Shadow: Is Nicki Clyne very dumb or very devious?

Nicki Clyne with her now-convicted spouse Allison Mack

By Shadow State

I discussed aspects of the NXIVM case with my brother who has ties to DC.
When I told my brother about Nicki Clyne uploading Instagram photos from the vicinity of Keith Raniere’s hideout in Puerto Vallarta, he was astonished.
His response was either Nicki Clyne was very dumb or Nicki Clyne was very devious.
He was referring to the fact that when photos are uploaded to Instagram, they are given a Geo Locator ID that identifies exactly where they were uploaded from.
Nicki Clyne’s now famous Instagram post where she revealed to Frank Report that she [and hence possibly Keith Raniere] was in Puerto Vallarta. Nice going kid!
In other words, Nicki Clyne was telling the FBI exactly where Raniere and his entourage were hiding out.
In watching the 26 second video, where Raniere was arrested by the Federales, one can see that Allison Mack looks dazed and confused but Nicki Clyne is cool, calm and composed. Nicki Clyne was very much in command.
Allison Mack watching Keith Raniere being taken away by police in Mexico

 

It’s almost as if Nicki Clyne had advance knowledge of what was going down.

And, of course, the Feds passed over Nicki Clyne when it came to indictments, but the Feds did indict Allison Mack and Lauren Salzman.
The Feds also passed over the “first line” DOS members from Mexico.
And the Feds passed over Emiliano Salinas and Alex Betancourt as well as Edgar and Omar Boone when it came to handing out indictments.
When it came to indictments, it is as if some people were untouchable.
A possible reason is that powerful people in Mexico, like Carlos Salinas, Carlos Slim and Alejandro Junco found Raniere and Allison Mack to be expendable embarrassments, which they are, and decided to do some NXIVM house cleaning by removing the Salzmans and Bronfmans.
What is left of NXIVM could be slimmed down and owned and operated by wealthy, influential Mexicans.  They will have an American front man but the Mexicans will call the shots from behind the scenes.
And the Salinas family has the financial resources to rebuild NXIVM on a more business-like basis.
So I am compelled to ask Yolanda Cortez, Legatus Pro Temp and Pea Onyu if this scenario is plausible.
And is Nicki Clyne very dumb or very devious?

About the author

Frank Parlato

74 Comments

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  • Your “source” thinks Clyne is cooperating? Didn’t you just write on here a week or so ago that Clyne was one of the people trying to keep NXIVM going?

    • NXIVM can continue but it will be without Raniere and the sex cult part.
      Had Raniere avoided the sex harem and the orgies and branding, NXIVM would still be going strong.

  • Let’s not forget…

    Nicky Clyne’s intelligence can be measured by the fact that she went from TV star to sandwich shop waitress to unemployed clown who lost all her friends.

    Devious, Shadow says?

    Nope. Try a clown.

    • Nicki Clyne realized she was in legal jeopardy without the aid of a Racketeering indictment and did the only logical thing.
      Cut a deal.
      That’s more than anyone can say for Allison Mack.
      Maybe Nicki can swing a waitressing job for Allison in that sandwich shop.

  • “Editor’s Note: A source told Frank Report that Nicki Clyne is likely cooperating with the Feds. Sometime before Allison Mack pleaded guilty, the Feds noted that Allison Mack and Nicki Clyne had “a sham marriage” which suggests they may have learned that based on Clyne informing them.” The Feds may have also read the Frank Report.

  • She seemed far too passive/calm in the video when Raniere was carted away by Mexican feds. I thought that from the first time that I’d viewed it. Why the hell was the camera rolling? Allison was clearly in panic mode. Hell, we wouldn’t even have the video without Clyne. Begs ten questions.

  • Shadowstate1958 you are starting to seem like a character from The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

    “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.

  • I want to clarify my interactions with Nicki Clyne and her various pseudonyms over the past year.

    From the get go I saw there was something wrong with the narrative.
    Nicki is actually one of the smartest, politically aware people in NXIVM.
    When I told my brother early last Summer about the uploading of the Puerto Vallarta photos to the internet he told me bluntly she is either very dumb or very smart and devious.
    Chess player smart.
    Her actions fit the behavior of someone who was covertly signalling her handlers where she was located.
    Nicki Clyne is what one would call Machiavellian devious.
    And her whole act as a ditsy woman who talks to iguanas is designed to conceal that she actually has a very good mind.
    People who act silly are often not considered threats when they really are.
    They are written off as harmless eccentrics.
    They are underestimated.

