Lauren Salzman’s Physician Dad Asks Judge for Mercy for His Daughter

Dr, Michael Salzman

Lauren Salzman’s father has written a letter to Judge Nicholas Garaufis concerning the sentencing of his daughter, Lauren, which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday. Dr. Michael Salzman ran afoul of Keith Raniere in 2009 when he refused to fire one of the NXIVM-9, Nina, who worked for him.

When the NXIVM-9 left, Raniere instructed his followers to shun all of the nine women who left him. Knowing that Dr. Salzman, who was not a NXIVM member, continued to employ Nina, he suggested to Lauren and her mother, Nancy, that it was unethical for her father to continue to keep Nina employed when she was in ethical breach.

Dr. Salzman was given the opportunity to fire Nina, but he chose to keep her employed. Raniere then explained to Lauren and her sister, Michelle, that the only ethical thing to do was to shun their father, which they dutifully did – and for years they refused to speak to their father. After her arrest, Lauren realized that Vanguards might come and go but you may only have one father.

Here is Dr. Salzman’s letter to the judge.

Honorable Judge Garaufis,

 

By Michael Salzman M.D..

I offer my thoughts regarding my first-born daughter who now spends part of her Sundays with me in Clifton Park, New York. We spend a few hours reacquainting ourselves and unburdening our hearts and minds. During the week we regularly text each other and she fills me in with some of what is going on in her life.

I love and support Lauren completely and I offer empathetic comfort for someone who is hurting emotionally. Lauren has an intellect superior in many ways. I am ever more impressed by her ability to see the scope of the last 20 years of her life.

At Raniere’s instruction she was told to sever her relationship with me. He promoted himself as ethical and brilliant and was successful at
manipulating and controlling Lauren and many members of NXIVM to his many demands.

Her time in NXIVM is the only life she has known as she started young, right out of college. In discussions surrounding her totally immersive experiences in NXIVM, she is able to recall with startling clarity the many incidents and conversations with Raniere, corporate
executives, board members and the community.

Through the legal actions [prosecution] against Raniere, Lauren learned of bizarre activities he was engaged in that she was not privy to.

Raniere persuaded Lauren she was doing good in the world and often kept her and other members in classes and events that lasted days and long hours into the early hours of the morning.

Lauren Salzman and Keith Raniere on the volleyball court. She once touched a man other than Raniere on the court and he told her this disqualified her from having his child. If only Raniere’s mother had been so disqualified…

Lauren was raised in a household of healthcare professionals. Ethics and intellectual pursuits were emphasized. The concept of service to others was a high value, as was honesty, personal effort and learning. Through her own initiative she excelled academically. From an early age, and well into high school she was dedicated to the sport and discipline of gymnastics.

In seeking of new information and doing good in the world she has found a new outlet in the pet and animal healthcare industry. Lauren has taken the initiative and completed courses in the field of animal care and handling. She completed animal grooming classes and impressed her instructors and co-students sufficiently to be quickly hired as a groomer for domestic pets. She travelled 90 minutes each way to a facility where she worked long hours to hone her skills while simultaneously studying the next pet health care specialty.

She quickly become the go-to person at work for treatable skin disorders. I realized that her success deserved recognition and some reward, and I enthusiastically gifted her the same microscope that I have had since medical school.

Lauren is a gentle and loving person. She is eloquent and sincere. She is able to overcome her fear of the untried and unknown. She continues to amaze me with her excitement of new discoveries. We have reacquainting ourselves in our shared lives’ journey.

The NIXVM corporate life required her to travel and grow up in the organization begun long ago by Raniere.

She, and others, worked hard to please Raniere, following his rules, while he created situations to please himself and kept his desires and actions secret from Lauren and many around him.

At present, Lauren has more balance in her personal and professional life. She has moved to a new residence near to me. She is finally free from her NXIVM experiences, emotional and psychological manipulation and cruelty now reverberating through the local media and national media.

All of this has taken its toll on us and on Lauren’s health. We are hopeful that this trying ordeal will soon end.

I look forward to Lauren’s sentencing as an opportunity to put all this behind us. My wife, Sandy, and I will be at the courthouse to support her. We pray that this will have a positive outcome for Lauren.

