Behind the Scenes in Nxivm: Anthony ‘Nippy’ Ames’s Fateful Warning to Nancy Salzman When She Still Could Have Avoided Criminal Charges

On Sept. 22, 2017, some three months after I first published news of DOS in my Frank Report story Branded Slaves and Master Raniere, Anthony “Nippy” Ames, husband of Sarah Edmondson, made what I believe was an effort to save Nancy Salzman from destruction.

During the summer of 2017, a group of Nxivm defectors – Ames, Mark Vicente, Sarah Edmondson and Bonnie Piesse – worked with Catherine Oxenberg [who was on a quest to rescue her daughter from DOS] to find a way to stop Keith Raniere from destroying them. Their story is documented in HBO’s The Vow.

They chose to join forces with me. I was on my own quest to destroy Keith Raniere, largely because he had been attempting to do the very same thing to me. It was nothing personal on my part.

While I did not have much contact with Nippy, he did share with me important information during the summer of 2017, when Frank Report was the only place online that was writing about Nxivm and DOS.

Nippy, who had had a strong role in the Nxivm men’s group, the Society of Protectors, was flabbergasted to learn that there was a secret women’s group, and that his wife, Sarah, had joined it and had been branded on her groin with Raniere’s initials [and as he and many thought at the time, Allison Mack’s initials.].

I suppose Nippy had some fondness for Nancy and, therefore, he sent her the following letter. The timing was crucial. Nxivm was in disarray at the time. The stories on the Frank Report [I had written hundreds] had essentially helped to crater the cult, as hundreds fled and distanced themselves after revelations of secretly branding women and taking collateral [which many saw as blackmail] came out on this website.

Catherine, Mark and I were working to get law enforcement interest. Kristin Keeffe helped with this, as did others, including Joe O’Hara.

On Sept. 22, when Nippy sent the email to Nancy, the New York Times had not published their story [Inside a Secretive Group Where Women Are Branded was published Oct. 17, 2017] that would spark federal law enforcement to take a serious interest in the possibility of prosecuting Raniere and others. Much of their case mirrored the dossier I wrote with information that was provided by Vicente, Keeffe, Catherine Oxenberg, Kristin Keeffe, Sally Brink, Sarah Edmondson, and others.

Nancy Salzman now faces years in prison. Had she heeded Ames’ warning, there is an excellent chance she could have cooperated with law enforcement and been spared being charged. Instead, she ignored his suggestions, got indicted, and ending up pleading guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy which carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

So, in a sense, this is a fateful letter, one that was a harbinger, which Nancy failed to heed.

By the way, Anthony, wisely or not, sent the email not only to Nancy [nsalzman@nxian.net] but copied Keith Raniere, [keithraniere@yahoo.com] and sent a blind copy to me.

The photos in this article were not included in the email. I selected them and wrote the captions to help illustrate and explain some of the concepts Ames was telling Nancy, which she would know from their history together. When clarification was helpful, I added a word or two in [brackets and in bold]. Parenthetical observations () are those written by Ames and were included in the email.

The subject line of the email reads “Letter for Nancy”

Anthony Ames’ Sept. 22, 2017 Email to Nancy Salzman [Keith Raniere copied]

Dear Nancy,

When I took my first intensive I was reading a book by William Bennett called The Death of Outrage. In essence, the book asks important questions concerning the lack of public outrage in the face of evidence of glaring corruption within the Clinton administration-specifically the Lewinsky scandal.  At 26 years old, I was outraged! I remember thinking, “How could the generation that experienced JFK, MLK, and Vietnam be satisfied with this gigolo as their best representative?”

Thanks to my dad, I was completely aware of how idealistic and naïve I was.  Also, thanks to my dad, I understand right and wrong.  And, after my 5 day [Nxivm intensive], when I heard the principles ESP was claiming to embody, I decided to ignore my naivety and jump in for the last 11 [days].  Wow!  I was thinking and feeling things in a totally different way.  I was seeing options, and asking questions.  Do I think struggling in auditions is something I want to do?  I strongly considered Harvard Law School and pursuing Law.  But, after my 16 day [intensive] it was clear that law doesn’t uphold justice (a belief that has been enforced by the recent abuses of power by Clare [Bronfman] and her billions, and Alex’s trumped up charge against Toni Zarantini).

