Editor’s Note: This post has been updated to reflect the fact that Clare Bronfman’s restitution is not limited to the $96,605.25 that she has to pay back to Jane Doe 12. In addition to that specific amount, she will also be held accountable for “the full amount of each victim’s losses as determined by the Court” (We learned of this fact when we obtained a complete copy of Clare’s plea hearing). We are, however, still uncertain at this point as to exactly which “victims” will be covered via that aspect of Clare’s plea deal (We will post an “update” when we have more information on that point).
*****
About two weeks ago, the Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, declared a public health emergency – and started ordering mandatory vaccinations for anyone who had not previously received the measles vaccine.
Per the newly issued rules – which have already been upheld in court – the City will fine parents who fail to get their children vaccinated against the viral disease.
*****
As the measles crisis was playing out throughout the City, another crisis broke out last Friday afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY).
This latter crisis involved the latest outbreak of “affluenza”.
As defined by the Urban Dictionary, the term “affluenza” refers to excessive affluence that makes rich people think they can pay for any problem to go away.
Clare Bronfman’s picture should now appear in every dictionary that includes that term.
*****
Although we take great pride in claiming that the American justice system is blind to the differences of those who come before it, the reality is much different than the claim.
Our justice system is, in fact, inherently biased towards those with wealth.
Those like Clare Bronfman who can impose their will on others who do not have enough financial resources to fight back.
That’s exactly what the NXIVM criminal enterprise did with Clare at its helm.
It ran roughshod over Toni Natalie who had the temerity to leave Keith Raniere just as he was creating what would eventually become NXIVM/Executive Success Programs. It drove Toni into bankruptcy – and then attempted to intervene in that proceeding on several occasions.
It trampled over Rick Ross and tied him up in a federal lawsuit that dragged on for more than 14 years. During the course of that lawsuit, NXIVM illegally obtained Rick’s financial records, health records, and personal records in an effort to gain leverage over him.
It destroyed Joe O’Hara because he refused to participate in its illegal activities. Not only did they drive him into bankruptcy, they also manipulated the Albany County District Attorney, David Soares, into indicting him on totally fabricated charges on two different occasions.
Other victims of the NXIVM litigation machine include Yuri Plyam, Barbara Bouchey, Susan Dones, Kim Woolhouse, and Frank Parlato.
And in every instance, it was Clare Bronfman – and, albeit to a lesser degree, her sister, Sara Bronfman – who paid for all the legal firepower that NXIVM used to destroy and silence anyone who was perceived as a danger to its criminal operations.
*****
And then, after almost 20 years of NXIVM using the legal system to ruin people’s lives, things seemed to have turned around.
First, Raniere was arrested – and charged with several felonies.
Next, it was Allison Mack who was indicted on several felony counts.
And then, wonder of wonders, it was Clare Bronfman – along with Nancy Salzman, Lauren Salzman, and the hapless Kathy Russell – who were suddenly entering “Not guilty” pleas in court.
At last – at long last – it looked like the justice system was going to correct all the wrongs that had gone unchecked and unpunished.
Granted, no law enforcement agency in the Northern District of New York (NDNY) ever did anything to stop the NXIVM criminal enterprise during its two-decades-long run there (Several NDNY law enforcement agents actually aided and abetted NXIVM in its attempt to destroy its enemies).
But at least the EDNY was willing to step in and put an end to the ever-expanding criminality of Raniere and his confederates.
Or so it seemed…until last Friday.
*****

Prior to last Friday, the victims of the NXIVM crime machine cheered as Nancy Salzman was the first of the six defendants to enter a guilty plea in the case. She pleaded guilty to one count of Racketeering Conspiracy.
In conjunction with her plea, Nancy is facing the following punishments:
– 33-41 months in prison;
– Up to 3-years of supervised released (AKA probation) after she has served her prison sentence;
– A maximum fine of $250,000 – or twice the gross profits of the enterprise – whichever is greater;
– A $100 special assessment; and
– Restitution in the full amount of each victim’s losses as determined by the court.
*****

Next came Lauren Salzman – who pleaded guilty to one count of Racketeering Conspiracy and one count of Racketeering.
In conjunction with her plea, Lauren is facing the following punishments:
– A to-be-determined amount of time in prison;
– Up to 3-years of supervised released (AKA probation) after she has served her prison sentence;
– A maximum fine of $250,000 – or twice the gross profits or other proceeds of the enterprise – whichever is greater;
– A $100 special assessment;
– Criminal forfeiture of assets as specified in her plea agreement; and
– Restitution in the full amount of each victim’s losses as determined by the court.
