This is the complete letter that Nicki Clyne wrote to Hon. Nicholas G. Garaufis, United States District Judge, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, in support of her patron and leader, Clare Webb Bronfman.
My comments will follow her letter.
***
August 28, 2020
Dear Judge Garaufis,
My name is Nicole Clyne and I am writing as someone who has known the woman you are about to sentence, Clare Bronfman, for over fifteen years, in many different contexts.
First, let me tell you a bit about myself. I was raised by a single mother in Vancouver, BC. I played sports, musical instruments and excelled at academics. After graduation, I pursued a career in acting in parallel to my studies, and considered myself a student of life. I still do.
I came to know Clare Bronfman when I first attended Executive Success Programs in Albany, NY. She was a coach in the program and worked on the video team at the time under a successful filmmaker. I had heard from others that her family had a lot of money, but she was one of the most shy, unassuming people I had ever met. I learned that she had a background in show jumping and that learning to film was completely new territory for her. I remember admiring her for starting something new later in life and having the humility to be a beginner again.
I didn’t speak to Clare much at first, although I saw her around as I took more trainings and eventually moved to Albany myself. Shortly after moving, Clare was assigned to be my coach. It was then that I learned just how different we really were. Clare grew up around horses and later used to joke that she preferred socializing with animals more than with people. It wasn’t entirely a joke at the time. During the time that she first coached me, we had a very difficult time and I will explain why. Clare is one of the most hard-working and disciplined people I have ever met. As a showjumper, she worked tirelessly at her sport and put all of her mind, body and soul into being excellent. That meant doing everything from training to mucking stalls, and no type or amount of work was beneath her. I, on the other hand, despite coming from humble beginnings, had had success as an actor at an early age and really didn’t know what it meant to work hard for something. I had largely relied on my intelligence and talent to get where I had, and I didn’t have a lot of work experience outside of acting at the time. Needless to say, I think I was a bit of a conundrum to Clare.
Despite our differences, we tried in earnest to build a coaching relationship, but after several months decided it wasn’t the best fit. There were no hard feelings, and I continued to consider Clare a friend. I think more than anything it was my own insecurities that got in the way. Being someone who is very sensitive to others’ emotions and wants everyone to be happy, I perceived Clare to be in a perpetual state of disapproval. This would lead me to feel rejected and unable to be honest in my struggles. What I came to learn, however, is that Clare was not judging me in the way I thought at all. Clare simply didn’t make the facial expressions I was seeking to feel validated and approved of.
As I came to know her better through her thoughts and actions, I realized that her expression was not reflective of the person underneath: she is one of the sweetest, most kind-hearted and generous people I have ever met in my life.
In 2015, shortly after Clare’s father passed away, which was a tremendous loss for her, my own father had to have a life-threatening surgery. My father, who lived in Vancouver, Canada, had COPD and required 24/7 oxygen, but he was only able to get heavy cylinder tanks for home use and small portable tanks that might run out if he was out in the community. Knowing this, Clare offered to give my dad her father’s Oxygen Concentrator machine, which plugged into the wall and produced oxygen non-stop. It wasn’t even something I thought was possible, since it was a good-sized machine and would need to be shipped from NYC to Vancouver, go through customs, etc. But Clare made it happen. I couldn’t believe it. Neither could my dad, nor did he ever forget it. Up until his dying day, he asked about Clare and vice versa. They had a special bond even though they had never met in person.
I would like to share an excerpt of the letter my dad wrote to thank her, that he asked me to print and personally deliver:
“I was very sorry to hear about your father and I offer my sincere condolences.
Early on in my business career I was in a senior operations position with a National Winery and became interested in your father’s business dealings with Seagram’s. I read many newspaper and magazine articles about him and was always impressed with his business acumen.
So, when Nicki mentioned you as someone she was very close to and someone who was also working on herself using ESP’s tools, it provided me with a tremendous level of assurance that she was safe, was in very good company and was doing something I consider essential to leading a fulfilling life. I say that because I spent 7 years working very hard on becoming the person I always wanted to be. It proved to be the best time investment I’ve ever made and has given me a great level of internal peace over the past 17 years. So, good on you guys for recognizing the opportunity at a much younger age than I did.
