The Stripe Path – a Primer for Those Considering Joining NXIVM

I published the main part of this story back in December 2018.

But it bears repeating for the many new Frabk Report readers who have asked for a primer on various aspects of Nxivm, including how the sashes and stripes work in Nxivm.

Since I first published this story, the US Government has seized Nxivm.

But there are still devotees who plan to keep it alive using another name and continue to use it as Nxivm in Mexico where the US government has no jurisdiction.

Artist’s rendition of Nxians on the stripe path.

The “Stripe Path” is the means of advancement within Nxivm.

Nxivm’s members are awarded colored sashes, which they are privileged to wear around the neck at NXIVM courses and events.

The awarding of sashes is based on one’s services to NXIVM.

The decision to promote is entirely arbitrary – and was, ultimately, s decision made solely by Keith Raniere.

Prior to his incarceration, it was possible for an attractive and slender woman to make her way up to the top fairly rapidly through personal mentoring by Raniere.

In short, the color of the sash signifies rank.

Rank within Nxivm is also denoted by means of handsome “stripes,” which are added to a member’s sash until she or he earned a sash of a higher-ranking color.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is emi-and-tjhe-greens.jpg

The valuable sashes worn by the august leaders of NXIVM. The cost of the physical sashes may not be high [about $7] but their value in garnering Executive Success is immeasurable.

Let us now examine the ranks:

White

The lowest ranking members of Nxivm are “students” who wear the white sash.

There have been likely more than 15,000 whites. Anyone who pays for the course gets a white sash.

At the classes, the white sashes learn to recite praises to the Vanguard, how to bow before him and learn the secret handclasp.

A white sash can be obtained for as little as $2,000. Pretty and slender women have been known to get them for free.

Yellow

The next rank is that of a coach, who wears yellow.  They work for free and pay monthly fees to keep their yellow sash. Pretty women, with generous and compliant dispositions, have been known to get a yellow rather quickly after visiting Raniere at his “library.”

There have been 1,000-1,500 who have worn the yellow sash over the 20 years of NXIVM.

Yellow sashes can be obtained for as little as $25,000 in cash and services. Plus annual fees. Each additional stripe – and there are four – cost another $50,000.

Unless one is a young slender woman.

Income in return – zero.

Orange

The next higher rank permits a person to be eligible to actually make a [small] salary or earn commissions [for recruiting]. They are called “Proctors” and they wear the orange sash.

I would estimate there have been several hundred orange-sashed Proctors.

Orange sashes have been obtained for as little as $150,000 in cash and services. Each additional stripe costs about $100,000 more in cash and services.

The most expensive Orange sash – which had four stripes – was obtained by Clare Bronfman. It cost her more than $100 million.

Average income in return for being an orange: $35,000 annually.

Green

Above the orange-sashed ones loom the “Senior Proctors” who wear the glittering green.

There have been less than 20 Greens.

Cost of a Green: $1 million in cash or services.

Average income in return: $90,000 [Plus possible promise of an avatar baby.]

[Some have said that the cost of Harvard education is substantially less than getting a Green Sash, but Harvard does not teach the wisdom of the Vanguard.]

Among notable Greens:

Lauren R. Salzman: Green, Edge, 4 Stripes

Loreta J. Garza Davila: Green, 4 Stripes*

 

Sara R. Bronfman-Igtet: Green, 3 Stripes*

 

Alejandro Betancourt Ledesma: Green, 3 Stripes*

 

Esther L. Carlson: Green, Edge, 1 Stripe*

 

Emiliano Salinas Occelli: Green, 1 Stripe*

 

Omar ‘Cuckie’ Boone: Green, Edge*

 

Jimena Garza promoted to the green sash accomplished her goal of getting six women branded in June.

Jimena “Brand My Pussy’ Garza Davila: Green*

 

Emiliano Salinas [green t shirt] dances with sister Cecelia [also in green t shirt] as they bow to their master Keith Raniere.

 

Cecilia Salinas Occelli: Green, 1 Stripe*

 

Dawn Morrison: Green

 

Keith Raniere with former Green-striped leader Barbara Bouchey

 

Former green-sashed Nxivm leader Toni Natalie with her handsome prince, Keith Alan Raniere.

