That big boom you heard last night wasn’t a clap of thunder.
Nor was it fireworks – or a jet breaking the sound barrier.
That big boom was the sound of the “Sentencing Memorandum” that federal prosecutors filed last night hitting the PACER system.
The one in which they recommend that U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis impose a prison sentence “at the high end” of the 41-51 months that the applicable U.S. Sentencing Guidelines call for (At the time she pleaded guilty, the original estimate of the applicable guidelines was 33-to-41 months).
If the judge follows that recommendation, that means Nancy will be headed off to federal prison for at least 51 months
And if he considers everything that Nancy’s victims have said – and will say – about her, a sentence of at least 6-8 years is entirely possible (If he gives Nancy the same “triple the max” that he imposed on Clare Bronfman, that number could go as high as 15 years).
**********
What Nancy Did to Earn Her Sentence
As detailed in the “Sentencing Memorandum”, Nancy pleaded guilty to one count of Racketeering – and two underlying predicate acts – back on March 13, 2019 (That wasn’t quite the “ides of March” that Caesar was warned about – but it was close enough for the woman who insisted she be referred to as her made-up title of “Prefect”).
The two underlying predicate acts were Conspiracy to Commit Identity Theft – and Conspiracy to Alter Records in an Official Proceeding.
**********
Identity Theft & Unlawful Surveillance
According to the government’s filing, “Nancy Salzman, along with co-defendants Keith Raniere and Clare Bronfman, participated in the unlawful surveillance and investigation of perceived critics and enemies of Raniere and Nxivm”.
The targets of these surveillance and investigation tactics included the following:
- High-ranking politicians (e.g., U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer);
- Reporters who had published articles critical of Raniere or Nxivm (e.g., James Odato);
- Some of Nxivm’s own lawyers;
- Legal adversaries and their families (e.g., Rick Ross and the Suttons);
- An accountant (James Loperfido) who worked for an attorney who had previously done work for Nxivm (Joe O’Hara); and
- Edgar Bronfman, Sr., the father of Clare and Sara Bronfman.
Nancy’s role in all this skullduggery was to hire the private firms that did the actual surveillance and investigatory work. Firms like Interfor, Inc. and Canaprobe.
When the FBI executed a search warrant on Nancy’s house on March 27, 2018 – a day after Keith Raniere had been arrested after he was unceremoniously kicked out of Mexico – they found a large box containing the purported banking information of Edgar Bronfman, Joe O’Hara, Rick Ross, the author of the less-than-flattering article about Keith that was published in Forbes magazine in October 2003, and several prominent New York State politicians and lobbyists.
Those same FBI agents also found more than $520,000 in cash – which, interestingly enough, was not even mentioned in the “Sentencing Memorandum”. We’ll have more to say about this factor in a future post.
**********
Obstruction of Justice
The “Sentencing Memorandum” also charges Nancy with conspiring to obstruct justice “by altering videotapes that were to be produced in a federal lawsuit in New Jersey (That was the lawsuit that Nxivm had brought against Rick Ross and several members of the Sutton family after Ross published some of Nxivm’s super-secret “tech” on his website).
During the course of the lawsuit, one of the defendants – Stephanie Franco – filed counterclaims alleging that Nancy had misrepresented the nature and effectiveness of Nxivm’s training programs by claiming, among other things, that they could cure poor eyesight.
In conjunction with the counterclaims, Franco’s attorneys requested that Nxivm provides copies of certain videotapes that supposedly contained several instances of making such claims.
Instead of just turning over the tapes, Nancy approved a plan whereby Mark Vicente altered the videotapes to remove the delusional claims – and then doctored the cases to make it appear they were originals. The altered tapes were then provided to Franco’s attorneys with an assurance that they were in unedited condition.
**********
The Feds Paint a Very Unflattering but Very Accurate Portrait of Nancy
Federal prosecutors spent several pages in the “sentencing memorandum” describing Nancy’s misdeeds and her character. And even though portions of that section were redacted, it’s clear they don’t think she’s a very nice person – and certainly not one who is entitled to any mercy.