…Your gift of the Respironics Oxygen Concentrator is an unexpected, but much appreciated, part of the overall solution and is already proving its worth. I have colour in my face I haven’t seen in a couple of years. For that I am eternally grateful. You can ask Nicki about the problems I’ve had getting one.
Again, thank you.
With kind personal regards,
Randy”
I wholeheartedly believe my father lived a longer life due to Clare’s generosity, thoughtfulness and warm heart. But this is just one example of many. Thankfully, Clare and I were destined to become close friends despite our disparate backgrounds and worldviews, perhaps even because of them. As we both grew in our own individual ways, we began to see our strengths as complementary and our weaknesses as ways we could help each other. Over the years, Clare has been that friend who would give me honest feedback that no one else would, but that would be necessary for me to truly become who I want to be.
I like to think that I have contributed to Clare coming out of her shell and to nurturing her sense of humor. She has inspired me to be more disciplined and hard-working, and I think I have inspired her to laugh and relax a little more. And we have both helped each other be more accepting and loving with ourselves, because it is always easier to see when someone else is hard on themselves.
Clare is a person who is always self-reflecting and evaluating her conduct in an effort to become a better person. I witnessed her on many occasions seek advice and counsel from third parties to make sure she was being ethical and fair in her business dealings, and to mitigate any blind spots she may have because of her unique financial situation. I think there was a time when Clare was generous to a fault and many people took advantage of that, and as a result she worked very hard to evaluate and honor ethical value exchanges.
Clare held an important role within NXIVM. She was in charge of operations and took her responsibility very seriously. Not only was she in charge of overseeing that different departments within NXIVM operated effectively, but she also put much of her energy into putting on events that brought joy and entertainment to the community. I was always amazed at how much she cared about the quality of experience people had at our community events, especially since she herself didn’t live a particularly entertainment-focused or materialistic lifestyle.
The values of humanity and community are very important to her, which is why the last couple of years being isolated from her closest friends and support system have been especially devastating. It pains me daily that I can’t share my struggles and my successes with her the way I did for so many years. It pains me even more that I can’t be there now for her in some of the hardest moments of her life.
From the bottom of my heart, Clare is one of the sweetest, most earnest and compassionate souls you will ever meet and I sincerely hope you consider how much she has already endured as an effect of her charges and the hate campaign against her and other people who were part of NXIVM. Clare is the type of person who would bring a lemon back to a store if she realized she had been charged for one less than she got. I have not known her to take advantage of anyone and if she has made mistakes, as we all do, she is the type of person who seeks to right her wrongs. I know that Clare will take this experience and use it to build compassion and wisdom, and I hope that she will be able to contribute to the world in positive, meaningful ways sooner rather than later, because I know that is what she will do.
Sincerely,
Nicole Clyne
****
It may be poor strategy to have Nxivm members sending letters to Judge Garaufis. He has indicated he believes Nxivm is a criminal enterprise.
Combined with Clare’s letter to the judge, saying she would never disavow her Vanguard, and following up with letters from crazed followers of Raniere, the judge is likely to think not only is Clare unrepentant, and sticking to the criminal enterprise/cult but presents a danger to society if she is let out of prison too soon.
With her enormous wealth and followers like Clyne, Clare will be able to rebuild Nxivm. It is the judge’s responsibility to protect society from that.
Clare is likely still financially supporting Nicki, who was working at a vegan bar in Brooklyn but has been unable to work in recent months because of the pandemic.
Before the arrest of Bronfman and Raniere, when Nicki was a Nxivm coach and first-line DOS master, Clare paid the former actress $15 per hour, possibly most of it under the table, and may be yet another example of Clare’s participation in immigration fraud.
In her letter, Nicki does not mention she threw away a successful TV role – even breaking a contract – to be in Nxivm full time.
Raniere seduced her into leaving her co-starring role on Battlestar Gallactica with the promise that she would be his harem queen. Once she moved to the Albany area, he demoted her.
Nicki came under Clare’s dominion because she needed money. Clare employed her as a gofer and, for a time, as a so-called editor of the Knife of Aristotle, a Raniere-led company targeting young, slender, female, aspiring writers for Nxivm and for Raniere’s bed.
