Introduction
Background of Vicente

During the trial of Keith Raniere, a witness came forward for the prosecution. His name is Mark Vicente. He was the second witness called.
Mark is a filmmaker. He made a popular film once. The name of the film is What the Bleep Do We Know. The release date was 2004. He made that film when he was a devotee of a woman named J. Z Knight.
J. Z Knight told Mark – as she tells all her followers – that a ghost comes into her body and speaks through her. Ramtha is not an ordinary ghost, but the spirit of a man who lived 35,000 years ago and led the earth in war and peace. His wisdom is superior to anyone living, and only Knight channels him. Mark followed this lady for a dozen years.

He made his hit movie under her inspiration.
When the film came out, Barbara Bouchey took an interest in this young man’s talent. She told Nancy Salzman and Sara Bronfman, and they courted him to work for NXIVM.
Mark decided to leave the lady and Ramtha. It was not long before Mark joined NXIVM and became a devotee of Keith Raniere.



Mark and SOP
SOP is an international men’s movement, whose members seek to be the voice of character and honor in the world. The world is in desperate need of a unifying principle; a group that is independent of religion and stands against hate. This organization helps men to become more powerful and influential members of society by giving them tools and a network of honorable men for support. SOP is not only curriculum, it involves practical tests to strengthen us with respect to readiness, responsiveness, character, honor, strategic thinking and leadership.
Weekend #7
The Society of Protectors is a men’s group based on the philosophy of Keith Raniere. One day, Raniere said he would teach an SOP Weekend in Clifton Park if the SOP High Council could gather 100 men to pay. The High Council of SOP agreed and set a weekend in August 2014.
The fee to attend was $2,000. They called it SOP Weekend #7, “Our Word.”
The men of the High Council recruited other men. SOP High Council member Damon Brink sent a video to SOP members.
He said:

Hi guys, this is Damon Brink from Albany, New York, with a message about Weekend Number 7.
For those of you that don’t know, our founder, Keith Raniere, has built more than 1000 millionaires in his life. He has built multi-million dollar businesses in a short amount of time. And at one point was making more than $100,000 per hour coaching the highest level business executives in the world.
This is a man who knows how to help people make money. This is also a man who holds the vision of SOP, the vision to build character, honor and virtue in men.
Weekend Number 7 is an opportunity to do something extraordinary with your life. It’s an opportunity to invest in yourself with a man who knows how to make it work.
The only question to ask is, ‘Do you want this enough to make it work?’ Because if you do, you can. Our commitment is our power. Thank you, men. I hope to see you there.
They Came to Learn From Raniere
This is how Mark Vicente told me the story: When men learned Raniere would teach, they bought in. The High Council was Mark Vicente, Jim Del Negro, Damon Brink, and Mike Baker.
They sold 94 men. That plus the four of the High Council made 98. They came from Vancouver, Los Angeles, Mexico, Guatemala, and New York City. About 50 flew into Albany from Mexico, Canada, Guatemala, and elsewhere. Others drove in. They took hotel rooms or stayed with NXIVM members. Some of them lived in the Albany area. Yet, there was one unifying factor. They would spend a weekend with Raniere, who they hoped held the key to change in their lives.
When Weekend #7 began, Raniere announced he would not teach. They were short of the 100 participants they agreed must be there.
There was consternation, Vicente explained. Raniere left him holding the bag. What would he tell the 94 who paid for the weekend and spent good money to get there? Vicente said the High Council tried to convince Raniere. Ninety-eight is but two short of 100. The more significant harm is disappointing 98 who paid. It might hurt the business and its mission.
Raniere refused. The four men of the SOP High Council were stuck telling 94 men that their weekend with Raniere was not going to happen. They took the blame. Vicente said it was unfair. To say it was the High Council’s fault when it was not. That Raniere left them to face the angry crowd. All had come to see Raniere teach, and he vamoosed.
It did not go over well. Some of the 94 turned around and left. Flummoxed, the High Council executed a rerun of Weekend #6 for those who remained. Nobody was happy. Some people quit. The destructive effects lasted for years, Vicente said. Yes, Raniere could have stayed and taught, Vicente said. But he left Vicente to reap a harvest of anger and disappointment and heal it. This is how I understood what happened to Vicente when he told me in 2017.
Vicente Tells the Story to the Jury
On May 13, 2019, Vicente was on the stand in the trial of his former mentor Raniere. On direct examination, Vicente testified about SOP Weekend #7. Assistant US Attorney Mark Lesko asked the questions.
LESKO: Were there times when you were not paid for your work in SOP?
VICENTE: There were two weekends that we were not paid for. One was a weekend that was cancelled, and then because of this thing we had done that was a problem, we then did not get paid for the next weekends…
*
LESKO: Do you recall an instance where the defendant called off an SOP training?