Here are some of the things they said about Prefect:
- She was “a loyal and integral member of the criminal enterprise led by her co-defendant, Keith Raniere”;
- She “was the President of Nxivm…and, in that role, (she) exalted Raniere’s teachings and ideology and demanded absolute commitment and deference to (him)”;
- She “instructed Nxivm members that anyone who challenged Raniere or Nxivm, including family members and friends, were ‘suppressives’ and must be avoided”;
- She “told Nxivm members that they had committed ‘ethical breaches’ which they needed to remedy, often in ways that benefitted (her) or Raniere”;
- “Many of the NXIVM teachings (she) promulgated…disparaged or humiliated women and blamed victims of abuse”;
- “Some of (her) teachings also questioned the appropriate age of consent and suggested that children as young as 12 years old were capable of consenting to sex”;
- (She) also encouraged Nxivm members to take expensive Nxivm courses, and incur debt in order to do so”;
- She developed a purportedly therapeutic technique called ‘Explorations of Meaning’ (EM) which was sometimes used as a means of manipulation and control”;
- (She) encouraged Nxivm members to take expensive Ems to address their purported ‘issues,’ generating a significant amount of money”;
- (Her) actions enabled Raniere to maintain his position as the leader of a criminal enterprise and gain access to his victims”;
- “For years, (she) attempted to investigate and intimidate perceived critics and enemies of Raniere. The targets of these efforts included reporters; vocal critics of Nxivm or Raniere, including Rick Ross and Raniere’s ex-girlfriends; former Nxivm members; former Nxivm attorneys; and even federal judges overseeing litigation involving Raniere and Nxivm”.
There’s more – but you get the picture. And trust me, the mere mention that Nancy was involved in attempts to investigate and intimidate federal judges pretty much guarantees that Judge Garaufis is not going to show her any leniency (He may even remand her on the spot as he did with Clare Bronfman!).
And for those of you who like the gory details, just wait until some of the “Victim Impact Statements” – which were apparently filed “under seal” by the feds – are made available to the public (Several victims have indicated that they will provide Frank Report with copies of the statements). Here’s what federal prosecutors had to say about those statements:
“Victim impact statements, which have been submitted to the Court under separate cover, detail the destructive impact of Nancy Salzman’s crimes. These statements reflect that victims suffered, both personally and financially, as a result of the defendant’s actions. Victims describe being manipulated by the defendant, isolated from their family members, saddled with debt as a result of Nxivm and ESP courses, and psychologically abused”.
Bye, bye, Nancy, you evil bitch!
**********
Frank Parlato 
Janine Morrison 
J.J. O'Hara 
Richard Luthmann 
Marie White 
Paul Serran
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
Clavinger,
Are you still going to cover about the NXIVM court videos or not?………
I have been looking into this topic for the last couple of weeks – and have been surprised as to how little information is available about it. But as for your question, “Yes, I am going g to write about it”.
Yeah, I know, man! This is why this is important! They are a public office and we the American people should be able to review what goes on in our justice system and buildings and review and judge!
Excellent news that the prosecution, and any probative information already assembled regarding her is wisely evaluated. It is good that the prosecutors are sincerely ready, willing and able to see through Nancy Salzman and to recommend a suitably lengthy sentence for her incarceration, and that they are due to encourage the judge to make a clean, effective and efficient sweep, a grand finale. The Prefect is a scumbag, and not enough has been said about her yet in court, before the bench and the public.
After Raniere, no one else other than Nancy Salzman has concerned me more, as thoroughly having earned the NEED to be kept behind prison bars.
Most of all, Nancy Salzman is, in my opinion, a continuing danger to society, a real criminal and a lying creep, who dreams that she is still getting her dishonest and criminal way.
Let’s get this done and done rightly.
Well said. She is a career criminal who has demonstrated no potential for rehabilitation.
Could the Judge give her more time like he did Clare?
As he showed in Clare’s case, the judge is not bound by the sentencing guidelines. As long as he can justify going above them – which should be easy to do with regard to nancy – he can sentence her to whatever he deems appropriate.
Frank
This is Grapevine – in regards to “taking expensive courses and expensive EMs”, that is Kris all over again.
I am willing to share Kim’s impact statement with you, but she really wants to apologize to you again, over the phone and tell you, in her own words, what she and her mom, Jonnie, have been going through.
Kris was using her own money to pay for the coursework and the EMs. That was told to us by a NXIVM instructor – via phone conversations. We can prove this by the pictures we have drawn by Heidi Clifford.
