Among the letters of support for Keith Alan Raniere is one from Veronica Alvarez who says she is a doctor. It was written to the Honorable Nicholas G. Garaufis United States District Judge Eastern District of New York, in an attempt to persuade him to hand Raniere a more lenient sentence.
It is clear that her letter and some 55 others in support did not work since Judge Garaufis handed down a 120-year sentence to the 60-year-old Raniere. The letter is interesting and should be part of the record.
It was written in Spanish and the English translation provided to the court is as follows:
Dr. Alvarez writes,
Dear Your Honor,
My name is Verónica Alvarez, I am 60 years old, I am a doctor. I am divorced, I have 2 children: one 29 and the other 26. I want to share with you my experience about my 2 years in the ESP course part of Nxivm.
I approached the course because, in 2011, I met a very intelligent woman, but very conflictive, and was suffering a lot from many things, and then I saw her again in 2015 and I saw her changed. In short, she was calmer and happier. I asked her what she was doing and the program she was taking caught my attention.
The first thing I did was to give my 24-year-old son a year of the Nxivm course, for having finished the engineering career. He agreed to enter the course and after 3 months, I started to see a change in him, especially, that he was being a man, much more considerate with people. I saw him as much more human and above all more responsible for what he did.
The 2nd thing that happened is that I was having a lot of problems with a neighbor and I stopped sleep several weeks. My son suggested that I join the course. I took an intensive 5 days; with those few days, I quickly understood many things in my life past, I am a 60-year-old woman, who had been in therapy for 40 years looking to be better, and that was achieving it but very slowly.
The course fascinated me, it really changed my life and I decided to take the one year course and I was really much more happy with my life. I realized everything I did and I became very more considerate of others, more responsible for my actions and I stopped blaming the whole world for what happened to me. In that year, I met the largest number of people amorous, who had never known.
The 3rd thing I did was invite my daughter to the course. It has also changed her life. The three of us went to V-Week for 10 days in August 2017 and I had one of the experiences more wonderful with a community that had other principles: we all want a better world, what can we do to achieve it, nobody takes anything that is not theirs and we all consider the other human being in front of us much more.
The whole hotel was for us, one day I forgot my computer in the gym and no one took it, nor was it stolen from me, you could rest assured that you were in a place sure, if you had a problem, anyone could help you, really they were all much more loving.
There were classes in photography, math, science, exercise, music. Here I saw Keith for the first time, I deeply admired him for the tools that he had given us, they are simple tools, which I will continue to use all my life.
Now, I can tell you that we are a family that we have managed to infinitely improve our relationship, we are much more loving, we know that we are humans with many defects, and we want to be better.
The tools that ESP gave us, part of NXIVM, they have helped me in a way that I will always be grateful. I wish everyone could have some of this in their life, I’m convinced that the world would be much better for all living beings than we inhabit.
With this letter, I would like to help Keith because I will always be in his debt for everything that helped me personally and my whole family with all these tools.
Thanks for your attention
Veronica Alvarez
***
END OF DR. ALVEREZ LETTER
The translation is a little rough and the good doctor [she does not say what kind of a doctor she is] only saw Keith once at the 2017 V-Week, the last V-Week. He would be arrested before V-Week 2018 could be held.
Still, for what it is worth, this 60-year-old woman, with two adult children, found Nxivm helpful for herself and, she says, for her children. This suggests there are those, especially those who got none of the sexual “mentoring” Raniere provided – and who had separate, outside careers, who did not work full-time for Nxivm, might very well have gotten some benefits from the courses without it consuming their lives.
This should be taken into consideration when examining Nxivm, that not everyone had a bad experience from it. Here is a doctor who extols it and praises Keith despite knowing he is now considered to be one of the most despicable people in America today.
Frank Parlato 
Janine Morrison 
J.J. O'Hara 
Richard Luthmann 
Marie White 
Paul Serran
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
A limerick to Frank….It’s a roast limerick.
“Finely Dressed Men”
Once there was a man named Parlato
Guy dressed like he needed to win lotto
He score the vaginas,
that cause male angina
Poorly dressed men win bad-fat-fishy tacos
It doesn’t matter if people feel they benefited from his methods. He was on trial for his crimes, not his philosophy.
I certainly wouldn’t join a cult. This is independent of knowing what happened in NXIVM. Healthy human instincts working. We have a few sects (not cults) whose members believe in something they should be looking for in themselves and in silence. But it’s just an opinion. Everyone needs something different things.
My offensive thoughts on the good doctor’s letter:
—I saw her change. In short much calmer and happier.
It’s called OxyContin.
***************************************************
—I started to see a change in him[her son]especially, that he was being a man
Her son is 24 years old he’s supposed to act like a man. WTF kind of parent is she?
***************************************************
—I met the largest number of people amorous, who had never known.
In the United States, large numbers of amorous people usually means swinger party or gang-bang.
***************************************************
—The 3rd thing I did was invite my daughter to the course. It has also changed her life.
The daughter must have experienced Keith “firsthand”. Vanguard’s ejaculate is life-changing. I wonder if her daughter saw the fabled “blue flame”. Rumor has it, Vanguard’s ejaculate is what Tinker Bell uses to make people fly.
