was not only a higher state of self-awareness [NXIVM needs more reporters like Vanessa who have higher states of awareness].
“Anything in the group about skinniness, about punishment, about self-denial was simply to help members evolve.”
“Bronfman and I had lunch together at a local restaurant, though she didn’t eat because she didn’t like the vegetarian options.” [Too many calories?]
[Vanessa met Raniere] “whom members have compared to Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.”
[Their meeting took place in a condo; Raniere was just] “waking from a micronap” [of about nine hours duration].
“He was built like a wrestler [actually judo champ] and dressed in business casual: a sky-blue polo shirt, gray slacks and round tortoiseshell glasses. He was graying at the temples, but the rest of his dark hair was cut with flair and volume. [Hair stylist, [Name Redacted] reportedly went down to Mexico; she is a cult member and owner of [Name Redacted] in Saratoga.]
Raniere said, “It’s quite a point in life for me. I question my values, how I conduct myself, all of these things…. I don’t think I’m seen as the person I think I am, and I also want to be the person that I think I am.”
[Vanessa wrote of her Vanguard] ‘Raniere… seemed intelligent and intensely sad [he] broke into tears several times, particularly when talking about Cafritz’s death. He was honest about the fact that he was polyamorous and spoke to me about the importance of not only sex but intimacy. But what was important to know about him was that what he does every day is simply walk and think, he told me. He walked 14 to 20 miles a day… and during those walks, he thought about how to solve humanity’s problems. [He helped solve one of humanity’s problems when he got arrested].
“I’m like a nerd who has read too much, only I’ve thought too much.” [He’s got plenty of time to think in his prison cell.]
“In Nxivm, the point of integrations was reaching what they called ‘unification.’”
[Vanessa asked Raniere if he was unified. Vanguard said] “That’s more a theoretical or goal state. I don’t think if someone was unified they would particularly talk about it.” [Of course he is unified – that’s why he did not answer the question.]
“There were some light spots, like when he told me that humanity needed to develop more humanity, and we deserved to, because we were a special species; cats don’t have “catmanity,” he said. [nor horses horsemanurity]
[Referring to Consumers’ Buyline, Raniere’s former business closed down by authorities for allegedly being a pyramid scheme, she wrote] “It might be surprising that people would sign up for a self-improvement endeavor led by a man who might have led a pyramid scheme, but today in Nxivm, leaders explain to incoming members that Consumers’ Buyline had been unfairly targeted, but Raniere refused to be vengeful and instead conceived the group as ‘an opposing thing that would be good in the world,’ as one member told me.”…
“Raniere began thinking more deeply about persuasion and how you could talk people into anything, even helping themselves.”
[Vanessa met Sara Bronfman] “a lovely woman who made me eggs in her Albany-area mansion this winter”. [Vanessa was being loved-bombed]
“Before Nxivm, Clare didn’t deal with her finances. As a wealthy woman, it was all done for her.” [After NXIVM she did not deal with her finances either – Raniere did it for her and lost about $100 million].
“Clare continued to want to use her inherited money ethically.” [She ethically spent about $50 million in lawyers to sue Raniere’s enemies.]
“Raniere… taught that dexterous use of money — the assigning of value to various goods and services — was one of humanity’s highest virtues.”
[Dexterously, is one way to describe Raniere’s use of money]
[Raniere explained he is poor, despite being arrested with access to $8 million in the late Pam Cafritz’s bank account], Vanessa wrote, “But after the Consumers’ Buyline debacle, he was careful not to put his hands on much of it [money] himself. In fact, Salzman owns Nxivm, and Raniere has nothing to do with it, officially. He received no salary from Nxivm, nor possessed a credit card, A.T.M. card or a car. [He used Cafritz’s cards with $8 million at his disposal] He told me, ‘I don’t pay taxes because I live under the poverty level.’ I asked him where he got his clothes, which require money to buy. He answered that they usually appeared. Pointing to the polo shirt he was wearing, he said, ‘until I put this on this morning, I don’t think I’d worn it before, and I didn’t know about it.’”
[Vanessa laid it on thick for Vanguard and Bronfman] “With access to Bronfman funds, Nxivm engaged in all manner of legacy-creating enterprises, many demonstrating kindness and concern for others. The group invited the Dalai Lama to Albany… They’ve designed a ‘peace pledge’ for Mexicans and made a film about Raniere’s ideas to solve violence in the country. They formed an a cappella group named, appropriately enough, Simply Human. They host ‘Vanguard Week,’ an annual celebration of Raniere’s birthday, running triathlons and solving Rubik’s Cubes. Through the year, they played volleyball, Raniere’s favorite sport, usually after 9 p.m., when he preferred to play.”
[No mention of lawsuits and attempts to jail defectors].
“[T]he group opened centers in New York City, Vancouver and, strikingly, Mexico’s big cities, including Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara, it became more certain than ever about the power of the tech.”
[Vanessa wrote how NXIVM’s tech is being used to try to heal diseases: “Salzman introduced me to an 18-year-old high school student she was trying to help surmount Crohn’s disease through Nxivm’s technology [[Name Redacted]’ daughter]. Bronfman has also produced a film about Nxivm improving the symptoms of Tourette patients, which screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival this spring. Raniere had free rein to indulge his interest in scientific experiments. He conceived a new type of school to teach children as many as eight languages at a time [Rainbow Cultural Garden]; each teacher speaks one language, on the theory that children pick up language more easily from a beloved caregiver.”
[Are $15 per hour nannies from foreign lands, who usually stay briefly, really beloved caregivers? I heard reports that children of Rainbow are in constant anxiety since they are constantly pummeled with languages from a bevy of alternating strangers.]
“Nxivm members also created and operate The Knife, an active website that uses ‘scientific analysis’ to gauge the relative honor of news outlets like this one.’”
“In the larger Nxivm community, most thought Raniere was celibate. But the inner circle knew that he maintained multiple relationships from his home. Consenting adults can surely engage in whatever sexual relationship they prefer, including many women having segmented and siloed relationships with one man.”
[Enter Barbara Bouchey, she said she knew Raniere] “as a loving boyfriend, affectionate and … measured… He almost never raised his voice, showed anger or talked condescendingly in her presence.”
“I’ve seen Keith tirelessly mentoring someone over a phobia or becoming a better speaker or giving someone piano lessons, because he has those values,” Bouchey said. [Bouchey is] haunted by one question: “Did he really love me?” she asked. “I honestly felt it at times. It seemed genuine, especially in the early years.”
“To his philosophical theories, Raniere had introduced his followers to a concept called ‘collateral,’ or ‘collateralizing your word,’ which members understood to be ‘adding extra leverage to your conscience.’ … About three years ago, some female members began approaching others on the sly, [Raniere did not know?] asking if they felt stuck in their personal growth and wanted to join a secret international women-only self-help group [DOS] to move quicker in their personal growth. … This particular self-help scheme did not cost anything….
“In order to learn more about this secret society… invitees had to turn over something valuable. And what was truly valuable in life? These were mostly affluent women, [that is not true – most DOS women were not rich] so it couldn’t be a diamond necklace; they could always get another. It needed to be something that, if lost, would punish you or damage you — a nude photo, a video confessional about a law you’d broken, maybe even the deed to your house, signed over. This was true collateral, the most direct way to show your trust. And only through complete trust could you truly love another person. You might also call it blackmail.’…. Raniere described it to me as a “sorority.”….
“To this day, dedicated DOS members insist that they began the secret group themselves [i.e. Raniere knew nothing] … Over time, the group morphed into a military-style boot camp that was simply trying to address the place of women in the world, to make them realize that they were not victims.”