We have been carefully documenting what we have been told by people – (would rather not mention here who they are and how we found out).
Frank, Kim would like to converse with you again, in her own words – and tell you what the phone conversations have been like for her.
Kim has mellowed and has been doing very well despite what she may have been like before – she has the things written down to tell you and who they are from – I can’t tell you everything here.
There is a man that we have had conversations with – that is part of this issue – he says he is innocent – Kim would like to tell you what he has had to say- I am begging you to allow her to try one more time – please. Please call Kim and let her tell you what she has been told and what she knows.
Kim is quieter and NOT the same person anymore – she has changed – with all of our help.
Again, she would like to have you call her and converse with her. She is sorry she hurt you. Please follow up on this
Grapevine
I think Nancy Salzman should be hit with a severe prison sentence. But who knows?
The prosecution’s recommendation is interesting. If Judge Garaufis follows it, she will serve longer in prison than others in this case who were convicted of greater crimes. She pleaded guilty to a single count of racketeering conspiracy. No extortion conviction. No forced labor count.
Identity theft and surveillance?
Of course, Bronfman got a seven-year sentence for relatively petty crimes.
Mack got a light sentence despite her extortion conviction, and Lauren Salzman got off with probation for the same.
And Mark Vicente, who obstructed justice by altering the videotapes, was never even prosecuted.
Call me old-fashioned, but I think the sentence should fit the crime.
Yeah, cooperation has to be factored in. But the sentencing in this case seems very arbitrary.
Maybe Nancy will take up dog walking as a vocation. Judge Garaufis seems to be very impressed by people being nice to dogs.
Maybe then she’ll get off with probation.
Mark Vicente was key in bringing down Raniere!! He is also a victim; not to say that he didn’t do it, I’m sure he did a lot of things he regrets while in the cult but he was manipulated and lied to just like the other victims in this case.
Mark Vicente plays a different game now, at least outwardly. Now he is a confessor, adroitly making profits like a “reformed” snake and quite possibly, he’s still stuck and really is acting cleverly, all about his meandering and half-baked image, an ego-tripper. I do not feel sorry for Mark Vicente, nor will I endorse what I see as his pattern of clumsy, transparent twists and turns.
When Vicente altered videotape to make the Nxivm higher-ups look better, there’s no way that he didn’t know what he was doing. This alteration of video material was more than merely a dishonest usage of his skills. It is against the law, too. Vicente could not be so stupid as to not to have refused to commit a crime of this nature, to do with his own so-called professionalism.
You can say that Vicente was deceived. What a joke, a rotten one. So. He was what? Deceived by Ramtha as part of that train wreck and then, deceived again, by Raniere and Nancy Salzman?
Give it up, justifying Vicente’s behavior. He looks to be spineless and in my eyes, he is an opportunist out for himself, no more and no less.
Maybe Vicente is a lying fool. Maybe Vicente wants to rise to the top of any given set of circumstances, and so what does that make Vicente? Not a man. A mouse who cries and then offers his fake roars. How about that? Vicente looks as though he is both Little Red Riding Hood AND the Big, Bad (impotent) Wolf.
You’ve become shivanistate1958. Congrats.
What, aren’t you also going to randomly pile on Michelle Salzman?
Victims??? Michelle Myers Salzman the “victim” continues nxivm under a new rebranded name, The Sculpted Vegan, and is her elite coach. Michelle isn’t a victim. Michelle is a criminal who didn’t get prosecuted and, because of that, is doing nxivm coaching in a new company. Not prosecuting her empowered her. Michelle is a predator and will never stop.
Ok. Is it time to share? Have you any info other than seeing Kim’s website? Have you ever met Michelle? Do you think ever in her life, anyone has paid her $250 an hour for her life coaching expertise?
Cause I’m not on the same page as you and would like to know where you’re coming from before I judge.
Mark Vicente was videotaping and secretly recording audio all along knowing one day he would profit from Keith and Nancy. Mark was a top-level lieutenant too. Mark played the victim card to stay out of jail. Wise move. See all the documentaries that came out. All Vicente footage.
She encouraged people to take expensive useless classes? then every college admissions officer should be in prison!
This is what annoys me about these cases: Yes, these people are scum, but don’t adults have some responsibility to run their own lives?
The collateral, for instance, included naked pictures, unenforceable contacts and fake confessions. Was it really enough to have unwanted sex and getting fricking branded?
