Frank Parlato wrote an interesting post yesterday about how prophetic Keith Raniere seemed to be when he talked to Allison Mack about how she would feel if the New York Times newspaper ran a front-page story about her being a “terrible, terrible, terrible” person.
The post featured a video that was filmed sometime around 2016 – which is about the same time that Raniere and Mack were setting up the secret society known as Dominos Obsequious Sororium (DOS).
The video was a classic example of Raniere’s ability to use lots and lots of words to say absolutely nothing.
But it may also have been an early indication that Raniere always planned to have Allison take full responsibility for DOS if its existence ever became known.
After his first business venture, Consumer’s Buyline, Inc. (CBI), blew up in his face, Raniere tried very hard to never put his name on anything.
Not on bank accounts, not on income tax returns, not on legal documents – and certainly not on something as potentially volatile as DOS.
*****
Fast forward to the Fall of 2017 – which is when Raniere really started worrying about the possibility that he might be prosecuted.
Following the October 17, 2017 publication of the front-page article in the New York Times concerning the existence of DOS and the fact that its members were branded on their pubic region with his initials, Raniere grew concerned that for the first time in almost 20-years, he might be facing scrutiny from law enforcement officials.
By November of 2017 – which is when officials from the Eastern District of New York started interviewing potential witnesses and victims – Raniere decided it was time to flee from his home-base in Clifton Park, NY.
At first, he tried to move to Canada with his baby mama, Mariana Fernandez, and their baby, Kemar.
But when Canadian officials denied entry to Mariana because of her questionable immigration documents, the three of them headed off to Mexico.
It was there the Frank Report found them a short time later, pushing around a baby carriage in the streets of San Pedro Garza Garcia, an affluent suburb of Monterrey.
*****
Over the course of the next few months, the EDNY investigation continued to expand as more and more people were interviewed by FBI agents.
Meanwhile, with his whereabouts having been exposed, Raniere decided to ditch Mariana and Kemar.
So, off he went to a $10,000-per-week villa near Puerto Vallarta – where he immediately summoned some of his inner-inner circle members to help him come up with a plan to save his ass.
Joining him there at various times were Clare Bronfman, Allison Mack, Lauren Salzman, Loreta Garza, and Nicki Clyne.
On March 26, 2018, Raniere was arrested by Mexican federal police – and immediately escorted to the U.S. border. Frank Report even showed an exclusive video of some of his companions chasing after the police car that took him away.
*****
Before his arrest, Raniere was trying to figure out how he could avoid being charged with any DOS-related crimes.
Eventually, he settled on a two-pronged strategy: first, get a positive story about him printed by a nationally prominent media organization – and then get someone else to take total responsibility for DOS.
The first part of his plan was fairly easy to enact. He just needed Clare Bronfman to use some of her contacts and wealth to get a journalist to write a very positive story about him.
And, thus, Vanessa Grigoriadis, was selected to do the first interview with Raniere and other high-ranking members of NXIVM in more than 14-years.
*****
The second part of Raniere’s plan was also fairly easy to pull off.
Allison Mack, the woman that he had chosen to be the putative leader of DOS, was convinced to say that she was in charge of DOS – and that Raniere had nothing to do with it (We don’t know how many Explorations of Meaning – EMs – it took to get Allison to that point but, in the end, she agreed to Raniere’s plan).
*****
Timing was extremely important if Raniere’s plan was going to work.
And so Vanessa was flown down to Mexico to meet with Clare Bronfman.
After she had passed Clare’s screening interview, Vanessa was allowed to meet with Raniere (According to her report, she spent numerous hours with him).
Soon thereafter, Vanessa was flown to Albany, NY where she was allowed to watch Nancy Salzman conduct an EM on a member of NXIVM. She also got to interview Sara Bronfman, who even made her eggs for her.
Along the way, Vanessa also got to interview Lauren Salzman, India Oxenberg, and Barbara Bouchey. Even Bouchey, who has borne the brunt of numerous legal battles since she left NXIVM, had some nice things to say about Raniere.