***************************************************
—One day I forgot my computer in the gym and no one took it, nor was it stolen from me.
Surprisingly, in the U.S., if something isn’t nailed down, it isn’t necessarily stolen. BTW who carries around laptops anymore?
***************************************************
—There were classes in photography, math, science, exercise, music.
In the United States, we call that high- school and it’s for free.
***************************************************
—We know that we are humans with many defects
Does she come from Santa’s Island of Misfit Toys? Or is the whole family handicap?
***************************************************
—I’m convinced that the world would be much better for all living beings than we inhabit.
Funny, most inhabitants of Mexico feel better when they leave. That’s why 1/2 of Mexico resides in the United States.
***************************************************
—I will always be in his debt
After accumulating $100,000 worth of debt plus interest from taking Nxivm courses, of course she will be in debt forever. Not to worry, when she’s 250 years old, it will be paid off.
****************************************************
—I would like to help Keith
I’m pretty sure she didn’t help Keith one iota, but she did help me understand she’s definitely not bilingual…And for that, I thank her.
“That’s why 1/2 of Mexico resides in the United States.”
You have that backwards, The United States consists of what was previously Mexico. They’re just coming home.
I agree…
It is a fact the Mexico territory was stolen by the Texans and the United States. The Mexican war was started by the United States.
President Grant wrote about that fact in his autobiography. He also mentioned how the Texans provoked the Mexicans into war.
If the Alamo had not happened, the American seizure of Mexico’s territory would be a dark blight on America’s soul.
I am not unpatriotic, it’s the truth. Maximilian ended up making the US the heroes after he surrounded the Alamo and would not accept the occupants’ surrender.
At the end of the day, it’s all one’s perspective. Are Mexican drug cartels the bad guys or is it American’s unquenchable thirst for drugs?
My perspective is the cartels wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for American druggies. The cartels aren’t forcing anyone to buy the drugs, they’re just selling them. The United States needs to look in the mirror on that one.
I did warn readers my comment is offensive. 😉
Most people whose lives improve considerably never take any courses or get into degradative depraving cults. They just work their circumstances out.
Most people? Most of the people that came to Nxivm turned away. Sadly some people are lost souls looking for a wise man and a place to belong.
I have said a lot of mean things about some of the people that joined the cult…
Other than the top leaders, every one of those people had good intentions. They wanted to better themselves and the world.
Unfortunately, they chose, quite possibly, the shittiest way of doing it.
If you watch The Vow, you’ll get an idea of how well-meaning “flakey” people get sucked in.
The Vow is not the greatest documentary in the world but it does an incredible job of showing how cults suck people in.
Let’s not get taken in by this BS. Vague testimonials about “It made my life better” are meaningless.
Joining a knitting circle can make your life better. Joining the Y. People find lots of things fulfilling, even some pretty weird stuff.
Most of these things don’t involve paying thousands of dollars for a five-day course. Don’t involve blackmailing and branding women, sex trafficking, and sexual abuse of a minor.
All of these Raniere apologists have turned a blind eye to the major felonies Nxivm and its leader have committed. They may not have known at the time but they all knew when they wrote these letters.
So much for them being “better people”, “more ethical”, “more compassionate”, or committed to “helping humanity”. They’re cult members defending their cult leader. That’s all.
What was this wonderful Nxivm “tech” they praise? These people are all extremely vague about what specifically they were taught. Sarah Edmondson, in her book “Scarred”, gives some specifics.
Her first 5-day “intensive” involved watching DVDs and a folder of printed handouts. There was much name-dropping of famous leaders like Martin Luthor King and Gandhi (which left her wondering what the hell they had to do with Nxivm). As for actual instruction, she learned to define her goals, and make lists.
That’s what $2,000 tuition and five days in a dingy motel conference room bought. You have to define your goals before you can attain them. And it’s a good idea to make lists of the things you need to do.
That and some motivational blather, a lot of Nxivm acronyms, and a tedious exegesis on the Nxivm Stripe Path (TM).
You’d learn as much if not more buying a copy of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. Cheap gaudy polyester scarves optional.
Nxivm was a scam. It was designed as a scam. Overpriced human-potential seminars sold through high-pressure sales techniques and blatantly structured as an MLM/Ponzi scheme. The actual course material was irrelevant, it was just a pastiche of stuff available for free in the self-help aisle at the local library.
I don’t think anyone disputes that some people were helped. They seem to be people riven with problems already – this one had 40 years in therapy and we as not joyful when the rest of us can be pretty happy most of the time – I have never paid for even an hour of a course or therapy and have “joy” every day of my life free of charge.
The son “being a man” seems to have a KR connotation – all this emphasis on men as protectors and very very different from women seems to have been taken a bit to extremes.
The fact a conference takes over a whole hotel and that no one stole her lap top is not really that unusual. Most people are pretty good on this planet and particularly at any kind of conference would hand in things that were left or lost by someone else.
Thank God someone ripped off est, scientology and nlp, claimed it as their own, and used the profits for criminal malfeasance.
She’s probably too fat for Raniere. LOL
— She’s probably too fat for Raniere
But does that mean she is right for you?
What a blessing!