VICENTE: Yes. I don’t recall the exact date, but we were holding a training in 455 New Karner. I don’t recall the exact name of the weekend, but, in essence, the requirement was there should be a hundred paying men in the room, and I believe we were slightly short. And I think it was the high 90s, and a few men were enrolled that were close by, and I think the number went up to, maybe – it was 102 or 103 perhaps.
We began the training. The first questions had occurred. Raniere came out, did the disposition. We went into the back room, which was the ESP Proctor room which we used. He [Raniere] said, ‘I have disturbing information. I heard that some men were put into this training in a way that wasn’t ethical. And so, you know, I have to make a decision, and I’m not going to continue running this training. So, I’m leaving, and you guys can do whatever you want.”
LESKO: So, what happened next?
VICENTE: The High Council had to go out, and basically, say, face a hundred-something men and explain that we had done this very bad thing, and that we were going to run a weekend anyway from the existing curriculum, and that we would repay all the men their money in some form.
LESKO: Did that happen?
VICENTE: That did happen, yes.
…
LESKO: Were there any other consequences that flowed from the defendant leaving this SOP training?
VICENTE: Well, there was a — the guys were very, very unhappy and a lot of anger came to us. See, part of what you did in this kind of structure is you protect the leader at all costs. So, we had to make sure that they understood that it wasn’t him. We agreed to protect him at all costs, and it was us, we were the problem. So, we took a lot of hits. A lot of people were extremely angry at us because they had flown there from distant places around the world to be there, to be with Raniere. So, that was one consequence. And then also there was kind of a penance. We wouldn’t be paid for the following weekend as well that would finally happen.
Eduardo’s View

Mark is Cross Examined
Raniere’s defense attorney Marc Agnifilo cross-examined Vicente. He brought up the canceled weekend.
AGNIFILO: Now, do you recall that the problem was that — you had to have 100 men who signed up for this course by a certain point in time, and that you didn’t have the 100 men who signed up by a certain point in time, so other people were borrowed to get to 100? Do you remember that?
VICENTE: That’s my understanding. I wasn’t part of the borrowing, but there was — I don’t recall if the deadline was at when the training started or before. I don’t recall that.
AGNIFILO: And because the 100 men hadn’t all signed up [for the] course, he didn’t want to go forward with the course. The understanding was everybody who was in the course be signed up by a certain point and that wasn’t done,
VICENTE: Well, my recollection is that we did have a hundred men, over a hundred men in the training, but it was that he got information later that he felt it wasn’t done in a proper manner. And so, because of that, he felt that he needed to leave.
AGNIFILO: And this was videotaped, right?
VICENTE: I’m certain it was. Yeah, it was.
AGNIFILO: Do you remember Keith directly addressing all of the men himself and saying I’m going to refund your money because we didn’t do this the way we had promised to do it? Do you remember that?
VICENTE: It’s possible. I don’t recall that exactly. It is possible though.
AGNIFILO: Were you there?
VICENTE: In the training room? I was there in the training room but I don’t remember — there were many, many trainings.
AGNIFILO: Do you remember him standing up in front of the whole group of men and saying ‘I’m — I am going to refund your money. I am responsible for this’. Do you remember him saying that?
VICENTE: I mean, if you have material to show me, I can probably say yes, but I don’t recall exactly in this moment that that’s exactly what happened.
AGNIFILO: We can do that. We’ll come back to that, all right?
VICENTE: Okay.
AGNIFILO: And now you said you weren’t filming it, but someone else was?
VICENTE: I don’t think I was, because, generally, when I was helping running trainings, there were other people that were shooting.
AGNIFILO: All right. We’re going to come back to this.
Agnifilo did not return to the topic. He did not show the video. Perhaps he thought it insignificant. There was no charge of criminality related to Weekend #7.
The Video
Eduardo’s Testimonial
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We promised to return to Eduardo’s perspective. It can best be told in his own words. This is his testimonial which is included in his video.
Eduardo: There was a weekend that we were supposed to get 100 men. And it was really exciting to try to get 100 men of a community to do this weekend. And the compromise. You know, like, in order to earn the weekend, [with Raniere], we needed to enroll 100 men, and this is everything in SOP…
You need to earn things, and you learn discipline and commitment. And we had like 99 or 98. And somebody went and took two men that were taking another training in the same building, part of the community who didn’t want to take the [SOP] training.
I mean, they preferred the other training [they had signed up to take]. They didn’t want to take the SOP weekend. But we were like, you know, I guess some guy went and did what guys do, which is like, “Come on, you know, we need two men to run this.” And they got them.
