By Shivani
Sometimes it seems like Keith Raniere was really just Madam Nancy Salzman’s long-term project, German shepherd show dog, battering ram. She was willing to compromise anyone, including two who came out of her womb, to achieve some form of grotesque overall status and dominance, as if people were merchandise or her personal “assets.” She used people’s vulnerability and even their idealism to bargain against them psychologically and to do harm, all the while maintaining an image as though she was actually qualified to be a leader and was acting as a generous and benevolent guide. She was very invested in being seen as superior, uncontestable, perfect, being the star, with Raniere as the supposed silver lining, the bait.
Raniere has been diabolical but he cannot even recognize the inner madnesses driving him. Nancy Salzman has been consciously and deliberately taking advantage of these dynamics for a generation. It’s sickening. Her utter hypocrisy and the harm which she has done to one person after another won’t be erased by an ankle monitor or by a prison sentence.
And it has all been for her own false glorification and for profit. One wonders how honest Nancy Salzman has been or ever will be, with herself. She will have to be ready to examine and to shred her own character and motivations. Does she have the courage to be honest with herself?
Will Nancy Salzman be able to unearth the honesty that it is going to take her, to be able to tap into enough courage of the heart and of the mind…to really help herself? It is up to her. So far she has a rotten track record.
Salzman is at least in her mid-sixties and is in similar straits as a witch who has been kicked out of town. She has claimed to be against Raniere now and wants people to assume that Raniere deceived her for all of these years. Bullshit. Nancy was not even deceiving herself about his or her motivations. Her big illusion has been her NEED to be queen, regardless of the cost of her lording it over anyone whom she could fool.
The problem with this attempt to salvage or to revamp her image is that a whole lot of the rest of the human race were not born yesterday. Nancy Salzman is a type of foulness, the opposite of a loving mother or woman, but she is also a type of individual who has been behaving in a pattern of recognizable behavior, which has been seen and studied before, and in many, many instances. Nancy might not be able to see “her” pattern, her choices in life. She is going to learn, though. One way or another.
As a woman, as a mama and grandma, it is almost (for me) impossible to view Nancy Salzman’s actions with calm detachment. The precious trust, the sweetness and the hopes of people seem to have meant nothing to her. Rather than serving anyone, those whom Nancy PRETENDED to be serving or trying to “help,” now are still trying to recover. From her usury and from her abuse, many are still contending with a loss of balance, as well as with a severance of trust.
Really, it looks as though only a fool could trust Nancy Salzman now that she is, at least partially, exposed for who she really has been all along. The monster “wife” behind the Shogun of self-destruction.
Frank Parlato 
Janine Morrison 
J.J. O'Hara 
Richard Luthmann 
Marie White 
Paul Serran
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
Please don’t compare Raniere, the monster, to a German Shepherd. German Shepherds are wonderful, loyal dogs. Please don’t compare him to any breed of dogs; he’s more comparable to their feces, especially when it’s vomit inducing diarrhea.
On that note, one reason he didn’t allow people in the cult to have dogs is because dogs sense when somebody isn’t a good person.
Nancy has helped hundreds, if not thousands, of people to be more forgiving, happier and to achieve their dreams. It was one of her highest priorities, to be able to support people, and she worked tirelessly to do so. She loves her family dearly, specially her daughters. This article, even if it is opinion based, is geared towards hating a human being and I never think this is a good solution to any problem. I don’t know if the writer knows her well or at all (to me it would seem they don’t know her very well because if they did, I doubt they would have written this article)
We are all fallible, we are all human, and either we are all perfect or none of us are, depends on how you want to look at it. Nancy, like all of us, may have made mistakes but, my lord, we are so much more than our mistakes.
I won’t forget her support and her kindness ever.
Pioneer of the Possible. Practice what you preach. You have insisted branding tapes were not collateral. You insisted no collateral was ever released. There is an audio recording of Keith Raniere stating the branding tapes would be used as collateral. Sarah Edmondson had her branding tape (and again Keith called it collateral) released. You were wrong on both accounts. Admit your fallibility.
I respectfully disagree. She appears to be a bully, a victim (when it suits her), and a liar.
She fed her own child to a monster knowingly, which proves that she is a disgusting human being.
I have gotten the impression that after meeting and talking with some of the people who support or supported NXIVM, such as the NXIVM-5, Frank Parlato has reported on them more favorably.
Would you say that’s true, Frank? If so, why is that?
I imagine you must have met Nancy Salzman when you worked for NXIVM briefly. Why publish this piece on her that, in my opinion, is non-fact-based character assassination?
Even if you feel she’s done things that were bad or went against you, is she not a fallible human being and deserving of some attempt at understanding?
The piece was a guest view. It is an opinion piece.
The way some of the Nxivm supporters on here twist words is quite funny to watch…..
