Why did Sara Bronfman-Igtet and her husband, Basit Igtet, dash out of France so suddenly – and go to Portugal?
She had everything going for her in France. She was entrenched, ostensibly planning to live the rest of her life here. Then on a dime, she left.
We have more information, thanks to sources in France and elsewhere. The more we learn, the more it begs the question: Why did she leave her new home?
Sara and Basit [with Sara’s money] acquired a hotel called the Domain of Andéoles in the Luberon. They built a mansion to live in, at a fantastic price, which was just recently completed.
She was buying up land in the area. She bought a farm to grow produce for her hotel’s restaurants and reportedly had her eye on a golf course. She created a raft of companies – some 25 in total under her Athal Holdings umbrella – many of them put under the name of her CEO, Stefan Fraenkel, to disguise her actual ownership, as she began to take greater ownership control of the area.
She was working closely with Jacques Attali, the famous handler of French presidents. And top French leaders, it was told to me by an eyewitness source, came to her hotel to meet with her husband, and seek financial support from Sara.
There were discussions about building a casino.
Business is business but, for the longtime Nxivm financier, who lost more than $100 million for her beloved Nxivm mission, Sara had something more in mind for France. It was her start-over. The place to reestablish the golden teachings of her Vanguard, Keith Alan Raniere, now in federal custody awaiting sentencing for racketeering, forced labor, and sex trafficking.
After her own heart, Sara opened a school that was a Rainbow Cultural Garden under another name, ‘The Campus Beyond the School,” in the Town of Apt in the Luberon. It was approved by the Ministry of Education. In fact, the school was located on property owned by the town, rented to her by the city council and her friend, Mayor Dominique Santoni.
The town’s office of tourism helped promote her holiday camp in April and summer camp in July 2019.
The couple bragged about their hotel, the Domain of Andeoles, as if it was one of a group of future hotel holdings: “Athal Hospitality is the new signature of the luxury hotel industry. … founded by Basit Igtet, an internationally renowned entrepreneur based in Zurich and renowned for its acquisitions of iconic hotels.
“With his wife, Sara Bronfman, a philanthropist and entrepreneur who has been involved for 15 years in education and the development of human potential, he has assembled a team of experts in the hospitality and lifestyle sectors….. A subtle balance between the three fundamentals of the group: art, nature and well-being guides the choice of each property.”
Sara also got favorable press for her Campus Beyond the School. A French correspondent for Frank Report, Cedric Our, informs us that Mayor Santoni attended the inaugural of the school on December 15, 2018, and did the ribbon cutting.
Sara was so proud of her new Rainbow school. Cedric wrote that the school was to be “a complement to the ‘traditional’ school, with language and cultural immersion workshops for children from 2 to 3 years and up to 18 years of age and over… The aim is ‘to enable children to achieve excellence, through an alternative pedagogy that favors languages and culture but also art, nature and the environment’… For the teaching of languages will come foreign-trained teachers of English, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Arab and German….. The teachings will also be based on the concepts of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) whose teachings are taught at Waldorf schools.”
Instead of staying and promoting her hotel and school, living in her mansion, overseeing their farm, their golf course, their various business enterprises, enjoying the company of important officials, Sara and Basit suddenly left France.
The school is closed. The hotel is reportedly set to close and not reopen.
What’s the reason?
Did she run afoul of local authorities in France? That seems doubtful. With her money, she could keep petty officials placated.
Rumors abounded in the town about her and her old Nxivm connections, thanks in part due to the efforts of journalist L’Heure De Se Réveiller.
But that would not be enough to make her flee. Not with all her new holdings in the Luberon.
What would be big enough to make the heiress run?
She ran from Albany after Raniere was exposed – and she left her mansion there vacant.
What immediately comes to mind is that the same entity that arrested her sister, Clare, the US DOJ for the Eastern District of New York, is seriously investigating her.
Unlike Sara, Clare never left her Vanguard’s side. She went with him to Mexico and came back after he was arrested. Clare was arrested and ultimately convicted on two felony counts and will be sentenced on April 23.
Is Sara facing up to the possibility, real or suspected, that she too could be indicted, like her sister, for her own high crimes in the operations and funding of the Nxivm racketeering enterprise?
