Seth Abramovitch, Senior Writer for The Hollywood Reporter, interviewed Mark Vicente this week and published this story, “‘The Vow’ Star Mark Vicente on the ‘Horror’ of NXIVM”
The Hollywood Reporter interview of Vicente is a great read and a must-read for those who have been following the Nxivm story and watching The Vow, HBO’s 9-episode series on Nxivm.
The Vow is airing on HBO on Sundays and was produced by Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim.
In the Hollywood Reporter interview, not only does Vincente reveal some great new insights on Nxivm and its characters, but Abramovitch takes a turn my way – asking about my theory that Nxivm founder, Keith Alan Raniere, convicted of sex trafficking, forced labor, identity theft and racketeering, may not have been charged for his most serious crimes – murder.
For the first time ever, Vicente speaks about the possibility that Raniere was far more deadly than anyone knew.
I urge you to read the entire story in the Hollywood Reporter, but here is the pertinent excerpts covering the topic of possible murder.
After several introductory paragraphs, Abramovitch writes, “Vicente spoke recently with The Hollywood Reporter about Raniere’s seductive allure, NXIVM’s obsession with surveillance and documentation and the theories that Raniere may have poisoned or even killed some of his followers.”
Abramovitch then asks a series of questions about the filmmaking involved in “The Vow”, and how Vincente interacted with Raniere. He then poses an interesting question about Nancy Salzman, especially so because Mark declines to answer.
Abramovitch: What do you feel about Raniere’s NXIVM lieutenant Nancy Salzman? [Salzman took a plea deal, confessing to racketeering, and awaits sentencing.] Watching The Vow, I’m left wondering, was she complicit or not?
Vicente: I’m going to have to pass on that question.
[Does this mean Mark still has a soft spot for Nancy, someone he was very close to for a number of years?]
Abramovitch then asks Vicente about my film, “The Lost Women of Nxivm”.
Abramovitch: I watched the Discovery ID documentary, The Lost Women of NXIVM, and I’m wondering what your thoughts are on that. It posits that Raniere may have poisoned several women who eventually died of cancer. It also suggests two of his followers who allegedly committed suicide may have died by more nefarious means.
Vicente: Here’s the thing that’s interesting: I don’t remember when exactly, what the year was, but it was around the time that a number of the women closest to him were getting sick. You know, cancers and different things. And I remember saying to him at one point, “What is going on? Why are the women closest to you getting sick? Is it something in the building, is it something in the water?” And he would say to me, “Yeah, it’s a mystery.” And I’m like, “Yeah, it is a mystery. Like, how come them, of all people?” I don’t know if I know, but I do find it incredibly strange and statistically staggering that the people closest to him were getting sick in that fashion. Now, you could say he used hypnosis. You’ve heard of a placebo, right? People that get well with a placebo? Well, there’s a thing called a “nocebo.” And a nocebo is literally planting the idea in a person’s mind that instead of getting well, they might get sick. That’s a theory; maybe it’s that. But I do find it really, really strange that everybody close to him had some kind of sickness and some kind of cancer. It’s truly bizarre. It makes zero sense.
Abramovitch: In the doc, Frank Parlato, who runs The Frank Report and broke the NXIVM branding story in 2017, has a hair sample from one of the victims tested, and it comes back with a high level of barium in it, a toxic substance found in rat poison, among other places.
Vicente: Right. I hear you. All I can say for sure is, as I said, it’s statistically staggering that it’s this random. It’s weird.
Abramovitch: Didn’t Raniere once boast of having “killed” for his beliefs? Is he capable of murder?
Vicente: Is he capable? I have no idea. I mean, there’s conjecture. One thing I know about leaders like this, and there are many, is that they usually have other people do the dirty work.
Frank-
I read the article thanks.
****
RE The VOW and Frank’s tv investigation special:
Now that new people are coming to the Frank Report, and are not completely aquatinted with you; perhaps you should write a new article or rerun an old article in regards to your….
Frank Parlato’s unsolved Nxivm murders tv special. The special is germane to
understanding Nxivm, and I am sure new blog visitors will be interested in watching it.
[The investigation special was produced better than the Vow.]
The Vow does not do a proper job of enlightening people to your investigative work.
One episode left. Post an abstract and instructions of how your special can be watched.
Frank, I’m sorry, you keep promising to disallow these kind of ludicrous comment attacks on your sources and you’re still letting this go on…WTF?!
Meanwhile, what’s going on with the “Lost Women…” investigation and the next episodes we already shot?
Not looking for any sympathy — learned long ago this isn’t the place for any of that — but I’ve endured A LOT supporting that project including all the attempts to put it off-track and repurpose it to fit various agendas – and now WHAT…or is it another WTF?!
