Part 2: Government: The Many [Uncharged] Crimes of Clare Bronfman — Immigration Fraud

In recommending that Clare Webb Bronfman be sentenced to five years in prison – and not the 21-27 months her plea deal originally suggested – the government has cataloged a host of crimes she did not plead guilty to, but very likely committed.

While it does not seem like due process to sentence a woman to crimes she did not confess to or was tried and convicted of, this is the new federal criminal justice system. You can be sentenced to extra years in prison for crimes people allege but do not have to prove.

Nonetheless, Clare most likely did do these alleged crimes – and had she been charged and convicted of all of them, she would be facing a lot longer than 5 years in prison.

We looked at one ghastly episode of how the parsimonious and vengeful heiress treated one illegal immigrant:

Clare Bronfman’s Brutal, Ugly, Illegal and Penny Pinching Treatment of Mexican Woman

Today, we will look at the government’s take on how Clare treated a number of other illegal immigrants which will pretty much show her modus operendi, as the idiot heiress, a woman with a net worth of at least $200 million, cheated, swindled and tricked poor women into coming to this country and then shortchanged them – and, in so doing, broke federal laws.

The total gain from swindling these women was perhaps a million or two – and it set her up for years in prison by filing false federal forms for immigration.

Lest one think it was all about money, stop to consider that she spent some $50 million on insane litigation meant to destroy enemies and that she and her sister blew $66 million on stupid commodities investments directed by their Vanguard, Keith Alan Raniere, and lost every dime.

She didn’t care.  This was not about money. It was about controlling people and making them slaves. Getting attractive women into the country and making them available for Raniere.

Raniere got his gratification from sex and control and destroying lives. Bronfman got her gratification from pleasing Raniere and lording over these poor women.

Let’s hear directly from the government and AUSA Tanya Hajjar. [my comments in brackets and bold]

Marianna and Adrian

Clare Bronfman participated in efforts to maintain siblings Marianna and Adrian in the United States.

[There were two other siblings, Daniella and Camilla. Marianna is still loyal to Keith today as is Camilla. Marianna had Keith’s son, the baby Kemar, in 2017. They are from Mexico. The father Hector and mother Adriana were also devotees of the unclean one. Hector remains a devotee of the Vanguard. The family is perfectly split: Mother, Daniella, and Adrian are out of Nxivm.]

Although Bronfman was aware that Marianna and Adrian had long overstayed their tourist visas and were not lawfully in the United States, Bronfman sought to obtain visas or some nother immigration status for them based on false or fraudulent representations, including that they were employees of their father’s rock-drilling company in Mexico, or Sagitta LLC, a purported U.S.-affiliate of the same company.

In fact, “Sagitta LLC” served solely as a vehicle to attempt to gain lawful status in the United States…

Bronfman participated in a scheme to obtain an L1 visa for Adrian on the false claim that he was employed by Sagitta LLC.

Sagitta LLC, a company based in Clifton Park, New York, purported to be an affiliate of Adrian’s father’s rock-drilling
company in Mexico, but, in fact, existed solely as a vehicle for obtaining Adrian’s visa.

Adrian actually worked in film production for Moving Pixels, Inc., a company owned by Bronfman – and paid rent to Nancy Salzman.

As part of the scheme, Bronfman, Nancy Salzman and Kathy Russell arranged for Adrian to be compensated through Sagitta LLC for work that he actually performed for Moving Pixels, Inc.

Adrian was provided with false Sagitta LLC invoices and pay stubs as part of the scheme.

Adrian was granted an L-1 visa in 2012, 2013, and 2015.

Bronfman also made significant efforts to assist Marianna, a Mexican national and Raniere’s sexual partner, in entering and remaining in the United States.

Marianna arrived in the United States in or about 2003, shortly after completing high school, in order to study the Nxivm curriculum with Raniere. In 2004, Marianna began a sexual relationship with Raniere and Pamela Cafritz. Sometime thereafter, Marianna’s status in the United States on a visitor’s visa expired.