No, it was not. Which leads to my thesis: they wanted to do it. Now, it’s all blown up and they are all running away.
The government should have gone after the child porn and underage sex and stayed out of everything else
While I agree with you on some of the principles and points you’ve made, it’s not quite that simple.
Your college admissions officer is not masquerading as a licensed and highly educated therapist and using coercion and undue influence in a highly unethical manner.
And yeah… I’d never give collateral. But I do believe many of the people who did were very scared of retaliation for leaving. It went beyond the shame and consequences of the nudes, etc.
DOS women who left were threatened legally. That’s documented. See Joe’s letter to really understand that people in Nxivm knew those threats were real and could destroy lives.
College admission officers are representing giant institutions with the weight of society behind them. They sucker in students and parents who don’t know.
The only reason anyone cares is because these are women; if men received the same treatment, no one would give an f.
Disagree.
If an old lady claimed to be the smartest woman in the world and had men branded with her initials by their wiener and blackmailed them with porn and false confessions, withheld their immigration papers, had them refrain from masturbation, forced labor, came on their faces for “ownership”, told them they’d see a blue light eating her puss and made child porn of a 15-year-old boy and on and on…
It would be the biggest story in the world.
Oh. And if a couple of those young men were on popular TV shows?
PS
Most people don’t live near or with their college admissions officers & take long walks with them nightly several times a week for years, have sexual involvement with the founder of the college, work at the college, have all their friends & family affiliated with the college, are being sexually blackmailed to go to that college, celebrate the college president’s birthday for 10 days every year and so forth.
—She encouraged people to take expensive useless classes? then every college admissions officer should be in prison!
That’s completely 100%!!!
….And the first thing you have ever said which I can agree with. 😉
You guys went to weird colleges.
An admissions officer (counselor, etc.) advises you on taking classes that fulfill your chosen degree. That is all.
And then it’s over. You graduate.
They do not keep on recommending non-essential electives that get you nowhere and keep moving the graduation goal post.
Like the Nxivm stripe path did.
If you’re taking multiple worthless classes for decades like they did in Nxivm in order to get your degree – you are doing college the hard way. And the slow way.
Are you perhaps attending vanguard university?
Same as Trump University that also had ties in Albany.
Anonymous 3:43
Smotelle is referring to for-profit colleges – i.e., unaccredited universities – such as the University of Arizona.
As well as college counselors at every university that will tell you being a history or drama major is a great idea…
Did you go to college?
It’s not going to happen but I think it would be great if Judge Garaufis also directs Nancy to serve whatever sentence he imposes on Kathy Russell. Example: if he imposes a 6-month prison term on Kathy, she gets to stay home – and Nancy serves another 6-months after she’s done with her own sentence. The same would be true for the 3-years of probation that Kathy will likely get.
Here is an article from the Times Union. It contains no new information. But it shows the further interest in this criminal case:
Times Union
Feds want prison time for NXIVM co-founder Nancy Salzman
Robert Gavin, Aug. 19, 2021, Updated: Aug. 19, 2021 9:23 a.m.
Federal prosecutors want former NXIVM president and co-founder Nancy Salzman to potentially serve more than three years in prison for targeting those who broke NXIVM orthodoxy or criticized the organization as Keith Raniere’s fiercely loyal second-in-command.
[ … ]
https://www.timesunion.com/nxivm/article/Feds-want-prison-for-NXIVMs-Nancy-Salzman-16396941.php
NOTE: The Times Union story contains a major error with regard to the applicable sentencing guidelines. Although, as I noted in the post, the original estimate at the time Nancy pleaded guilty was 33-to-41 months, the new calculation – which was done by U.S. Probation Office for the EDNY when it completed Nancy’s Pre-Sentencing Report – is 41-to-51 months. Thus, it is quite likely that Nancy will be sentenced to at least 4-years in prison – and, if justice prevails, to a lot more than that.
You are right. I have read the Law&Crime article and also posted on Frank Report.
Nancy was the professional fronting arm for the criminal NXIVM organization. She was there from the beginning to give it the air of a legitimate business and to cover for its cult-like interior that ingratiated Raniere based on his lies. There is no way she didn’t know about Raniere’s character and what he was all about from its inception. She deserves every bit of the maximum sentence that the prosecution recommends.
