Susan Dones: Toni Natalie Should Not Be Trusted to Tell the Truth: My Side of the Saga

[Editor’s Note: Susan Dones has known Toni Natalie for over a decade and has spent a lot of time with her on the phone and in person. Thus, we here at Frank Report take her opinion on Toni’s trustworthiness very seriously].

By Susan Dones

I would love to hear Toni’s side of this story – and I’d especially like to see any text messages and emails she has to back up her claims.

I know that Joe O’Hara recently wrote a story – The Many Provable Lies of Toni Natalie – and Why She Can Never Be Trusted  – about this topic and my name was mentioned in it.

I just want to add my own thoughts – and some text message to show that Toni first tried to pretend that she didn’t know what was going on.

When three out of four people who were involved in an incident all have the same recollection of events – and the fourth person has an entirely different story to tell – who should you believe?

What put the final nail in the coffin regarding my friendship with Toni Natalie was when she lied and told me that Frank Parlato was using the DOS collateral as an extortion tool to get women to tell him more about DOS for stories for the Frank Report.

I was at a family reunion and had gotten the flu the day after it was over. My sister and I stayed an extra week to visit. From Monday through Wednesday, I was pretty sick – and spent most of my time sleeping through a cold/flu.

Toni called me while I was still visiting my family. It was during the trial of Keith Raniere and I was enjoying time with my family and a break from following what was happening at the trial. I hadn’t been keeping track of what was going on each day.

Toni called me again the next day while I was just hanging out at a cousin’s house. So, I took the call and went out on my cousin’s patio. Toni proceeded to tell me that a woman named Nicole had testified that day that Frank had threatened to release her collateral if she didn’t provide him with more information about DOS for his stories.

I got sick to my stomach as she was telling me this – and not from the flu. I asked Toni if she was sure – and she said she was there in the courtroom and heard Nicole’s testimony herself. I told her that if this was true, it would be extortion – and that Frank would be in trouble with the law if he did this.

Toni went on to say that had Frank been in the courtroom that day, the FBI agents who were there would have arrested him and put him in jail.

Toni also told me that, at first, Nicole’s parents were looking for Frank because they wanted to thank him for helping to wake Nicole up – and getting her out of NXIVM/DOS. After Nicole’s supposed testimony, however, Nicole’s parents gave their phone number to Toni and thanked her for looking after the DOS women. [What the hell, I thought – what did Toni ever do to look after the DOS women?]

I knew Frank had obtained a copy of some of the collateral when he was working with a group of people to put together a package of materials that was going to be turned over to law enforcement authorities. [As far as I know, all of those materials were eventually turned over to the FBI]. So, it didn’t shock me to hear that Frank at one time had Nicole’s collateral.

My response to Toni was that Frank was not the kind of man who would use the collateral to extort these women to get more information out of them. Her response to me was that Nicole had testified, under oath, that Frank had done just that – and that the FBI was going to arrest Frank at any moment.

After I got off the phone with Toni, I did what I always do in such a situation, I called Joe O’Hara. I was shocked, confused and scared. Joe and I talked it through – and agreed that Toni’s story made no sense. Joe then suggested that we wait until the next day when he would be able to look at the transcript of Nicole’s actual testimony.

Overnight, it occurred to me that before they put Nicole on the stand, the DOJ would have interviewed and prepared her. Thus, they would have already known if Frank had tried to extort Nicole and, if he had, they would have already called him in for questioning and likely arrested him. When I talked to Joe the next day, he confirmed that that would be the case.

Joe also confirmed that based on his review of the transcript, Toni’s report regarding Nicole’s testimony was totally untrue. As I recall, his exact words were “total and complete bullshit.”

Although I felt better about the Frank situation, I was pissed that Toni had made up these stories about him. And I couldn’t understand why she would do so or what she hoped to gain by doing so.

To this day, I have not figured out why Toni lied to me about Frank. Maybe because I don’t make up such stories.

The next day, I got a call from Frank. He was willing to offer me proof that Toni was lying, but the mere fact that he hadn’t been arrested was proof enough to me.