Nancy.  I will spare you all the peculiar behaviors of the ensuing 15+ years, and jump to the end with a metaphor.  I am sure you are familiar with the Jim Jones massacre where 900+ people drank cyanide laced Kool-Aid killing all 900+.  This became known as the “Jonestown Massacre” and bequeathed to the world the term “drinking the Kool-Aid.”  I am quite certain Jim Jones did not start his pitch with selling you on the possibility and merits of drinking cyanide laced Kool-Aid.  If he had, I don’t think his little start up would have fared so well.  Similarly-now follow me here Nancy- if you had gone to most of the women who have Keith Raniere and Allison Mack’s initials branded in their pubic region, and asked them, “Hey!  We are starting this new women’s group.  You may end up having Keith and Allison’s initials branded near your vagina.  You in?”  I know for sure Sarah would have said no.  What’s more, if you had asked me at 26 if I would stand by and be complicit to such behavior, my answer would have been a resounding, “no!”

My questions to you are as follows:

What has to happen next?

When does the line bending get too much for you?

Does another girl have to go into pre menopause at age 27 (India Oxenberg)?

Do more people have to die?

How many women does Keith need to abuse for you to say something?

What is the vision here; Millions of women with Keith Raniere and Allison Mack’s initials on their crotches?

Is there a limit to what a man accountable to no one would ask of a gaggle of young, impressionable, and vulnerable girls?

Who is going to be outraged?

I was and still am! I still know right from wrong! What are you going to do when one of these girls dies?

Which brings us back to Kool-Aid.  If you think ALL of the recent departures (and previous) from NXIVM companies are Keith being misunderstood, then you may want to evaluate how the “smartest man in the world” is failing to communicate his message.  If you believe the narrative that Keith knew nothing about a secret women’s group, that women he is mentoring started, then you need to evaluate his mentorship skills.  Or, you may want to consider that you are drunk on the Kool-Aid.

I find it hard to believe you have not seen what I have seen.  Aside from women being branded, I have seen emails and texts between Keith and what I perceive as little awestruck girls.  All of whom he is sleeping with, slept with, or in process. I have seen nasty texts your daughter [Lauren Salzman, who also was charged and convicted] has written on private threads about people.  I sat and listened to a phone call describing how Lauren was coaching a Proctor to lie to you about DOS.

I have seen nude pictures and texts that are blackmail.  I have seen women looking anorexic and sick.  And, I don’t even know what Allison Mack is supposed to be.  It is amazing to me how you can have the body of work on Keith’s behavior that you have, dismiss decades of sexual scandal and not make allowance for their validity.  Look at the chaos that is always around you! The recent events have not altered my thought object of Keith.  They have confirmed it.  None of the people leaving have anything to gain by lying about what we have witnessed.  You and everyone defending Keith do.  Simple as that.  That is a VERY important thing to consider.  Both Sarah and I had a lot to lose.

We are both suffering financially.  We suffer socially and professionally because we will forever be associated with these behaviors.  . To do the right thing in this instance is character.  Yet, you sit by while Keith uses Bronfman millions and are brainwashed into believing you are protecting a principle. To accuse my wife of theft, fraud and mischief is an act of violence masquerading as principled. Keith sleeping with all of these girls is an abuse of his position and a conflict of interest.  Stop justifying it!

You are missing an opportunity to stand up for what is right!  Any way this situation plays out, you will be the one that sat by and defended, fortified, and even inspired ugly behaviors. All the while you assume a moral superiority in the process.  History has a lonely place for these actions.  As compelling as the argument, “What if you’re wrong?” might be in NXVM community, it is a flaccid approach in the real world.  Nevertheless, I suggest turning that question on yourself, and really consider you might be wrong.  Regardless, it has to be obvious to you by now that you are on a sinking ship NOT by the hands of defectors, but by your compliance.

