Why I took down posts with names of NXIVM and SOP members

Keith Raniere at V-Week

Earlier today I put up two posts with lists of NXIVM members and SOP members.  Between the time I posted the lists and the time I took it down [about 30 minutes], I had a number of emails and texts.  I am going to share some of these [names and identifying info redacted] for it may be instructive as to the kind of terror people still feel having been associated with NXIVM – even if only briefly.

***

Frank,
I’m writing to beg you immediately to remove the list of ex and current NXIVM members you posted on your websites along with our email addresses. ….  I left that cult the second I realized there was abuse happening and I don’t appreciate you posting my and my friends’ personal information online, I should be able to determine who gets my email address and how I’m affiliated with that group, which now is the exact opposite of a member and supporter.
I appreciate to no end the work you have done to expose the truth at NXIVM; I gave a huge debt of gratitude to you. Please, you need to think of how raked over we all are and how your actions effect us all. We are victims and we are run off our feet trying to fight this thing and heal, we do not further need our consent and privacy violated, we’ve had enough of that.
My information is number —- of your list. My friend [redacted] is number —-,  [redacted] is number —- and there are countless others names I recognized of people who wish to be completely unaffiliated with the group. Please take it down asap.
Thank you,

***

Hello Frank,
I was just informed that you’ve published my name on your website without my permission.  Can you please delete it? My short time doing ESP was many years ago and I want nothing to do with it.  I really don’t think it’s necessary to include my name and email in any publications.

***

Frank

OMG I don’t want to be there Frank. Some people who have been helping [expose NXIVM in Mexico] and they are on that list.

***

Hi Frank,

Can you please remove my email address …  and erase my email/ last name from the SOP payments list. Keep my first name, as there is relevance to this information.  Yes, I was part of the knife for sometime and the women’s SOP.
This sent me into another PTSD spiral.  I am at my wits end.  I can barely focus, i don’t sleep at night  and can’t afford any more psychologist sessions. (and I need them!) I am at this point just hanging on. this has been going on for a year now, maybe longer. I have spent the last year trying to work through all of this, with some success, and fighting the good fight where and when I can by talking to journalists.  But there have been a lot of really bad days.
P.S. the list   – i think is from Vweek 2014, …  and there are a bunch of names that do not have their married names listed yet.
***
Frank,
[Please do not] publish lists with names and contact info of people … who are out…  Women who escaped DOS?  Among others who are incredibly exposed and vulnerable to harassment if not worse? …. I hope you can find it in your heart to fix this.
Frank, you are doing good work….  But there are NXIVM-related persons out there trying to harass and intimidate victims…  through various means. Publishing names and contact info only helps them and is detrimental to the victims… your blog is the most prominent source of NXIVM information in the world. And it’s not just about harassment by NXIVM-related persons, either. As the world’s attention has been drawn to your blog, a host of assorted people having no apparent history with NXIVM have been making various attempts to contact people, including defectors…  victims…  and others. It is a potential powder keg.
***
I did not authorize you to publish my name and email address on your blog. I am not part of NXIVM any longer.  Remove me from the list, and then delete this email from your inbox and your deleted items.

***

I get it. People are upset, worried and frightened. So I took the posts down.

Here is what’s probably most important: from the lists: There were 961 members on the NXIVM list – which I think was from 2014.

And from the SOP list – from 2012-2017, there were about 7,000 payments made to SOP – at $50 each – which was evidently the monthly payment for dues.  Who got that money? Pam Cafritz was the technical owner of SOP. Jim Del Negro had a hand in the operations. Keith Raniere of course was the mastermind of all of it.  And what was Clare Bronfman’s role?

 

 

 

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Frank Parlato

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Anonymous
Anonymous
5 years ago

If you know anything about how a cult actually works, you’d realize the leaders brainwash and mind control their followers to the point where their “work” and mission typically continues on without skipping a beat with or without them present. That’s the whole point of mind control operations. Therefore, it’s critical to expose all. And if there are people who were baited and lured for a short time, their stories can only help. Further silencing and covering up what is known does NO ONE any good- esp not the victims who are STILL being victimized as we speak. I’m sorry but people have to have the balls to step up to save them. And that’s certainly not happening by giving in to people’s pleas for keeping crucial info under lock and key.