Sara had a higher rank in Nxivm than Clare. While Clare worked directly with Raniere, Sara worked hand-in-hand with convicted racketeer and Nxivm president, Nancy Salzman.
What is worse for Sara is that, unlike Raniere, Salzman could be cooperating with the feds and has plenty of information – especially of the tax evasion variety – on Sara. This could spell millions in seizures for the feds of Sara’s assets if she is convicted.
On top of that, there were instances of perjury and funding of lawsuits where there frauds were committed upon the court- all funded by Sara. How much did she know?
Would the Nxivm Prefect, Nancy Salzman, be willing to inform on Sara to shave off a little time from her own prison sentence?
What we do know is that Sara Bronfman rearranged her life, relocated with her husband, and became one of the leading figures in the Luberon in France.
And just as suddenly as she left Albany, she has left France. She refused to come to the US to help her sister post part of her $100 million bail. She sent her husband, Basit, instead.
Portugal may offer a better, more easily purchased sanctuary than France – and better protection from extradition.
It may also be only a temporary dodge. She may be headed somewhere else.
Imagine how demented this must seem to some. A Bronfman on the run. She had it all and threw it all away to follow a crazed monster named Keith Raniere. But even with all her wealth, it seems she can only run but not hide.
No, wherever she goes – and that may indeed be prison in time – her relationship with the demon Raniere will haunt her forever.
Viva Executive Success!
,
Great work, Frank!!!
B. Igtet a former gigolo? Makes me wonder if it’s merely a malicious comment or a fact based comment.
Who is the dark skinned Bronfman beauty?
How many Bronfmans are there?
One was vacationing in Portugal before Sara.
https://youtu.be/_J-4uck5vQU
There is a ton of videos of on YouTube and instagram just google Portugal and Bronfman.
Here is Hannah Bronfman in Portugal:
https://youtu.be/SkOmiyNdVCE
I
Here is a pic of Hanna with her boyfriend in New York:
https://images.app.goo.gl/j8WXieM6ZGoTq7HC6
Shocker!!!!! There is an attractive Bronfman.
C’mon NiceGuy! Hannah is nowhere near as beautiful as Sara! Notwithstanding her… ‘challenges’ she is nowhere near average looking, to say the least. Perhaps we simply have very different preferences physically. 🙂
He said “attractive” meaning bangable. They are both bangable.
Clare Bronfman not so much. I definitely would choose masturbation over her.
I’m trying to figure out which are the 3 continents in which NXIVM’s “enemies” were to be destroyed — per Lauren’s testimony. United States, Europe (England, France possibly Ireland) and Central America (Mexico) or South America (Guatemala) or is Africa (Libya) on the list, too?
From what I can tell, they’re either downplaying, or have watered down, Raniere’s dogmatic program with 7 languages taught by otherwise unqualified nannies, with restrictions on family involvement. That sounds like a recipe for disaster that reportedly was in fact failing to produce results, or even producing bad outcomes, so I suspect they’ve modified it.
I hope we eventually get more, and more detailed, reporting on this and other RCG programs. I suspect it may well have done more harm to people than DOS.
I’d bet a lot of cash that Sara knows exactly who dumped all that child porn on John Tighe’s computer to set him up to go to prison.
The whole move to France was obviously a Raniere ruse to throw Interpol off his scent by sticking Basit up right under their noses. You can tell by those preinstalled wrecking balls all over the property.
I like your use of presupposition Frank.
Great reporting!
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Where is cash coming from?
I am starting to be of the opinion Sara Bronfman and her sister may have inherited more money than what has been reported.
It’s a possibility. Their father could have set up offshore accounts in trusts.
Casinos, hotels, farms, and golf courses? All on a few hundred million? Don’t forget all the other money spent on NXIVM.
NiceGuy, I spent a lot of time dealing with investments towards the end of my career, and I think her spending more or less fits with her reported wealth. The hotel property is just leased, and so in that and other examples she may not have actually put down as much cash as it might appear at first glance.
There are different estimates of the Bronfmans’ wealth, or inheritance, at up to $500 million apiece. According to my read of some accounts, a good piece of that may be in untouchable old trusts that could produce 8-figure incomes.