Insofar as Clare is probably still funding Nicki, this letter, like most of Clare’s support letters, is tinged with the pandering that comes with financial dependence.
Nicki’s best Clare story is that Clare once gave Nicki’s ailing father a secondhand oxygen concentrator that Clare’s father had used before he died.
Nicki lavishes praise on this as if it was something unprecedented in human history.
She writes, “It wasn’t even something I thought was possible, since it was a good-sized machine and would need to be shipped from NYC to Vancouver, go through customs, etc. But Clare made it happen. I couldn’t believe it.”
The cost of a new oxygen concentrator machine runs around $2,500. If Nicki had not quit her lucrative acting job, she would have been able to afford to buy one for her dad herself.
Nicki seems to think Clare helped her out and vice versa.
Nicki wrote, “We began to see our strengths as complementary and our weaknesses as ways we could help each other… [Clare was] that friend who would give me honest feedback that no one else would, but that would be necessary for me to truly become who I want to be.”
What Nicki truly became was a nut, a broke actress who threw away a million-dollar career to be Clare’s gofer and Raniere’s sex toy.
Nicki thinks she helped Clare too: “I like to think that I have contributed to Clare coming out of her shell and to nurturing her sense of humor.”
Sense of humor? Clare Bronfman has one thing on her mind – to serve her Vanguard and that means attacking anyone who poses a threat.
In her letter, Nicki also makes sure the judge knows how big a role Clare had in Nxivm, which was proven in his court to be a racketeering enterprise. She writes, Clare “held an important role within NXIVM. She was in charge of operations and took her responsibility very seriously.”
That should really help her get a lenient sentence with this judge.
As Nicki writes to the judge, “Clare is one of the sweetest, most earnest and compassionate souls you will ever meet” and “one of the sweetest, most kind-hearted and generous people I have ever met in my life.”
This sweet, kind-hearted woman generously spent more than $50 million in legal fees suing enemies of Nxivm and filed false criminal complaints against former friends seeking to put them in prison, in more than 40 lawsuits and criminal cases.
I don’t think Nicki is lying about Clare Bronfman however.
I think she is dependent on her and also, unfortunately, probably seriously mentally ill and in need of help.
Frank Parlato 
Janine Morrison 
J.J. O'Hara 
Richard Luthmann 
Marie White 
Paul Serran
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Law-Beat-NXIVM-past-attorneys-defense-of-15545578.php
Why does this rag think we are willing to pay money for their lame stories? LOL
“I remember admiring her for starting something new later in life and having the humility to be a beginner again.” Jeez, Clare looks old to everyone, doesn’t she? By my estimates, Clare would have been about 30 when trying to learn film. Hardly ‘later’ in life. With friends like Nicki…lol
It’s all relative, Nicki is younger than Clare Bare, and 30 is about 1-2 decades later than most people get started in that field. LOL
RE Nicki Clyne
After reading the letter to the judge, I do feel bad for her. She is definitely delusional if she believes this letter will help Bronfman.
If Nicki never involved herself with NXIVM, she would be enjoying her fame and making easy money signing autographs at comic cons and sci-fi conventions.
Hindsight is 20/20 – such as if you had been on my show after you offered more than a year ago, I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of constantly remind people you turned tail. LOL
Nicki in her letter says her late father, whom she loves very much to this day, was in the wine industry.
British Columbia has many vineyards.
How likely is it that Nicki does not know how powerful the Bronfmans are in Canada?
My dear Shadow, not all the masses are as well versed as you are in the ways of the world or who the players are. My guess only 1% would know who Andrew Carnegie is.
Probably about as likely as Clyne recoiling when Raniere suggested sex with minors is okay. LOL
Stupid is as stupid does. LOL
Nicki has sharpened the edge of her guillotine again, which gives a clean cut.
I think the judge is experienced and knows how to handle this kind of letter. What personal and financial interests does Nicki have? Who benefits from this letter? If you analyze the letter, I see nothing that benefits Clare Bronfman, but rather the opposite. The key message is that it emphasizes that Clare had an important role within NXIVM and she was in charge of operations and took her responsibilities very seriously. Everything else in this letter is unimportant and irrelevant banter that has no bearing on the sentencing.
.