And we were ready to start. And then. So, Keith found out how the two last men were involved. He heard it in passing. And he said, “You know, we can’t do it. It’s not right.” And he canceled the weekend. And he spent, I think, a day and a half doing questions of, you know, how he came out. And he said, “I’m gonna reimburse anyone, everyone, whatever they think I need to reimburse, I will reimburse it.” And he did.
You know, we went through a bunch of questions that they were like, you know, “How much did you invest in this?” “Why do you think you deserve all of it back?” “Do you think part of it?” We went through a whole exploration of how this was good; how this was growthful; what was bad about it and how did it come about?
Elliot Testimonial

Marc Elliot is a staunch support of Raniere. So is his brother Justin Elliot.
Justin’s testimonial of SOP Weekend #7:

Justin Elliot: And there is an event in which there was a certain parameter in which we would only have it if we could get 100 people. And it ends up that Keith found out that the way we got the 100 people wasn’t kosher, for lack of a better word.
But I think some of the people were kind of obligated or were torn out of other commitments that it was voluntary, but it wasn’t like, wasn’t like a clean, “We got 100 people who are really happy to be here.”
Keith found out about those circumstances, and he thought that they weren’t good. And he thought that it was not worth doing the event. And that he was going to compensate. He was going to refund everyone personally, and could compensate them for whatever their travel or you know, he would personally compensate them. There was actually a really positive experience even though the weekend was canceled.
Keith had created Question Sets. We all were kind of looking, about how do we want to handle personally? Do we want [the money] refunded? Do we not? Other curriculum Keith has created, he let us use [for that Weekend], and we ended up, most people had a really positive experience even though the weekend was canceled.
So I think actually most people found it really valuable. Like they really learned and saw an example of a very strong leader. And in the [Raniere] trial Mark [Vicente} spoke of this event because the prosecution had heard about it.
And they thought it was a bad thing. I think Mark was now trying to rewrite the history as that this was a scam, that Keith is a scam artist and that’s why this went forward, which is the exact opposite of how this has happened. You know, you can see the video of Mark talking about the event itself [below] and how it wasn’t really an incredible thing, but it happened that way.
But I don’t think people realize when a friend betrays you, how bad they can make things look, and Mark was one of his most trusted friends.
You know, [Mark] he was a leader in our community that held our video archives. He was let in on some of his [Keith’s] most intimate conversations. And I don’t think Mark saw anything bad. But when you know how someone works intimately, it’s very easy to make someone look bad. It’s just like any divorce. It’s like when you leave your spouse, you know, all their antics, and you can start saying how those antics are really bad, you know, no one else sees those.
What Did Raniere Do?
Keith Raniere decided to cancel Weekend #7.
The late Jim Del Negro told me that the SOP leaders poached two students from a class Lauren Salzman taught. This is how they got the 100 men. Lauren told Keith, and he decided to cancel the SOP weekend.
Keith came out from the backroom and addressed the men eager for his teachings. Some 100 men had paid $2000 each – $200,000 – to listen to Keith for a weekend.
This is what Raniere said.
Raniere facing the men seated on a chair on stage: So, I have good news, and bad news, and indifferent news. I created a bit of a mess. So, it’s important so that you understand. As you know, in filling this training, I had an agreement that there was a certain number of people we will put together and all of that.
And yesterday it appeared we made that number. And it seems like that number was actually derived in part in an abuse of power, and abuse of my power. So, the short of it is, a bunch of you, most of you, paid different amounts of money to come here to have a weekend with me.
That money will be refunded to you.
Also, I will pay you personally for your time, the same amount of money you paid me. So, in other words, if you paid to come here, you paid $2,000, to see me, I’m defaulting on that. I will not be able to execute the weekend. So, you get your money back. But I’m also paying you for your time, because you were willing to pay that for mine.
Does that make sense?
The reason why this is and I thought about, ‘Should I pay travel expenses and things along those lines?’ There are a number of reasons ethically why you don’t consider travel expenses. But we need to put in a few other policies for future trainings. One of them will be a training will be either held or canceled, and you will know 15 days in advance.
So, you will be able to book appropriate travel and those sorts of things. The leaders can explain some of what went on, but I apologize. I’m sorry that this happened, I’m sorry that I abused the situation in this way.
And all of you came here for this weekend that I cannot provide. So, I wanted you to know that I value your time, as much as you value mine. So, if you have any thoughts or questions. And then I will turn it over to the leadership. Anyone? Yes.
Man in the audience facing Raniere: I want to just make sure that I’m understanding correctly. The reason why you’re electing to not facilitate the weekend or to participate or make the weekend happen is because there was an abuse of your power. Is that the specific?
Raniere: Yeah, there was specific criteria that I set up where the weekend had to meet that criteria to happen. When the criteria was not met, I made certain allowances that even at the time, I didn’t think we’re necessarily wrongful, but they are wrongful.
