Part 2 Unredacted Lauren Salzman Sentencing Memo — Upbringing and Intro to Raniere and ESP

This is Part 2 of the unredacted Lauren Salzman memorandum series.

Part 1  Unredacted Lauren Salzman Sentencing Memorandum Falls into My Hands [Part 1]

I did not ask for the unredacted version of Lauren Salzman’s sentencing memorandum, but I got it, nonetheless.

I am going to reveal some redacted material – in order to help Lauren [in my opinion] – published below and in subsequent posts in RED.

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I have skipped parts of the memo because they are irrelevant – and have provided the reader with the ellipses to show that. I have also eliminated some citations and other incidental information and did not bother to provide ellipses, for my convenience.

My notes will be in [brackets, bold and in italics.]

The next section of the sentencing memorandum is entitled “FACTUAL BACKGROUND”

Lauren’s Upbringing and Introduction to Keith Raniere and Executive Success Programs

Lauren Rachel Salzman was born on June 26, 1976 in Waterbury, CT, the oldest child of Nancy Salzman and Michael Salzman.

During Lauren’s childhood, her mother was employed as a nurse, and her father was a physician. Lauren has one younger sister, Michelle, who is three years younger, and the two resided with both parents until about 1987 when Nancy and Michael decided to divorce.

At the time of the divorce, Lauren was only 11 years old. Lauren and Michelle ultimately resided with their mother following the divorce, however, Lauren visited with her father regularly.

While the divorce was extremely difficult for Lauren – and led to some depression and anxiety – she remained close with both of her parents throughout her childhood.

With the exception of the divorce, Lauren’s childhood was rather ordinary, and she grew up surrounded by numerous extended family members and friends. Lauren graduated from Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park in 1994; and three months later, she subsequently attended SUNY Oswego, where she was involved in a variety of campus activities.

During her time away at college, Nancy divorced for the second time. Nancy was extremely depressed after this second divorce, and Lauren watched her mother’s emotional stability and self-esteem deteriorate.

It was during this time period that Nancy was introduced to Raniere. Nancy and Raniere quickly became friends, and Lauren observed that Nancy began to rely on Raniere for advice related to both her employment and personal life. In fact, Raniere assisted Nancy with implementing a management system program at a nuclear power plant where she worked.

During this time period, it also became very clear to Lauren that Nancy had the utmost admiration and respect for Raniere. Nancy not only believed that Raniere was extremely smart, but she also attributed a lot of her successes in her employment to Raniere.

Given Raniere’s prominence in her mother’s life and her mother’s clear admiration for him, Nancy became eager for her children to meet him. During her senior year of college, while Lauren was home for the holidays in the winter of 1997, Lauren met Raniere for the first time. A few months later, Nancy hosted a dinner party at her home so that Lauren could finally get to know the man that Nancy came to hold in such high regard, as well as his group of friends.

Lauren described her first impressions of Raniere as “a little strange” and that she felt “awkward and uncomfortable around him.”  However, she disregarded her initial impressions in large part due to the fact that her mother revered him. Nancy’s admiration for Raniere lead Lauren to believe that Raniere was “really good at what he did; that he was really smart and had some…innovative ideas.”

Lauren graduated from SUNY Oswego with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in June 1998. At the time of her graduation, Lauren, like most college graduates, lacked direction and had very little career aspirations. Lauren ultimately traveled throughout Europe for six weeks with several of her friends before her mother urged her to come home to Clifton Park, New York and begin working with them in their new business. Notably, Lauren learned that her mother and Raniere had started a human potential school called “Executive Success Programs” or “ESP.”

The coursework and curriculum in ESP, developed by Raniere and Nancy, was designed to assist individuals with achieving their life goals. Nancy encouraged Lauren to enroll in ESP, as her mother believed that the ESP curriculum would assist Lauren in figuring out what she wanted to do with her life. Nancy also made a deal with Lauren: if Lauren attended ESP classes for six months, Nancy would support Lauren no matter what career path Lauren chose to do after the ESP classes.

Lauren dutifully returned home at her mother’s request, and she moved back into her childhood home with her mother. Lauren ultimately enrolled in the first six-week ESP program, which was taught by Raniere and Nancy. Upon conclusion of the program, and with “blind loving loyalty to her mother,” Lauren decided to stay involved with ESP.

One of Lauren’s oldest friends, Shannon [last name redacted] describes that “Lauren was very eager to be working closely with and for her mother and set out in her career to help others.”

[Shannon, an old friend of Lauren’s, wrote a letter for her and it is included in the package of some 20 letters that were filed on behalf of Lauren, asking the judge for leniency].

Frank Parlato