Thanks, AnonyMaker!
The address of Bronfman’s property in the Saratoga County Assessment Database is 7 Taymor Trail (Pvt), indicating that it is on a private road.
The records show that it is still owned by Alousch LLC, as it has been since 2015. So it’s apparently still hers to lose to various possible kinds of seizure or forfeiture.
It also shows up as being listed for rent for $12,000 per month by Franca DiCrescenzo with Armida Rose Realty Group, who Frank has described as the “the sex cult realtor for Albany.”
Talk about a niche business.
This home is less than a mile from my house. It appears that it is for sale by Sotherbys: https://selectsothebysrealty.photoshelter.com/gallery/7-Taymor-Trail-Clifton-Park-NY-Gerald-Magoolaghan-Maria-Barr/G00004KIWR40ymDM
The road is actually named Taymor, not Traymore.
Thanks for posting these, CParker. In looking at the pics, particularly those of #56 in the aqua colored bedroom, I have two questions (for anyone here, not just you CP) – a) is that painting on the right of the door a Michelle Salzmann? It looks like her art-style, and b) what gives with the cross above the door? I thought the Bronfmans were either Jewish or maybe wanna-be-buddists but not Christian.
So far, Sara has not registered any businesses with the word ‘Athal’ in it in Portugal. Of course, she could opt for a new name, which would be wise. I was able to find some hits in France with that name in it and nearly all of them go back to the same address, which means they are likely Sara’s (Athal Hospitality & Athal Education Group – sounds just like what is described in this FR article; I’d wager anything they are hers). I didn’t download any of the docs b/c I’m cheap & not paying for that, but you can check my info for yourself: https://portal.kyckr.eu/companySearchResults.aspx
Just run ‘athal’ in the name and pick whatever EU country you want to search. If you pick France, you will see the results I got. Sorry I can’t copy them directly.
I wouldn’t let this woman get close to kids. You will find a corrupt country to the south, to the east. But I don’t think most countries would risk extradition in a case of this magnitude. I hope at least.
In the interests of education these countries do not have an extraditiontreaty with the United States:
These countries currently have no extradition treaty with the United States:
July 31, 2015 at 4:00 PM CDT – Updated July 3 at 8:31 AM
These countries currently have no extradition treaty with the United States:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Central
African Republic, Chad, Mainland China, Comoros, Congo (Kinshasa), Congo (Brazzaville), Djibouti, Equatorial
Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan,
Kosovo, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands,
Mauritania, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal,
Niger, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé & Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia,
Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu,
Vatican, Vietnam and Yemen.
https://www.wsfa.com/story/22665099/countries-with-no-extradition-treaty-with-us/
If Sara Bronfman goes to Mainland China might I recommend the Bat Soup?
It’s quite a delicacy there.
Experts think the Wuhan coronavirus jumped from bats to snakes to people. Bats have been the source of at least 4 pandemics.
https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-sars-bats-animals-to-humans-2020-1
“The Wuhan coronavirus is also thought to have originated in bats, which may have passed the disease to snakes, which then passed it to humans.”
I’ve previously pointed out that it is the wealthy little Gulf states like Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the UAE that offer posh, westernized havens for ex-pats, and would probably be a particularly comfortable fit for Igtet given his background. Bronfman would obviously be much more comfortable in Europe with its alluring culture and verdant estates, so I think any of those other places would be a sort of gilded cage for her, if safe.
Oman is quite welcoming to foreigners, they have a long tradition of being a worldwide trading hub.
Gulf states like Kuwait, Oman, Qatar could be safe for her yes… but so boring places also.
Very few countries I would agree to live for a long time in in your list Shadowstate: Andorra, Lebanon, Morocco, Russia, maybe Ukraine. If I was Sarah, I would probably go in a liberal Arabic country (with my arabic husband) like Lebanon or Morocco. I don’t think Portugal if a good place for her if she fears extradition.
I don’t know that you’d want to live for long in Russia, based on my recent experience of how that country is becoming increasingly repressive.
Good point that Lebanon or Morocco could be attractive, probably more so than the gulf states I cited, with old colonial-era villas and even a few country estates to be had.
Shadow it’s close to half the countries in the world if you want the real list.