 

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    • After reading so many of your hate-filled comments over the years and unlike you, having had the pleasure of knowing Lauren, I can say without a Shadow of a doubt, that she not only has a better personality than you, but she is a better person than you. Pretty pathetic where you’re life’s path has brought YOU, shadow. And yes, as you are getting ready to list off the exaggerated things you want to pin on Lauren, she’s a better person than you.

      • Nutjob, I did not know you knew Lauren. Have I missed something? Were you in NXIVM? Where the fuck have I been if I missed that over the years???? Do you know Michelle and Nancy too, how many of them do you know?

        • Ice-Nine,

          Clearly, you’ve skipped over many of NutJob’s comments. What an insult is to Nut Job.

          On Side note: I’ve seen Lauren’s sister Michelle in-person and she is much better looking than her pics. NutJob has confirmed I am telling the truth.

          So in conclusion Ice-nine you’re must be one of those gents who only reads his own comments and replies…

          • For the first year or so I used to get you two mixed up all the time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

          • Low blow but, of course, I deserve it for accusing you two of being one and the same…

        • Yeah – I know all of them from the beginning. I wasn’t sucked in, but could’ve been. Keith hated me and I thank him for that. I sat front row a lot of the first yr of ESP. I came into it with some street cred and he had to work a little to chase me off. I was in it to learn shit. I realized he wanted me gone around the same time I realized I wasn’t learning much, and ejected. It was also boring as fuck in Albany and I missed fun.

          • For years until the Vow came out I wondered if Lauren was tall or short. For fuck’s sake, I should have just asked you.

            1. Did you try bangin’ any of the chics, there’s a lot of hotties there. Did they act like sluts around keith or what was the deal with that?

            2. Did you play volleyball, and was keith any good at it? If I saw him there’d be no way you’d convince me that short fat fucker was an athlete or the 100 meter dash record holder.

            3. Did keith kiss you on the lips too? And then did you punch him in the face?

            4. Was Clare as much of a bitch as everyone says?

            I’m glad you got out because FR would suck without you. What street cred, are you a professor or something?

            I’m kinda glad I didn’t ever realize you knew these people because I’d just keep annoying you with pestering bullshit questions lol.

          • I was pre-volleyball and pre-Bronfmans. But, if I knew midnight volleyball was going to become a thing, I might have stuck around just so I could see pudgy Keith’s skills. I tried talking sports with him a couple of times and he wanted nothing to do with it. The 100-yard dash claim was actually my first of a dozen or so red flags with him. I knew enough about sprinting to know he wasn’t a record holder.

            I guess Lauren was short, but not short enough that I ever gave it a thought.

            The inner-circle women all acted like they weren’t in a relationship with Keith, but didn’t show interest in any other guys. Specifically, I remember having a conversation with another dude about it being weird how Kristin Keeffe wouldn’t flirt or show any interest in the opposite sex. Was she a lesbian? Was she hooking up with Keith? Were we not as cool as we thought we were? A different guy firmly told me that he could just tell that all the inner circle chicks were banging Keith. I laughed at him and told him he was crazy, but knew there was a chance he was right. I did hook up with one person but can’t disclose who cause I might as well just blurt out my name. (and no, niceguy, NOT Nancy). There were other opportunities and entertaining stories I’ll tell you if we’re ever in person. Ended up just dating outside of NXVIM.

            Thankfully, there was no Keith lip kissing – I’d probably need to be on some sort of medication.

            I came into it with a good reputation in the eyes of Nancy and some of the inner circle, but I didn’t know Keith. It was clear to everyone that I had no ill intentions, and people like Toni and Nancy would have called bullshit on Keith if he tried to say anything too negative about me. So, he’d show me that HE didn’t care to have me around.

          • “can’t disclose who cause I might as well just blurt out my name.” LMFAO.

            Awesome post Nutjob, that was some good shit. And while I doubt we ever do cross paths, beers are on me during story time if we do.

    • You are a sad, angry, and ugly person, Shadowstate — filled with nothing but hate. I wish you would find another hobby….or another website. Please.