[Vanessa visited Allison Mack]. “When I visited Mack in her gorgeous apartment in Brooklyn… Mack [explained] … she was unhappy with her TV acting career (she asked Raniere to “make her a great actress again”), [He sure did] [Mack] explained the way DOS worked. …. The woman who invited you to the group was your master, Mack said… or the “representation of your conscience, your higher self, your most ideal.” Masters would help slaves count calories to save them from the trap of emotional eating, [or normal eating] … Masters would dictate an act of ‘self-denial,’ like cold showers or rousing yourself from bed at 4 a.m. and standing stock still for a time. … Slaves might be told to abstain from orgasms, ostensibly to heal their negative sexual patterns. {Those are hard to heal, ask Raniere] Mack said that this was ‘about devotion’ and ‘like any spiritual practice or religion.’…
“Many women told me they improved from this [DOS] scheme, and Mack agreed. ‘I found my spine, and I just kept solidifying my spine every time I would do something hard,’ Mack said passionately. DOS was ‘about women coming together and pledging to one another a full-time commitment to become our most powerful and embodied selves by pushing on our greatest fears, by exposing our greatest vulnerabilities, by knowing that we would stand with each other no matter what, by holding our word, by overcoming pain.’”
[Vanessa explains branding as a rite of passage.] “When the cauterized brand was introduced, it was a scary experience, like any real rite of passage…. Even if they cried when they were getting the brand; even if they wore surgical masks to help them with breathing in the smell of burning flesh; even if the brand was much larger than they were told it would be … even if they were in a state of sheer terror, they were still able to transcend the fear and cry out to one another: ‘Badass warrior bitches! Let’s get strong together.’”
Vanessa writes “an estimated 150 women ultimately joined [DOS]. … Mack told me each circle was ‘like a little family.’”
Vanessa added, “Belief is a tricky thing, particularly when it involves taking responsibility for the idea of branding women … when it may not be in your self-interest to do so.” [that’s an understatement]
“In Mexico, Raniere insisted to me that claiming he brainwashed anyone was ridiculous. Brainwashing was a farce, a scientific impossibility, and indoctrination can be positive. ‘What is wrongful about my indoctrination?’ he asked…..
“Raniere did not express remorse about his claimed role in DOS nor even admit to it to me. He was a wandering prophet, not a mastermind; he talked to me about angry former lovers, ex-members’ ‘loose lips’ and extortion letters that had come his way.
[If nothing else, Vanessa Grigoriadis has proved the NXIVM tech really works. After one meeting with Raniere and a few with High Rank, she seems utterly brainwashed.]
Frank Parlato 
Janine Morrison 
J.J. O'Hara 
Richard Luthmann 
Marie White 
Paul Serran
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
This reporter is a Covert Hypnotist #Coverthypnosis. Otherwise known as NLP Neuro Linguistic Programming. Raniere and much of his work is based on. It specifically was part of at Collusion #collusion to change the narrative. NLP is good, but to use it to try to change the narrative on a possible Criminal with the serious charges against him without doing the type of inbvestigative digging that is needed to come up with more facts is wrong COLLUSION. Here is a lawyer that started off his meetings with his clients with a simple Meditation to get them in a hypnotic state and see what he did to women. The police got his one. I wish more members would come forward or protect themselves when being alone with any of the Staff of Raniere they are all master NLP Covert hypnosis. BEWARE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EASfZaY6y0k
[…] was going to bed three hours ago and decided to have a look at Frank Report. I read your blog with regard to the current article in the New York Times. At first I was totally angered and horrified that […]
If you take a gander, you will see that Steve Hassan has been posting several articles and videos on brainwashing. I wonder whether this is commentary on treating former NXIVM members. (He also has a tweet and nutrition and mental health).
QUOTE
“Allison Mack is not a sociopath. To my knowledge she never exhibited any symptoms of the condition. She was just manipulated and twisted into doing some sick things by a sexually obsessed sociopath.”
————————————
Allison Mack’s collateral revealed: destroy parents & nephews for Raniere
FBI Special Agent Michael Lever laid out details of the sex-slaver cult that come as no surprise to readers of Artvoice and Frank Report. What will come as a surprise is the extent Mack was willing to go to be enslaved by Raniere – even if it meant destroying others’ lives. This is a woman with no bottom line.
Mack’s collateral was described as:
(1) a letter regarding Mack’s mother and father that would “destroy their character”
(2) a contract that transferred custody of any children birthed by Mack to Raniere, if Mack broke her commitment to Raniere
(3) a contract that transferred ownership of Mack’s home if the commitment to Raniere was broken
(4) a letter addressed to social services alleging abuse to Mack ‘s nephews.
Mack was not only willing to destroy her life, but her parents’ and nephews’ lives to serve her warped and perverted master,
The depths of depravity Mack joined him in, shows she is a soulless, conscienceless creature.
The brutal and vicious Allison Mack brought other women into the cult as slaves – and co-conspired in coercing women in being abused, up to the point of being branded with Raniere and Mack’s initials on their pubic area.
In an email, dated October 1,2015, Raniere wrote to another one of his slaves, “I think it would be good for you to own a fuck toy slave for me, that you could groom, and use as a tool, to pleasure me.”
That’s essentially what Mack did for Raniere. She started by being his ‘fuck toy slave’ – then descended into hell by recruiting other fuck toy slaves for her pig-selfish master.
So selfish was she, herself, that she was ready to submarine her own parents, give away her house, her unborn children and destroy her nephews. Nice going, Chloe.
https://frankreport.com/2018/04/15/allison-macks-collateral-revealed-give-up-home-unborn-children-to-raniere-destroy-parents-nephews-for-raniere/
The above is a response to “Darth VanDouche.”
Sarah Edmondson and any other member of DOS did the same type of things for collateral. Doing such things doesn’t make one a sociopath, only severely misguided.
You need to get over your obsession with constantly vilifying Allison Mack.
When the time comes the ED NY prosecutors will vilify Allison Mack and then crucify her using her own confession from the recent New York Times article.
I was getting skeeved out staring at this picture of Kreepy Keith and then it dawned on me, He has the pasty complexion of a vampire and it brought to mind Bill the Vampire on True Blood (albeit Bill was much better looking).
Just wanted to address the posters who fear that Allison will be able to “take the wrap” (LOL) for Keith and set him free like a little birdy, where he’ll be free to fly in the skies high above Albany once again.
Firstly, it doesn’t matter who’s original idea it was to introduce branding into the sex slave scheme…..it matters who ACTIVELY PARTICIPATED in the scheme as a whole. If you rob a bank as part of a group, it doesn’t matter who actually came up with the idea to disable the alarms……everybody is breaking the law by participating in the scheme, regardless of who was physically present in the bank or who thought of the scheme from an office.
Keith actually ‘fucked’ some of these women and at least one other woman fled NXIVM before fucking him, because she was being groomed and instructed to fuck Keith. He was also caught via email instructing a slave to recruit another slave to be used as his “fuck toy”. That certainly counts as participation by Keith, LOL.
Secondly, they’ve caught Keith RED HANDED on the issue of “blackmail”.
It’s illegal to hold blackmail material on somebody for ANY reason.
The fact that he didn’t release the blackmail material isn’t relevant to the charge. It’s illegal to even HOLD blackmail material on somebody….as long as THEY BELIEVE that you might release it some day if they don’t comply with your future demands. The Feds have live witnesses who are gonna testify that they did believe their blackmail material would be released if they didn’t comply. So it’s game over for Keith on that charge. LOL.
The Feds already have more than enough evidence to prove that Keith was controlling this sex slave scheme as a whole (and other schemes related to forced labor) REGARDLESS of what Allison says or does on the witness stand.
This case doesn’t hinge on Allison or India promising to “take the wrap” for Keith. LOL.
*take the rap I meant, not wrap. 🙂
You’re right.