Finally, Vanessa got to interview Allison Mack in her apartment in Brooklyn, NY. It was Allison who explained all the details about DOS to her.
According to Mack, DOS was “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.”
It was also Allison who volunteered that she was the one who came up with the idea for branding the members of DOS.
As Vanessa reported, “I was surprised to hear Mack take full responsibility for coming up with the DOS cauterized brand. She told me, ‘I was like: ‘Y’all, a tattoo? People get drunk and tattooed on their ankle ‘BFF,’ or a tramp stamp. I have two tattoos and they mean nothing.’ She wanted to do something more meaningful, something that took guts”.
And, thus, the second part of Raniere’s plan to escape blame for DOS was set in place.
*****
Unfortunately for Raniere, publications like The New York Times Magazine utilize a laborious vetting process before they publish articles.
Editors review for style. Fact-checkers confirm every detail. And lawyers make sure that there are no inherent legal liabilities in the article.
And so, despite Raniere’s carefully constructed plan, the article written by Vanessa languished for several weeks before it was finally published on May 30, 2018.
By then, Raniere had already spent more than two months incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, NY.
And by then, Allison Mack had already been arrested, had spent several days at MDC herself, and had then placed under home confinement in her parents’ home.
Thus, the brilliant plan of the smartest man in the world was blown up by the bureaucracy of The New York Times Magazine.
*****
Allison Mack recently pleaded to one count of Racketeering and one count of Racketeering Conspiracy – and is expected to be a key witness against Raniere and Bronfman at their upcoming trial.
By now, she’s had plenty of time to figure out that she was set up to take the fall for Raniere so that he could continue on with his life of crime and debauchery.
And by now, she’s probably more than a little pissed at how life has turned out for her.
“Heav’n has no rage like love to hatred turn’d”.
William Congreve, The Mourning Bride (1697).
Frank Parlato 
Janine Morrison 
J.J. O'Hara 
Richard Luthmann 
Marie White 
Paul Serran
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After reading the Grigoriadis article a second time, which I just did, I think Vanessa did a really good job. And it made me feel bad for Allison even more. I can understand why it took her so long to plead. She had been programmed for 12 years into thinking women have all of these weaknesses— including that of “being the victim”. How could she possibly turn against Keith? Her brain had been reprogrammed or “integrated “ over and over. Talk about cognitive dissonance! No wonder she cried so much in court when making her confession. Everything she had been programmed to believe over a 12 year period, she was completely going against it in that confession. It’s going to be interesting as the years go by, to learn (if she ever decides to divulge honestly about this chapter in her life) about what she went through and how she went from being a professional actress with a wholesome, do-good outlook to someone who thinks branding other women is a good idea and manipulating other women. That will be a very interesting story, but I don’t blame her either, if she decides to keep it to herself.
If Raniere set her up, he did a lousy job. His own comments to the journalist were pretty incriminating; the problem for him, and the whole organization, was that nobody including Raniere himself thought they were doing anything illegal or even immoral. There was a certain paranoia and secretiveness, sure, but they weren’t being careful in the way the Cosa Rostra was.
I suspect the branding idea was Mack’s. It was a stupid thing to do, looney and cruel. It cost them hundreds of members, according to the NYM article, and got the Feds on their case. It’s what brought NXIUM down. I can only imagine the electronic trail these bozos left for a search warrant to uncover. When this stuff gets brought out at trial, I bet it’ll be explosive.
The article points out Mack’s jealousy at the younger women coming into Raniere’s sweaty grasp. So then she comes up with the idea of having them branded. Mack said it was her idea and she had motive for doing it: enough to convince me that it really was her bright idea.
To Actaeon – Do you come peddling an agenda? Are you new? Or are you just easily convinced of hogwash?
IF it gets brought out at trial. If Raniere does a deal, there won’t be a trial. At least not in the immediate future. Perhaps with new defendants and/or the NDNY sex charges.
I’m also not sure that I see a cunning plot here – and the supposed world’s smartest man, seems in generally to have been a fairly sloppy if not even somewhat dumb criminal.
Raniere did habitually leave others with the exposure. Thus it’s almost inevitable that in any situation, they would be the first to take a hit.