So, I can’t find a way – and I’ve been thinking about – to do the weekend without causing more damage and violating the principles.
And I also feel personally, I need to make it right. I need to take on a penance. And the question is what is the appropriate penance? The appropriate penance is, as much as you respect me to pay money to come here to see me, so I respect you. I respect you for doing that. And that’s why that equation exists.
I am sorry. I, you know, I make mistakes. And sometimes I make mistakes unknowingly. But I, I want to make it so it’s as right as possible.
Man in audience 1: Is this specifically with respect to the deadline that was published about having 100 men enrolled, and then extended or?
Raniere: Even that deadline was not as accurate. That’s a translation of what happened. And the fact that it’s a translation of what happened is my doing. Understand it. It’s a mistranslation to some degree. But originally, part of the thing is, alright, here’s a mistranslation.
I will allow for that mistranslation because of my inadequacies, and then in allowing for the mistranslation that propagates an additional thing and an additional thing and an additional thing, and it’s sort of going down a slippery slope. The other leaders can talk in more detail if they want, but ultimately the fact that either things get translated differently, or they’re things I don’t know about, or things I’m not involved with.
Because I head up the movement, I am involved. I take it that way. So, there may be some things I don’t even know about. One of the things that led to this decision was something I found out this morning, as I was finishing the curriculum for actually not today, but tomorrow. The curriculum exists, all set to go this morning, and I found out a piece of information that unraveled a whole series of things. So-
Man in audience 1: I appreciate that. And thank you for your offer of respecting our time. And I feel that, you know, I wouldn’t want to take any more than the cost of my travel. So, if there’s any difference, you know what I mean?
Raniere: I appreciate that. I would prefer, my belief is because there’s some people who might feel that way. And I recognize this and some people who might not. I don’t want there to be public pressure that people need to feel as you do. So, what people want to take or don’t take, I think should be a private matter. So that no one says, ah, this person took the money, or, that person didn’t. You know, so we also have to act like that. It’s very important to act like that ethically.
Man in audience 1: I also feel very good about your decision. There was something that was bothering me about in the week leading up to this so perhaps that’s what we’re dealing with.
Raniere: Yeah, in some ways, I don’t know all the whys and wherefores yet. But I do. I know do know there my whys and wherefores, so I will. And some things I can’t speak to because I don’t know them yet. Yeah. So, thank you.
Man in audience 1: Thank you.
Raniere: Anyone else?
Man in audience 2: Just to be clear. You’re running the weekend or you’re not running the weekend?
Raniere: Not running the weekend. And you can have your money back, and I’m paying you for your time as you would pay me. Yes.
Man in audience 3: Will we have the privilege of having you, coach this weekend, at some other time?
Raniere: Oh, yes, this weekend is what I consider the most important weekend of all. And it’s funny, what leads to this weekend is about this weekend, and even what I’m doing now is about this weekend. Because to me without giving away curriculum, a word is something more than just language. Word it is something that is I don’t want to quote curriculum, but it is so essential. And for me, it is the nature of even why I live. So it’s most important. This is the most important education for me too.
Audience Question 3: Great thanks.
Raniere: You’re welcome. No other questions for now? Or yes?
Man in audience 4: For me, it was a big struggle on these days. However, I have a big lesson about my myself on how I uphold my word or not. Even though we maybe don’t earn the privilege to be here with you, I learn about or what happened because I was of one of the last that signed up. And made a lot of changes to be here on time because I feel the pain if not be here for all of these these guys with I have been interacting with them the past six weekends. So thank you for your words. And thank you for this lesson.
Raniere: You’re welcome. You know, I consider it just as much a lesson for me. So, thank you and having everyone show up. All of you that came from all different places and did all different things.
I deeply honor that. For me, if it’s a choice, and I’ve had the fortune, misfortune in some ways in life, but I consider it very fortunate to give up all my, my material possessions and business and things like that on one side, and not have a good word, or not have. And no one would think in the outside, it was about my word, but it was about my word to me, or give up everything and have my word. It’s, it’s not even a hard decision. There’s no decision. I joyfully do that. When I feel I’ve made this right. I will be very happy with whatever, whatever I put in, because it makes the word stronger. I know. I know.
So thank you. And again, I honor that all of you came here and did this. And I want you to know, thank you so much. And thank you, so anyone else? No? So I’ll turn it over to you guys. And I don’t know if I will see you any more this weekend. I think it depends on what everyone does and decides, and I’ll work it out. Thank you.
Del Negro Speaks to the Men
As soon as Raniere excused himself and left, Jim Del Negro of the High Council spoke to the men. Here is what he said.
Jim Del Negro: Okay, please be seated. Okay, so I’m going to explain to the, to the best of my ability, and you guys can ask questions.