*****

Next came Allison Mack – who also pleaded guilty to one count of Racketeering Conspiracy and one count of Racketeering.
In conjunction with her plea, Allison is facing the following punishments:
– A to-be-determined amount of time in prison;
– Up to 3-years of supervised released (AKA probation) after she has served her prison sentence;
– A maximum fine of $250,000 – or twice the gross profits or other proceeds of the enterprise – whichever is greater;
– A $100 special assessment;
– Criminal forfeiture of assets as specified in her plea agreement; and
– Restitution in the full amount of each victim’s losses as determined by the court.
*****

Next came Kathy Russell – who pleaded guilty to one count of Visa Fraud.
Kathy is facing the following punishments:
– A to-be-determined amount of time in prison (Note: The judge has indicated her likely sentence will be 6-12 months);
– Up to 3-years of supervised released (AKA probation) after she has served her prison sentence;
– A maximum fine of $250,000 – or twice the gross profits or other proceeds of the enterprise – whichever is greater;
– A $100 special assessment;
– Criminal forfeiture of assets as specified in her plea agreement; and
– Restitution in the full amount of each victim’s losses as determined by the court.
*****

Which leaves us with Clare Bronfman, the Director of Operations for NXIVM – and its de facto Chief Executive Officer.
Clare Bronfman, the woman who financed all of NXIVM’s operations – and who financed all of its legal actions against its enemies.
Clare Bronfman, the woman who pissed away $28,222,500 [her share] on Raniere’s hairbrained commodities trading formula – and followed that up by blowing another $13,000,000 [her share] on his real estate investment plan in Los Angeles, CA (She also spent at least another $5,000,000 in legal fees trying to prove that the developer for the real estate project had done something wrong).
Clare Bronfman, the woman who spent $1,000,000 to obtain the banking and personal records of several federal judges – and other people who were considered to be enemies of NXIVM.
Clare Bronfman, the woman who hired attorneys in Mexico to threaten potential witnesses against her and her co-defendants.
Clare Bronfman who paid private investigators $1,000,000 to hunt down a woman who fled from Keith Raniere.
Clare Bronfman who paid an estimated $25,000,000 in legal fees to pursue various enemies of Keith Raniere and Nxivm.
Clare Bronfman, the woman who paid for all the legal fees of her co-defendants – and who picked out the attorneys who would represent them.
Clare Bronfman, the woman who set up a $500,000 trust fund to take care of one of Raniere’s baby mamas and her child.
Clare Bronfman, the woman who perjured herself in an unsuccessful attempt to have criminal charges brought against Sarah Edmondson.
Clare Bronfman, the woman who perjured herself in a successful attempt to have criminal charges brought against Joe O’Hara, John Tighe and Toni Natalie.
Clare Bronfman, the woman who perjured herself in a successful attempt to have criminal charges brought against Frank Parlato.
Given all that, one can only imagine just how harsh her penalties would be if she were to plead guilty in the case of the U.S. v. Raniere Et Al.
Yeah, well, not so much…
To the shock and chagrin of many, Clare Bronfman pleaded guilty last Friday to one count of harboring an illegal alien – and one count of fraudulent use of another person’s identification.
That’s it.
No Racketeering Conspiracy charge – and no Racketeering charge – for her despite the fact that she was the head of the racketeering organization that others pleaded guilty to being part of.
And her punishment?
– 21-27 months in prison;
– Up to 3-years of supervised released (AKA probation) after she has served her prison sentence;
– A fine of $6,000,000 in lieu of any forfeiture of assets;
– A $100 special assessment;
-$96,605.25 to Jane Doe 12; and
– Restitution in the full amount of each victim’s losses as determined by the court.
As if Clare’s light punishment was enough of an affront to decency and fairness, there is a persistent rumor that she was also given a Non-Prosecution Agreement by the NDNY.
Should that be the case, there may be several parties who will formally protest her plea deal.
*****
Coming next: More on how Clare’s plea deal could make it much more difficult for the victims of NXIVM to recover damages and who made the call to let Clare skate away with less than $100,000 of restitution?
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
Cleverly extolled, Clav. I would add a bad case of sharkin’- itis that appears to have infested higher powers than EDNY at the US DOJ — beyond even those of the mighty Moira Penza — linked, of course, to the affluenza outbreak among certain perverse political powers — some of whom may have started out as backswamp hicks but ass wagged and backstabbed their way to the near top of the human pyramid —likely to get a big boost from the Bronfman’s and other foreign investors toward 2020 campaign funding and other vain pursuits the Bronfman and Salinas family progeny are fast becoming fabled for.