Allison and India can take the rap for Raniere all they want.
All three will go down.
Only Allison and India’s ignorance of how conspiracies work give them the faulty notion that they can save Raniere.
They should be concentrating on saving themselves.
And we must stop using the word “collateral.”
Collateral is when you take out a loan.
Not for holding blackmail material.
Raniere and Mack are clearly blackmailers in addition to all their other crimes.
*just wanted to point out that when I said Keith was nailed on the ‘blackmail’ charge, I’m aware he’s not charged with extortion per se.
However, the sexual charges against him are predicated on the “coercion” element which is represented by the ‘blackmail’ material (collateral). The blackmail is therefore part of the evidence that will convict him of “coercing” women into sex, so he’s been caught red handed.
Oh I know the actual case. Not worried about either party not getting justice. I am annoyed about the writing style and how it’s portrayed. And yes I am a terrible speller. Once I lost the spelling bee in 4th grade I just hung up my hat and said “that’s a rap” and never looked back.
I read the whole article. I definitely did not get the sense that Vanessa was showing people the cult’s dark side. Nothing implicit to that effect. If anything was implied by Vanessa’s words, it’s that the world shouldn’t think harshly of the cult. She even suggests that the bad stuff is the work of some sneaky female cult members who acted in secret.
Vanessa’s entire article is really just an apologia for Raniere and NXIVM.
That’s interesting. As someone who was in the Albany nxivm crowd for many years, I can spot the script being shared. In between the scripts Vanessa adds commentary that has a flare of sarcasm. Maybe it’s something I spot because I know many of the party lines already.
The piece didn’t come off as a expose and I think that’s what everyone expected but it’s not realistic. If they invite a journalist to come and see how they work they are going to be scripted and ensure the scripts are followed. Literally everything was scripted. I was told almost that exact same line about his clothes magically appearing almost a decade ago. It’s not new information. The only thing that was new is Allison “admitting” it was all her idea in a very “these are not the droids you are looking for” way.
I feel that the author sufficiently lets us know that Keith is pretty full of himself.
If Keith reinvented acting as he claims… this was not a great representation of his curriculum.
I think Frank is a little harsh on Vanessa Grigoriadis, who wrote an NYT piece casting NXIVM in a positive light. After all, Frank hasn’t met Vanessa. If he had only gotten to know her a little, he might conclude that Vanessa has well-considered and deeply personal reasons for turning Raniere into her Vanguard. Maybe Vanessa wants to quit journalism and take up acting or catering? Or maybe she wants one of those nifty cow brandings? Could be that she wants to be a billionaire, and understands that Raniere knows the secrets to achieving that goal. When we see someone getting ready to join the cult, we need to keep an open mind about their motives.
Ps. The asymmetry in Keith’s tear shaped head is driving me crazy. That’s why he always wore a beard I guess.
He’s a PUMPKINHEAD! Mosdef NOT the World’s Smartest Man…
it’s true there’s something funny when you see it for a while maybe it will have photoshop
How ridiculous that the worlds “smartest” and maybe-unified-but-I-am-not-going-to-tell-you-because-unified-people-dont-talk-about-their-unification man can be “seduced” as if he has no choice where his penis goes when a woman approaches him. Where’s Keith’s “at cause” perspective now? “Oh but she made me have sex with her because she walked with me and seduced me. I was brainwashed by her body, even though she’s totally not unified like someone that you can hear talking to you right now but can’t say that he’s unified because that’s not what unified people do.” Ridiculous.
While I appreciate the authors subtle attempt to display the darker sides of nxivm with fluffy light words, I certainly can’t appreciate the too-subtle approach of letting the reader fully believe that Allison should take all the wrap for this. She should. But so should this scumbag who needs figure out where to get his own damn clothes.
Living under the poverty level.
Please.
How about all of the victims who he bled dry with his manipulation and control he has over them? He doesn’t even know what poverty level means. It’s more than just a dollar amount, Keith.
The editor has taken a course of action of only taking the facts as she saw first hand and has left those things unseen best unsaid but at the same time she has fallen a bit for the “charm.” I think she has not understood the editorial assignment in the context it geniunely requires.
Maybe someone in the USA could tweet her this blog to get her first hand response to the reasoning?
As it stands (and reads) tho folks knowing media like I do this is what is known in the trade as an advertorial. The product endorsement I see crying in the pic.
It is very similar to the Jew defense of child killer Leo Frank. The NY Times is an instrument of Jew propaganda. The Times article is signaling there are some big big Jews at risk.
I don’t know. Maybe you could be less antisemitic? Seriously, shame on you.
Why do you feel compelled to use this useful site to further your anti-Jewish agenda? Or do you do that everywhere?
Another reporter that gives praise to Vanessa Grigoriadis and uses some of the same lingo ¨collateral¨ along with techniques in Hypnotic Journalism is I am a ¨knife¨ auther Jacqueline Rose. Frank is she the Jacqueline mentioned above? The choice of the word Knife, and Raniers, Vanguards News Angency called The Knife Media. These are Hypnotic word bombs being used along with other word bomb used in this article , I suspect she is connected to Rainier, Her article ¨I am a knife¨ is all over the internet. https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n04/jacqueline-rose/i-am-a-knife
That the NYT runs a puff piece on any subculture is not shocking. That it publishes a piece that doesn’t excoriate a known pedophile, abuser, slaver, and snake-oil salesman in the #metoo era is unconscionable. Pictures of Raniere crying -CRYING!- in a nice suit is a way to humanize a monster; and make no mistake, the man is a monster, evil to his core. I am, without a doubt, thoroughly disgusted.
The True Goals of the NYT Article.
It is not a crime to be weird or eccentric or different.
If you’re as rich as the Bronfman sisters, you are tolerated.
The goal is to paint most of NXIVM as strange but tolerable.
NXIVM is just a different lifestyle.
The other goal of this article is to paint Allison Mack as a freak who enjoys branding and enslaving other women.
Once that goal is met, all of NXIVM’s criminal behavior will be laid at Allison Mack’s feet.
In this case, Mack’s fame is actually a liability because she s a high profile target for prosecution.
And Mack’s words and behavior incriminate her in the more bizarre, reprehensible acts of NXIVM.
Allison Mack is no longer a brainwashed victim but an eager and willing perpetrator.
It’s unclear and highly doubtful that NXIVM will ever be considered a tolerable part of any community.
But the second goal of painting Allison Mack as a freak succeeded because there is a large kernel of truth to that perception.
Allison Mack’s admissions were the centerpiece of the article.
Mack even admitted that she has jealousy problems towards other women, particularly younger women. That explains Mack’s violence towards those women.
I don’t know if Allison “enjoyed” branding or enslaving women. Something changed in her – or was manipulated into her – such that she could exhibit such behavior where she would break into tears when VanDouche said nothing particularly emotionally stirring about authenticity in a KR conversation videos. She could’ve been acting but I don’t think she was.
I think she fell hard for VanDouche. Why? I have no idea, but I’m certain thought reform had something to do with it. Most of her behavior was to please her master. Remember, VanDouche kept extending the limits to test the loyalty of his subjects, e.g., getting women to run into trees or drink from puddles of water. So under his influence it is not difficult to understand that Allison likely believed that she had to do something that was beyond a simple tattoo to please him over and above other women in his cult. Couple this with NXIVM’s module on human pain and love being joined at the hip and it made sense to her. Remember, this is a woman who was bent into believing that recruiting other women to have sex with a guy she obviously had feelings for was a good thing that pleased her master. She did this despite feelings of jealousy – which are completely natural in such a situation by the way – which she had to suppress because she was coaxed into thinking it was her issue. Even if the idea of branding germinated in Allison’s mind, the seed was planted into her over a period of several years by her master VanDouche. So I don’t think this article absolves VanDouche of being the primary driving force behind the idea of branding one bit even if Allison admits to it being her idea.