Anonymous
Anonymous
5 years ago

Silence and keeping info hidden about this chain gang is exactly why it grew to what it is now. I think it’s impt to remain consistent with your message and not double guess yourself with revealing info. For all you know, those pleas to take down the info could’ve been from bronfman- is anyone still questioning the lengths these puppets go to fraud themselves and get what they want?
There are many associated who are remaining hidden behind the curtains who are even more of a threat than those who’ve been exposed (given they continue to be operating without being outed)- how are you rationalizing this?? You’re sending some very mixed and contradictory messages with how youre choosing to report. I get that not everyone wants to be exposed but doesn’t that come with the territory? And doesn’t everyone already know the facts of some being lured in and taken advantage of? that should not affect with mission if it is truly to shut this insanity down.

Anonymous
Anonymous
5 years ago

Didn’t see your post but am wondering what the purpose was in publishing the list? Did you vet all 961 names before publishing it? Also what makes someone a NXIVM member? Do you have to be paying dues and once you stop are you no longer considered a member? And why take down the SOP list. Why shouldn’t the SOP men get the same treatment you gave the DOS women on this site with pictures and mocking captions?

And speaking of pictures . Watched that A&E episode on NXIVM. Anyone know if there was some legal reason why certain people’s faces were obscured in the pictures that were shown? If Frank can post the names and pictures of the DOS slaves, why couldn’t A&E show the faces of everyone in a group photos?

Anonymous
Anonymous
5 years ago

Kind of interesting which names you didn’t find on that list.
Where they withheld for some reason or had they not been active members at that time?

tex2
5 years ago

I would have left the names public and let these people explain their involvement. Some were probably duped, just like people who get duped into Amway (where Raniere first learned the ropes of MLM scams, by the way) and other MLM scams. However, their silence means that others were duped later. If they had only spoken up, either on their own and/or on Frank’s website, reported information to the authorities, spoken to the media, etc., instead of slinking away, others would have been saved from these monsters. THAT is what they should feel guilty about.

Be careful with your generalisations, Steve.
Be careful with your generalisations, Steve.
5 years ago
Reply to  tex2

Not all of us could get into the legal battles that Toni Natalie and Barbara Bouchey have had to endure. I admit that I was scared. Over a decade ago, anybody who wasn’t staying with NXIVM already knew what other women were going through if they spoke out. That being said, I never recruited a single soul into NXIVM. Maybe I would have felt more of an obligation to speak out if I had. I definitely feel like celebrities who still have not spoken out should be following Sarah Edmondson’s example and publicly expressing their remorse about who and how many people they brought in.

I did talk with an investigative reporter confidentially about Rainbow Cultural Garden when it was open in Austin, but that was it. The fact that I ever got involved in the first place was my own naiveté because I trusted my friend instead of researching before I went to an intensive.

We have plenty to beat ourselves up over without someone who had no direct involvement in the situation playing Monday morning quarterback.

orangecountydreams - OCD
orangecountydreams - OCD
5 years ago

Thank you for this post. It makes perfect sense to me. KR is definitely someone to be scared of – very. Your speaking confidentially to a reporter was of great benefit, I’m sure. Frankly I am surprised and amazed that Sarah Edmondson went through with her admissions.

ionwhitepoetry
5 years ago
Reply to  tex2

Some have been threatened. And, why should any one of them be forced to explain to you or others here what their motive for being members was or how deep their involvement. Would that make you feel somehow better about all the you have read? I don’t get why you would even think to demand such entertainment from people who are suffering varying levels of PTSD and other troubles for having been conned into joining. Most of them were young and inexperienced too. Very young in some cases.

Was There, Saw That
Was There, Saw That
5 years ago

Frank – Could you please re-post just the “Comments” from the original two posts. I’d like to hear more about the reasons why some readers wanted you to take the posts down

TruthSyrum
TruthSyrum
5 years ago

Oh Please, cry me a river. Who does Frank need authority from? The authority police?

Where were all these people when Toni Natalie was being harassed? Where were all these people when children were being raped by Keith Raniere? Now, they want to stay in the shadows.

Publish the list Frank. Expose the collaborators. Show the names and email addresses. It is not protected info.