Where’s the deadly Great Pacific White shark, Robert Crockett, who reared his slimy fin not long ago, in this?
I wonder how babygirl sharkette, Teny Gregaros, is doing prepping KAR for trial? Mebbe He seduced her to replace Allison Mack and she’s the one pimping chicks for Keith in to MDC?
That would be just!
Still, Judge Garaufis CAN mete out harsh sentences. The question is will he? Has he been threatened or paid off?
“Has he been threatened or paid off?”
Judge Garaufis was placed on the bench by Bill Clinton.
That says all you need to know about Judge Garaufis
Totally correct Shallowstate. Your education level is showing. You should really see if you can sue your college and get your money back, hun. Btw, can I interest you in some Amway motor oil? …maybe some scented bath soap?
Amway is Scamway.
I can get the equivalent product at Wal-Mart, Target, Meijer or a dozen other store chains around Chicagoland for half the price.
Shadowstate,
The Devos family funded Trump….. does that mean Trump is evil?
Betsy Devos is in the administration. Her Black Water brother visits the White House.
Question:
Is that a conpiracy?
Answer:
No not at all.
*****
Shadowstate you would see conspiracy in dog turd.
Reply to self-proclaimed nice guy.
“The Devos family funded Trump….. does that mean Trump is evil?”
All politicians are evil to some degree or other.
Wait until the Marxist Democrats take over America and you will see what real evil is.
Top Democrat’s proposed tax on unrealized capital gains would be devastating for financial markets
Sen. Ron Wyden’s proposal would have people pay yearly taxes on assets that gain in value.
The tax would apply to assets traded in liquid markets, like stocks and bonds, and to illiquid assets like real estate, private companies and complex investments.
A tax on unrealized gains would be not only difficult to implement but also could devastate markets.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/03/top-democrats-proposed-capital-gains-tax-would-be-devastating-for-markets.html
More than once at the Frank Report, we have received the treat of a writer referring to someone or something as “hairbrained.” Although all interested parties have some background info about Raniere’s penchant for big bushes, the word is harebrained. Of the genus Lepus, the hare (or jackrabbit) is not known for his or her intellect. Let us get back to nature and credit the source.
Though admittedly, Raniere gives the impression of being “hairbrained.”
Mark Geragos is being sued.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/jussie-smollett-lawyer-osundairo-brothers-lawsuit-defamation
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/23/jussie-smollett-brothers-sue-attorney-staged-hate-latest
I think you’re onto Gregaros – that patron shark of all mega rich & famous goofs – bigtime, Pyriel.
“The Cook county state’s attorney’s office abruptly dropped charges against Smollett in March. The city of Chicago has since sued Smollett…”
And, let’s not forget what other goofy, high stakes horse trades Gregaros was engaged in on the very same day Smollett got away with no criminal charges — as Pyriel hence noted.
I thought the same even before Village Diane got that classic shot of Satan himself exiting the Courthouse with freshly fainted Clare Bronfman!
Funny how Gergaros has yet to be, if ever, charged along with his Co-counselor Avenatti re: NIKE black mailing, ain’t it?
Your best comment ever. Geragos is a keystone. His justice is coming
Poor Chicago, Poor Jessie Smollett – victims of a terrible trend of Nigerian white supremicist violence, who’d’ve thunk it, gosh!
That’s hilarious. These 2 brothers seem to think they are innocent (even though they admitted to willingly participating in this hoax) and Geragos knows that spreading defamatory lies about people will result in a libel suit…..
Is there anyone involved in this mess who is telling the truth?
You really are a crackpot, Ms NXIVM. Your lil boy Jussie is going to face fed justice and your buddy Geragos will also be getting his just desserts. Keep spinning toots, makes you look like the dizzy broad you are
I am, Flowers. I swear it, cross my heart and promise. 😇.
If Clare were African-Am or Hispanic but just as wealthy, do you think she would have gotten the same treatment?
You mean like Smollett or Salinas?
Better. All you gotta do is scream racism.
Anonymous,
Ask Halle Berry……..Hit and run….
Calm down. Nobody will do significant prison time and nobody will go broke paying restitution. Claire and company will be back up and branding within a year. And Claire will have a laugh.
Speaking from experience, there is simply not enough money in the universe to pay for the restoration of one’s soul. Of course, money can’t buy happiness, either. Nor can it buy true friends. Nor can it buy love. I am sure Ms. Bronfman already knows that one.