Blue

Edgar Boone is a Blue with two stripes. 

The next rank is that of a Counselor, who wears blue.

To my knowledge, there is only one blue sash  – Edgar Boone – a current member and pioneer of the Mexican recruitment and the bulk cash smuggling efforts.

Cost: $5 million.

Income $200,000 less fees.

Purple

The next higher rank is Senior Counselor – who wears the purple sash.

There are presently no living “purples” in NXIVM. There have been only two purple sashes I know of in the history of NXIVM.  Both were girlfriends of Keith Raniere

Early harem members and purple stripes: Barbara Jeske and Pam Cafritz.

Barbara Jeske – deceased

Pam Cafritz – deceased

 

Gold

Prefect wears gold.

Beyond the purple is the astronomically high and virtually incomprehensible – Gold Sash – which is worn only by the Prefect.  Her name is Nancy Salzman. She is also convicted and voluntarily denounced Raniere and gave up all rights to her ownership interest in Nxivm..

Ethereal

Beyond that – abiding in the heavens above and not material at all – is the colorless sash [it appears to the naked eye as white] of the Vanguard – Keith Raniere – who is beyond all sashes.

Vanguard speaks to his disciples

 

Keith Alan Raniere AKA Vanguard with his ethereal [appears to be white] sash.
Cost to be Vanguard – zero dollars, servicing hundreds of slender and attractive female students, and likely a life sentence in prison.

Keith Raniere, that brilliant inventor sought to patent his sashes. Here is his detailed sketch of his patent-pending NXIVM sash.

About the author

Frank Parlato

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[…] was a yellow sash coach in NXIVM (read more about sashes here.)  She attended Necker Island parties and was now a celebrity spokeswoman for NXIVM.  Keep in mind […]

Anonymous
Anonymous
4 years ago

Didn’t Edmondson write that she got her yellow sash after only going through the first 16 day and one more 5 day?

Anonymaker
Anonymaker
4 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

I just checked her book, and she writes that she got it after being involved for a bit longer than that, though it appears the advancement was just for enrolling people, which she was quite good at:

“Because I had enrolled my mom, David, and my pal Nicki, the coaches awarded me with another red stripe on my white sash—and that wasn’t all. Before we left to go home, the senior levels also held a small ceremony where they promoted me from a white sash to a yellow sash … which meant I was now what they considered an “apprentice coach.” “

Anonymous
Anonymous
4 years ago

Was yellow sash Kristin Kreuk one of these?
“Pretty women, with generous and compliant dispositions, have been known to get a yellow rather quickly after visiting Raniere at his “library.”

Scott Johnson
4 years ago

What is the difference between a stripe and an edge?

"What is the difference between a stripe and an edge?'
"What is the difference between a stripe and an edge?'
4 years ago
Reply to  Scott Johnson

oral gets her a stripe. anal gets her an edge

Scott Johnson
4 years ago

Assuming it takes a year to earn a new stripe, being paid $35k by spending $100k is MLM math. NiceGuy will know what means, as he’s already mastered how the coefficient of friction works. LOL

Shivani
Shivani
4 years ago

The sash model in the drawing for the patent has the vacant stare down pat. The stare is so marked one would think the drawing was intended to be satirical. The sash model looks like a combo of a feminized, half-Raniere and half-Nancy Salzman, so perhaps the artist was Nancy Salzman’s more fortunate daughter, Michelle.

What was Keith Raniere’s feminine name when he used to go out dressed up as a lady? Has it been common knowledge that Raniere liked to swing any which way? Apparently he was introducing his people to a new concept about the meaning of celibacy. Were his interests in other gentlemen oral or anal or both? Did Raniere show up once in awhile amongst his intimates when he was dolled up as a woman? Did Pam Cafritz ever help her supreme being with his hair and makeup, his padded bra, high heels and his/her girdle? Cafritz got a purple sash, but did anyone ever locate her body?

Hopefully the purple sash has been retired, not to be too macabre.