Excellent analysis, Darth.
Good analysis Darth, but this are subtilities that will be hard to provide as evidences in court. I fear that Mack will take all the blame for DOS and Raniere will pretend he did not know that both Jane Doe felt forced to have sex with him. If the sex trafficking charges agaist Raniere are ruined, there are not a lot agaist him, because don’t forget he put off his names of all the NXVIM “criminal” entities. To prove that he is linked with them, you would need a high-ranking member like Nancy Salzman or Karen Unterreiner to testify that he is the mastermind behind all of these.
In the case of Jane Doe #1 in the indictment the official story is that Allison Mack drove her from Brooklyn to Albany where Jane Doe was handed over to Raniere, and she was blindfolded and walked in a circuitous route to a “shack”.
Once there Jane Doe was tied to a table where someone sexually assaulted her all the while Raniere was walking around the table offering commentary.
Now who could have sexually assaulted Jane Doe #1?
Not Raniere. He was walking around the table offering commentary.
Not another male. Raniere did not like males having sex with his slaves.
It had to be a female high up in NXIVM.
Who could it be?
Which NXIVM females do we know were in the vicinity when Jane Does was sexually assaulted?
Allison Mack.
While Raniere was taking a circuitous route to confuse the blindfolded Jane Doe #1, Allison Mack rushed ahead to the shack.
This sexual assault was Raniere’s and Mack’s idea of a practical joke.
I do not know of any shacks in Knox Woods, short of the pool house (and we have heard that some KW residents have hook-ups in the pool house). But I do know Lauren Salzman’s property has at least three outbuildings, and one might be called a shack. It is sandwiched between the garage directly behind her house and the garage to the back side of the house.
Lauren may not currently be home but there have been cars in and out of her driveway and backed up to those out buildings per the neighborhood watch committee and I have also seen cars there with my own eyes. Someone is pulling out the garbage cans. So we wonder if her cats are still in the house? Last I knew, hairless cats do require companionship and bathing because they get sticky.
It doesn’t matter if Allison Mack takes all the blame. VanDouche was complicit. He not only knew about it, he encouraged it, and the FBI has the evidence not only from witnesses willing to testify, they have it straight from the horse’s mouth. He was at the top of the pyramid and it is common knowledge that he controlled everyone in the inner core. He also doesn’t have to directly partake in any criminal activity. Via RICO, the government only has to prove that he ordered others to do so. The government spent thousands of man hours and millions of dollars investigating NXIVM and him to gather enough evidence to arrest him. What was written in the affidavit of arrest is just the tip of the iceberg. They definitely have more than enough evidence to prosecute him. He got arrogant and sloppy – he’s not the genius his followers think he is as his 2.26 GPA shows – using his own email and other forms of personal communication. Outside of some technicality throwing out evidence his chances of release from considerable jail time is slim to none. The guilty often reveal themselves and there is no way of escaping self-incriminating activity. His own hubris and sexual perversion will convict him. The charges related to DOS are just part of the whole. The government more than likely has plenty of evidence for tax evasion and money laundering. This organization isn’t run by intelligent people . It is sloppy, just like its leader and the two naive brats who support him who lost over $200 million dollars doing so. It got away with it for so long because it was a small time cult paying off local authorities and threatening whistle blowers who didn’t have the financial backing and name of the Bronfmans which unfortunately still protects them. It was Smallville. Then it ironically brought too much attention to itself via a Smallville actress – Raniere probably got too excited over all of the horny thoughts he had in his small head of all the nubile actresses he could recruit via her – which has resulted in the ramifications for the organization as they exist today.
Even if this article was to present a positive image of NXIVM, it didn’t do a good job of it, and it’s a case of a little way too late.
From the very beginning the entire NXIVM elite “love-bombed” Mack to get her on board.
And after her first exposure to a NXIVM seminar in Vancouver in 2006 the Bronfmans flew her on their private jet to Albany to meet the Vanguard himself.
“When the seminar concluded, Mack accepted an invitation to fly on the Bronfmans’ private jet back to Albany, New York, to meet Raniere in the flesh. They told her Raniere could help her with her acting career. This was a rare development, even for a VIP; most high-profile initiates had to complete at least one 16-day “intensive” at a cost of $7,500 before being granted an in-person meeting with Vanguard. A couple of weeks later, when Dones traveled to Nxivm’s corporate offices and training facility in Colonie, north of Albany, she was surprised to see Mack still there. One Friday night, when Raniere gathered his followers, male and female, in a nearby public gym for a weekly game of volleyball, she found Mack sitting in the bleachers, smiling contentedly at the players. “She said she was having a great time,” says Dones.”
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/how-smallvilles-allison-mack-went-actress-sex-cult-slaver-1112107
NXIVM had tried to love bomb other celebrities like Linda Evans of the TV show “Dynasty” but no one else was as vulnerable to this tactic as Allison Mack.
And she was apparently oblivious to what was being done to her.
Now as for Ms. Mack’s problem with jealousies, what else would one expect in a society built around polyamory?
Did Ms. Mack ever sit down and figure out that jealousies thrive in polyamorous societies.
That human beings might talk about accepting multiple lovers but when push comes to shove they expect loyalty in their sexual partners, not “musical” beds.
There were reports that Ms. Mack would be frantic when her Vanguard went out for walks with other women in Know Woods and not return on time.
Mack might have talked about sexual freedom but in the long run she expected the same stability that everyone wants in a relationship.
And Ms. Mack became concerned that she might have an STD from sleeping with her polyamorous mentor.
What else would she expect from sleeping with a man with the morals of an alley cat?
All that said most women would have kicked a libertine like Raniere to the curb long ago.
But Ms. Mack not only stayed with him but bought into his even more outrageous behavior like involvement with children as well as the branding of women and the involuntary servitude imposed upon women.
Ms. Mack was even enthusiastic about using blackmail against women to coerce their sexual subservience to Raniere. All the while bloviating about “female empowerment.”
At some point years ago Allison Mack went from being a victim to being an eager and willing co-conspirator.
From these facts what can we conclude about Allison Mack?
1.) That Allison Mack is not particularly bright.
2.) That Allison Mack has no moral compass. No sense of right and wrong.
3.) That Allison Mack has trouble recognizing reality from fantasy.
4.) That Allison Mack is more worried about enhancing her own power in NXIVM than empowering women.
5.) That Allison Mack is a sociopath who does not care about the consequences of her acts upon others.
6.) That Allison Mack is devious and will lie to get her way. Mack told Sara Edmondson that she was only getting a tattoo.
As evil as Raniere and his crew are they did not place all of these serious character flaws in Allison Mack.
They only exploited character flaws that were already in Allison Mack’s psyche.
Could you at least make a logical character assassination? A sociopath would not have been a “people pleaser” or harbored feelings of guilt for praise. A sociopath would not have succumbed to love-bombing. A sociopath would not fawn over Raniere and given away mixed emotions in promotional videos. Say what you will about her, but sociopaths don’t volunteer to be martyrs for other sociopaths.
“sociopaths don’t volunteer to be martyrs for other sociopaths.”
Oh yes they do.
As Nazi Germany was collapsing thousands of Nazi true believers, unable to bear the thought of living without Der Fuehrer, became martyrs for the Nazi cause.
Mass suicides in 1945 Nazi Germany
Many prominent Nazis, Nazi followers, and members of the armed forces committed suicide during the last days of the war.
The list includes 8 out of 41 NSDAP regional leaders who held office between 1926 and 1945, 7 out of 47 higher SS and police leaders, 53 out of 554 Army generals, 14 out of 98 Luftwaffe generals, 11 out of 53 admirals in the Kriegsmarine, and an unknown number of junior officials.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_suicides_in_1945_Nazi_Germany
Allison Mack is not a sociopath. To my knowledge she never exhibited any symptoms of the condition. She was just manipulated and twisted into doing some sick things by a sexually obsessed sociopath.