Nicki Clyne is now the de facto head of NXIVM.
I do believe that Clare’s lawyers reviewed and cleared every letter sent to the Judge.
They are painting a strange picture collectively. According to Clare, she had no idea about DOS. According to Nicki, they are so close and have done so much for each other. That means her such close buddy Nicki betrayed her, lied to her, and helped get her into this hole considering DOS is how everything started to unravel. It’s safe to say the opposite of what everyone is saying is true and it’s probably more likely Clare was the butt of Nicki’s jokes.
I continue to say there was a lot of compartmentalization of information. LOL
Great points Nataska!
The angle of Nicki Clyne destroying Clare’s life.
They both helped each other in that manner, much like two deaf and blind people helping each other cross the street and getting run over, in this case two stupid people helping each other getting run over by the law. LOL
Two deaf and blind people helping each other across the street. LOL
The history of all the members of the inner circle
They are both ugly.
NICKI IS NOT UGLY!!!!!
Clyne is FUGLY, especially on the inside. LOL
And the Judge’s Clerk wrote in pencil in the margin: “TL;DR.;
Having mentioned before that Judge Garaufis isn’t playing Santa Claus, probably he has a list and has been checking it twice, with regard to these “have mercy” letters on Clare’s behalf.
It is known who is dependent upon Bronfman. It is known, as well, who amongst the letter senders, is in or out of the Nxivm/DOS strangleholds.
Clare’s actions, and her paper trails etc., speak for themselves. Idealistic language about Clare Bronfman’s various criminal enterprises, coming from the occupants of the ship of fools which she has funded and is still funding, is just more mashed-up lipstick on a big, stinky piggy.
How come this isn’t obvious to the hangers-on? Their word is just more poop on the totem pole.
Nicki:
Your letter is well written.
But there is one thing that I find to be a little far fetched.
Years ago, I read a book by Canadian journalist Peter Newman about the Bronfman family and their immense wealth.
I am an American citizen but even I knew of the Bronfmans and their Seagrams empire.
The Bronfmans are to Canada what the Fords and the Rockefellers are to America.
The Bronfmans are influential in Canada’s dominant Liberal Party.
I know you attended college in BC and you are familiar with Canada’s culture and history.
Even though I am an American, I frequently read Canada’s MacLean’s magazine.
I find it difficult to believe that you did not know the importance of the Bronfmans and their influence on Canada’s society.
Shadow State
Good points, Shadow!
I liked that the article mentions how Nicki is Clare’s employee. Not her friend. Very true.
Thank you, Mexican Lady.
Whenever I hear the name Bronfman, I can not help but think of their multi-billion dollar Seagrams empire.
Nicki attended the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University, both fine institutions in the Vancouver area.
Dear Judge Gruffus,
Boola boolah shitta. Shitowski à la merde, crappola, lama dama dinga dongah. Anus, bullshit dingleberry camel droppings. Butt, anus mundi hella crappa! Smellit pellet, hairy horsys crappa.
skinserely,
Dicky Clingon
May I add caca, guano and the German Scheiss?
Thanks for the laughs. You are very entertaining. These serious topics also require a light, entertaining observation that is fun.
Clyne never claimed to be knowledgeable in Canadian history. LOL
Many Americans don’t know the basics about American history, why would you assume Canadians are different? LOL
That is an indictment of both the Canadian and American school systems.
No wonder we get morons like Joe Biden running for President.
Well, Shadowstate, a person Nicki’s age in the USA might not know about the Rockefellers, and to them, Ford might just be a car. The equivalent people known to the younger generations are the tech titans like Bezos, Dorsey, etc.
Mr. Shadow is beyond his 60+ years, have you seen all of the old movies and events from the 1920s through 40s he posts on this website? LOL
“Mr. Shadow is beyond his 60+ years, have you seen all of the old movies and events from the 1920s through 40s he posts on this website? LOL” Mr. LOL
There is nothing new under the Sun.
For example the ritual shaming of people by BLM is echoed in China’s Cultural Revolution under Mao
Ritual Public Shaming
The point is your lack of ability to relate to others. LOL
Njcki did mention that her father was involved in the British Columbia wine industry.
I’ll bet Nicki’s father knew the name Bronfman right away.