ClareEnce 🧐
ClareEnce 🧐
4 years ago
Reply to  Shivani

It wouldn’t surprise me if Clare wore strap on’s and banged Ranieres booty. Unless she didn’t need a strap on and actually has a penis. Hence the jock strap. Has anyone ever noticed Clare’s manly gait flat chest and lack of hips? Where do transgender inmates live anyway?

L
L
4 years ago

So now that the govt has claimed authority over the NXIVM technology… Maybe I can get away with making my own sashes. Fire up the sewing machine. Churn a few out. Sell them at a discount rate, $15 a pop. The $20 special would include a booklet of proprietary “technology” – Use your own damn brain, and don’t assume a guru knows better than you just because he says so (patent pending). For an extra $5 I could monogram it with KAR for that authentic quality…

Guarantee it’s a better deal than the originals.

Scott Johnson
4 years ago
Reply to  L

Monogram it by burning Raniere’s initials into the sash.

L
L
4 years ago
Reply to  Scott Johnson

Don’t have a cauterizing pen, but my soldering iron might do.

Scott Johnson
4 years ago
Reply to  L

You would save a lot of time by making a branding iron, just like they use on cattle.

Jarhead
Jarhead
4 years ago

What’s the white edge on some of those sashes mean?

Also, are they allowed to wash them if they get dirty? I ask that because many outlaw motorcycle clubs, such as the Pagan’s, ban their members from ever washing their “cuts”.

I ask this because there may be a danger of getting coffee spilled on it, or perhaps occasional Rainere’s ejaculation. And since they were badass women who got branded, maybe not washing their sashes were another means of displaying their toughness.

Heidi Hutchinson
Heidi Hutchinson
4 years ago
Reply to  Jarhead

Lol, Jarhead. A Raniere jiz catcher. It’s like a unisex Chevron — for Semen 1st class!

Love Frank’s humor in this story. But the purple scarves for the deceased like a premeditated Purple Heart. Damn.

shadowstate1958
4 years ago

“But there are still devotees who plan to keep it alive using another name ” Frank Parlato

What truer sign of devotion is there than jumping on the Titanic after it has hit the iceberg and started to sink?

AnonyMaker
AnonyMaker
4 years ago

Thanks for that reminder of how the system worked.

Looking at the numbers, it appears that about 10% of all participants went on to become yellow sash coaches. Given that a lot of participants probably dropped out after the first or second intensive, or not without doing too much more, that means a higher percentage of active members were at least coaches. I wonder about the estimated $25,000 cost, though; did people like Nina Cowell really come up with that kind of money?

Fool Me Not
Fool Me Not
4 years ago
Reply to  Frank Parlato

Reminds me of children who were indentured servants in the coal mine.

Scott Johnson
4 years ago
Reply to  AnonyMaker

That’s what makes NXIVM appear to be the only legitimate MLM I’ve come across, lots of retail sales, they just got everything else wrong.

Anonymous
Anonymous
4 years ago
Reply to  AnonyMaker

A yellow sash was attained after completing a 16-day Intensive and enrolling three students in a 5 or 16 day intensive.
Evidently, you could also get one by making a visit to Keith’s “library” which I avoided.

About the Author

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist.

His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents.

His work to expose and take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg, “Scarred” by Sarah Edmonson, “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. La Secta Que Sedujo al Poder en México” by Juan Alberto Vasquez.

Parlato has been prominently featured on HBO’s docuseries “The Vow” and was the lead investigator and coordinating producer for Investigation Discovery’s “The Lost Women of NXIVM.” Parlato was also credited in the Starz docuseries "Seduced" for saving 'slave' women from being branded and escaping the sex-slave cult known as DOS.

Additionally, Parlato’s coverage of the group OneTaste, starting in 2018, helped spark an FBI investigation, which led to indictments of two of its leaders in 2023.

Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Beyond the Headlines with Gretchen Carlson, Dr. Oz, American Greed, Dateline NBC, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato conducted the first-ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest. This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded.

Parlato is a consulting producer and appears in TNT's The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which premiered on May 22, 2022. Most recently, he consulted and appeared on Tubi's "Branded and Brainwashed: Inside NXIVM," which aired January, 2023.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

Contact Frank with tips or for help.
Phone / Text: (305) 783-7083
Email: frankreport76@gmail.com

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