Bravo for the pointed commentary.
Clearly she had some latent tendency towards sociopathy that was just waiting to be honed by an expert like Raniere.
Mack is no lily-white victim, that is for damn sure.
But soft on the impact their criminal, nefarious activities had on defectors, critics and ex employees.
Of course the programs have positive effects. They wouldnt continue to pay thousands of dollars if they didn’t like how it made them feel.
Yes, cults always have something good to offer in the beginning. That is the bait in the trap.
One final thought on this article…
It’s clear that the NXIVM women allowed to speak with this reporter were “cleared” by Keith ahead of time (that fact was stated in the article).
Therefore, everything mentioned about the “positive experiences” in NXIVM were “known outcomes” ahead of time, based upon the simple fact that Keith “cleared” those women to speak with the reporter (e.g. women with other views were not cleared by Keith to speak on the record).
It makes the piece nearly worthless. She didn’t get a real sample of everyday life at NXIVM, she got a scripted act by women who were “cleared” by Keith to speak the party line.
Try Pravda instead, if that’s your cup of tea. 🙂
I don’t call that journalism.
But the writer says that. She says that she was taken on a highly controlled stage managed tour. With that on the table, no one can think that it was not part of what she was writing about. That’s what doesn’t make sense about your criticism.
I agree with you, Molly, I don’t understand the overexcited comments….
I wanted to address the “Anonymous” writer who claimed that we shouldn’t be demonizing this journalist.
Read the below paragraph carefully where she whitewashes the instructions given to ‘slaves’ to SEDUCE KEITH (e.g. FUCK HIM) as a mere test of “commitment” and “loyalty”, LOL.
========= Quote:
Promising to seduce Raniere — which was apparently the way he preferred to be approached sexually, rather than putting himself on the line — was also one of the ways some women later said they were told to show commitment to the sisterhood.
========= End Quote
Let me explain it again.
She explains the NXIVM view, that seducing Keith is nothing more than a test of commitment and loyalty (e.g. she implies it’s NOT about SEX with Keith; it’s just about loyalty to her sisters, LOL)…..and she further says that if somebody can’t do these acts of loyalty (e.g. if they can’t FUCK Keith like a good slave) then they probably aren’t right for the sisterhood.
But the reporter doesn’t point out the serious flaws in this NXIVM argument, such as the OBVIOUS fact that IF a ‘slave’ refuses to FUCK a stranger on ‘orders’ from their master……that’s not really a SISTERHOOD or SELF IMPROVEMENT SORORITY at all; that’s the textbook definition of a SEX CULT. lol
You won’t fuck our leader on orders from us? Well, I guess you’re just not suited towards self improvement. LOL.
@Mr/Mrs Anonymous… If you have another definition of a sex cult, I’m all ears. 🙂
The reporter needs to CHALLENGE the subjects on issues which are so clearly being bullshitted on. Credible reporters ask tough questions, not softballs, even at the risk of losing access.
Grow a brain. Have a nice day. 🙂
Maybe the NYT writer let NXIVM “speak for itself” and assumed the reader already had a brain and could see thru their obvious bullshit as well as Mike S.
Read the comments on the article (and some here, too) and you can see exactly how stupid some people are.
I don’t think you have any right whatsoever to say what Mike S does or does not think. Shame on you.
I agree it was written, showing not telling the reader how to feel. She does it subtly, but it’s clear she thinks the cult is garbage.
I thought the reporter was trying to explain why the women got hoodwinked. Eplain where KR knew how to push the right buttons. I think it’s a valuable portrait. KR comes off as a psychopath I felt. It’s more about the sadness than anger. A lot of what KR said is true. And it does take brains to run a cult that can capture so many people with resources. It’s not rocket science. But it’s important to show how it is done.
I guess the sad part is how sick our society is and how lost people are that they would feel this dingleberry KR was of importance.
I think its important to not demonise the journalist who wrote this piece, it serves a useful purpose in showing how it looks like from the inside, for those who do not understand how a cult works, simply attempt to ridicule victims or cults… while at the same time themselves having the blind spots that results in them following for other cults.. and they don’t even realize it most of the time.
What important is to rationally show the flaws in the reasoning used. The approach of ridiculing or demonising the journalist will only do more harm than good for the cause of enabling people to recognise they don’t need this kind of shit in the name of “empowerment”
I agree. In the article he comes off badly.
She writes:
Yet through many hours of conversation, Raniere did not progress to new points. There were some light spots, like when he told me that humanity needed to develop more humanity, and we deserved to, because we were a special species; cats don’t have “catmanity,” he said. But I watched as he drew into himself, seemingly intentionally, becoming a black hole of anti-charisma. In a slow, calm, metronomic voice, he emitted sentences about scientific and philosophical theories: whether humans are biological robots or have free will; whether mysticism is inherently bad or “a tool of understanding but is often abused”; how to interpret Zeno’s dichotomy paradox, a classic logic problem; the possibility that interrelationships with families and friends persist in the afterlife.
She calls him lazy and exceedingly strange and scary.
Honestly, people not picking up on her word choice make me think they just read this post and not the actual article, or they have really shitty reading comprehension.
Isolating sentences doesn’t make sense. These sentences in the article clearly indicate that something is wrong with the way Nxivm has gone after people. “They have also answered some defectors, journalists and critics with lawsuits. A New Jersey-based lawyer, Peter Skolnik, who represented the author and noted cult deprogrammer Rick Ross in a 14-year suit with Nxivm, told me that he estimated their cost of the suits at $50 million.”
Quote:
‘Barbara Bouchey, Raniere’s girlfriend of nine years who left Nxivm in 2009 and was a party to 14 lawsuits involving the group and its related entities’.
So the journalist indicates that the two sides are using the court system to settle differences, rather than the truth – that Vandouche legally hounded BB for decades simply for her leaving him and NXIVM.
Poor journalism at best.
Okay, so if he is a pauper (and has no money)…who the f#ck pays for his pizza? I suppose that just magically appears too.
So, let’s get this straight – in addition to his other claimed supernatural abilities, VanGrifter can make Domino’s Pizza appear out of thin air. He happens to live in a rent-free condo (that also just magically appeared), along with a hot tub that magically cleans and chemically maintains itself every week (God only knows what kind of herpes bacteria is growing in that water).
He also wears custom-tailored suits and shirts ($1500 and $300 each) that just magically appear. Just like a Villa in Puerto Vallarta, that just magically appeared also.
Manoman, this Keith Raniere fellow sure has some magickal abilities. Almost like a God. I wonder if people would ever start to worship him too…and maybe form a cult around him.
Wait a second…
She failed to mention that he was using a deceased follower’s accounts, (was it Pam Cafritz’s?), definitely a female’s bank account and credit cards, there was something like 8 million sitting in the account he used, with her name on it. Now that is easy enough to mention, why didn’t Grigoriadis do so? And if it was because it wasn’t known at the time she wrote this, prior to the arrest, why add other up-to-date details and not facts to counter what he himself said?
Just out of curiosity who do you think Pamela Cafritz would have left her money to? Are you sure she didn’t leave her money to Keith? Why would that not make clear logical sense?
If Pam Cafritz died without a will, i.e. she died intestate, her state of domicile (New York) has intestacy laws that automatically operate to divide up her assets among her next of kin.
Since Raniere was not Cafritz’s husband, he gets nothing.
…do we know Pan C died without a will?
From what I read here, wasn’t she devoted to KR and likely might bequeath everything to him, coerced or not?