We first scheduled Weekend 7 probably three months ago, and a bunch of us – we didn’t hit our number – but a bunch of us got together. And we committed.
I don’t know how many there were. There might have been 30, 40 guys, and we committed to make this happen, to have 100 people minimum. And we actually committed. We thought we could get 150. And so, my first failure, our failure as, where’s Damon? Do you want to come up Damon?
So, as a High Council, our first failure was not actually driving that in a way that would have gotten the number. So, we allowed that to happen by our non-leadership and are not pushing. So that actually caused the start of everything. After that, we had a number of guys that stepped up and really I think showed a commitment in trying to make it happen this last couple of weeks. And some guys up to the last couple of days were working around the clock calling.
And there was a certain level of enthusiasm to pull together to make this happen. When we thought we had a number right. Then all of a sudden, we realized we didn’t communicate well. Many people here, which I apologize, the most of the people that just came because someone asked and didn’t have any idea [that 100 men was the requirement].
Maybe they didn’t even know about the five o’clock deadline, right? That there needed to be 100 men standing at that point. When we thought that we had people that were going to be short, we could have said that we were going to just cancel the weekend. And we looked at the enthusiasm that guys put in. All the effort that they put in to make it happen. The guys that were coming that didn’t know anything about this and [we] said, ‘This would be a travesty if we didn’t have the weekend.’
So we asked a couple people that were in town doing something else. Actually three people. And they came. Now I abused my power in the sense of asking them without evaluating what’s the effects of that on them personally, and on the people that they were with.
And I proposed this and told them that this was going to be. The Weekend wasn’t going to happen without them. So that’s the abuse of power. Mr. Raniere says he abused his power. He did by proxy. He gave me and us the proxy of his power.
So, when he says he abused his power, he’s being honorable in that we abused our power in that to make this happen. So I’m not sure to me how I’m gonna heal this. But that’s what happened. From my perspective. I don’t know if you guys have anything to add.
Vicente Speaks at Weekend #7
After Jim Del Negro spoke to the men, his co-founder of SOP, Mark Vicente spoke.
Mark Vicente: Yeah, I just want to make it clear again that when he [Raniere] says it’s all his responsibility, that’s what a good leader does.
But there’s a series of things that as you heard that that led up to this moment. One of them is that, as I mentioned yesterday, we hadn’t been, we have not been pushing consistently for the month that led up to this. So, we had a certain emergency mode yesterday.
Now one of the things I recognized for myself, and I abused power as well when I went [to] somebody and said, ‘You know, it would really be good if you would come.’ Now I’ve abused my authority as a leader, as a friend, as a series of things because I personally agreed to do it.
Because we recognized we may be short. So, I apologize for that as well. We’re trying to figure out how to, how to make this right. One of the things I recognize for myself is there’s the principle that’s important to uphold.
If we say 100 men standing, it’s 100 men standing, no matter what. What I tend to do is get all caught up emotionally in making sure shit happens, in worrying about what people will think, and what they will say, and whether they’ll be upset, etc., etc.
And in essence, that principle goes out the window. So yesterday, for myself, and I think for a number of us, probably had that experience where I’m busy focusing on this thing with a certain level of emotionality. Ignoring the most important thing, which is our word.
Worrying about the effects, rather than recognizing if I step back that what we need more than anything is strength. And yesterday, we demonstrated a lack a lack of strength.
In fact, for us, we’ve demonstrated a lack of strength, you know, leading up to this. Everything we’ve been doing or not doing has caused this problem. So, again, we’re not sure exactly where to go from here. I would like to figure out how to fix this. I think that what Mr. Raniere has suggested is, is extremely generous and a very good, very good leader. And I understand this is very unexpected, but this is what he lives by.
He lives by his word. He lives by these things. And he, as he said, he recognized he made certain concessions. Understand, it’s not that he’s involved in every single decision. He is involved. But what he does often is he lets us go screw things up, work on fixing things.
But really this is this is a failure on our part. I think what we want to do is figuring out what to do to fix this. And what to do to fix this in the future inside ourselves. There may be some other people here that want to do the same thing. I’m not sure.
But I know that for the three of us [Del Negro, Brink and Vicente] certainly, yes. Certainly, we want to do that. So we’re not sure exactly what, what we’re going to do next. We might open it up to the floor, unless you have anything else you wanted to share.
Damon Brink ‘It Will Haunt Me the Rest of My Days’
After Vicente had spoken, Damon Brink of the high council spoke.
Damon Brink: I just, on what Mr. Vicente said, Mr. Raniere continues to be resolute in the face of my, our line bending. And it’s painful. But it provides an opportunity that wouldn’t otherwise exist. We continue to bend the line and put the result in front of who we are and how we are. And I think that’s part of the failure for me. So, I’m, I would like to stay and figure out why, and how, and how to take this and never forget and have this haunt me for the rest of my days.