    I decided that if Nicki were covertly working as an informant the best thing I could do for her was to enhance her cover by verbally sparring with her on subjects like NXIVM, Raniere and Allison Mack.
    I even called Nicki Allison’s “loving, loyal wife” several times knowing full well that Nicki probably was not.
    Anything to bolster Nicki as a loyal member of Raniere’s NXIVM.

    I also realized that the Salinas gang , led by Patriarch Carlos Salinas, viewed Raniere and Mack as major liabilities who had to go.
    And the Salinas gang also wanted to purge NXIVM of the Salzmans and Bronfmans.
    Both Lauren Salzman and Clare Bronfman have ties to the sex slave part of NXIVM.
    Ultimately what is left of NXIVM will fall to the wealthy Salinas gang who are less prone to get involved in sexual slavery.
    And I understand that Nicki is close to people in NXIVM Mexico.
    As much as I dislike the Salinas gang I also realize they are disciplined businessmen who don’t want bad publicity.

    And Nicki wants her immigration problems to disappear, something the FBI can do.

    Before they go to prison someone should tell the Bronfmans, the Salzmans and Mack that the first person on the Federal Bus was probably Nicki Clyne.

  • My vote on Nicki is very naive, gullible, idealistic and heavily indoctrinated in the cult’s belief system.

    She conquered her vertigo bc they completely convinced her she had no fear of heights — past the point of leaving her with a healthy respect for a hard landing (or for Foreign National monuments :)). She’s damn lucky the psychos didn’t have her using her inner, authentic angel wings to fly next.

    My take on the Mexican Espians is that most of them — the students and slaves not the co. owners or “grandmasters” — like that creepy “little Keith” and pre- school administrator, Alejandro Betancourt —are getting shafted big time on justice and ARE in future danger of the same exploitation — using the same formula — that’s gone on from the get-go. Having nothing to do, however, with Allison Mack’s or Nicky Cline.

    • Love the link, Thor. You know, kid, there are some powerful components of nature that may have contributed to your own recent birth that few speak of in these politically correct, #metoo times.

      Let’s call it the “fog of love” that descends upon young men and women and seems to make them more easily influenced by one another and their desires at a certain age in particular.

      I don’t consider myself any smarter than I was at that time in my life — I’m just a woman whose past “a certain age” where things are a little less foggy.

  • Dear Mr. Shadow – Could you please explain exactly why powerful and wealthy Mexicans would want to own, operate, and continue NXIVM?

    Maybe I could buy into dumb, poor, powerless Mexicans wanting to pick up the pieces of a failed cult. But your way is a head-scratcher.

      • Scott,
        As much as I dislike the Salinas Gang they are businessmen.
        And businessmen, straight or crooked, don’t want bad publicity.
        Once they saw what Raniere and Mack were involved in, with help from Clare Bronfman and Lauren Salzman, the Mexicans knew that NXIVM would have to be purged.
        And they will stay away from branding, prostitution, pedophilia and the like.
        And you’re right that NXIVM will get a new name.

    • “why powerful and wealthy Mexicans would want to own, operate, and continue NXIVM?”

      What attracted wealthy Mexicans to NXIVM in the first place?

      NXIVM is an operation involved in tax fraud, money laundering, immigration fraud and a variety of other scams.
      And it masquerades as a self-help group.

      • “What attracted wealthy Mexicans to NXIVM in the first place?”

        Since I’m not a wealthy Mexican, I can only hypothesize that it wasn’t “tax fraud, money laundering, and immigration fraud” that attracted them to NXIVM. I’ll throw out a wild guess and say it was the self-help thing that attracted them. And the bio of the one they called Vanguard probably helped. And since they were wealthy, the love bombing undoubtedly helped them take class #2 and class #3.

        Or I’m wrong and these wealthy people were just excited to meet and rub elbows with some good old fashion American gangstas.

        • One factor I forgot to mention is that wealthy Mexicans have always feared a Revolution by the peasants, much like the
          Cuban Revolution led by Castro.
          And these wealthy Mexicans want America as a sanctuary for when the stuff hits the fan.

  • It makes sense: Nicki was convinced and payd by Emiliano Salinas to reveal Raniere’s location to the FBI.