That is what people do. They expect maximum mercy for themselves while demanding maximum penalties for others. You can even see that in the comments here on the FR.
Nancy will do time.
Nancy’s direct involvement in the child exploitation of Camilla ensures it. I think.
She’s probably not walking away from that reality with probation.
Not being privy to ALL legal information makes it challenging for any bystander to speculate accurately.
But it doesn’t sound good for prefect.
Klav
You are delusional.
She will be pardoned with probation, just like her daughter, Lauren.
The judge is a weak, white knight who loves to save damsels in distress. Nancy is a smiley, attractive, manipulative, cunning and likely contrite victim. Garaufis will find a soft spot in his heart for her sob story about how she was lied to and manipulated by Raniere. She will serve no time and will be allowed to continue her lucrative counseling/coaching career.
Are you just spouting off – or do you have some money to back that up? Frank can hold the wager…
Sprouting off? Look at the pattern:
Bronfman: not attractive, nor contrite: huge time
Mack: attractive, contrite, but a sucker for punishment: 3 years
Lauren: attractive, very contrite and manipulative: 0 time
Nancy: likely a sob story about scared of and used by Raniere, also recovering from cancer at 67: 0 time.
Also, it looks like the judge arranging the sentences in decreasing order of time served. (Raniere: 120 years was first)
So, now that you’ve “explained” your prediction so even I can understand it, would you like to back it up with a little bet? I’ll pay you $120.00 if Nancy gets no prison time – and you pay me $5.00/month for every month of prison time she gets?
If Nancy Salzman is sentenced to 48 months in prison, you would have made a 100% profit on your bet.
Well, that’s not entirely accurate — but close enough. Besides, this began with “Anonymous” telling me I was “delusional” for predicting that Nancy will get at least 4-years in prison. So, I figured that anyone with that much gall would be happy to accept my bet (Hint: People like this always become ghosts when it’s time to back up their talk with real money!).
I appreciate your sincere engagement in this matter but I am not a betting man.
It’s not that I don’t believe Nancy Salzman deserves severe punishment. It’s clear that as the ringleader, she does! It’s simply that I don’t believe the judge has the ability to administer that kind of sentence.
OK…I now appreciate why you believe what Judge Garaufis will do when it comes to sentencing Nancy – and that you’re not one of her supporters. So, no more flippant remarks from me about making a wager on this topic.
Instead, I will simply explain that in my experience, federal judges rarely mete out sentences that are less than the recommendation of the local prosecutors – especially when the PSR includes a substantial upward adjustment of the applicable guidelines.
That upward adjustment by the Probation Office likely signifies that it found additional aggravating factors when it looked into Nancy’s background – and the judge will be privy to all that information before he sets her sentence.
We should know a whole lot more when we see the responsive filing by Nancy’s attorneys next week. If they don’t contest the higher guidelines, then I think Nancy will be going away for at least 51 months.
Don’t worry about “Anonymous”, Claviger. Anyone finding Nancy attractive whether her outer body or her intestines, is due for immediate specialised psychiatric treatment!
Thanks! I deserved that!
If Garaufis bases any part of his judgement on a defendant being attractive and contrite, she is in trouble. I think it is a stretch to call her cunning, and she was probably only manipulative to those she had power over. I suppose she could have smiled at some point.
Nancy also did shit to help DOJ with the case. The Judge will take that into consideration.
Lauren was a star witness and helped the DOJ before.
Allison helped with the one tape that showed the branding was a set-up and that the “goods” they turned over before joining DOS were hanging over their heads while they were laying naked on the table.
Nancy, what has she done to help with the case? BIG FAT ZERO.
She was too dumb to get rid of the cash and any evidence in her house.
She is going to prison.
The Judge could see that Lauren and Allison were victims
He won’t see Nancy as one. She was older and a partner in crime.
I believe that Nancy got the bulk of the money out of her house long before the FBI showed up with a search warrant. And I was surprised that the EDNY prosecutors did not even mention the $520,000 that was found there in its sentencing memorandum.
Follow Nancy’s family for the money…Nancy’s sister and brother-in-law, the Kass family…Although it’s probably gone now too…Steve Kass is CFO/COO for Tofutti:https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-kass-0918b416/
I hope you are right. It would be shame if he imposed no penalty other than probation.