Frank also shared with me that when he confronted Toni about her conversation with me, Toni said: “I don’t know why Susan would lie about such a thing”.

WTF…… was my reaction. There had been nothing in any media outlet about Nicole’s testimony for me to read before I called Joe about Toni’s call to me – and nothing posted even that morning for me to piece together enough facts to fabricate such a lie. That is how stupid Toni is about her lying.

From text messages. Susan [to Toni]: “Wow, great way to stab the knife in my back and twist it. How the fuck would I have known what had happened in court the day Nicole testified? I wrote Joe right away as I didn’t want him to get mixed up in anything with Frank.
Now I’m lying about it? WTF Toni what motivation would I have to make shit like that up. I guess it’s not enough to have Joe not talking to you. You can add me to that list. I don’t need this kind of drama in my life.”

Toni [to Susan]: “I have no idea what your talking. I spoke to Frank last night after receiving his text message after he said he got off the phone with you. I believe he’s on his way over to meet us for a drink now.” 

Susan [to Toni]: “Really, three days ago you called me, and told me Nichol had testified that Frank had used the fact that he had the collateral over her head that if she didn’t tell him more about DOS he’d release her collateral.

“I stopped you and asked you if what I heard you say was correct. You said YES. I said how could he think he’d get away with that, it was blackmail and he could be in trouble. You said if he would of been in court that day, you thought he’d be in the poky right now.
WTF, why would I make that shit up. I wrote Joe an email to warn him also knowing what was said would come out in the transcript and I was open to hearing that wasn’t true.

“I told Joe I’ve been with my family and had not been keeping up with the case.

“I also heard you told Frank I was lying.” 

*****

When I went back to New York for the last three days of the trial, Toni acted as if nothing had happened and that we were best buds. I tried to ignore her and told her I was not going to talk to her until we cleared up her lie. She asked me if we could put it on the back burner until the trial was over. I agreed to that because it was everyone’s final days seeing Keith Raniere meet his karma.

I gave Toni several opportunities to admit that she made the entire thing up. That she had lied about the testimony and lied to Frank that I had made the story up – and that we could move forward from the situation.

Toni’s ego got in the way. All she could muster up was an “I’m sorry”. When I asked her “Sorry for what?”, she couldn’t – or wouldn’t – go into any details of what she was sorry for. If she wants to dispute this, I have several email exchanges between us that show proof of her unwillingness to deal with the real issue.

Several times, Toni has said that she “was done with this”. Each time, my response was “OK, then we can just be done”.

Toni [to Susan]: I’m done with this. 

For some people, it’s always easier to just walk away from the mess you created than to do the work to clean it up.

But that’s kind of Toni’s life story in a nutshell: make a mess, run away – make a mess, run away – make a mess, run away…

I guess that why she has four failed marriages – and an adopted son she never worked to keep in her life, help to support or raise.

It also calls into question why she stayed with Keith Raniere so many years when she knew he was a liar, a cheat, a womanizer, and a creep who spent countless hours with young girls. I guess she didn’t consider those things to be a problem.

In looking back over the years of my interactions with Toni, I can now see how she sets up her relationships, manipulates people and how the closer she got to what she really wanted (notoriety via her proclaimed victimization and her book deal), the more her true self has come out.

Toni isn’t even a good liar; she can’t keep her story clear from one page to another in her book from what I’m told. She previously reported she had a “good marriage”. Now, she claims it was a “bad marriage”.

That’s why telling the truth is always easier. The truth is consistent and remains the same regardless of how the circumstance change.

The more I have investigated Toni’s background over the past few weeks, the more I’m finding she isn’t who she presents herself to be. Toni knows my investigation skills and knows I’m like a dog-on-a-bone when I don’t understand how I missed something.

I clearly misjudged Toni – and ignored detrimental information about her. But no longer.

Toni, you are clearly on my radar now. And I’m going to find out all of your claims that are true – and all the ones that aren’t.

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