      • Shadow, how do you see the geo location on an Instagram post? I thought the location was only shown if the poster tagged it.
        I think it would have been very simple for authorities to find the location without a tag anyways, since this is a picture of a landmark.
        If Nicki is devious rather than dumb, and intentionally posted their location, do you still think she is posting as Pea Onyu?

        • Many times the Geolocation is automatically tagged by the camera.

          Do Instagram photos include location data?

          Answer. Yes

          The Instagram API collects data regarding the Longitude and Latitude of where the photo was taken (providing the device that took the photo supports this)

          Example.

          If I took a photo on my iPone now and uploaded it to Instagram. The following data would be accompanied in the Instagram API.

          “location”: { “latitude”: 37.778720183610183, “longitude”: -122.3962783813477, “id”: “520640”, “street_address”: “”, “name”: “Le Truc” }

          …along with the photograph itself

          https://www.quora.com/Do-Instagram-photos-include-location-data

        • If Nicki is devious rather than dumb, and intentionally posted their location, do you still think she is posting as Pea Onyu?

          She was still using Pea Onyu until a few weeks ago.
          Now she also uses the name Yolanda Cortez.

          • Shadow, I meant why would she write posts to defend Keith and NXIVM, while using the aliases Pea and Yolanda, if she intentionally posted their location so that Keith would be arrested?

        • Instagram and Google has the information and it records all of the time, and the FBI just accessed it or asked for it from Instagram/Google.

          Do not forget these are post 9/11 days and metadata is fair game for the government. Uncle Sam has free reign over metadata.

        • The whole theory that Nicki ratted their locale in MX is a joke! She didn’t have to post online if she were negotiating with any law enforcement, with anyone. She could have just, simple said it to them. You think the FBI or the Federales told her “yo, post up a pic near a landmark to let us know where you at, wey!” And she said, “no worries.”

          No, that theory would make sense were it a coincidence that Nicki’s Instagram landmark pic that Frank reported here on FR happened at the same time Nicki turned them in.

          Far more likely KAR’s lonely MX wife or some of her family tipped off the Federales than Nicki.

          I hope they are not in danger, any of them.

        • “do you still think she is posting as Pea Onyu?”

          Until a few weeks ago she still was using the name “Pea Onyu”
          There’s that old song, “You Always Hurt The One You Love – The Mills Brothers’
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS9U75YC-jA

          Perhaps we should give up on the women of NXIVM acting in anything approaching a logical way.
          I don’t know many women who would even tolerate the rampant promiscuity of Raniere little lone the pedophilia.
          The women of NXIVM are clearly a broken bunch of ladies.
          Of course I would welcome Nicki Clyne telling me that I am wrong in my calculations.
          Maybe Nicki/ Pea/ Legatus Pro Temp/ Yolanda will end up as Raniere’s last true follower.

  • It seems to me that this case (possibly just the first) was limited to the top echelon of NXIVM. Did anyone else really belong in that category, other than possibly Karen Unterreiner, who weren’t charged?

    I see Cline as being in the next tier down with quite a few people including Michelle Salzman, Jim Del Negro, Sara Bronfman, and Karen Abney who worked alongside Kathy Russell (or was there another bookkeeper?) who weren’t prosecuted (at least in this first case) because they were not key players in the conspiracy, not necessarily because they were cooperating.

    Plus if Cline was really cooperating with the feds, it seems to me that she’d have had a better way of communicating with them, than relying on Instagram geotagging to try to telegraph her location.

    • Plus if Cline was really cooperating with the feds, it seems to me that she’d have had a better way of communicating with them, than relying on Instagram geotagging to try to telegraph her location.

      Geotagging worked.
      And Nicki, even though she was in the second tier, had ties to Raniere, Mack and Bronfman.

  • LOL.

    Shadow’s post about Nicky Clyne is downright stupid.

    Frank’s decision to repeat this nonsense (via an ‘article’) is even dumber.

    Hey Frank, with all due respect bro…

    If Nicky Clyne REALLY wanted to give the Feds a heads up on Keith’s location (to have him arrested) — then she wouldn’t have resorted to HOPING that some Instagram fan spots her photo while using their Sherlock Holmes instincts to assume Keith is nearby. LOL.

    Nope.

    Guess what?

    Nicky Clyne would have simply went to a public telephone and PHONED THE FBI. Duh.

    They have a toll free 1-800 tip line.

    She could have phoned them anonymously using their tip line to report the whereabouts of Keith Raniere. Duh.

    Grow a brain, Shadow. Stop these dumb conspiracy theories.