Was any will filed in a New York State Probate Court on behalf of Pam Cafritz’s estate?
If not, she died intestate and her mother and siblings are the rightful heirs.
Not Keith Raniere and his ghouls.
An estate with a will still has to be probated, and estate taxes paid. The bank account was in her name, not a trust.
How could Keith be living in poverty if the 8M$ came from Cafritz (and not just a hiding account for $ pilfered from the Bronfmans, which is my guess) left everything to him?
Can’t have it both ways.
Well, Jimmy Comet Ping Pong and Pizzagate was defending him on Ben Swann’s ncivm segment on YouTube…
Lie/Deception #1 He told me, ‘I don’t pay taxes because I live under the poverty level.¨ He Lives like a Wealthy MAN in a home for $10,000 a week, food paid for, all clothes that appear for him from his Sugar MOMMIES. NO that is I live like a KING, but I make sure all my money is held by the harem, so I can have tax evasion. He does NOT LIVE under the poverty level.
Have to admit I like that jacket and shirt he’s wearing. Is this the cover of GQ or NYT Magazine?
Vanguard almost looks respectable.
Like a legitimate businessman in casual wear.
Not hypnotic. Gap in the teeth and all.
It’s a custom-tailored suit. Look at the stitching on the lapels. $1500 a pop, multiple fittings, select the fabric, etc.
But, it just magically appears. What the fuck is he – a leprechaun? A djinn? Clothes just magically appear for him.
I have custom-tailored suits that I wear as an attorney (in the Courtroom). I don’t usually wear them, because they are so expensive. Wearing one around the house is like wearing a sable fur coat in your living room. Who the heck are you trying to impress?
Obviously, this is a carefully crafted PR stunt, that the writer should have had the ovaries to describe as such. This doesn’t take a rocket scientist to debunk – heck, we are debunking it right now on a message board.
WTF people…
Grains of truth that you can see how well they worked with so many people touting they see nothing wrong with what Raniere has done in the comments.
Exactly, a perfect or campaign launched at justbtge right time. Public relations is the art of persuasion, which the leader of this cult is mastered at. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if he edited the drafts.
After reading this, I’m ready to invite Keith, the Salzman’s and Bronfman’s over to my home for a formal dinner. Instead of Tom Wolfe’s “radical chic” we now have “cult chic.”
Too bad Tom Wolfe is no longer around to write about NXIVM.
Maybe Ronan Farrow can sink his teeth into NXIVM?
Farrow is a talented reporter.
So is Jane Mayer.
Roman Farrow seems to prefer to go after subjects others aren’t covering. Probably already too public for him.
what an utterly wretched, disgusting article written by a feminist who could barely restrain her joy at meeting the one man who could (obviously) in her degenerate mind be the one guy who made her lady parts tingle with anticipation at the thought of Dr Robert’s branding weapon and then the ultra nirvana of small penised Keith getting off with her for all of 3 minutes. 3 minutes of ‘heaven’ for a a lifetime hell – stupid stupid woman.
He hypnotized her, trust me. I am sure he had some time ALONE with him. New York Times Magazine should be ashamed at how well she got reigned in on this piece. I would question her talent here. I suspect she is connected somehow to another journalist with Knife Media, Jness, or some promise in the future of some business Clare will make her CEO of. They have 50 companies and counting. NO investigation going on here. Just #yellowjournalism I am a student and smell a rat!
I bet she got paid by Claire just like Claire paid the daily lama to come and talk in Albany. He was paid 1 Million by Claire
She implies he was unimpressive.
Implies? At this stage of the game, she should have done more than imply if she was indeed unimpressed. I’m sure she wrote the entire article as a means to gain Keith’s further personal attentions. However, she is not attractive, nor thin enough to ever manage that beyond how he could manipulate her emotion for him. The feminist in her had to play a little hard to get.
I am sure the looks were taken into account.
It’s interesting that you keep attacking her feminism.. Also as a writer you’re not supposed to tell how the reader how to feel. That’s why she’s implying it. If she told the readers to hate Keith and the cult, it would put them off. She gives them enough to show that keith and the cult are garbage. Maybe it’s clearer to people who have better comprehension skills.
Cheese N Crackers! You’d think the only newspaper some commenters read is the Post. The only critique I have is that A. She should have mentioned that much of the « tech » is gleaned from EMDT practice (free from your local mental practitioner if you have insurance) B. Why she didn’t press harder about all the lawsuits (maybe she was told bringing them up would end the interview) I’m tempted to write comment that it is strictly against the Times’ ethical code to accept any rumuneration from interviewees (and highly respected by most people—you know, the privilege of working at the Times.
Its called Neuro Linguistic Programming NLP which Raniere and his group is a master of Journalism. It can be used for good, but also the evil inclination rises in someone and it is used the wrong way. #coverthypnosis it is called to.
You on drugs, Ion? You read a different article than the rest of us. Your obsession with lady parts tingling and the scale of Keith’s genitalia has turned your brain to mush. Or maybe you’re just jealous.
Did you read the NYT article, if so, you didn’t understand. Read it again quietly by removing your spyglass
This reporter really does attempt to defend (or at least explain) Keith’s purported ethical “Polyamory” relationships.
But in doing that, she doesn’t delve into the obvious contradiction of… …Why Keith doesn’t allow his fuck toys to discuss their sexual relationships with Keith to anybody else in NXIVM?
Nor does she talk about Keith’s many non-DOS (but still NXIVM) women that he’s fucking while not allowing them to discuss it with anybody else, even though he holds a position of authority over them as Vanguard.
I’ve read that many of these girls must keep it a secret and not talk about their sex with Keith.
That’s not “polyamory”. Polyamory means everybody knows about everybody else and can discuss anything openly with anybody else.
If only ‘master’ can fuck others and talk about it, that’s a “sex slave” relationship. But this reporter just presents Keith as a Polyamory ethical guy, LOL.
Also, this reporter’s single ‘blackmail’ reference seems designed to make it appear like she’s being balanced (LOL) even though she clearly gives a much bigger platform to NXIVM’s own kooky argument that blackmail isn’t really blackmail, it’s just a road to self empowerment.
LOL.
PS — Prosecutors have an email written by Keith where he uses the term “fuck toy” when he’s asking a senior slave to recruit a junior slave to become his “fuck toy”. But this reporter is just pretending as though these emails don’t exist. I’m guessing this will be the only positive piece NXIVM gets before trial, LOL.
The reporter is of the generation and is living in a culture where all things are equally good-valid-acceptable, so she can’t pass judgement on sexual relationships, they are simply another lifestyle, another choice. This is the result of Michel Foucault’s influence on philosophy which filtered out from the universities to the general culture, of the doing away with a shared objective reality, of values and value judgements, in the name of inclusion and tolerance, elevating the low, dishonourable, and fringe, and dragging down honourable and mainstream cultural mores, beliefs, values, conduct, self-governance. And this crap is where it logically leads, to the point where educated professional wealthy and attractive adult women, not teenagers, not bimbos or hookers or sheltered religious ladies, can be talked into accepting his game. Polyamory is a fancy way to describe deliberate conscious self-centered promiscuity, or if it is centered around one person like Keith, it is no different than a pimp and his stable, harem, whatever you want to call it.
You do not write this NLP Journalism to protect a possible criminal. Would hate to think what type of article she would have written if she interview Charles Mason. She probably was hypnotized by Raniere , he used #coverthypnosis or and NLP to get her were she was. But to not do the investigative work on a Possible Criminal with these charges against him is wrong when you DO NOT have all the FACTS and have not done your homework. NOEXCUSES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EASfZaY6y0k
The technology works because they tell that to you every day. It’s like a repeat after me class and then you say: ohhhh now I get it!