Del Negro Speaks Again
Del Negro spoke again.
Jim Del Negro: I just have one more thing. That I don’t think I’ll fully understand what he [Raniere] just did. But one thing that occurred to me is that he just handcuffed himself for the rest of his life. He cannot do a training without being willing to pay people every head. So, he has to make sure going forward he has enough money in the bank for whatever number he does.
If he does a thousand person training, and he knows there’s a possibility that something can happen, he has to be willing to put up the money to pay people for that 1000 person training. So, this is something that he has an anchor that he’s going to carry because of me, the rest of his life, for what he just did today. So and I’m sure there are other things that I haven’t seen yet.
Witnesses
Eduardo Asunsolo’s video provides five testimonials out of some 100 men. First, there is Eduardo himself and Justin Elliot, from whom we have heard. Now we will listen to three more testimonials. First is Deigo Asunsolo, Eduardo’s brother, and Luis Sandoval.
Besides, we will hear from Jim Del Negro. We heard from Vicente at trial.
Six witnesses speak post facto about the weekend in retrospect. If more than 100 attended, this represents six percent of the attendees.
But their perspectives are essential. They show us a deep inside view of SOP, NXIVM, Raniere, and, to an extent, themselves.
Diego’s Account
Diego Asunsolo: He is the brother of Eduardo, and he attended Weekend 7.
Diego said: A huge lesson in my life from Mr. Raniere. The way, yes, he did cancel the training. But because we didn’t earn it in an honorable way. And he was explaining that that SOP is all about honor and character and commitment, and that we cannot abuse our power to make things happen.
That’s not the way that we wanted to do things in this organization. He stayed there and answered questions of all of us before he left. And he told us, ‘I’m leaving. But I want you to know that I’m going to give you back your money that you paid for this training. But I’m also going to pay you for your time.’
I don’t know if there’s a more responsible way of canceling something than that. And I was there. I was one of those 100 men, and I was not angry.
Luis Sandoval
Another witness is Luis Sandoval.
Luis Sandoval: We were supposed to have 100 men in the room ready so that weekend can be held. What I remember is that there was another of the men lead that we were needed that we needed for the meeting to be held. And this person was doing another training. And he was told to, instead of enrolling in the other training, to come to the SOP weekend, so that we can have the 100 men.
I remember that Keith arrived. And he said the meeting was going to be canceled, and that he was going to make sure that all of the people that paid money to be there was going to be reimbursed. I remember that Keith said that we were not going to do the meeting because that was not okay. And that he didn’t want to be part of that kind of abuse of power, because this guy didn’t want really to be there.
And he was kind of abused into coming to the training.
Del Negro in Retrospect
Jim Del Negro passed away last year in Mexico.
He also explained what happened.
You know, one of the things that he did, which I heard testimony from Mark Vicente, in the trial, that we had a Weekend that we were running, where we had 100 men coming from all over the world and us, the founders, were supposed to gather them. And we were supposed to get to 100 or we weren’t going to run the training.
That’s what we said. Because it was an important training. It was about keeping our word. Right. And one of the things we’re going to keep is that we’re gonna get 100. While we were at like 98, a couple days before the training.
And we talked to a couple guys and convinced them to drop out of another training and come take this training because we needed them to make the 100. We start the training, and he [Raniere] gets word that these two guys, that this happened. And he called the four of us in [Del Negro, Vicente, Brink and Baker] and said ‘we can’t run this training.’ And we said, ‘what?’ He says, ‘we can’t run this training. This was not a good thing that we did, you know,’ and he said, ‘we’. Included himself even though he wasn’t involved.
‘You know, we can’t do this.’ And he basically went out in front of 100 men that flew in from around North and South America and said, ‘I’m sorry, you came here. This is the deal. We did something that wasn’t true. And we can’t have this training because of this.’
And he basically said it was his fault. He said, ‘I’m sorry that this happened. This is totally my fault. It was on my watch. I didn’t put the proper checks in place.’
I can’t remember exactly what he said. But he said, ‘I’m willing to give you a refund. I’m willing to take care of any way that you thought you were damaged by this. You know, if you had to miss things.’ He said ‘I will help you throughout this weekend and figure out things but we’re not going to do the training we said we were going to do, which was on keeping your word.’
And so he basically took it on the chin for us who screwed up, just to uphold the principle. So he took it on the chin financially. He took it on the chin as far as how he looked as a leader. And he just stood up there and did it.
And I heard the transcript from Mark testifying that said that he hid behind us and blamed us, which was totally not true. And a total lie.
And that’s the type of person Keith is, is that he took all of that and constantly did that time and time again, and he’s doing it again.