Also, Allison Mack’s statement about coming up with the idea for branding, isn’t just a simple claim of responsibility, but a detailed allocution of the motives and rationale behind it – more than a simple acting job. Her early, long-term boyfriend and fiance used his own body art as a tool of manipulation in getting her to accept his marriage proposal, and given that he was into getting tattooed extensively, she may well have been exposed to the practice of scarification as a step beyond tattooing (often done at studios with the same sorts of cautery pens that Dr. Roberts used), whereas it’s not clear how Raniere would even have known that was a thing. So it sounds to me more likely than not, that it really was Mack’s idea.
Plus I think it’s worth considering the fact that Mack’s initials were in the brand as well. If Raniere had come up with the idea on his own, it likely would have been all about him – and a brand with just one set of initials in it would have been much easier to plausibly hide in a design, than two. To me it smacks much more of a design that she presented to him, intended to include her as well as him.
There were credible rumors 10 years ago (long before Ally’s admission) that KAR was bent on recruiting tattoo maven Kat Von D. KAR knew it was a “thing” — following youthful fads and using them to his predatory advantage is his “thing.” One of them. Also, he pays close attention to his prey in “intensives” or during “pillow talk” — even tracks them online, reads their emails, etc.
I’ve mentioned my Gina’s lotus blossom, Buddhist symbol tats that KAR was jealous of dating back to the mid-late ‘90’s.
I didn’t know nuttin’ bout Allison’s fiancé using body art to nail her but she may have conveyed that story to KAR. Please share that info AnonyMaker. You also owe me a link to the Republican campaign contribution info you mentioned…and dinner. 😁
“I didn’t know nuttin’ bout Allison’s fiancé using body art to nail her but she may have conveyed that story to KAR. Please share that info AnonyMaker. ”
That’s because there is no real base for this… She had 2 fiancé during her life.
1 was an actor (not interested by tattoo nor anything) and he was with her when she was ensnared in Nxivm.
The second was a nobody that wasn’t interested by tattoo but got her to do her 2 tattoos.She loved him but he loved only himself…
He wasn’t in scarification or anything.
Anonymaker is ,yet again, making stories to discredit Allison.
If you Believe him, you have to Believe shadow too!
Believe me, this whole story is just another case of “let’s defame Allison”.
As for those who say “she was certainly behind the idea of branding”…It was disproved and clearly stated that Raniere convinced several girls that it was their idea…
But of course, it’s easier to blame Allison only. After all she admitted (in a forced interview).
Mack may have been pressed to do the interview, but how do you know that what she said in it wasn’t true? If you have any evidence to the contrary, other than what’s in your head, can you quote and cite it?
Sorry, but it’s not to her credit that she was in a long-term manipulative and reportedly even abusive relationship with a grungy “nobody,” and then eventually did the same thing again with her grungy guru Keith. She clearly wasn’t the innocent girl-next-door type that she played in Smallville and that fans fell in love with, and was old and experienced enough to be expected to know better by the time she got involved with Raniere, though I know that women who are prone to getting into abusive relationships unfortunately tend to repeat the pattern.
It’s also probably telling that the older guy she was involved with from the age of 17 or earlier, has a father who is a convicted sex offender for crimes involving minors, and has himself been in trouble with the law since. There’s some dark undercurrent that has yet to be really explained.
And whatever you think your inside knowledge is, you still don’t have the facts about her longterm boyfriend and fiance and their tattoos. They were together from the late 1990s, until well after she started on Smallville:
“In March of 2003, Mack announced her engagement to long time boyfriend Peter of the band ‘Leisure’; and the two live together in a small house in Vancouver where ‘Smallville’ is shot with their dog Phantom, a German Shepard/Malatute mix.”
“My fiance is a musician and he’s totally funky. He had ‘Will you marry me? tattooed on his chest. Then he had the date I said “Yes” added. We’re not going to get married any time soon. I don’t want to stress and rush it. I want to be able to enjoy the planning process and I can’t really do that while I’m working and he is on tour.”