(And, btw, there are several murders or attempted murders including the attacks on John Tighe and EVERYONE who partook of the Kool-Aide at V-week 2016 — or have they succeeded at quashing those crimes, too?!)
And then there is the case of Suzanne Kemp – another cancer victim – who had her multi-million will made out to Raniere.
Heidi,
The Vow has made this case international, it’s no longer local. That protective secretive circle is actually drawing more attention to inconsistencies and contradictions. We aren’t his friends, we have no obligation or incentive to protect him or the others. I’m sure it’s frustrating to have all these new people in here with ignorant opinions, and I’ll include myself in that. Outsiders are going to point out things that you would rather not be said.
You’re right, I’m insulting Mark and so are others. It’s personal for a lot of you, people are also pointing out documented inconsistencies, that you haven’t noticed, or have chosen not to notice. I certainly don’t want to interfere or harm litigation efforts in pointing this out, but these very same conversations are happening all over the internet.
If only The Vow were not made. Seriously.
Most people accept it at face value, and are happy to give words of congratulations and encouragement, but once outside journalists and researches dig deep, it’s going to be so much worse than spicy commentary on documentary made by former members and featuring former members. If they had been truthful and authentic, accountable instead of lying by omission and using word play, I know I would have less issue.
Frank does censor, I can vouch. I’m kinda glad he did.
I try my best not to censor and generally try to allow negative things said about authors and public figures. But considering most comments are anonymous, I do censor on occasion. I am much more inclined to publish comments that would be otherwise censored if the person is using his or her real name.
That was my assumption. I knew why, and I wasn’t bothered. You seem fair so I’m not going to fuss.
Vicente is a cult hopper, hopping from one cult to another.
He is also a cult destroyer. This shows me he is a seeker of truth and when he discovers lies, he does something about it.
Vicente also doesn’t know that Salzman is pure evil and should have answered the question about her accordingly. LOL
He needs to be less of a seeker of truth and more of a speaker of truth. LOL
— He needs to be less of a seeker of truth and more of a speaker of truth.
Your insights are incredible!!!! You must be extra special. You are a total LOL.
If he sat on the executive board with her, wouldn’t he know that? Didn’t he tamper with evidence for her?
Good thing it only took Mark Vicente 12 years of seeking the truth to realize that Keith Raniere was a liar. Vicente knew about Raniere’s child rape allegations in 2012 but chose to remain in the cult into 2017 or perhaps latter, if not for the heroic actions of his wife who led him out. Unlike some of the other men, Mark actually chose to follow the advice of the woman in his life.
Vicente rose to the rank of senior proctor, was on the Executive Board for 8 years, and taught a ton of courses. During the years he spent in Albany talking and filming all of Raniere’s thoughts, he certainly would have known more than a little about Raniere’s theory that the age of consent was too high and that children could enjoy sex with adults if not for society which made the adults into criminals.
When the Times Union came out with their series in Feb, 2012, and featured Raniere’s alleged sex with 12 – 15 year old girls, Vicente didn’t leave. He probably wasn’t even surprised at the allegation of Raniere’s underage sex partners, having heard it before and perhaps even accepting it as rational and another example of Nxivm/Raniere genius and advanced thinking.
We all know Vicente was already 40 years old when he joined the sex slave cult and then broke up with his girlfriend shortly thereafter. Before sex slave recruiter Nicki Clyne introduced Vicente to Bonnie Piesse, who is 18 years his junior, was Vicente following his Vanguard’s theories on sex or his practice of sleeping with his students?
I’m sure Frank will have more on this topic shortly.
Whatever else you may say about Mark Vicente – he had the courage to leave when he found out about the branding. He acknowledges that his wife helped him realize Raniere was evil. I personally doubt Mark knew about the underage sex Raniere had. The Nxivm members were taught not to believe the media.
“I personally doubt Mark knew about the underage sex Raniere had.”
Maybe he didn’t KNOW, but I actually basically just copied what you previously wrote. Don’t you recognize your own writing? LOL
“He probably wasn’t even surprised at the allegation of Raniere’s underage sex partners, having heard it before and perhaps even accepting it as rational and another example of Nxivm/Raniere genius and advanced thinking.”
And you yourself are the one who stated that those who spent time in Albany, ” would have known more than a little about Raniere’s theory that the age of consent was too high and that children could enjoy sex with adults if not for society which made the adults into criminals and destroyed the otherwise good experience for children, especially little girls who were advanced for their age.”
Of course to be fair to Mark, that statement would also apply to Sarah Edmondson, and Anthony Ames, and Bonnie Piesse, and India Oxenberg, and Karen Unterreiner, and Kristin Keefe, and the rest of Raniere’s inner circle and every student or coach who “spent time in Albany.” according to what you wrote.
