DOJ’s View of NXIVM #3: Trafficking of Daniela for Labor and Services and Alien Smuggling

Trafficking of Daniela For Labor and Services Between March 2010 and April 2012

More of the government’s view of NXIVM:

Raniere, Lauren Salzman, and others trafficked Daniela for labor and services by confining her to a room for nearly two years on the threat of being sent to Mexico and withholding her birth certificate.

Raniere initiated a sexual relationship with Daniela, Camila’s sister, in 2003, when Daniela was eighteen. After Daniela
re-entered the United States in 2004, she began to work for Raniere, including by cleaning, organizing his books, digitizing his music collection, and compiling reports summarizing lengthy textbooks on various topics.

As Raniere did in his relationships with other women, Raniere controlled Daniela’s diet and weight and insisted that Daniela keep the relationship secret. When Daniela was 20, Daniela became pregnant by Raniere.  Raniere’s longtime romantic partner and a member of the Enterprise, Pamela Cafritz, paid for Daniela’s abortion and instructed Daniela to lie about the identity of her partner to medical staff.

After Daniela developed romantic feelings for another man, Raniere told Daniela’s parents that Daniela had committed an “ethical breach.” Raniere thereafter ordered that Daniela be confined to a room in her parents’ home without human contact until she had “healed” her purported “ethical breach.” At Raniere’s instruction, Lauren Salzman threatened Daniela that if she left the room, she would be sent to Mexico without any identification documents, which Raniere had in his possession.

Daniela was confined to the room for nearly two years, during which she went months without human contact. Family members left meals for Daniela outside her door. Daniela was denied prompt medical care and slept on a foam pad on the floor. During this time, Daniela wrote hundreds of letters to Raniere with various proposals in an effort to persuade him to allow her to leave the room. Daniela believed that if she stopped writing to Raniere, she would be sent to Mexico without money or her identification documents.

Lauren Salzman reported to Raniere regarding Daniela’s “progress,” but Raniere frequently told Salzman that Daniela was “gameplaying” and manipulating Salzman and needed to stay in the room longer. Raniere forbade Salzman from giving Daniela any information “about what was going on, on the outside with anybody.”

At one point, when Daniela cut off her hair, Raniere instructed Lauren Salzman to tell Daniela that Daniela would have to
stay in the room until her hair grew back. Over time, Daniela’s psychological health deteriorated:

[S]ometimes I would beg: Please let me know. I don’t know why, just — just let me out. Nobody cared. My family didn’t. Nobody cared. So, it was also — it was also knowing that nobody wanted me. I’m in a world where nobody cares that I’m
losing my life. . . it was clearly never gonna end.

In approximately February 2012, after considering suicide, Daniela left the room. As punishment, Daniela was driven to Mexico at Raniere’s direction and was told that unless she completed book reports for Raniere, she would not receive her birth certificate.

Daniela ultimately obtained a copy of her birth certificate with the assistance of an attorney working for a human rights commission.

D. Alien Smuggling

Raniere and his co-conspirators participated in efforts to recruit and secure immigration status for non-citizens so that they could work in one or more Nxivm-affiliated organizations or as his sexual partners. Among the individuals that Raniere and his coconspirators assisted in entering or remaining in the United States unlawfully were siblings Marianna, Daniela, Adrian and Camila.

By 2008, all four siblings no longer had lawful immigration status in the United States. In 2004, Raniere arranged for Daniela to enter the United States unlawfully using a false identification document with the last name and date of birth of Ashana Chenoa, a deceased woman.

Daniela’s parents had paid for her to take a Nxivm course in Monterrey, Mexico, and encouraged Daniela to join the Nxivm community in Albany, New York.

On October 26, 2004, Daniela was denied entry into the United States and she returned to her hometown in Mexico.

Raniere instructed Daniela to fly to Toronto, Canada and enter the United States with a false sheriff’s ID card containing the name and date of birth of Chenoa who, according to Raniere, bore a resemblance to Daniela.

On December 24, 2004, Daniela met Kathy Russell at the border. Russell handed Daniela a false sheriff’s ID bearing the name “Lisa Chenoa,” and drove Daniela across the border into the United States and back to where Raniere and other Nxivm members were living in Clifton Park, New York.

See other parts in this series:

DOJ’s View of NXIVM #1: Overview

DOJ’s View of NXIVM, #2: Sexual Exploitation of the Child Camila

DOJ’s View of NXIVM #3: Trafficking of Daniela for Labor and Services and Alien Smuggling

DOJ’s View of NXIVM #4: Identity Theft and Unlawful Surveillance – Family Spying on Family

DOJ’s View of NXIVM #5: Obstruction of Justice & Identity Theft Related to Tax Evasion 

DOJ’s View of NXIVM #6: The Secret Organization Known as DOS

DOJ’s View of NXIVM #7: Sex Trafficked Slave – Nicole

DOJ’s View of NXIVM #8: Jay, Sylvie and Actions After DOS Was Disclosed

Frank Parlato