Mexican ‘Slave’ Tells How Bronfman Lied and Cheated Her out of Money, While Raniere Manipulated Her

At the September 30th sentencing hearing of Clare Webb Bronfman, where she was sentenced to 81 months in prison, nine women spoke as victims.

The first was Sarah Edmondson. Her statement, made by video, is published here in full. 

Ivy Nevares, who appeared by video, was next.  Her statement is published here in full.

Next was Jane Doe 14, who became a DOS slave. Her statement is published here.

The fourth victim was live in the courtroom. She is identified as Jane Doe 12, a Mexican woman, sponsored by Clare Bronfman for a visa in order to work for Exo/Eso.

Exo/Eso was a Nxivm offshoot MLM that focused on exercise and Nxivm teachings, with the emphasis on Keith Raniere’s wisdom in athletics.

Jane Doe 12 told a gripping story that was far more emotional and revealing than the plain transcript tells.

She was recruited into DOS and was being groomed to have sex with Raniere.  Jane Doe 12 tells only a fraction of the story of suffering she endured but it is very evident that her story is both truthful and characteristic of how Bronfman and Raniere treated women in Nxivm.

By Jane Doe 12

I came to work in EXO/ESO because I believed in the mission. I thought I was hired for my special skills, but, sadly, I found out that I was one of many who will be misled.

I was hired to work as a management consultant for EXO/ESO LLC in October 2015.

I got my TN visa and my contract signed by Ms. Clare Bronfman, which stated that I would be compensated as an independent contractor at the rate of $3,600 a month.

During my time in EXO/ESO, I never received my salary because my visa was seen as a privilege, and I needed to earn that privilege by some unknown internal metric that was not stated in our work agreement.

My expectation to receive my payment was portrayed as “entitled.” I never understood how my visa needed to be earned if I already had it when I was hired to perform the job that I was doing.

So I was encouraged to find different jobs with the people in this [Nxivm] community so I could pay for my basic expenses like housing, transportation, and food, etc.  It was a different dynamic than the one I was used to, where you provide the service and you get paid for it.

The argument was that NXIVM bills companies in a different way, an ethical way.  I believed it, and I continued to agree under that scheme.

It was burdensome to achieve goals because every proposal, idea, or initiative was tied to a personal growth plan. So reaching the work objectives could delay and never became the priority, which is one reason why the company EXO/ESO didn’t move forward nor succeed.

It was the personal issues that got in the way. So it became more important to fix the personal issues than to move the company forward as a business. The destruction of personal issues didn’t allow us to focus a hundred percent on developing the company.

And because there were no salesmen in EXO/ESO, there was no money to get paid. So I was told that why should I feel entitled to receive my payment if the company wasn’t succeeding?

This was a fast look that they kept making. No matter how much we were pushed, it was never enough. Instead, we wound up overworked, burned out, with low self-esteem and no income.

Ms. Bronfman also mentioned that Keith wanted to work with me on the right to enrollment for EXO/ESO. He was the creator of all the companies, the smartest man in the world, and many more amazing titles, and, of course, naturally, I wanted to learn from the best, but that never happened.

When you get hired as an immigrant to work in a company with which your visa is contingent on and it is your only way to make money by law, how was I supposed to survive safely without making any money?

I have many, many questions that I will ask, but the one that I can’t get out of my head is: Why did you lie to me? If you were not planning to pay my salary or if I was not the person who you wanted to hire, why did you lie? I believed in the company and its mission.  I had no idea what was going on behind the curtains. Knowing that you didn’t have any intention to uphold my contract broke my heart.

Mostly, it was a low blow.  In ESP, we have our mission statement by saying we will help to make the world a better place to live. I still cannot understand this incongruency.  I can spell. I know my accent is difficult.

I want to mention that in December 2017, Ms. Bronfman released a statement, a public statement, characterizing DOS as a sorority, stating that it has truly benefited the lives of its members and … I find no fault in a group of women or men for that matter, freely taking of all loyalty and friendship, with no other to feel safe, while pushing back against their fears that have stifled their personal and professional growth.

Clare, I must say from personal experience that I was part of that group [DOS] and not in any way was my life benefited from it, nor did I feel free.  The naked posts [the nude pictures she had to take of herself for collateral], the horrible tasks, and pressure to count calories [starvation diet] were all overwhelming.

I didn’t feel like a friendship; and instead of pushing against my fears, it was exactly the opposite.

When I was told by my master that I needed to tell Keith Raniere about my sexual encounters with my boyfriend, now my husband, the last thing that I felt was safety or personal growth. [This was Raniere’s gambit with DOS – to have sex with women.]

I grew not because but in spite of that man’s [Raniere] emotional and financial abuse.

Lastly, I take responsibility for not seeing the red flags. It cost me in many areas including money, emotionally, my self-esteem, and time.

However, that doesn’t excuse them [Bronfman and Raniere] from the abuse and manipulation and injustice.

I hope this [legal] case empowers people to learn to say no when they don’t feel like something is correct. I hope I can learn from this that if it doesn’t feel right, saying no doesn’t make me less and I don’t have to betray my values to accommodate others if I don’t feel it’s right and I hope people can see it sooner, so they can stop the abuse.

Thank you for your time.

End of Jane Doe 12’s statement.

***

You can see how the effect is cumulative. One after another woman tells her story – each of which is different in the various circumstances but very much the same in terms of process and outcome – always with Clare and Keith being monsters. These victim statements really give us an insight into Clare Bronfman and how, without her, her money, and her sinister, selfish ways, Raniere would not have been nearly as successful in destroying lives.

The judge was seeing this too.

The next victim to speak at Clare’s sentencing, who also appeared live, is Toni Natalie, who has described herself as Keith’s first victim. She met Keith before he started Nxivm. Her entire statement will be published in an upcoming post.

Frank Parlato