How Many Followers Does Raniere Have?

A reader, who I will refer to as Anne, and choose a picture that might best represent her appearance, has asked several questions about Keith Raniere in a comment for another story. I thought I would answer these in a post. Anne evidently knows NXIVM well.

Above: It was not the cover of Rolling Stone, but it was not a bad entry into the national spotlight — the cover of Forbes Magazine, October 2003.

Anne: Out of the 17,000 people who took NXIVM courses, how many were followers of Keith Raniere?  Some of those 17,000 only took a

1. 1-day or 2-day introductory course;
2. A 5 day intensive;
3. An 8-day intensive;
4. A 16-day intensive; or
5. Ethos or Origins classes.

Frank: Follower is a word that is hard to quantify. The majority of those counted in the 17,000 NXIVM course-takers took only one of two courses.

As many as 500 people paid $2,000 or more to go to Vanguard Week, which is about the number I would call followers at NXIVM’s peak.

I think – and I am guessing – several thousand more might have been called his admirers. Not followers, but people who were appreciative of the NXIVM course[s] they took and considered Raniere to be, as its creator, a remarkable man.

Anne: Some went on to take advanced classes – that is where they might have bought into the fake mission that Raniere & Nancy Salzman were selling behind their training and then step, unknowingly, into the Cult of NXIVM.

How many in Albany, the US, Mexico, Canada, and the rest of the world?

Frank: I think you have stated this well. Those who took more than one 16 day intensive and wanted more. Those who considered themselves on the Stipe Path aspired to become coaches, proctors, and head trainers. Those who hoped to make their living and dedicate their lives were to be, in varying degrees to be called followers.

The higher the rank, the greater the follower.

How many of those people stayed more than a year, five years on & on?

Frank: The history of NXIVM, which survived about 20 years, is replete with people who spent a portion of their lives and then left, some quietly and without malice, and some with notorious acrimony.

Some were with Raniere before he started NXIVM in 1998 and were there until the arrest in 2018. Others stayed for varying periods.

If we look at followers, we also have to break them down into those who had an intimate relationship with Raniere and those who did not.

I would say that the FBI was more or less accurate when they alleged that he had a rotating group of women with whom he had relationships.

They came and went, and Raniere often sought to replace older ones with younger ones.

To enter a relationship.

Barbara Bouchey, for instance, stayed about nine years. Kristin Keeffe, 22 years. Barbara Jeske, more than 20, Pam Cafritz, almost 30 years. Karen Unterreiner stayed for 40 years.  Cami stayed for 12. Dani stayed for 9.

When NXIVM started to burn to the ground, how many members did it have in the Cult of NXIVM?

John Tighe published a coaches list in 2011. I obtained the 2017 coaches list, which I shared with Neil Glazer with the request that he forward it to the Dept. of Justice EDNY. There were about 350 names on the coaches list, meaning they had a yellow [coach] sash or higher.

This list was compiled before the time I broke the DOS branding story that severely diminished the membership almost immediately.

As another point of reference, I understand that the 2016 Vanguard Week had 500 attendees, more or less. After I broke the DOS story in June, the number of attendees to the 2017 Vanguard Week was about 150.  Several people paid but did not attend V-Week 2017, the last V-Week with Raniere in attendance.

Anne: After Raniere was found guilty, how many loyalists does he have left?

Are some that remain in Mexico? If so, they are being reticent.

Same with Canada.

In the US, there are those in the DOSsier Project. What is that – nine?

Brandon Porter, and the men of the NXIVM 5.

Do Clare and Sara Bronfman still support Raniere? Is this a known fact?

Frank: Clare is still a staunch follower. Sara has left the USA and has distanced herself from Raniere, NXIVM, and I believe she has estranged herself from her sister, Clare.  I think she feels that the NXIVM plaintiffs would not have any claim against her but for her sister’s role with Raniere. She has made no public statement other than to announce she is no longer affiliated with NXIVM.

Anne: That is about 15 (plus or minus) loyalists who openly support Raniere.

Frank: Let’s count the people who openly support Raniere.