Anonymous
Anonymous
5 years ago

It’s not just about people being upset. You were disclosing private information which you do not have the authority to do. Disclosing that information which it seems some people still have it in their mailbox, can easily result in a some of the individuals in the life getting harassed. And even if they are still in NXIVM, their private information should not be released to the public.., there is no need.. inform the FBI if you have information. If you release information here, you in your naivety are encouraging the public to harass them and their families. This is not ok. While everyone appreciate the work you have done, you also gotta understand you fucked up. It’s fine we all fuck up, but please do not pull a Keith Raniere on us.

shadowstate1958
5 years ago

Frank,
Just focus on the ringleaders of NXIVM.
People like Raniere, the Bronfmans, the Salzmans, Doctors Porter and Roberts as well as Mack, Oxenberg and Clyne.
Also look into the late Pam Cafritz and concentrate on the Mexican elite like the Salinas crime family.
Those people are the real profiteers in NXIVM.

Anonymous
Anonymous
5 years ago

I agree completely! It’s Clare and the Salzmans and the branding doctor who need to be exposed and indicted.

Anonymous
Anonymous
5 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Those who need to be exposed have already been exposed. The induction is responsibility of the FBI. What you are encouraging is called lynching. Shame on you.

I disagree
I disagree
5 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

I don’t agree with lynch mobs, but I also disagree with your posture that those who need to be exposed have already been. I don’t think you have the evidence to back up your claim that there is nobody left to expose.

Anonymous
Anonymous
5 years ago

Frank please include reports on shadowstate1958 too. He too profits immensely from all this.

Here to report on your daughter?
Here to report on your daughter?
5 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Are you actually trying to get Allison to flip or are you and your husband still just members, and doing your duty to keep her in line and prevent her from turning against Raniere?

i can understand the way they feel
i can understand the way they feel
5 years ago

Thanks for removing those posts, Frank. I left KR years before NXIVM, and I do my best to guard my privacy in this electronic age. A reporter tracked me down at work about this slave cult story when I have had nothing to do with this person for many years. And I want to keep it that way – the first time he sent his little stalker clan after me once I had left, I confronted him and shut it down. Could I fill in some information from his “missing” years – yes, but I don’t see how any of that information helps bring him to justice. Was he a shit of a boyfriend and a manipulative sociopath? Yes, but we all knew that already. Nothing I can contribute is indictable.

People are trying to understand
People are trying to understand
5 years ago

For some people, they feel like trying to understand the path of Raniere will somehow help them in their recovery / healing from this whole situation. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell the difference between those of us who have actually been impacted by our NXIVM experiences and people who are just lookie-loos wanting to spout opinions about an organisation they have not experienced themselves.
If you do feel inspired to share something I would do it, because I feel like we have to pay attention to that little voice inside ourselves. There may be some reason for it. Someone you sharing your story might help make a difference in their healing.
It is, of course, entirely your choice. There are ways to help people besides just adding to indictments.

orangcountydreams - OCD
orangcountydreams - OCD
5 years ago

I Can Understand: Maybe in light of the recent NYT “puff” piece, you will reconsider? The man is already forming his defense as a harmless, misunderstood, original thinker. The more of the truth we can learn, the better. The recent Epoch article on his childhood behavior was excellent and well needed. With your details, you can help further indict him in the court of public opinion. Believe me, it’s going to count, when it comes time to pick a jury.

Lizzy
Lizzy
5 years ago

Also, they never remove names from their member lists. I asked to be removed in 2003 when I left but see that never happened.

Yeah
Yeah
5 years ago
Reply to  Lizzy

I didn’t see the list, but I am sure I would have seen my maiden name on there.

KQ
KQ
5 years ago

I suspect that an element of Frank’s point in publishing the lists is that this is a ‘you too’ moment for former nexium cult participants. Frank cannot fight this battle alone and he knows the authorities need your help. While some of you may be struggling to make sense of the wrong turn you made and you’d prefer to just fade away, you must admit some complicity in the whole affair if you dragged your friends and family members to get them hooked so as to meet your quota for recruiting in your desire for the next brightly colored stripe or sash.

Start to make amends to those you took advantage of by writing down your name and contact info and making a list of all the income you or your recruits were responsible for generating for this fraudulent corrupt organization. Ask your recruits to do this too. Simply forward this to the FBI and let them piece together the financial puzzle.

Acknowledge you were duped, apologize to your friends and family you in turn misled or cast aside, and get to work making amends by doing what you can to put the leadership in prison for operating the pyramidal racketeering enterprise they created.