      • I think Shadow is one of Frank’s editors. That’s why he always posts first, he has absolutely no censored comments, and his video links have previews while nobody else’s does.

        • Ice Nine-

          My videos used to have preview. It’s nothing special. Frank turned it off on me because I kept posting porn….

          Frank is such a prude. FU Frank!

      • CliftonPark-

        —I wish you could find another hobby.

        Uhm, hello! Shadow has a hobby. It’s called taxidermy. Taxidermy is like stamp collecting, but instead you collecting people. Shadow is working on a nativity scene for Christmas. He’s so festive!

  • “Уголовный кодекс Российской Федерации” от 13.06.1996 N 63-ФЗ > Особенная часть > Раздел IX > Глава 25 > Статья 239. Создание некоммерческой организации, посягающей на личность и права граждан

    Комментарий к ст. 239 УК РФ
    Основной объект преступления – здоровье населения.

    Дополнительный объект – здоровье, телесная неприкосновенность человека.

    Объективная сторона выражается в следующих действиях: 1) создание религиозного или общественного объединения, деятельность которого сопряжена с насилием над гражданами или иным причинением вреда их здоровью либо с побуждением граждан к отказу от исполнения гражданских обязанностей или к совершению иных противоправных деяний; 2) руководство таким объединением.

    Общественными и религиозными организациями (объединениями) признаются добровольные объединения граждан, в установленном законом порядке объединившихся на основе общности их интересов для удовлетворения духовных или иных нематериальных потребностей.

    Создание религиозного или общественного объединения предполагает совершение действий, в результате которых объединение готово к функционированию (подыскание участников, разработка идеологии объединения, выработка устава, регистрация учредительных документов и т.п.).

    Руководство указанным объединением предполагает деятельность лица, которое, не будучи его организатором, осуществляет различные руководящие функции: организует обучение и идеологическую обработку членов объединения, распределяет между ними обязанности при совершении каких-либо противоправных деяний и т.п.

    Деятельность религиозного или общественного объединения должна быть незаконной, т.е. сопряженной с насилием над гражданами или иным причинением вреда их здоровью либо с побуждением к отказу от исполнения гражданских обязанностей или к совершению иных противоправных деяний.

    Под насилием над гражданами или иным причинением вреда их здоровью понимается совершение таких действий, которые выражаются в ограничении свободы, нанесении ударов, побоев, причинении легкого вреда здоровью. В случае причинения средней тяжести или тяжкого вреда здоровью или убийства содеянное наряду со ст. 239 УК РФ подлежит дополнительной квалификации соответственно по ст. 105 или ст. 111 УК РФ.

    Побуждение граждан к отказу от исполнения гражданских обязанностей предполагает, в частности, подстрекательство их к отказу от воспитания несовершеннолетних детей, содержания нетрудоспособных родителей, несения военной службы, уплаты налогов и т.п.

    Побуждение граждан к совершению противоправных деяний означает подстрекательство к совершению как уголовно наказуемых деяний, так и других правонарушений.

    В форме организации религиозного или общественного объединения преступление окончено с момента фактического создания объединения, деятельность которого сопряжена с посягательством на личность и права граждан либо с побуждением их к отказу от исполнения гражданских обязанностей или к совершению иных противоправных деяний. В форме руководства таким объединением преступление окончено с момента осуществления лицом соответствующих руководящих функций.

    Субъективная сторона преступления характеризуется прямым умыслом.

    Субъект преступления общий – вменяемое лицо, достигшее возраста шестнадцати лет.

    Часть 2 ст. 239 УК РФ предусматривает ответственность за участие в деятельности указанного объединения, а равно пропаганду деяний, предусмотренных ч. 1 указанной статьи.

    Участие в деятельности объединения означает выполнение лицом действий, связанных с насилием или причинением вреда здоровью граждан, с побуждением их к отказу от исполнения гражданских обязанностей или к совершению противоправных действий.