I was not referring to Mark Vicente being not surprised. I was referring to Kristin Kreuk who was mentioned in the same Times Union series that exposed allegations of Raniere’s pedophilia. I think Mark is a pretty straight laced guy and since he was a man, Raniere kept his sex addiction away from Mark.
He was good at hiding things and he never took Mark into his confidence when it came to darker things. I think he knew Mark would not have tolerated it. Mark strikes me as an idealist.
Eh, there was much ado about everything falling apart, and Mark knew it was going down. He was the videographer!
As always, though, with the Nxivm SoP hierarchy, there is a bit of the flim-flam. Nancy and her connections & aspirations(!) being a prime example.
Vicente: “Here’s the thing that’s interesting: I don’t remember when exactly, what the year was, but it was around the time that a number of the women closest to him were getting sick. You know, cancers and different things. ”
What were the “different things”?
One of the different things was they were getting older and not attractive enough any longer. LOL
You know, wrinkly, flabby, and gray. LOL
You buried the lede – Raniere was an Amway “salesman.” LOL
Everybody should know Amway doesn’t sell [hardly] anything [to outside customers], that’s why it’s an illegal pyramid. LOL
The distributors buy the Amway product, so Amway still makes money. LOL
Vicente didn’t have to pass on the Salzman question, he CHOSE to be non-responsive, which means he’s not really out of NXIVM. LOL
Scott has no problem naming his upline dirtbags: https://frankreport.com/2019/12/13/scott-johnson-explains-whats-wrong-with-amway/ LOL
Every time I see a picture of Mark Vicente I see one of those big strong boys in tight shorts from the matriculation class of a South African school, Ive never seen the like in the UK or EU or the US. Here is an example of what I mean.
I’m so glad that since my own matric. I never went on to get involved in any type of cult, so ja, what happened Mark? there is so much you could have achieved for your homeland. As any millionaire DJ will know SouthAfrican house is the best, and here to cheer us all up (and to make Vicente a bit homesick?) is the best of 2020 – The uplifting JERUSALEMA and one of the best of many, many Jerusalema Challenges…
“I think there are maybe 50 to 60 people that are still very loyal to Raniere and “the teachings, and I think they still believe it’s very unique probably because they haven’t studied a lot of other things.”
Low information guy still does not know that something is unique or it is not. So stop with your bs, Vicente.
Also, the “No comment” regarding Prefect Nancy Salzman is reprehensible and points to Vicente’s ongoing hypocrisy, SOP-related and otherwise. Living in Halfmoon, as he did, it is beyond belief that he could not admit Nan’s complicit (and worse) machinations.
Without a doubt, it was agreed that Vincente refused to answer or replied off-record to many other questions.
In short, Vicente is still a complicit boob who lies by omission and feels loyal to his ridiculous community, Nan in particular. And, “What the Bleep do I Know” was a boring movie that appealed to low info “seekers”.
Not speaking about someone says nothing one way or another about how someone feels about them. Whatever it is, it likely isn’t your projection of it.
Not speaking says a TON about their character. LOL
If they can’t speak the truth and their opinion, then the discussion goes nowhere except for people to speculate, and that is often worse than the truth, which means silence causes unfair harm. LOL
Vicente does not want to speak about Nancy Salzman??? I guess he is sympathetic to her. Vicente is a clueless fool guilty of running the LA Nxivm center where he had to have practiced the program and methods that, to use his words, “hurt many many many people”.
After watching that last episode of The Vow, Season 1, it’s very likely that Mark didn’t want to tip the hat about anything to do with Nancy—since it’s teased at the end, that she is going to be in Season 2. It’s probably a Nondisclosure thing he has with The Vow– or just simply, that he knows all of that will come out and doesn’t want to give it away.
Vicente to Hollywood Reporter, when asked for his evaluation about Nancy Salzman’s culpability for being complicit, ass over elbow with Raniere’s criminalities and delusional deceptivities for far longer than a dawg’s age:
“I’m going to have to pass on that question.”
“Wait for the civil suit, Ratatouille. Stay tuned.”
Placebo/nocebo. Follow the yellow brick shithouse road with the munchkin talk. Welcome to the tunnel of Neptune’s Piscean dysphasia here, salted with subtle histrionics. Let’s talk about the guttural-voiced squatter, Ramtha.
Who doesn’t dig it? Fake it til you make it. Ooh ooh ooh
Munchausen syndrome by proxy, by any other name, doesn’t work to explain Raniere being witnessed “homeopathically” feeding some of these sick ladies his mysterious shitballs. Screw the revisionist history.
The “nocebo” theory does not hold up, unless Raniere was also capable of hypnotizing the 2 or 3 cats in the house who also died of cancer.
The cats were probably base-line test casualties for the women.