(interview also referencing Smallville season 3, 2003-4)
She also apparently got her own tattoo, “a ‘P’ near her heart.” By the way, can you enlighten us exactly where that tattoo is on her, since, like the brands, it seems to be in a spot covered by clothes?
To AnonyMaker – Context: I read your posts and am typically 100% with you.
You are so off base on this that I am legit scratching my head as to how you are so wrong. LOL
– Keith ran the show. Nobody was doing anything without his approval. Nobody was coming up with ideas on their own because it was a waste of time if he didn’t approve of it.
– Evidence to the contrary is this – NOTHING Keith did fit this pattern of it being Allison’s “thing”. Everything was Keith’s “thing”, but “in the name of others”. No way that this is the one thing in the history of KAR that he didn’t devise.
– The plot had been spelled and smelled out well before the NY Times article even came. Pretty sure Frank even wrote an article prognosticating what was to come. The fix was in.
Being skeptical of it is one thing, but I think you actually believe Allison was behind the branding? I’ve questioned my belief to the contrary simply because it’s you who’s making the case – and I’m usually on board with your thoughts. Can I request you also run this through your mind one more time?
Nutjob, thanks for the respectful analytical challenge. I may have come across a bit strong, because I was trying to refute the Anonymous diehard Allison fan, so let me see if clarifying helps.
It does seem likely Raniere came up with the basic idea of marking his DOS slaves, even if it was initially just to tattoo them. However, I believe it’s plausible that Mack came up with the idea for branding as a step beyond tattooing, as she describes in the NYT piece – and I find it fairly convincing that she doesn’t simply say that she thought up the idea, but explains the (or her) rationale behind it. I’m maybe a little bit more on the side of believing that, but I could see it either way. I have seen some evidence that Allison was fairly gung-ho about it – plus she was picked out to be the leader, which speaks to her having initiative, and taking to the role of perpetrator, as well.
As I try to note from time to time, in the absence of good empirical information it’s possible to be quite wrong about these things. I think there’s enough uncertainty in this case that the possibilities run the gamut from her role as slave mistress having been pressed upon her more than her adoption of the role might make it seem, to her have been a budding BDSM mistress who finally found her role as Raniere’s partner and co-perpetrator.
And it still may well have been that the article was something of a set-up to try to pin as much of the responsibility for DOS as possible on Mack, regardless.
Also, don’t we have some testimony if not even statements by Mack herself, that she didn’t get along well with other women, indicating some underlying hostility at work?
I see everything you typed as probably having some validity. The women were all jealous of each other. I can see Allison (and any of the other woman) being gung ho on inflcting pain on each other.
Keith was simple in some of his thoughts. He thought that if nothing was in his name then he couldn’t get in trouble. I’m sure he thought that if he could get somebody to say “I did it”, that he also wouldn’t get into trouble.
A theme to his schemes over the years would have been how to shield himself from the law. And it would have worked if his own personal flaw of needing to mercilessly go after his enemies was kept in check.
Heidi, scarification is something relatively fringe even in the body modification world, so I think it’s less likely that Raniere would have known about it, than that Allison would have been aware of it from her long-term connection to a heavily-tattooed grungy musician (more about him coming in my response to Anonymous, below) and his circles. Of course, it’s also possible that the idea came from reading the BDSM classic the Story of O, where the protagonist is hot branded, and then figuring out a modern way of accomplishing that.
Sorry, I posted the info about the Bronfmans’ donations to Republicans multiple times, and thought you would have caught it. I genuinely think it might be a clue to the sort of influence that the Bronfmans sought in Albany to get away with what they did, certainly more so that small donations to national candidates; the organization that they gave their multiple $10,000 donations to (it apparently has a larger cap than individual campaigns) has a minimal web page that doesn’t even say what they do with money given them:
https://littlesis.org/org/284181-Ethical_Science_Foundation/giving
And I haven’t forgotten about my offer – are you going to be around for Raniere’s trial, presuming it goes ahead?
enough to convince me that it really was her bright idea
I doesn’t take you a lot to be convinced by anything negative about her…Even when fact point the contrary…Who is the bright one here?Certainly not you
“I suspect the branding idea was Mack’s.”