The trail of cash and ill gotten gains and resulting tax evasion may be the only way to put the real culprits behind bars.

This is your chance to actually do some real good in the world, take it.

That includes you too Clare and Sara. Fess up, say you’re sorry, take your licks, do your prison time, and get back to the real world where people help other people for the sake of love and humanity. That being the REAL world where ethical people do not take advantage of the weak, unsure, or seeking; all while on the alter of a truly sick man and for the sake of his glorification and the almighty dollar.

Nobody can begrudge an individual taking a self help class or even a second or third or an intensive, but when you’ve got to bow down and call the leader Vanguard and his henchlady Prefect I hope at a minimum some of you have learned the alarm bells should have gone off.

Anonymous
Anonymous
5 years ago
Reply to  KQ

Says the hypocrite who can’t even disclose his own real name and address even though he or she apparently didn’t have anything to do with it.

We are all anon here fool!!
We are all anon here fool!!
5 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Pot – kettle – etc.,

WitW
WitW
5 years ago

Unfortunately, anyone on your mailing list still has the entire list in their inbox.

SOS - orangecountydreams - OCD
SOS - orangecountydreams - OCD
5 years ago

CAN WE AS A GROUP FIND A WAY TO HELP THIS PERSON? From above:

“Can you please remove my email address …Yes, I was part of the knife for sometime and the women’s SOP.

This sent me into another PTSD spiral. I am at my wits end. I can barely focus, i don’t sleep at night and can’t afford any more psychologist sessions. (and I need them!) I am at this point just hanging on. this has been going on for a year now, maybe longer. I have spent the last year trying to work through all of this, with some success, and fighting the good fight where and when I can by talking to journalists. But there have been a lot of really bad days…”

THIS PERSON IS IN PAIN. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT???

Excellent Point
Excellent Point
5 years ago

Scientology has pages with lists of places people can go for help. Could we set up something similar?

This is one resource I know of:

EnCourage was set up in order to offer support to those who have left a cult, abusive group, one on one cult or been spiritually abused (called former members). This includes first generation (joined or recruited) and second/third generation (born and or raised).

Whilst EnCourage has a wide range of aims (set out on this page) we are only able to offer one service at this time (when funds allow) which is to subsidise counselling for those who cannot afford to pay. Counselling can be subsidised if the former member is seeing an already approved Service Provider (ASP). This ASP will have been approved by EnCourage and thoroughly checked (counselling accreditation a requirement).

http://www.encourage-cult-survivors.org/

orangecountydreams - OCD
orangecountydreams - OCD
5 years ago

Thank you, and thank you Anonymous (below), for productive suggestions. I will donate. I can’t stand to see someone so broken.

Anonymous
Anonymous
5 years ago

Make a donation which may help her with getting the help she needs and pray for her.

_
_
5 years ago

Rob

SOP began...?
SOP began...?
5 years ago

Regarding the (now-removed) SOP payment list from 2012 on….does it mean that SOP didn’t exist till 2012?

Wow, before then, how did espian “men” know how to demean women?

Well,
Well,
5 years ago
Reply to  SOP began...?

it was their ineptitude at it that made it so important to form.

About the Author

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist.

His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents.

His work to expose and take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg, “Scarred” by Sarah Edmonson, “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. La Secta Que Sedujo al Poder en México” by Juan Alberto Vasquez.

Parlato has been prominently featured on HBO’s docuseries “The Vow” and was the lead investigator and coordinating producer for Investigation Discovery’s “The Lost Women of NXIVM.” Parlato was also credited in the Starz docuseries "Seduced" for saving 'slave' women from being branded and escaping the sex-slave cult known as DOS.

Additionally, Parlato’s coverage of the group OneTaste, starting in 2018, helped spark an FBI investigation, which led to indictments of two of its leaders in 2023.

Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Beyond the Headlines with Gretchen Carlson, Dr. Oz, American Greed, Dateline NBC, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato conducted the first-ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest. This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded.

Parlato is a consulting producer and appears in TNT's The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which premiered on May 22, 2022. Most recently, he consulted and appeared on Tubi's "Branded and Brainwashed: Inside NXIVM," which aired January, 2023.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

Contact Frank with tips or for help.
Phone / Text: (305) 783-7083
Email: frankreport76@gmail.com

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