      • Since the Salinas gang wants NXIVM purged of Raniere, Mack, the Salzmans and the Bronfmans, Nicki was under the protection of the Federales.
        Nicki was present to film the whole operation.
        And Nicki wants her immigration problems solved.

          • If she is cooperating she wants credit for it and phone calls can be monitored.
            Maybe she does not want to be seen making a phone call by other NXIVM members.
            Just Geotagging a location gives all the info the FBI needs to know where Raniere was hiding out.

    • If Nicky Clyne REALLY wanted to give the Feds a heads up on Keith’s location (to have him arrested) — then she wouldn’t have resorted to HOPING that some Instagram fan spots her photo while using their Sherlock Holmes instincts to assume Keith is nearby. LOL.

      Nicki made two trips to Puerto Vallarta.
      One in February, 2018 and the other in March 2018.

      The second trip was arranged so that Allison Mack and Lauren Salzman would be on hand to be implicated.
      And Nicki was there to record the video for uploading.

      The whole take down was prearranged for maximum impact.

  • Wasn’t the indictment still secret when this photo was made public? She had no reason not to post. She’s an actress with a following. It’s perfectly innocent.

    Even Nancy didn’t know and that’s why they siezed all her files the day after Vanguards removal to the border. No one knew.

    Of course the authorities would know they could use geo-tracking and would be watching everyones account, not just hers.

    Too much conspiracy theory.

  • Dumb as a BOX OF ROCKS. If Clicky Nine/Yolanda was that smart, she would have figured out a way to keep the $$$ coming in with her career.

    Even HS Dropout Kristin Kook was smart enough to buy a house in Vancouver and keep her acting career going.

    Clicky Nine…not so much.

    And wait for it… I have said THE NAME.

    No doubt BettleSpank/Jesse/Sultan of Sick will be on here in 5 mins. Defending his beloved. The non-nefarious Kristin Kook.

    • Just saw his twitter page. All of it is a digital jihad for spanking it to Kristin Kook. Does he have asbergers or is he just a sad, soyboy, emasculated, incel, insufferable c***?

  • It also begs the question whether Niki and Allison were ever or never in contact. Shouldn’t the judge have given her permission to have contact with her wife as part of the bail conditions?

  • You pose a good question Shadow. I hope she saw the light, wanted out and was being devious not just plain dumb

  • Nicki probably got caught up in something and didn’t know how to get out. She was probably scared and rightfully so. Look what Toni Natalie, Barbara Bouchey, Frank Parlato and many others.

  • Can’t she be both? In all seriousness, great insight. I hadn’t thought of this before. I must say it’s possible Nikki tipped the FBI off and get leniency. It sure looks that way. Sucks to be ratted out by your own spouse, eh Allison? I would think Keith would have warned his slaves of posting to social media as he was obviously hiding out, even if he didn’t tell them they were hiding out. Smartest man? I think the only people he fooled into thinking that were the ignorant self help wanna be’s of whom he snared from afar. Because anyone observing his behavior and actions relative to this case can clearly see he isn’t very smart. Just a sex obsessed pedophile with a giant gaping black hole in his chest that he could never fill, no matter how many people he had sex with. And it seems clear he tried to put a noose around Allison’s neck and sink her to the depths of the ocean when he got her to admit to the branding to the press. What a slimy piece of shit. Since nobody is really getting a justifiable sentence in this case, I hope those cards fall on him and he gets life.

    • Somebody,
      As soon as I heard the story about about Nicki foolishly telegraphing Raniere’s location, I knew the narrative was all wrong.
      In the early Summer of 2018 I told my brother the details and he clarified for me that my suspicions were probably correct.

  • Nicki Clyne is smart and has made the right decision for herself.
    Getting out and working for the FBI as an informant and cooperative
    witness is better than being charged. And the opportunity was good
    because Nicki had wanted to get out for a long time, but only on safe
    terms.

  • This is a very thought provoking article. I’m dumbfounded that this was written by the same person who wrote all that crap yesterday. Well done.

    • “this was written by the same person who wrote all that crap yesterday. Well done.”

      I will clarify my posts over the past several months and my motivations for verbal sparring with Nicki Clyne under her various pen names.

      If Nicki was working undercover the best thing I could do to enhance her credibility was to attack her support for NXIVM, Raniere and Mack
      Anyone who saw our dialogues would assume that Nicki was still loyal to NXIVM..

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: frankparlato@gmail.com

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