And i suspect you talk without knowing anything…It is well known that It isn’t Allison’s idea at all.
She was convinced (aswell as a few other girls (i heard that even India believed it was her idea )) to Believe it was her idea.
Even messages show that HE created DOS and the BRANDING.
No one else got that idea.
You, like many who superficially looked at the NY time interview didn’t get that it was an interview Under pressure…She wasn’t talking freely or willingly.
She was recorded (probably for Raniere) and he pushed her , forced her to do the interview.
Vanessa said Allison was not keen to do it.
KR Claviger:
Ms. Mack also plead guilty to one charge of extortion.
In fact through her collection of blackmail materials Allison Mack might have been guilty of practicing extortion against dozens of women.
Somewhere in the midst of taking hundreds of photos and videos of naked women it never occurred to Ms. Mack that extortion is against the law.
Some might consider Ms. Mack to be a Fall Guy.
I consider Ms. Mack to be a Gangster who got caught.
While Mack admitted she engaged in a variety of criminal activities – extortion being one of them – she only pleaded to two crimes: one count of Racketeering Conspiracy and one count of Racketeering Conspiracy. Although she is not facing any prison time for admitting to the uncharged criminal activities, the judge can certainly take them into consideration when he sentences her.
??? i doubt this could really happens…but whatever you say.
Oh, Shadow…. It’s getting old, brother.
Actually, I believe there were published text conversations between Mack and Raniere in the indictment where Allison told him what she had received by way of collateral and he insisted on her getting more. He was directing her. Do you really think an actress would cared less about raunchy pictures of other women? Seriously?
Shhhh, it’s his fantasm…let the guy believe in his sick dream !
Seeing that photo of an evil pervert pushing such an innocent being in pram makes me sick to my stomach.
Also, if the mothers of his children are still brainwashed, what on earth are they going to hear and witness and what are they going to turn out like? Beware the spawn of Vanguard. I hope the mothers are seeing sense
Mack was quoted in the ladies room, of the court house, as :taking one for the team” and indicated this was the usual.
Thus Ms. Mack knew full well what her role was and she played it well.
Perhaps the screaming, it s reported Mack did at night, alone, in her room, was the result of the disconnect between whatever may have still existed of a moral code in herself and the behavior she now exhibited branding, enslaving, pimping, blackmailing, etc towards other women.
NXIVM is like Chinese water torture. Slow and insidious.
No. Her screaming was probably the experience of “will fight” which occurs to people who are being socially engineered against their will, know it, but are unable to stop it. It’s also quite common in cases of infidelity, where one spouse knows the other is out cheating, but is unable to stop it. It’s the result of helpless frustration.
Yes, this “social engineering” you describe is exactly what they attempted with Gina Hutchinson, my sister, attempted with me as well to a lesser degree and to many others, I’m sure. It’s there — the evidence — in everything from the Brandon Porter experiments to the brain scan equipment Clare purchased to Allison’s screams to Gina’s journal.
It is extremely frustrating to know —unconsciously or consciously to some degree — that you are being manipulated through deception and illusion but not able to stop it, confront it without betraying oneself; when the only choice is eating poison or not eating at all.
There needs to be a trial addressing the crimes perpetrated in Albany-Clifton Park jurisdiction to determine the whole truth on which justice should, must be predicted in order to be met.
I doubt the plan would have worked, had the New York Times Magazine printed the story sooner. The FBI was already looking into the situation and a media report would have had little to no impact on that investigation.
Agree, Scott. Raniere probably does actually hold a record – the most overrated intelligence of all time.
“Finally, Vanessa got to interview Allison Mack in her apartment in Brooklyn, NY. It was Allison who explained all the details about DOS to her.
It was also Allison who volunteered that she was the one who came up with the idea for branding the members of DOS.”
You need to put things straight and clear here!
Vanessa clearly stated that Allison didn’t wanted to do the interview but was pushed by Raniere to do it…
She pointed something about when she was 8years old as the mean to convince her.But to me , it sound more like Raniere reminded her about a little thing called collateral (that a lot of people forget Allison had on her).