100% agree with you. I took EPS and Nancy didn’t like me because I saw thru HER sociopathic ways. I had been in AA for many years and could smell the bullshit she was dishing out, not only in those cheesy videos but face to face during this EM. She knew it and just shunned me aside. I was like ..what is this?! You are supposed to be ‘helping’ me, I just ‘paid’ $3,000 to take this course and because I can see past your bullshit in ES,P you realize you can’t bullshit a bullshitter and you aren’t even going to ‘help’ me by finishing this?
Great article!!!!!!
Question:
What’s 1/2 man and 1/2 clam?
Answer:
Nancy Salzman sitting naked Indian style.
If Nancy AKA Prefect ranked only below Keith, why not fight for her? No affidavits to prosecution. No dance parties. No mounting of a grassroots legal defense. None of this fevered support for any of the Nxivm women who are in legal jeopardy. Nothing shows more vividly the misogyny, lack of real relationships to each other in this “community” and love only for Keith Raniere than this very clear fact. Only justice for Vanguard matters
In my opinion, this article has no useful value. I read this looking for data and facts. I believe that most humans are smart enough to draw their own conclusions. I loved a lot of the articles posted on FR that give me room to make my own opinion. I believe the person who wrote this dishonored self and the Frank Report. It makes me want to put my time somewhere else. I can hate Nancy on my own terms if I so choose. So why are you trying to get me to hate her? Are you scared that maybe you could be wrong about everything you are writing? Or do you need someone to agree with your hate so you can feel like a good person even though you don’t believe it yourself? These are questions that come up for me when reading. I hope this feedback helps create more neutral points of view to allow for critical thinking. Posting opinions feels delicious but it is also not good for us at all in terms of getting to the truth and letting all else go. I look forward to a day when all media outlets uphold that standard.
I agree with you, heartfelt. Even AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) has 12 steps to be responsible for your life and admit wrongdoings of self or others humbly. If they found Nancy so awful, why wouldn’t they feel bad for her, sad for her? Why hate her when she tried to help? It’s so sad to see that the years of AA didn’t heal the hater out… to see everyone’s struggles, addictions, attachments. Can’t we move beyond this? We all fail to uphold ourselves at times.
So sad… to not honor how much loving, hard work she must have poured into nurturing the NXIVM community… would we at least acknowledge her for that?!
You can “acknowledge” her for that! Maybe have a party? But we don’t know her that way. Can’t we all have own experiences of a person? And their acts? You probably have a different opinion on Keith too. That’s all yours. Enjoy. Let others experience ” their truth” and tell their story. Don’t be greedy. There’s room for all of us in life! You seem to value compassion. Maybe try that view on some of the victims? Not just identify with the perps. Like the ” rapable baby exercise”! You know? That vanguard taught? You can imagine yourself mistreated horribly by Nancy! Just like in that baby rape module.
It seems being kind incites hate.
” it seems being kind incites hate”. What a sad, fatalistic, far reaching, not data based. extremely general conclusion to draw from the comment section on a blog. Not much rational in that thinking!
No comment on the thesis of this “guest comment” but there is no coherent argument that can be made to support a shorter sentence for Nancy Salzman than Clare Bronfman received. It is true that Clare Bronfman funded Raniere’s abuse of the legal system and those that chose to leave him – and it is true that she failed to denounce him, even when it meant filing pre-sentencing material that had to enrage rather than garner sympathy from the sentencing judge. But all that only demonstrates how brainwashed she was. The only thing Clare gave Raniere was money. Nancy gave him tools that helped him go from a small-time grifter with Toni Natalie as his girlfriend to what he became. She is the only person that deserves a long sentence in my opinion and I add that her daughter, a remarkably impressive witness, deserves no prison at all and a “good luck” send-off from the judge.
That Lauren Salzman does not deserve jail time is not justified. The only thing I will grant her in this case is that her prison sentence should be lighter than it would have been without her testimony in court, but not by more than a third. For that, her criminal conduct and the duration and scope of her criminal conduct and the great benefits she derived from it are too serious to allow her to go unpunished. Lauren Salzman was no small, insignificant fish in this criminal organization, to say the least.
Even looking prior to Frank’s takedown of NXIVM, I’d take issue with Lauren deriving “great benefits”. While I get your point, I’d flip it 180, and say it’s closer to her being robbed of what was most important to her in life, and living in pain.
But who cares about grinding an old battle axe like naughty, not-nurse Nancy?
Nice piece, Shivani. Let’s hope Nancy’s sentence reflects her true degree of culpability in the crimes.
I’m anxious to see if Nancy Salzman — aka “Prefect,” who co-founded, owned, operated and served as resident hypnotherapist of NXIVM — receives a sentence anywhere close to Keith Raniere’s.
The NX leftovers might well have an axe to grind as to gender inequities in the justice system.
The premise of this piece is that Nancy is trying to pass the buck. What is this based upon? Recent interviews? Word of mouth?
Fair questions. Maybe Shivani knows Nancy personally?
I may be jaded from all of the Allison/Shadow articles, but I’m starting to see parallels. Pimp/Gangsta Mack & Madam/Gangsta Salzman.
Maybe I’d feel differently if Shivani didn’t keep spreading the lie that Nancy handed her two teen daughters over to Raniere for his sexual pleasures.