The Video
Final note: This is a NXIVM story for a few insiders. Few care about a weekend eight years ago. Even less may care about what I think about this. But for the few that might, I will share my observations in a subsequent post.

I’ve never seen a man use so many words to say “I don’t feel like working this weekend.”
This is next level manipulation and an example of playing people for the long game.
Keith is not canceling because they didn’t make 100 participants, they did, he’s cancelling to discredit the honor and word of the high council of SOP. To make certain the followers are aware that he is more ethical and deeply tied to his word than any other.
When the call comes only follow he who is true and whose word has absolute value above all worldly possessions. Many have breached, but my word is of absolute value, follow only me and believe no others.
Wasn’t the full story that supposedly Keith had a new piece of ass he was running off to be with that weekend and that’s the “allegedly” real reason he canceled? I thought I read that somewhere here at the FR. This is why it would be very useful if you had categories displayed for your posts; we could just click on the SOP category and read up.
SOP is a term of art in the kinky sex community. It stands for Swinger, Open (marriage), and Polyamorous.
https://lifehacker.com/the-difference-between-polyamory-swinging-and-an-open-1846943277
So Raniere says join my group of protectors…then tells them, surprise, SOP means I get to fuck your women…so bring me Bonnie, Sarah and Kristin!
“Swinger, Open (marriage), and Polyamorous”, hummm. Nippy (and other SOPers like Hildreth) was at the notorius Necker Isle retreat that was also an orgy — what has Nippy said about that on Little Bit Culty?
Why punish the people who didn’t do anything but pay to take the weekend and show up? There are other creative ways of making the same point. Why not make the organizers leave? Because they’re the ones that allegedly fell short. If it’s so important to you that somebody be punished?
Anytime any person makes a big show of demonstrating what a principled or ethical person they are, then guaranteed a hundred percent you know they are a con man.
It’s a lesson, but not the one Keith is pretending. This is how to spot a fraudster 101.
So much of what Keith did was theater and manipulation. It was setting the groundwork to be a predator undetected. And have all these fools believe that Keith could never do anything but good. This was just more conditioning
Preach. Spot on.
Keith clearly blames other people with his faux modesty…it’s soooooo manipulative! He thinks a few people not wanting to be there was abuse of power? Really?? And then the sycophants drooling all over his greatness…Classic Raniere!
I am so fascinated by the SOP side of Nxivm history. I’d love to see more footage like this, and I’m interested in seeing the SOP “modules” also. I would’ve thought that more of this stuff would’ve leaked out to the public by now.
— “I’m interested in seeing the SOP modules”—
Yeah, like the module that taught men to cum on their women’s faces to show ownership. I wonder if any women attended this module, or what the women thought when their “men” did their homework.
I remember this weekend fondly!
It was so nice to make the acquaintance of these men as well as their wives and lovers.
I wouldn’t be nearly as successful as I have without the support of Keith, Mark, Jim, Damon and Mike.
HPV-
LMAO!
Raniere had such high standards. He couldn’t live up to them, but all his followers had to.
Keith Raniere strikes me as the type of person who, if he were a judge in a case of someone who stole baby food, would hit that person with the maximum possible fine because theft just isn’t ethical. He would probably not only fine that person but order the child to be taken away as well. Because, ethics, you know?
This is absurd. But Raniere is clearly masterful – his “lieutenants” are so blindly loyal. Mark talks about “question sets”- do we want to refund? If so, how? Seven year olds could do this “work” and “teaching”.
It gives great insight into NXIVM and shows how powerful psychopaths like Raniere are.
Thankfully, he’s in prison.
I don’t like Vicente but don’t believe this proves him to be a liar at all. He didn’t have total recall but did remember he and a few others were left to deal with the 90+ men, which is accurate.
Keith’s brief statements were total bs- used to feign personal accountability while publicly shaming and belittling the “failures” of those he relied upon, before he made his dramatic exit.
Can Eduardo or anyone inform the public how much money Keith actually refunded? If he had any morals, he would have given blanket refund to every person.
Total manipulator. Making a moment out nothing.
I’m guessing it was credit toward future courses – basically worthless – after a bunch of arm twisting to forfeit it for “ethics” There’s no way in hell these people give cash back.
The main take away from this is that Vicente was not telling the whole truth to Frank and to the court about this event. He made Keith look unsympathetic. However, cancelling the event for this reason is totally disproportionate.
What a bunch of pussies talking about “honor”. A group of men calling themselves “society of protectors” can’t be taken seriously. This name is worse then “oathkeepers” or “proudboys”. They had better joined the boyscouts, where they might have actually learned something about building character.
Sop, dictionary definition:
noun; a thing of no great value
Maybe the name was Kieth’s sly insult to his SOP boys.
