Clare Bronfman to Be Sentenced January 8, 2020

Here is the court order:

“The sentencing hearing for Clare Webb Bronfman, 40, will be held on January 8, 2020 at 11:00 AM in Courtroom 4D South. Ordered by Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis on 9/26/2019. (Davis, Eleanor)”

So that’s it – she is the first to have a sentencing date – and I expect the others’ dates [i.e. Keith Alan Raniere, Nancy Salzman, Allison Mack, Lauren Salzman, and Kathy Russell] will be soon set – whether before or after her.

It only makes sense that the woman with the most money – who paid $6 million to have her charges reduced from racketeering and racketeering conspiracy – should be taken care of first.

Bronfman is an heiress of the Seagram’s liquor fortune and is the longtime Director of Operations for Nxivm.  She pleaded guilty on April 19, 2019, on Good Friday, in Brooklyn Federal Court. Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis presided.

Her attorneys are Mark Geragos and Kate Cassidy.

Instead of more serious charges, she was allowed to plead guilty to conspiracy to conceal and harbor illegal aliens for financial gain and fraudulent use of identification.

The first count is a ridiculous one if you stop to consider her net worth – did she really need to conceal illegal aliens for financial gain? What did she gain – $100,000 at max? Her net worth is $200 million.

The second count – fraudulent use of identification – is usually one committed by those seeking to steal some money – which she clearly did not need.

She did not do it for financial gain, she did it to fuck over women and have them under her control – hers and Keith Raniere’s and to please Raniere and help him commit financial crimes.

She committed her crimes for Raniere.

Her Charges:

Here are the details of the charges she will be sentenced for committing.

Charge One: Conspiracy to conceal and harbor illegal aliens for financial gain: In or about and between October 2015 and January 2018, Clare Bronfman, together with others, knowingly and in reckless disregard of the fact that one or more aliens had come to enter and remained in the United States through violation of law, did knowingly and intentionally conspire to conceal, harbor and shield from detection such aliens.

Jane Doe 12 [Sylvie] was in the United States in violation of law because she was in the United States on a work visa that had been procured through false statements by Clare Bronfman.

Bronfman’s housing of Jane Doe 12 substantially facilitated Jane Doe 12’s ability to remain in the United States.

Bronfman’s harboring of Jane Doe 12 was to obtain her labor and services for Bronfman, and for one of the NXIVM organizations in which Bronfman held a financial interest without paying Jane Doe 12.

Count Two. Fraudulent use of identification: In or about and between November 2016 and March 2018, Clare Bronfman, together with others, did knowingly and intentionally transfer, possess and use without lawful authority one or more means of identification of another person to wit: Jane Doe 7 [Pamela Cafritz] with the intent to commit and aid and abet and in connection with unlawful activity that constituted one or more violations of federal law, to wit: Attempted tax evasion resulting in the obtaining of things of value aggregating $1,000 or more during a one-year period.

Clare Bronfman knowingly caused the use of the name and credit card number belonging to Cafritz by facilitating Keith Raniere’s use of her credit card after Cafritz died.

She did so without lawful authority. No one had lawful authority to use her credit card because she was dead.

Clare Bronfman Aided or Abetted Tax Evasion

By Keith Raniere’s use of Cafritz’s credit card, Bronfman aided and abetted tax evasion by Raniere as part of a scheme to allow him to falsely portray himself as a renunciate and to not pay taxes on his income and assets.

Plea Deal for Clare Bronfman

Clare Bronfman signed plea deal 18-CR-204-S3 on April 19th, 2019, and it consists of 11 pages…  Miss Bronfman, have you read this document?

Statutory Penalties

As to Count One, conspiracy to conceal and harbor aliens for financial gain, the maximum term of imprisonment is ten years. There is no minimum term of imprisonment. The maximum supervised release term is three years, which would follow any term of imprisonment. There’s a maximum fine of $250,000.

Restitution. With regard to restitution, the parties agree that restitution in the amount of $96,605.25 payable to Sylvie was ordered by the Court.

With regard to Count Two, fraudulent use of identification, the maximum term of imprisonment is 15 years. There’s no minimum term of imprisonment. The maximum supervised release term is three years, which would follow any term of imprisonment. The maximum fine is the greater of $250,000, or twice the gross gain, or twice the gross loss. Restitution is mandatory in the full amount of each victim’s losses as determined by the Court.

Sentence can be imposed on the two counts consecutively or concurrently.

Sentencing Guidelines

The government made a prediction as to the calculation of Bronfman’s guideline predicting that Bronfman will have an adjusted offense level of 16 and, since she is in Criminal History Category I [no previous offenses], her guideline would be 21 to 27 months in prison.

In her plea agreement, there is an agreement regarding her right to appeal her sentence.

Her agreement reads that Bronfman agrees not to appeal, or in any other way challenge, the sentence Judge Garaufis imposes upon her if it is 27 months or less.

If the judge were to sentence her to more than 27 months in jail, and she believed there was a legal or other error in his doing that, she would then have the right to appeal her sentence to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

She only has the right to appeal if the judge sentences her to more than 27 months.

Clare also had to pay $6 million to the DOJ in lieu of forfeiture of items of real property.

Clare Bronfman Allocution

Here is Clare’s complete allocution on Good Friday before Judge Nichiolas.

Your Honor, I was afforded a great gift by my grandfather and my father. With the gift comes immense privilege, and more importantly, tremendous responsibility. It does not come with the ability to break the law, it comes with a great responsibility to uphold the law. I failed to uphold the following laws set forth by this country, and for that I’m truly remorseful.

Between approximately October 2015 and January 2018, along with others, I did harbor an individual who I knew had remained in the United States in violation of the law. I substantially facilitated her to live and work in our country in a way that would be undetected, and I was wrong. She did work for me and businesses I was affiliated with, so her work was a financial benefit to me.

Additionally, I was wrong to facilitate the use of someone’s credit card who had passed away. Between approximately November 2016 and March 2018, I knowingly facilitated the use by another person of a deceased person’s credit card, and the use of that person’s bank account to the pay the bills for the credit card which were more than a thousand dollars.

My office and I handled the logistics of payment of the credit card bill from the bank account, and the person using the credit card did not intend to pay taxes on the income received in the form of payment for goods purchased on the credit card.

I meant no harm in either case, however, that does not justify my actions nor their effects, and for this, I am truly sorry. I endeavored to do good in the world and to help people, however, I have made mistakes. This experience has taught me the gravity of my responsibility, and I will take these lessons forward in every future decision. Thank you.

***

BTW, Clare was recently taking high school equivalency courses from an online course so she can get her high school diploma before she enters prison. This will help her avoid taking tiresome high school equivalency courses in prison.

Despite being an heiress with access to nearly unlimited money, she only completed 10th grade.

Frank Parlato