Are you kidding? For sure money can buy love, happiness and friends. Their names are Jack Daniels and Jim Beam
I suppose it was a pipe dream of sorts to expect this very wealthy woman to actually pay for her crimes. Not when paying with money is such a cheap option for her. She paid to get away with everything and we will never know who exactly has been gifted with her financial largesse in exchange for her freedom. The article is right, this will make it so much easier for her to evade the damage suits her victims have against her. She will not have to pay another cent. Nor face justice commensurate to her crimes in any earthly court. This is depressing.
Beautifully poetic, ION, but hang in there baby. Karma has cut on this case outta nowhere time and again. I don’t think it’s done with KAR ET AL yet.
The Frank Report recently revealed that Clare Bronfman was illegally financing Hillary Clinton’s 2008 Presidential campaign.
No doubt Clare financed other political campaigns.
As soon as this revelation came out the government proved far more willing to cut Clare some slack.
What other revelations about Clare’s political activities will be covered up to protect not just the Clintons but other prominent New York politicians?
I suspect that had Hillary Clinton been elected President in 2016 the prosecution of NXIVM would have been nipped in the bud.
Anyhow the main goals of the Federal investigation have been achieved.
The removal of Raniere, Mack, the Bronfmans and the Salzmans from control of NXIVM.
The control,of what remains of the cult handed over to the Salinas Family.
Now the Salinas Family can use NXIVM for money laundering, tax evasion, immigration fraud and funneling illegal campaign contributions covertly to American politicians.
Exactly how is the Salinas family using NXIVM for money laundering, tax evasion or any other crime, Shadow? The Salinas may be committing these crimes, but how is NXIVM involved?
Hey flowers when are you going to leave the NXIVM cult?
Hey troll who has no connection to NXIVM, are you ever gonna tell the truth about why you’re really trolling me?
Because you are still an active member of NXIVM and support the evil of your Master Raniere and your Mistress Bronfman
Dating back to the meeting on Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island there were talks on how to launder money.
That was back around 2009.
Under American law it is illegal for foreign nationals to contribute money to American political campaigns.
Using money brought into the US illegally a NXIVM member can write a check to and American political candidate and then be compensated by cash payments using cash illegally brought into America.
Just the way Clare was doing with Hillary Clinton..
What other revelations about Clare’s political activities will be covered up to protect not just the Clintons but other prominent New York politicians?
Excellent point.
Thank you.
Yes, Clare Bronfman financed other campaigns – she and her sister actually gave their largest amounts to NY state Republicans, as I’ve pointed out before.
And their giving was almost all to 2006-08 election cycles, and none of it after 2010. Plus it was less than $10,000 total over those several years, which is peanuts in today’s big money politics.
Why would Clinton have done a big favor for a relatively small donor from almost a decade before, who hadn’t even supported her run for the Presidency?
What’s more likely is that they had a go at buying influence through national political figures, discovered that they didn’t have enough money or organization to get the influence to accomplish anything significant like getting Raneire’s old financial and legal liabilities in Arkansas resolved, and went back to whatever was working for them in the Albany area – hence the large donations to what looks to have been something of a Republican slush fund is what’s of interest, if anything.
Again as has been pointed out before, there is a huge difference between legal donations and illegal political bundling as was done for the filthy crook Clinton. Stop equating the two. Please bring proof of a “Republican Slush Fund” or shut your democrat pie hole.
The issue here is influence, and what was actually more the use of straw donors, wouldn’t have bought them more influence whether it was illegal or legal. And regardless, it wasn’t on a large enough scale to be significant – it was a few tens of thousands of dollars to a campaign that raised a total of almost a quarter of a billion dollars:
https://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/summary.php?cid=N00000019
The point is still that the Bronfmans actually gave their biggest donations to Albany-based Republicans who are more likely to have been involved in providing NXIVM the access and cover it exploited for over a decade:
https://littlesis.org/org/284181-Ethical_Science_Foundation/giving
You can google the NYS Senate Republican Campaign Committee and see if you can figure out what it does – even its website doesn’t say what its purpose is or where its money goes, which smacks to me of a slush fund of some sort.
And by the way, I’m not a Democrat or a fan of the Clintons. I dislike the corruption, and cultishness, on both sides.
“wouldn’t have bought them more influence whether it was illegal or legal”.
Totally ignorant statement. First of all you don’t know what if any influence was bought. Also explains why you are a democrat spin artist, don’t know the difference between legal and illegal like the rest of your corrupt party.
I’ve been responding to shadowstate’s comment with various speculations about NXIVM somehow wielding influence at the national level, such as:
“I suspect that had Hillary Clinton been elected President in 2016 the prosecution of NXIVM would have been nipped in the bud.”