    Пропаганда означает систематическое распространение среди неопределенно большого круга лиц идей, обосновывающих необходимость применения насилия над гражданами или иного причинения вреда их здоровью в рамках деятельности религиозного или общественного объединения, побуждения их к отказу от исполнения гражданских обязанностей или к совершению иных противоправных действий.

    https://ukrfkod.ru/statja-239/

    Translation from Russian:

    “Criminal Code of the Russian Federation”, 13.06.1996 N 63-FZ > Particular Part > Chapter IX > Chapter 25 > Article 239. Establishment of a non-profit organization encroaching on the personality and rights of citizens

    Commentary to Art. 239 of the Criminal Code of the RF
    The main object of the crime is public health.

    Additional object – health, bodily inviolability of a person.

    The objective side is expressed in the following actions: 1) establishment of a religious or public association, the activity of which involves violence against citizens or other harm to their health or inducing citizens to refuse to perform civil duties or to commit other illegal acts; 2) leadership of such an association.

    Public and religious organizations (associations) are voluntary associations of citizens, united in accordance with the procedure established by law on the basis of generality of their interests for satisfaction of spiritual or other non-material needs.

    Creation of a religious or public association implies the performance of actions, as a result of which the association is ready to function (search for participants, development of ideology of the association, elaboration of the charter, registration of constituent documents, etc.).

    The management of the said association presupposes the activity of a person, who, not being its organizer, performs various managerial functions: organizes training and ideological treatment of association members, distributes duties among them when committing any unlawful acts, etc.

    The activity of a religious or public association must be illegal, i.e. involving violence against citizens or other harm to their health, or inducing them to refuse to perform civic duties or to commit other unlawful acts.

    Violence over citizens or other infliction of harm to their health is understood as the commission of such actions, which are expressed in restriction of freedom, hitting, beating, causing light harm to health. In the case of inflicting moderate or grave harm to health or murder, the deed, along with Article 239 of the Criminal Code, is subject to additional qualification under Article 105 or Article 111 of the Criminal Code, respectively.

    Encouraging citizens to refuse to perform civil duties implies, in particular, inciting them to refuse to raise minor children, to support disabled parents, to perform military service, to pay taxes, etc.

    Encouragement of citizens to commit unlawful acts means incitement to commit both criminal and other offences.

    In the form of the organization of a religious or public association the crime is committed from the moment of the factual creation of the association, the activity of which involves the encroachment on the personality and rights of citizens or inducing them to refuse to perform civil duties or to commit other unlawful acts. In the form of leadership of such an association the crime is committed from the moment of the implementation of the respective leadership functions by a person.

    The subjective side of a crime is characterized by the direct intention.

    The subject of the crime is general – a sane person who has reached the age of sixteen.

    Part 2 of Article 239 of the CC of the RF provides for the liability for the participation in the activities of the said association, as well as for the propaganda of the deeds envisaged by Part 1 of the mentioned article.

    Participation in the activities of an association means performance of actions connected with violence or causing harm to the health of citizens, with inducing them to refuse to perform their civic duties or to commit illegal actions.

    Propaganda means the systematic dissemination among an indefinite number of people of ideas justifying the need to use violence against citizens or other harm to their health within the framework of the activities of a religious or public association, inducing them to refuse to perform civil duties or to commit other unlawful acts.

    https://ukrfkod.ru/statja-239/

  • Translation from Russian into English:

    [Excerpt]

    Editions of the document with amendments that have not entered into force have been prepared

    “Criminal Code of the Russian Federation” dated 13.06.1996 N 63-FZ (ed. dated 01.07.2021).

    Criminal Code of the Russian Federation Article 239. establishment of a non-commercial organization interfering with the personality and rights of citizens

    (as amended by Federal Law No. 121-FZ of 20.07.2012).
    (See text in previous issue)

    1. the establishment of a religious or public association whose activities result in violence against citizens or other harm to their health, as well as the leadership of such an association
    shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of up to 300,000 rubles or in the amount of the wage or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to two years, or by deprivation of liberty for a period of up to four years, or by forced labor for a period of up to four years, or by deprivation of liberty for the same period.
    (2) The establishment of a non-profit organization (including a non-profit organization performing the functions of a foreign agent) or a structural subdivision of a foreign non-profit non-governmental organization, the activity of which is to induce citizens to refuse to perform civic duties or to commit other unlawful acts, as well as the management of such organization or structural subdivision –
    shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of up to 200 thousand rubles or in the amount of the wage or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to eighteen months, or by deprivation of liberty for a term of up to three years, or by compulsory labor for a term of up to three years, or by deprivation of liberty for the same term.
    (3) Participation in the activities of a non-commercial organization referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article, as well as propagation of the acts provided for in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of up to one hundred and twenty thousand rubles or in the amount of the wage or other income of the convicted person for a term of up to one year, or by deprivation of liberty for a term of up to two years, or by compulsory labor for a term of up to two years, or by deprivation of liberty for the same term.