On January 5, 2016, Marianna was denied entry into the United States. Shortly thereafter, Bronfman engaged a private consulting company (the “Consulting Company”)

In early 2016, Marianna sought to obtain admission into the United States through a humanitarian parole for the purposes of taking care of Pamela Cafritz, who was ill.

The parole request was denied. Several days later, Marianna was granted Significant Public Benefit Parole (SPBP) from a United States Department of Homeland Security office in San Antonio, Texas in support of “intelligence gathering for an ongoing investigation.”

“Parole” allows an individual who is otherwise ineligible for admission to enter the United States for a temporary period for “urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”

For humanitarian parole, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has discretion to authorize entry to the United States due to a compelling emergency, such as critical medical treatment or the need to assist a family member who is at an end of life stage of an illness. Significant public benefit parole – or “SPBP” – is a mechanism by which individuals may enter the United States for a “significant public benefit,” which can include assistance in law enforcement investigations, prosecutions, or for testimony as a witness in a legal proceeding…

Marianna did not work as a “sales and marketing executive” for a rock-drilling company; Marianna did not have “close ties” with her mother and sister who live close to her home; and Marianna had, for a significant period of time, been noncompliant with United States immigration laws.

By December 2016, Bronfman and Raniere engaged in efforts to have Marianna qualify as an EB-5 investor. As Marianna was not in a financial position to invest in a commercial enterprise, Bronfman and Raniere discussed giving the funds to Marianna to “invest.” Ultimately, in May 2017, Bronfman gave Marianna a gift in the amount of $500,000.

On May 17, 2017, a Consulting Company attorney submitted a petition for entry into the United States on behalf of Marianna under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program on the basis of a $500,000 investment in the Steiner Brooklyn Navy Yard Redevelopment Project.

[Obviously one fraud after another. Certainly, Marianna was not involved in any undercover law enforcement effort. And her so-called $500,000 investment was just moving Clare Bronfman’s money around. Clare knowingly took part in it all.]

Rainbow Cultural Garden, LLC

[Rainbow Cultural Garden was a children’s experiment created by Raniere. In the program, the children were experimented on by exposing them to up to seven nannies per week all speaking different languages to the child, one per day. It was supposed to make children linguistic geniuses. In reality, it did not work at all. Ironically, its inventor Raniere speaks only one language.]

Bronfman used a nonprofit foundation she controlled called Ethical Science Foundation (“ESF”) to sponsor visas for certain non-citizens who were recruited into the Nxivm community.

ESF was a favorable vehicle for sponsoring H1-B visa applications because ESF, as a nonprofit, was not subject to the annual H1-B visa caps applicable to for-profit organizations.

H-1B regulations require the sponsored worker to demonstrate, among other things, that the nature of the specific duties to be performed is “so specialized and complex that the knowledge required to perform the duties is usually associated with the attainment of a bachelor’s or higher degree” and that the United States employer will offer a wage at or higher than the prevailing wage.

The individuals sponsored by ESF did no actual nonprofit work—or any work that qualified as a “specialty occupation” associated with a bachelor’s or higher degree—but in fact worked as childcare workers for a separate for-profit Nxivm entity, Rainbow Cultural Garden, LLC (“RCG”).

RCG employed caretakers of children that were fluent in other languages. Although RCG used the title “Multi-cultural Development Specialist” or “MDS” to describe its employees, MDSs were not certified or qualified to teach children and there was little, if any, screening process to select them.

In fact, a document titled “MDS Approval Guidelines,” sent by Nicki Clyne to Loreta Garza and Clare Bronfman, stated that prospective RCG employees who had previously worked as “baby-sitters, teachers, tutors, psychologists, children’s book writers, child development experts, etc.” posed a potential “conflict of interest” to the company.