And before we come with the “willingly given by Allison”…No, it wasn’t as the one the FBI talk about are 2 years after the first collateral that the monster started to ask her.
She was reluctant back then and probably got stuck by it afterward.
As for being the fall girl, i feel like Raniere was sincerly planning to get also India to fall for it .
But he didn’t had as much “power” on her (a fact as she got back to reason faster than Allison) as on Allison and probably worried about her saying something wrong.
It was stated that Allison recorded the interview and something tells me it’s Raniere that didn’t trusted her there.He was partly right because the interview isn’t as incriminating as some try to make it sound.
Lauren wasn’t controlled mentally at all (she was giving the NLP and others with her mom), India and Allison were . So Lauren would never accept to take the fall.
India being unreliable, he got for Allison.
And now, it seems likes it’s time for payback and hopefully, Allison will help to make sure this monster is locked for a LONG time
I also believe that India and Allison were set up to take the fall.
IMO, the only difference between where India is and where Allison has found herself, is the response of their families to the obvious peril their daughters/relatives were in.
I partly agree…Allison’s family didn’t really helped her, that’s for sure but in reality, neither did India’s mother…
India said that her mother didn’t try to contact her (interview after Allison’s arrest).
Only when the grand mother called did it change.
India was saved by her family but specifically her Grand mother…not really her mother.
Excellent point about setting up India Oxenberg. Her mother actually made the point in her book.
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn he planned to use Allison all along. If he did and if Allison was party to his machinations, I hope she reveals it during the trial.
That assumes there will be a trial. Raniere used everybody, they just had different roles.
Does anyone know who filmed the video of Keith’s arrest in Mexico , and who posted the video online ?
I posted the video online. I shared it with other media. It was leaked to me. I was told it came from Nicki Clyne’s cell phone.
Wow. I hadn’t heard this. Very interesting!
Is that also the case for the pram pushing photograph?
The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that Raniere probably designed the DOS logo intentionally to make the ‘AM’ more prominent than the ‘KR’, to enforce the idea that Allison was in charge. Kind of like a DOS equivalent of how he had women put all his businesses in their names to have them assume the liability. Curious to hear what Allison has to say about it at trial, assuming she testifies.
I agree, Max. KAR & Salzman have the blame game down to a science from the “no victims” set-up to “taking the fall.”
Look at the pattern — it’s even apparent with men like Joe O’Hara, Yuri Plyam, Frank Parlato, even Doug Rutnik — lured in with high pay but never meant to walk away with any money, credit or their balls intact.
Allison Mack may not even be bisexual — sexually attracted to females — but KAR, Nancy and Clare ET AL needed her to play that role to take the blame for the monogramming. (Ally was shamelessly flirting with dudes not chicks at the courthouse, had a boyfriend before KAR, etc.).
What would Ally’s “motive” have been for branding other girls?
Were it for her own sadistic, sexual pleasure — she only got around to branding two girls in 13 years with NX?
Mack’s motive was power. How do you know she only got two?
Come one Scott, usually you make sense but this one is lame, even for you!
I agree and especially for the branding…
First it’s a FACT that it’s not Allison’s idea …
Second Why the Initial of Dickhe…sorry Raniere are all in a different angle (or mirrored) but A M (supposetly because i’m not convince the M isn’t a sad coincidence) is in a “readable” position.
Krclaviger,
Vanessa Grigoriadis’s magazine article was a propaganda fluff piece and I personally believe Vanessa received some form of recompense.
Originally, when I read Vanessa Grigoriadis’s article in the NY Times Magazine article, it made me question the credibility of the first New York Times news paper article as well as the credibility of The Frank Report.
Ironically I read Vanessa Grigoriadis’s second just as you did and I still found it slanted and lacking journalistic integrity.
At the end of the day Vanessa Grigoriadis either did no true journalistic research on NXIVM for her article or she lied her face off.
Vanessa Grigoriadis is an intelligent journalist…… Why did she write that fluff piece?
Then again Vanessa Grigoriadis has stuck with Mattress Girl’s narrative that has been proven to be untrue.