Just because there’s a treaty doesn’t necessarily mean the countries are going to honor the treaties.
Raniere also went to a Waldorf school, which contributed to his criminal future.
Good catch. I happen to know a fair bit about Waldorf, and it’s kind of a little cult of its own in some ways, extending not just into education but into areas from music to agriculture. Its founder Steiner, like Raniere after him, was one of those pseudo-scientiific thinkers who essentially believed that he was so smart that he didn’t need to do things like actual rigorous research in order to come up with wonderful ideas about how the world should work and his followers should act.
Raniere was definitely influenced by his Waldorf education in ways that show through in how he ran NXIVM and his harem, though it’s not quite as obvious or easily traceable as sources like NLP or Scientology – and, of course, I realize I can’t leave out MLMs. RCG is definitely the most obvious connection.
Steiner was a racist, and a couple of Waldorf communities in the US have had embarrassing problems with former students become white supremacists, in contradiction to its general reputation of being sort of a bastion of what we might view of as hippie-type thinking.
Oh, and occasional idiosyncratic contributor “Dr.” Leonard Horowitz is one of those types who thinks he has a better theory about how we should even do music – maybe there’s another former Waldorf kid.
RCG is definitley not the most obvious acronym.
AnonyMaker,
The Waldorf Schools are a more asinine version of Montessori. End of story…
Please do not go all Illuminati. 😉
No they are not. Much has been written on Fr about Waldorf. Do some research of your own, Anonymakers comment is weak on info about them. ” I happen to know..” Rofl. Even Johnson knows more.
Even with all her money, if she dropped everything like that and ran, she’s scared by what her army of lawyers told her.
No doubt about that at all.
While Sara Bronfman might be indicted, particularly if the demonic Nancy Salzman is cooperating with the Feds, it is already apparent that Sara Bronfman faces at least two major lawsuits.
1.) A class action lawsuit filed by Attorney Omar Rosales on behalf of the thousands of people defrauded in the Executive Success Program.
Sara Bronfman funded and promoted the ESP.
2.) Sara Bronfman is being sued by clients of Attorney Neil Glazer in the recently filed RICO lawsuit in Brooklyn
“Defendant Sara Bronfman is a resident of the New York State, a member of NXIVM and former NXIVM trainer, head of Defendant Rainbow Cultural Garden, and the sister of Clare Bronfman. Sara Bronfman was on the NXIVM board and at one time was “Master of Humanities.” Sara Bronfman contributed millions of dollars of her own assets to finance the
campaign of legal terror Defendants waged against critics and witnesses. She also financed other aspects of the operation, including the acquisition of the three commercial properties that served as the headquarters, administrative offices and center for operations of NXIVM, and she was directly involved in promoting NXIVM, using her social status as a recruitment tool.”
Pages 85 and 86 of the complaint.
https://frankreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/1-Complaint-00207560xAADF6.pdf
Allegedly, Sara Bronfman’s Rainbow Cultural Garden was a tool to facilitate human trafficking and the entry of illegal aliens into America.
Omar’s lawsuit is a joke.
Omar is much too busy chasing wheelchairs.
All of Them Witches,
Hey dummy, wheelchairs do not move that fast. Handicap women have needs and are always thankful. No one else is dating them. Not to mention handicaps get about $1300 a month disability checks from the government; in addition to a free telephone. I feel like Omar may be on to something.
I dont know much about it. Why just Sara as the defendant? Whats the status?
Sara has the big bucks. It’s always about who has the deep pockets.
I would like to know the Zurich connection and why are they saying he is based there. Also do they practice what they preach and have their kids educated in Rainbow?
It’s probably either for the high quality skiing or Switzerland’s reputation of protecting their bank customers.
I did wonder if he had ever been based in Zurich or his wife’s money is. Why advertise he’s based in Zurich?. He’s clearly based in Portugal now! Hope they are run out of there very soon.
I don’t think he has enough money to make it worthwhile being based out of Zurich. I’m not sure who is advertising the Zurich connection, the two of them or others. He was based in Zurich when they lived in France, too. That’s how some rich people roll. Hope they are run out of Portugal into a U.S. jail cell awaiting trial very soon.