Its called Neuro Linguistic Programming NLP or #coverthypnosis. It like all things can and should be used for good. But like all things the evil inclination occurs in people and its used wrongly.
Totally agree, the reporter has been drinking kool-aid NXIVM style and cut out all the bad things a lot of us said to her.
Vanessa Grigoriadis is she being honest about her association with Vanguard/Jness/ESP Is Jacqueline {Ronay?} REally Jacqueline Rose whos wrote all about Vanessa all over the internet called ¨I am a Knife¨ ?https://isj.acu.edu.au/2018/02/20/i-am-a-knife/. Does VE (Vanguard Entertainment??) Knife Media have any connection with Vanessa? When did she take the Program in Albany? Same date as the Photo of her with Claire in the Winter?
Typo correction
Vanessa Grigoriadis is NOT
she being honest about her association with Vanguard
Seriously? Are you so butt-hurt that she didn’t credit you that you have to lash out like this? Or did your internship at the National Enquirer inform your understanding of journalism? I read your blog every day and just finished the New York Times article which I thought was impressively detailed and nuanced. The passages you chose to highlight were absolutely *showing* how a cult grows, what propaganda it uses, and how it wraps itself into the psyches of people. (As opposed to just *telling* readers, “you wouldn’t know by looking that these people are in a cult!”) Read in context, their tone is sinister and chilling. (I noticed *you* left out the multiple instances where she mentions the group’s intense paranoia and how she felt groomed and performed for) Courtesy of your blog and every other news outlet, all we know of about NXIVM is HUMAN TRAFFICKING! SEX CULT! EVIL DEMONS! Vanessa managed to profile the human beings behind, in, amongst the cult and allow the readers to think critically about where exactly a self-help program went terribly wrong and hurt so many people. Was it just because of 1-2 bad dudes? Or was everyone stupid? Or just so intently navel-gazing they couldn’t see who was really getting hosed. What I think was most brilliant is that she used NXIVM’s Achilles Heel (ego) against itself. I don’t know how that looked like complicity to you. but whatever I’m just a dumb broad… what do we know about writing… or comedy for that matter? ( and no I’m not Allison‘s mom !) I’ll let the REAL journalists get back photoshopping jizz on AM’s Instagram pix.
I concur with your assessment. Most folks here want a bitter condemnation, but instead they got an account from a journalist trying to present both NXIVM’s members’ delusional beliefs and repugnant practices. The author had to explain what was disturbing about NXIVM (based on her time with them) and also why so many folks could have fallen for it. It’s hard to imagine that any intelligent person would read this piece and wish to become affiliated with NXIVM. I recall that Sarah Edmundson exclaimed to “love” her cult until she became embroiled in DOS and was branded.
Some folks have made the reasonable point that this story could be designed to buttress Keith’s defense, but I think that it has more to do with the interviews than the writer’s tone. Mack was “reluctant” to speak to reporters, but then encouraged to speak with the reporter. Than, as the reporter points out, Mack appears to act against her own self-interest and admit to devising the branding practice (Irrespective of its originator, the admission its self is unusual). You can construe this statement as either twisted amorality or brainwashing, but all the same it lacks the Machiavellian calculation of a survivor.
Good post. I’m considering the article in a different light now.
There are so many situations in this article that are completely misrepresented, and you downplaying them doesn’t suddenly make it a fair, balanced article.
Using NLP Neuro Linguistic Programming Journalism #coverthypnosis on a possible criminal with the serious charges against him and not doing the investigative homework needed to get all the FACTS is WRONG. To try to influence people when she clearly had not done the work needed is in a way #collusion
is DEFINITELY a member. And likely pretty wealthy as of today.
She included just enough of a couple of digs at them that they are probably pissed at her, too.
The only people who seem enamoured are people who don’t know anything about the real situation, like the random who commented here, and some numb nut commenters on the article who can’t see any evidence whatsoever that any crime was ever committed. Of course, they can’t. That is exactly what the article was designed to do.
Everything was OK under the Saintly Pam Cafritz and everything went to Hell under the Demonic Allison Mack.
The narrative is set and the scapegoat is designated.
Monte Blu writes for the New York Times.
I suspect, got a name?
Lie/Deceit #1 Vanguard says ¨he is polyamorous¨ Definition: Polyamory (from Greek πολύ poly, “many, several”, and Latin amor, “love”) is the practice of, or desire for, intimate relationships with more than one partner, with the knowledge of all partners involved. That is fine and if true than all members of Jness/EPA and any other group he created should state this FACT on his/there WEBSITE. It is deceitful to omit this as the leader. PERIOD. I do not believe that ALL of HIS partners had ¨knowledge of all partners involved¨
It aired after the A&E show, which doesn’t make NXIVM look nearly so warm and fuzzy.
Except even the A and E show gives prominent mention to Allison Mack and her townhome where the branding took place.
Allison Mack is toast.
Raniere could have had “The Knife of Aristotle” write that article.
And it neatly places much of the blame for the branding and torture square on the shoulders of Allison Mack.
Clearly Mack’s unique psychological problems contributed to the madness.
Could the Bronfmans have bought off the New York Times?
Fuck no! The Knife would score this 20 for biased language ( or 80…whatever’s bad). The Knife also missed the memo that newspaper article writing is different from feature writing and that both require a certain quality of writing *skill* Their favorite publication would be Ayn Rand’s News for Kids.
Ridiculous and insulting to suggest Barbara is in love with Keith! What a spin this article had. There are no words to describe how NOT in love Barbara feels toward the man who abused her, stalked her, tried to destroy her career, wanted to have her kidnapped, had her falsely arrested, and the list goes on. The fact that the reporter even asked her that irrelevant question is very telling. Of all the hours she spoke with Beebs, and then only printed thar misleading and confusing info, leads me to wonder who was pulling strings behind the curtain?
This is a FLUFF PIECE and TOTAL PIECE OF CRAP.
As a journalist, Vanessa Grigoriadis should have researched the inconsistencies in Vanguard’s claims. EVERYTHING KEITH HAS SAID ABOUT HIMSELF HAS BEEN DISPROVEN.
He is not the World’s Smartest Man. He was never a Judo champ. He did not tie the 100-yard dash (which was the 100-meter dash in NY State in the 70s). He is not a concert pianist. He did not teach himself college mathematics.
Keith Raniere is still lying. And this reporter is too glossy-eyed to research and find out the facts.
Furthermore, VanGrifter did not care for his ailing mother. She was not bedridden for years and he was not her caregiver. How is this possible? How can little VanGrifter go to elementary school and care for his mother AT THE SAME TIME? Moreover, if his mother was bedridden (and the Father was dead)…who the hell was paying for Keith’s private school from grades 1-6??? The money must have just magically appeared. Just like his polo shirt, clothes, fancy haircut, custom-tailored suit (LOOK AT THE LAPELS), and the $8 Million Dollars in his checking account.
More bullshit from a Master Conman. The journalist should have the backbone to conduct research, and not just retell the lies.
What a joke article.
But it’s in the New York Times!
All the news that’s fit to print.
Father is not dead. James Raniere is a retired adman living on Long Island. Mother died of a heart condition when KR was at RPI (18 years old). While I am skeptical of his deeds as a caregiver, she probably was ill for a while.
Interesting point. KR is a product of a broken home with a mother less than able to handle motherly duties – if she had a heart condition, like my Mom, she may have been out of commission and dependent on KR for periods of time. This could build resentment and hatred in a young child. No excuses – but we need to figure out where all the rage, hate, and passive aggression came from.
Jim Jones was an only child. His mother was unconventional and often absent, having to work long hours, while the father was disabled, physically weak, and bitter. Growing up, Jones was a loner, with few friends. The ones he had, he tried to bully and control at an early age. He, too, presented himself as someone with the best intentions towards mankind. He may have even believed this at times.