(The testimony of Mark Vicente that an “MDS” was a “fancy word for nanny” and that the “idea [of RCG] was . . . to have people of multiple nationalities that speak multiple languages spend time with the kids”); (duties of an MDS include “plan adventure with child” and “speak their native language ONLY at all times when they are present with each child they work with”)(email from Loreta Garza to
Raniere regarding potential MDS candidates).

[Name redacted], a citizen of India, began working for RCG after she entered the United States on a visitor’s visa. [redacted] was paid $10 an hour in cash as an MDS. Eventually, Bronfman sponsored her for an H-1B visa through ESF, although, as Bronfman knew, she continued to work as an MDS for RCG.

…A spreadsheet emailed by Loreta Garza to, among others, Clare Bronfman in 2009 listed eight MDSs in Albany, including [name redacted] and Camila. [name redacted] was listed as a “Type A” MDS, which meant, as Garza put it, that when they arrived in the United States, “I normally give them between $300 to 500 for their expenses before they begin making money.”

Garza also noted that “[n]ow that [redacted] has a visa I don’t pay her anything but her salary.”

[Named redacted], a citizen of South Africa, began working for RCG after she entered the United States as an au pair on a J1 work visa. In order to facilitate staying in the United States and continuing to work for RCG, Bronfman purported to have her receive a “scholarship” from ESF.

She received a salary from ESF, but since generally only worked for 20 hours a week at RCG, Bronfman required that she find additional work to “make up” an additional 20 hours or to pay Bronfman back.

Bronfman was aware, however, that [name redacted] would continue to work as a caretaker of children at RCG.

Bronfman’s assistant emailed her about ESF scholarship documents and Bronfman responded: “OK – she is single, a citizen of South Africa and she is an awarded scholar (relationship to me). All else looks good. Yes, the letter – not supposed to have RCG on there[.]”

Email correspondence demonstrates that ESF was little more than a vehicle to employ MDSs.

In 2013, an MDS who was fluent in Korean sought an employment letter from Loreta Garza that states that she would be hired “for an average of 15 hours per week.” Loreta forwarded the email to Bronfman’s assistant and asked her:
“Could ESF write the employment Letter for [MDS]? She does Korean w/ [Raniere’s son].”

[Raniere’s first son, Gaylen, who was the first child experimented on in Rainbow, does not speak Korean or any language but English despite having years of nannies pounding him with different languages.]

Bronfman’s assistant forwarded the email to Bronfman for Bronfman’s approval and noted that “I believe we had a similar letter written for Sahajo [a DOS slave and Rainbow MDS] by Jonathon [Ware, Esq.]. Can I ask him to create one?”

Sylvie

In 2005, Sylvie, a citizen of the United Kingdom, entered the United States on a tourist visa in order to work for and train with Clare Bronfman in order to become an equestrian show jumper.

Although Sylvie was prohibited from working in the United States, Bronfman paid Sylvie for her work. Bronfman also paid for Sylvie to take Nxivm classes. Sylvie eventually returned to the United Kingdom. Bronfman encouraged Sylvie to apply for an investor’s visa.

Because Sylvie was only twenty and not in a financial position to invest in any commercial enterprise as required by the investor’s visa program, Bronfman came up with a scheme to “pretend to buy” Sylvie’s horse by wiring funds into Sylvie’s bank account, which Sylvie would then “invest” into Ethletics LLC, a defunct Nxivm-affiliated company, in an effort to make it seem as though Sylvie were, in fact, a foreign investor eligible for a visa.

Bronfman also authorized payments from Ethletics LLC to Grow Sport to “pay” Sylvie during this time. Initial paperwork was submitted in support of the investor visa, but the plan was eventually abandoned when the government requested additional documentation.

Subsequent email communications make clear that Sylvie understood that she “owed money” to Bronfman for “income unearned” from Grow Sport and for her visa.

Sylvie was eventually recruited into DOS and served as Raniere’s DOS “slave.”

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[There is a lot more to come on the many crimes of Clare Bronfman as she comes within two weeks of her sentencing. Stay tuned.] 

Frank Parlato