A Testy Back and Forth Between Parlato and Suneel Over Challenge

Suneel Chakravorty challenged me to debate him over his magic man, Keith Alan Raniere, the unpretentious, modest gent whose followers bowed before him and called him, Vanguard. So humble was he that he had a 10-day birthday celebration – instead of a whole month.

Suneel also wants to prove that Camila’s pictures were tampered with by the FBI, and Nicole is not a victim of sex trafficking. I plan to hold him to exacting proof.

He challenged me, so I wrote him.

I wrote: Suneel, it’s your move. You have access to lay out posts on Frank Report. You may not publish but lay out your story, edit for grammar, do spell-check, add art (photos, graphs, illustrations).

I will review and publish.

Suneel wrote back:

Frank, at the end of the day, I’m interested in truth. You have a readership that may be interested in the new evidence I have, even including those carping critics who love to offer ad-hominem attacks anonymously.

But I have reservations about you being the arbiter of defamatory, libelous, and conclusory allegations. As long as these are openly discussed, it is fine. If something is redacted, I want that noted in the post. 

I wrote to Suneel:

That’s fine. Do not make conclusory allegations about the victims in this case. You can’t say “Cami lied about being raped by Raniere when she was 15,” not without evidence.

You can offer your opinion. But present it as opinion. Be honest. The best you can say about Camila is that there is no proof that satisfies you.

Also you are not permitted to publish her last name on Frank Report. I understand your argument that her family name has been published widely in Mexico.

I understand they were a dynamic part of NXIVM and trying to tell the story without the surnames of six of the most prominent people, who comprised the most important family in NXIVM, is difficult.

Raniere is alleged to have victimized two of the sisters, while the third stands with him and is mother of his child.  Two sisters, the son, and mother presently despise the man they used to adore. One sister and the father still adore him. And they have common blood, his son.

Now, as an example of opinion: Keith is a vile, contemptible, psychopathic, moronic, idiotic sack of manure, which if spread on the ground as fertilizer would kill any plant that came in contact with him.

Opinions are not libelous.  You may make the same kind of opinions but you cannot say Cami lied at sentencing as if it were fact. You can say, it is my opinion that she lied. But then you need facts to back it up. I can provide plenty of facts to back up my opinion that Raniere is a lying sack of excrement.

You need to do the same with your claims. 

Suneel wrote:  I think I know the difference between opinion and facts. I appreciate your comments, though I am not appreciative of your tone.

I recognize you don’t want to defend a lawsuit for something I say. You may wish to defend your previous narrative that Raniere and NXIVM are evil and may adopt what has been described as cognitive dissonance on any topic that does not agree with yours – and the other so-called victims’ narrative – a very profitable narrative based on the books, podcasts, websites, documentaries and whatnot, in my opinion, for you and quite a few others.

I will also remind you that, though you are substantially older than me, double or possibly triple my age, I’m not quite as young as how I have heard you refer to me – as a kid.

I’m 32-years-old, born in 1990, the same year as Camila, and you wouldn’t refer to her as a kid or a child, would you? Oh, I forgot, you do refer to her as a 15 year old child.

How many times people – including you – speak of Camila as if she is still 15. It is tiresome. She is over 30. When does she get to have grown-up status?

Like Camila, I should be accorded adult status. I don’t believe any of my Harvard college professors, or my clients, who pay me substantial money to teach them my expertise and perform skills, have ever confused my youthful and positive demeanor for lack of competence, fastidiousness or immaturity.

In my opinion you should refer to Camila in your writing as an adult woman and stop referring to her as a perpetual teenager and stop calling Nicki Clyne and I “the kids.”

I understand that we may never have all the grey areas of opinion settled, but I understand the distinction of what is libel, defamation, slander etc. and what is fact.

You are entitled to your opinion that Cami is still a child and Nicole is a horrified, greatly abused victim. I am entitled to my opinion that Cami is an adult and Nicole is not the victim she purports to be.

As for my opinion of Keith, I think he is a victim in the sense that he did not get a fair trial and I intend to prove it. You have been kind enough to permit me to voice my opinion and more importantly to provide facts. Henceforward that is what I plan to do – go light on opinion and heavy on facts.

OK, Suneel, you got the hard part done — the big talk. Now how about reducing the universe of your opinions to some writing – with your promised facts.

As they say in the ring: let’s have a clean fight. Touch hands, go back to your corners, protect yourself at all times, and may the best man win.

This is the exchange between Suneel and myself and I admit it got borderline testy. But my hope is that I will smash this upstart by proving his facts are ass backwards, not badass and that it is he who has cognitive dissonance.

I hope to deprogram him, and, of course, I am interested in the truth – even if Suneel can’t see any facts except through the lens of the glory and the greatness of his Vanguard, the world’s smartest prisoner serving over 100 years.

Frank Parlato