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. We need to find out what makes KR and his ilk tick.
Jim Jones killed around 900 people he promised to care for and protect, due to his spiraling paranoia.
We still don’t really know about Keith’s childhood. If anyone out there willing to talk about it (anonymity guaranteed), send me a DM on Twitter. @litecoinbaby
“He was built like a wrestler”
And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, the smoking gun as to this being a fluff piece. In what Universe does any objective observer think Keith Raniere is “built” as this author described? A 5’4″ pudgy guy with a belly who binges on pizza with hot sauce? He’s neither built like a WWE wrestler nor a Greco-Roman wrestler, so why would anyone bring this up as if it has any relevance whatsoever?
Pudgy doughboy shape white version of a sumo wrestler?
This article appears to be the NXSCUM PR plan for after shit went down.
I do not know folks.
I think the article could only be seen as “positive” on NXIVM/Raniere when compared to all of the well-deserved awful press Vanguard and his Excessive Sex Program has received.
Even an NYT reader with a high school diploma (or a 2.26 GPA from RPI) is probably bright enough to realize that the man Elizabeth Vargas called a “schlub” has not done anything to cure Crohn’s Disease or Tourette’s Syndrome.
Surprised however, that the article got past the NYT’s staffers without a single mention of Donald Trump.
LOL. The reporter seems to have been indoctrinated into NXIVM’s mindset.
I totally understand the concept of being neutral and not being blatantly negative, but this kinda journalism is a pure puff piece. She made their likely courtroom arguments for them. LOL.
Looks like Laura Darby’s previous confidence in Vanessa Grigoriadis (ala mattress girl) was sorely misplaced. 🙂
BTW Laura… Mattress girl was pretty much a liar. She texted her ‘love’ for that guy months later. She only seemed to go negative on him after speaking to another of his ex-GF’s one night and realizing they both got played……and realizing that he didn’t have any true feelings for her other than as a college fuck buddy. He fell in love with another girl. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. 🙂
The New York Times is not even worth the recycling of the printed edition.
They issues corrections on stories practically daily because of their slanted reporting.
Why should the topic of NXIVM be any different?
A newsource that issues corrections may indicate sloppiness…but it demonstrates integrity, not slant.
They print whatever fits their narrative without bothering to fact check it, and even when they write a correction they usually still try to add a spin to it.
It’s almost always “someone else’s fault” they didn’t check the article before they ran screaming falsities to the world.
I know what Kool Aid you are drinking if you call that integrity.
Vanguard has his student sign a NDA because nothing of what he does is original, he is a combo of EST>Scientology>Hypnosis>Illuminati>secret societies All can be found on the WEB. Members would be wise to google search on some of his insights and teachings.
The only points that didn’t make me sick were yours 😉
And, Allison Mack’s comments in this article just further incriminated herself and exonerated Keith. She’s even crazier than I previously thought. No longer is she both a victim and victimizer to me. She’s just straight up evil. Keith didn’t create the monster, he was just her platform. I bet he’s even surprised at how crazy she got.
None of this will matter when a jury gets to read all of Mack and Raniere’s text messages and e-mails between them during the trial.
You can’t fix crazy.
Not this crazy.
Love to see Vanessa Grigoriadis bank account and what she got paid to do it. Also she is a secret member of the group. Does her boss know that? Has she ever written for the KNIFE? Is She friends with the KNIFE? Shame on her
If you were a prosecutor or FBI agent, would you not be tracking all of the cash flows in/out/between NXIVM entities? I know that I would, and I’m sure this article earned the author’s special attention from the FBI.
I’m with the rest of you; this article was overly positive and lacking the disgust any person should feel about coercion, blackmail, branding, and sex slavery. What a joke. It appears the author herself got in deep enough to get hypnotized.
Was that picture of Keith takin from the wax museum??
So Raniere spends up to 20 miles a day walking? The average human walks ~3 mph. That means he could spend almost seven hours a day walking. Almost an entire office work day. That’s such bullshit.
Correct!
But how fast does an average human prance?
Keith uses the same speed walking tech he used to break the 100 yard dash record.
If he hadn’t been arrested, he planned to enter the NYC Marathon, and win in a walk.
BTW: Where is that round fat face of KR I’m so used to seeing.
Has he been on a restricted calorie diet?
Check his pockets for a mini-scale.
It would appear that she had high noon kool-aid with the best mind-binders NXIVM has to offer. A reputable reporter would of tried to get both sides of the story and not cut those she did interview “bad news about the cult” information out of the article.
Makes me wonder what gifts Clare bought Vanessa Grigoriadis to leave certain facts out of this article?
That is a creepy looking picture of Raniere.
His head is not symmetric. Look at the right side (his right side) – it appears misshaped. Now compare the shape from the left side of his head to the right. Talk about a Pumpkinhead.
I’m not one to ridicule people’s looks. I just think that picture of him looks vacuous. Like there is something missing there. It’s a cold, apathetic stare. His eyes seemed to be glazed over and not really looking at you.
His eyes ALWAYS look that way. And I agree, there is something very odd about the difference in shape of his jawline from left to right. That must be why he usually wears a beard. It looks like part of the right (his right) side of his face is missing.
Agreed. This was a huge disappointment. The editors at the Times are morons and this was no exception, how on earth did they think this was adequate, when there are mountains of info at everyone’s fingertips? Why didn’t they add a disclaimer at the beginning about when they article was actually written? She grazed at the edges of the federal charges, and left out entirely the reporters from previous attempts at coverage and what happened to them. That is why talking to people who only get their information from outlets like the Times is impossible, because they get about 3% of the whole story, then act smug because they got it from the Times. She is a good writer and unleashed probably could have produced something meaningful, with the full story, with accurate information, and with interviews with the people abused, targeted, attacked with lawfare. I had high hopes for Grigoriadis but this was crap. The Frank Report and other alternative independent media is where people must go to pick up the perpetual slack of these corporate outlets.
Where do I begin?
First off, you can definitely tell the difference between a credible journalist such as Barry Meier versus a fluff piece writer. Which is most likely why they granted this lady access. She sounds very much like they do. Narcissistic. You can tell by the way she drones on loving the sound of her voice.
I also heard from a little birdie that she went through hours with nutty nurse nancy and loony lauren, where they most likely did their nlp bullshit on her. She actually sounds very programmed.
This article was endless and most of it more about painting a pretty aesthetic picture instead of the actual facts.
Oh and the overly-photoshopped pictures. 😂
What she does do is give her opinion and then fluff it up.
I think crazy clare may have actually thought this would help exonerate them. Lol. Nope. All it did was make them all look extra crazy and not credible with any sane person.
My favourite part was how Ranier’s clothes just magically appeared and he didn’t know they existed, until he did. It is true that he doesn’t pay taxes on his earnings from NXIVM. It is true that he doesn’t have credit cards in his name. What is true is that he doesn’t have to, because he has a harem of heavily hypnotized women who pay for everything. I mean everything. Food. Clothing. Cars. Houses. Pleasure. Services. All of it. Every woman was his slave before there was even a DOS.
I heard Allie was going to sacrifice herself, but this is the final nail in her coffin. In this day and age, a woman who enslaves other women, will get crucified. A woman who enslaves other women for a MAN, forget about it. Also, in admitting she created DOS, she probably has heavier or more charges coming her way. Unfortunately for all concerned, this was printed a little too late. He’s been arrested and charged. She’s been arrested and charged. There is so much evidence against them, their rhetoric is meaningless.
Thank you Vanesa for your piece through, it makes a wonderful cat box litter liner.
The NYT doesn’t have very good pieces very often.
Also, completely ignored important situations like why families of Mexican teenagers panicked and took them all home, including the ex-husband of Rosa Laura Junco.