1. Nicki Clyne
2. Eduardo Asunsolo
3. Marc Elliot
4. Michele Hatchette
5. Leah Mottishaw
6. Danielle Roberts
7. Brandon Porter
8. Samantha La baron
9. Angelica Hinojos
10. Linda Chung
11. Clare Bronfman
12. Esther Carlson
13. Daniela Padilla
14. Justin Elliot
15. Hector {Cami’s dad]
16. Mariana [Cami’s sister and mother of Raniere’s youngest child.]
17. Suneel

In addition, I know of about 20 others, some of them in Mexico, who still believe in Raniere. I think there are likely more than that. Maybe 50- 100 altogether. Some want to restart NXIVM, and almost all believe Raniere was unfairly prosecuted.

Anne: Knowing that the letters Nancy Salzman filed in her sentencing memorandum were not all “real” support letters but old testimonial letters from the past, how do we know all the letters of support Raniere had for him were not the same situation?

Frank:  I think the Raniere letters are most likely authentic because he was in custody at the time, unlike Nancy Salzman. I think his followers would not be so bold as to submit phony letters on his behalf. A few names may have changed their view of Vanguard since then.

Anne: How would people even know to write Judge Nicholas Garaufis to inform him that they didn’t submit that letter of support for Raniere?

Frank: Other than the names published in Frank Report, I imagine they would not know that their names were used. I suspect that Nancy tried so hard to keep her letters under seal.  Raniere’s letters were not under seal.

Anne: Bottom line, Keith Raniere has fallen in his rankings of the Vanguard. Will his loyalists fall off over the years when they discover he won’t be getting out of prison?

Will Nicki Clyne be willing to remain loyal to her Vow of Love to Raniere, Knowing she can never “have him again” in that way?

Will Mariana remain a single mother raising Raniere’s son all by herself?

If the situation were reversed, Raniere would already have replaced both women and found someone else to raise his son.

Frank: He would have employed Cami, her sister, or any number of women to take care of his son, not because he had any special or particular interest in the child’s wellbeing but because it would look bad for him if he did not.

Case in point: His son Gaelyn was taken by his mother out of NXIVM in 2014, and Raniere never saw him again, and according to the mother, he never paid a dime for his support.

What’s curious about this is that he paid private detectives to find the boy and his mother because he missed his dear son, as he told others in the community. When the detectives found the mother and son – living at my house — rather than serve custody papers as he said he wanted them to do — he hired a couple to befriend her and a detective impersonating someone who was out to get me – to terrorize her.

I have the texts telling Kristin Keeffe that they were after me and were going to get me and that she and her son had better flee from my protection if she did not want to get burned badly.

I confronted the asshole, [and I still have the texts and shared them with Neil Glazer- permitting him to send them to EDNY.]

But the deception worked fine. Keeffe wound up fleeing and landed at another woman’s home, whose house she left shortly after, and went on the run again.

I later discovered who sent the texts when another detective involved in the case called me out of the blue before Raniere’s arrest to tell me about the plan to spy on Keeffe and her son.

.

Keith Raniere, photoshopped behind bars, prior to his being behind bars, by this publication.There is more to that story, but the two detectives wound up being clients of Glazer’s in an odd twist of events. As did Kristin Keeffe, who brought Glazer into the world of NXIVM.

I will explain it more fully later.

No, Raniere would not spend the lonely years waiting for Mariana, Nicki, or anyone else, but he never promised to be faithful. He promised the opposite.

As for his sons, he may never see either of them again. He is now spending the lonely years without any of his old followers. They have the freedom to move on. He does not. For that, we can be thankful.

It may take some time. The hope may need to be extinguished that he will be released. But today, there are a group of stalwart followers who dedicate themselves to Raniere’s release and hope to be successful.’

At the moment, they pin their hopes on the appeal, to be decided most likely this year in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and a long-promised Rule 33 whereby they will prove to the judge and everyone else that evidence was tampered with in the prosecution of Raniere and this will result in his immediate release.

If, by chance, the appeal fails and the Rule 33 does not materialize, I will speculate that the followers will take it to the US Supreme Court, which in a landmark case, nine justices will see the light and set the Vanguard free with profuse apologies for the harm done and the nation will experience a new birth of freedom, and injustice will end all over the world.

Viva Executive Success!

Frank Parlato