Even if Keith has the billions to abuse in his defense, the branding of women’s vaginas and Allison Mack spewing Gandhi quotes is a hard thing to overcome in the eyes of the public.  The public is and will continue to be outraged.

Outrage is a good thing.  It is the very thing throughout history that incited change.  In spite of Keith’s attempts to squelch the NXVIM community by crying “trial by media,” and multiple screenings of the film The Crucible, he is transparent to people outside his bubble.  This is a perspective you have not had since 1997- collateral damage to drinking so much Kool-Aid.

 

Furthermore, if there is not a place in our society; if we have yet to earn a process where a woman can go who has been through these abuses (yourself included), people’s outrage will inspire one be formed. With the same alacrity I pursued justice through SoP [Society of Protectors], I will pursue it outside SoP.  Only this time I won’t have the shackles of Keith’s vision.

 

I believe at some point you indeed wanted to do good in the world. I believe Keith picked you because he knows you lack what it takes to stand up to him.  You have been the perfect foil.  When I told my dad about what is going on he asked me, “What about that Nancy woman? She wasn’t so bad.  She’s not stepping up?”  I told him the Albany narrative how people were asking, “What’s actual the bad thing?” His response:  “Get away from those people, this never ends well.”  I hope this letter isn’t too late.

AA {Anthony Ames]

“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”
Benjamin Franklin

Editor’s Note: This letter surely is part of Nxivm history. It was prophetic, it was well written; it was a clear warning and it all occurred before the worldwide publicity had commenced. Nancy had time to reach out to Sarah and Nippy, to either extricate herself from the impossible scenario of staying on with Raniere with defectors fleeing and blaming it on him or she could have tried to diffuse the situation, to get Clare Bronfman and Keith to call off the dogs [they were trying to get Sarah arrested by filing a criminal complaint against her with the Vancouver police]- to stop trying to get the defectors in trouble. To discuss rationally how people could leave each other, leave Keith, or Nxivm, without a terrible fight.

Nancy chose to do nothing.  And the results are that Keith is in prison, Clare is in prison. Nancy, and her daughter, Lauren are likely headed to prison. And the Nxivm community is shattered with only a fraction of its followers remaining.

There is, I suppose, a moment of destiny in everyone’s life when there is a crossroad where the path one takes will dictate the whole future of that person. For Nancy, it is not known by this writer when that moment occurred. Maybe it was back in 1998 when she first met Keith Raniere, which set in play an irrevocable destiny of success and ultimate failure and destruction.

And it could have been at the moment when she received Anthony Ames’ email, when she received what might have been her last warning. She chose to ignore it and perhaps even more grotesquely, her daughter’s future was tied into this as well. Now, mother and daughter must pay the consequences for a mother leading her daughter down a dim path.

There was a moment for Anthony Ames as well. He spent 15 years in Nxivm, making it the biggest part of his life. He one day found out his wife was branded and he reacted with fury. [He stormed into a Nxivm group and challenged his wife’s “master”, Lauren Salzman, and recorded the meeting]. When the fury died down and the fight had been going on for months, with Raniere and Clare Bronfman set to destroy his wife, he took the time to write a letter to Nancy Salzman, Keith’s longtime second in command.

And she chose to ignore it. I understand she never replied.

When people speak of Anthony Ames and his role in Nxivm for good or bad, let it be remembered that, before it was too late, he gave Nancy a chance to escape, to reach out and try to avoid what was to happen next.

Raniere, who will be famous for miscalculating the effects of the actions he put into play, went down in flames. He was arrested some six months later in Mexico.

Here is a previously unpublished photo on Frank Report of his arrest:

Perhaps Nancy was certain that, with Clare’s money and Keith’s genius, that they would prevail. But it did not work out for Clare, Keith or Nancy.  If Ames happened to enrich himself by the fallout, by the arrests and his role in it, if he became famous or rich as one of the slayers of Raniere and Nxivm, this is as it almost always is: that the spoils go to the victors.