    Content taken from:
    http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_10699/088f695cc7b98804cc53d3fb244e4b505dbdceb4/

  • Banfield

    Survivor of sex cult explains how she avoided being brainwashed by NXIVM

    Adrienne Bankert

    Posted: JUL 22, 2021 / 03:54 PM CDT | Updated: JUL 22, 2021 / 03:54 PM CDT

    (Banfield) — How did Jessica Joan end up in a place to be taken advantage of by the cult NXIVM and its leader Keith Ranire?

    Joan told Adrienne Bankert her desire “to heal” and “elevate” herself after a traumatic childhood led her to taking courses at NXIVM.

    https://www.newsnationnow.com/banfield/survivor-of-sex-cult-explains-how-she-avoided-being-brainwashed-by-nxivm/

    Banfield

    Crime Victims Fund will get a funding boost from new law

    Tiffany Hudson

    Posted: JUL 22, 2021 / 12:22 PM CDT | Updated: JUL 22, 2021 / 02:35 PM CDT

    WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — A new law will bring more money for programs benefiting victims of sexual assault, child abuse, drunk driving and other crimes.

    President Joe Biden signed into law Thursday reforms for the way funds are distributed to victims of crimes.

    The VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act passed the Senate unanimously on Tuesday and had previously passed in the House 384-38.

    Victim service programs across the country that support those impacted by drunk driving, domestic violence, child abuse and other traumas receive funding from grants provided by the Crime Victims Fund.

    That fund is paid for by federal criminal monetary penalties assigned by the Department of Justice. This bill ensures that all monetary penalties, including those from deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements, goes into the CVF.

    The CVF has shrunk in recent years by money being earned by monetary penalties being directed elsewhere which has lead to cuts for victim services programs.

    The new law would also bolster state victim compensation funds by increasing federal grant allotments by 15% to 75%.

    https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/crime-victims-fund-will-get-a-funding-boost-from-new-law/

  • Roger Stone is all over the place. Why aren’t his friends helping him pay for his wife’s treatment or with his own financial difficulties? Is it because his “friends” have enough problems of their own. That’s what you get for always doing your part to cause the problems. Isn’t it?

    Matt Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg, seen above with Roger Stone (left) and Gaetz (center), pleaded guilty in May to multiple charges and is cooperating with prosecutors

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/07/27/05/45533689-9828835-Matt_Gaetz_associate_Joel_Greenberg_seen_above_with_Roger_Stone_-a-75_1627358515896.jpg

About the Author

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist.

His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents.

His work to expose and take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg, “Scarred” by Sarah Edmonson, “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. La Secta Que Sedujo al Poder en México” by Juan Alberto Vasquez.

Parlato has been prominently featured on HBO’s docuseries “The Vow” and was the lead investigator and coordinating producer for Investigation Discovery’s “The Lost Women of NXIVM.” Parlato was also credited in the Starz docuseries "Seduced" for saving 'slave' women from being branded and escaping the sex-slave cult known as DOS.

Additionally, Parlato’s coverage of the group OneTaste, starting in 2018, helped spark an FBI investigation, which led to indictments of two of its leaders in 2023.

Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Beyond the Headlines with Gretchen Carlson, Dr. Oz, American Greed, Dateline NBC, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato conducted the first-ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest. This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded.

Parlato is a consulting producer and appears in TNT's The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which premiered on May 22, 2022. Most recently, he consulted and appeared on Tubi's "Branded and Brainwashed: Inside NXIVM," which aired January, 2023.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

Contact Frank with tips or for help.
Phone / Text: (305) 783-7083
Email: frankparlato@gmail.com

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