Why do you say Shivani is lying, Nutjob? I’m struggling to find your motivation in your defense of Nancy. You seem to think Nancy incapable of the acts she has been accused of by many. How well did or do you know her? Are you romantically attracted to her? You don’t defend anyone else as ardently, if at all.
Anyone who says Nancy handed her teen daughters to Keith for him to fuck is lying. It started when Frank was beginning his fight vs NXIVM, and he was throwing haymakers and blind darts. Frank no longer says this about Nancy, but Shivani does. Lauren never met Keith until she was 21 or 22 yrs old. She knew him for roughly 2 or 3 years before having a sexual relationship with him, and Lauren kept this a secret from her mother. Nobody has ever given an ounce of evidence that Michelle has ever even slept with Keith – let alone that Madam Nancy handed a teenage Michelle to Keith on a silver platter.
Nancy has done enough on her own to destroy herself and the life of her daughter. We do not need to be making up horrible accusations for the sake of piling on. When we do this, it discredits and devalues the actual bad things Nancy’s done. I’ve been very vocal about calling out Nancy for the bad shit she’s done. I also feel the need to keep it real when made-up things are passed on as fact. This is my only motivation. (Not how hot Nancy is)
I have been very consistent in defending the female NXIVM players. I know Keith ran the show and they were his marionettes. When I defend Nancy, it sticks out like a sore thumb because nobody else does such a thing, and I have some first-hand experiences that give me my motivation & content to type.
I’d say I’ve defended a few people on FR more than Nancy. Toni, Lauren, you, and anyone else with first-hand knowledge who dares to speak up. Toni for a short time as the drip campaign against her was going down. Lauren, because I truly feel the worst for her as she fell into the mess, and couldn’t muster up the courage to eject. You, because you’ve been here so long, and had the most idiots consistently coming at you for no legit reason.
It does appear that Nancy did not hand her teen daughters over to Keith. My original source was Toni Natalie who told me that Lauren was just a teen. Later we heard that Lauren was in her 20s when they first met. Keith did not tell Nancy at first. As for Michelle, I have no reliable evidence that she was ever mentored in the bedroom by Keith.
Thank you for responding, Nutjob. I do appreciate your contributions and, yes, you have chivalrously defended me and other FR posters under troll attack – I was speaking more of your “sore thumb” defense of Nancy vs. some of the other NX perpetrators. I didn’t know whether your personal relationship with her or your general chivalrous nature was at work. I don’t know if the reports that Nancy coerced her own daughters into sex with Keith are true or not but I know both Nancy and Lauren (and [redacted] shall I redact or will you, Frank?) were squarely involved in Gina’s and Kris Snyder’s situations and the on-going coverup.
My opinion is that Nancy and Lauren (aided by the uncharged hacker extraordinaire, Ben Myers and the uncharged Mexi-NXIANS) are very dangerous criminals. In part bc they do wield their feminine wiles around in every way – be it seducing and sextorting as Nancy did to Susan Dones, Doug Rutnik, etc. or befriending and all-along manipulating a target or lying through their “womanly” tears to get away with it.
Heidi, I redacted the name because you are accusing someone of a very serious offense without evidence. If you have evidence to support your accusation, please present it.
If Kristin really doesn’t know additional details about Gina and Kristin Snyder’s disappearance, maybe she can give clues as to who Keith could have been secretly working with. My hypothesis is that Keith would hire people to do his dirty work. Not dorky, self-improvementy, foofoo NXIVMs. He’d hire professionals for the jobs. The kayak neighbors would be an example. Where did these people come from? Following any leads to connect Keith with non-NXIVM shady players, is an angle that cannot be forgotten about.
– I’ve always assumed this is what he meant when he said he’s had people killed.
– Keith didn’t do these things himself and he compartmentalized everything.
– He stupidly threw out the idea to cops that Toni was having the mafia come after him.
Is anyone romantically attracted to her?
Shivani is not lying; it was reported in the Frank Report. Is someone sweet on Nancy Salzman? Could you have performed to many nut jobs? Whatever that means.
Toni Natalie told me the same story about Lauren except Lauren wasn’t a teen in Toni’s first version, Lauren was “a little girl” that Toni looked after for Nancy. Toni was tearful over discovering (from Susan Dones circa 2009, I believe) that Lauren had followed in her mother’s footsteps, grownup to become a NXIAN.
Gina knew Lauren and I knew Lauren was a college grad when Gina met her when Lauren “befriended” her through Kristin Keeffe and Barbara Jeske. Susan elaborated on the fact of Gina and Lauren’s friendship and Lauren’s “pouty” reaction to Gina’s death in the second, unaired episode of “The Lost Women of NXIVM”.
Toni Natalie also stated that Lauren wrote up Gina’s NXIVM “EM” chart composed weeks prior to Gina’s death based on the handwriting Toni identified as (an older) Lauren’s. All of which could be false. A handwriting analysis was supposedly underway during “The Lost Women of NXIVM” production.
Frank may be able to elaborate on that.