That is indeed ridiculous given the facts I pointed to, of their only having made relatively small donations to a massive campaign almost a decade earlier. If NXIVM somehow wielded outsized influence with Clinton as late as 2016, then how they would actually have accomplished that needs to be explained.
If there’s spin, it’s that the obsessed, cultish partisans apparently don’t even want to address the issue of the Bronfmans’ comparatively large donations to the Republicans in Albany, where we know that they did actually wield influence to use the system to go after people like Frank.
And speaking of irregularities, here’s another interesting bit of data, showing the Clinton campaign apparently returning or otherwise reversing one of Clare Bronfman’s two donations – leaving her actually having given more net cash to national Republicans:
Category Contributor Occupation Date Amount Recipient
Money to Candidates BRONFMAN, CLARE
CLIFTON PARK, NY 12065 08-28-2008 -$2,300.00 Clinton, Hillary (D)
Money to Candidates BRONFMAN, CLARE
CLIFTON PARK, NY 12065 SELF 03-14-2007 $2,300.00 Clinton, Hillary (D)
Money to Candidates BRONFMAN, CLARE
CLIFTON PARK, NY 12065 SELF 09-28-2007 $2,300.00 Clinton, Hillary (D)
Money to Parties BRONFMAN, CLARE
CLIFTON PARK, NY 12065 05-31-2007 $2,500.00 National Republican Senatorial Cmte (R)
Those are ALL of Bronfman’s reported national-level campaign donations EVER.
https://www.opensecrets.org/search?q=clare+bronfman&type=donors
Anonymaker, you are using logic and facts, while most of the other commentors here are not….
Flowers you are using emotion and delusional thought just like your buddy anoymaker. His logic is democrat crook good anything not democrap bad. Sounds alot like you. No wonder you were such an easy mark for NXIVM
Thanks for noticing 🙂
I post mostly for the benefit of those who are watching, and might be interested in the facts.
But it’s my experience that sometimes being fact-checked nudges the “true believer” fanatic types into taking it somewhere else that they won’t be challenged at all. They may thrive on asserting the tenets of their ideology – the same mechanism at work when religious proselytizers, in reinforced pairs, come to your door – but they also get uncomfortable when their cognitive dissonance gets pushed too high.
Plus sometimes I learn something in the process of fact-checking. I was amazed to find out that Clinton was in the process of raising a quarter of a billion (yes, with a “b”) dollars for a presidential run, at the time of the NXIVM crowd’s relatively paltry donations – the amount of money in politics these days is just insane.
Simple facts. Clinton received illegal donations from Bronfman through bundling. Other donations were done legally whether you like it or not. Interesting you think you are a fact checker when you ignore facts. Also interesting that a kook like flowers praises your disingenuous comments and you eat up.
Thank you, Albany.
He used no facts at all. Twisted the facts so emotional illogical trolls like you would respond like moth to flame.
Who is to blame for this? Moira Penza?
“Crooks in suits”
Crooks in pants suits. Hillary Clinton.
The Clinton Crime Family runs New York State the same way that the Salinas Crime Family runs Mexico.
The ultimate goal is to pave the way for the Clinton Crown Princess Chelsea Clinton to be anointed Senator from New York and use that Senate seat as a springboard to the Presidency.
A scandal tying the Clinton Crime Family to the NXIVM Criminal Gang would be a serious impediment to that goal.
Chelsea Clinton says she has not ruled out running for office
Daughter of Bill and Hillary says a move into politics in future is a ‘definite maybe’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/20/chelsea-clinton-says-she-has-not-ruled-out-running-for-office
If there was anything enviable about Chelsea it would not be her looks. I would not exchange my looks for her physique and face, if Bill offered to hand over their 1 billion dollars in cash.
It was widely rumored in Arkansas that Chelsea Clinton’s real biological father is Webster Hubbell, a lawyer working in the same law firm as Hillary Clinton.
http://images.gawker.com/mpbsrp7z2rwim47iqziq/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800.jpg
^ ^ Hey Crook, this comment is as idiotic as Clare Bronfman giving Moira Penza the malocchio – evil eye – in court moments before she fainted over her Avenatti deal blowing up.
You REALLY think Moira Penza alone calls the shots for the DOJ or the Court?
You’re just jealous over those bad ass fuchsia heels she styled at the last hearing.
A lot of the DOJ’s decisions are made at the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Building on Pennsylvania Avenue in DC.
Is not a coincidence Lawyer and liar sound alike.