100%
Even if this is true, the ultimate insult/joke is on the douchebag “the Vanguard”, who now gets to spend the rest of his life in prison for playing jokes on others and much more. He thought he was funny and slick. But who’s laughing and has the most joy now?
Thanks for posting. My favorite parts:
1. Keith’s words. This is such a perfect example of his word salad. If anyone in the audience had any balls they would have said. “Yes Mr Vanguard. I have a follow-up question. What the fuck did you just say????”
2. Jim calling up Damon to stand next to him so he didn’t have to figure out what to say on his own.
3. Jim babbling about how Keith set a precedent that forever, he’ll need enough money in the bank to cover the tuition of a 1000 person seminar. (Luckily Vanguard makes 100K an hour and has a side business of being a millionaire maker.)
4. Lauren snitching
5. Out of the 100 attendees, we can’t get anyone’s take, other than Vicente (who basically misremembered the entire thing), dead-enders and relatives of dead-enders.
6. The picture of Keith kissing Vicente .In fact, I think half the reason Frank wrote the article was to give himself an excuse to repost the picture.
Wow KAR is such a smart scumbag and con man.
It was unethical for smartest man in the world to spend two days teaching his crap to 98 believers because just 2 guys were conned into taking his con course for the weekend.
Seems like all he did was identify the marks by how many of the 98 would not ask for a refund and reimburse of their time, while the Lt’s were obligated to pay that sum demanded.
A test of the Lt’s ability to sell his crap ideas with their money at risk, if they can’t convince the attendees it was canceled for ethical reasons, and they were chosen to come to this ethics course, so would it be ethical for them to demand a refund plus their time.
KAR must have put Vicente into an ethical quandary that only sleeping with Bonnie (Vicente’s wife) would solve. She gives it up and makes it all better. No question what Edweirdo had to do.
What an enlightening story.
KAR had his ethics, Vicente had Bonnie, fair exchange. How did Sarah get KAR’s initials and almost give up her treasures with help from her husband and best friend.
Just wild, under the covers of ethics.
For all of Mark Vicente, Keith Raniere and JZ Knight’s blather about “Quantum Reality” and other esoteric realities, do their musings about the universe put food in people’s bellies, roofs over people’s heads, or clothes on people’s backs?
To get down to brass tacks, “Money Talks and Bullshit Walks.”
Vicente is only a hero to those who do not understand the meaning of the word heroism.
What The Bleep Do We Know?
I thought it pretentious crap then and now.
ShadowState1954-
Thanks for sharing this. What a shit fest of a movie.
If Keith wanted to punish is SOPers for their ethical breech, he could have just denied them his penis for a couple days, giving it only to their women.
People keep treating Mark Vicente as a great philosopher or scientist instead of what he really is.
A man with scrambled brains who associates with con artists like J. Z. Knight and Keith Raniere.
A filmmaker whose magnum opus is written in word salad and verbal vomit.
Take a trip down the rabbit hole with Mark Vicente’s magnum opus “What the Bleep Do We Know?”
From “The Music Man”:
Pick a little
Talk a little
Pick, pick, pick
Talk a lot
Pick a little more
That’s what I heard while reading this. What a screwed up bunch of men. They are toxic to each other.
Sorry, but they’re all a bunch of fools. Raniere didn’t have any “curriculum” ready to go and it was an easy out. The master procrastinator found a word salad excuse that would make him look “ethical” rather than look like an irresponsible, unprepared ass. Nothing new for Raniere.
Why was his RPI GPA so low? – a lot of work that wasn’t done or turned in when it was supposed to be turned in.
I’d like to see confirmation of all those reimbursements because I’d lay odds a good chunk of that $200,000 stayed in NXIVM hands. Just not in the hands of anyone who actually put in any real work to make that weekend happen.
I think that is an important point, and it would be good to know how many people got a refund.
Anonymous
May 10, 2022 at 9:28 am:
“Hey Frank,”
“Can you please do the article on Michele Hatchette blaming white people for NXIVM’s destruction now?!…….”
“Please?! We’ve waited long enough! Please reply!”
Frank Parlato
May 10, 2022 at 9:31 am:
“Where does she blame white people for NXIVM’s destruction?”
Patriot God:
I believe this is what you’re both looking for, Ginzo! 👇🏻
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HfBHCpSx_9Y
Click this video link ☝🏻and watch this video at 12:20-13:25!
Wake up and see the truth! Listen to how ungrateful this vermin is and blasphemes the greatest race who ever lived!
Will you be fair, Ginzo?! You who have called me a made up word, “racist”! Will you use that word for her as well?! Will you call out her hypocrisy in a permeating “woke” dystopia?! Or will you cower to marxist agenda like you usually do?! 🤔
This is why if they don’t want to be saved, we should just let their destructive nature destroy themselves! They do nothing to contribute to this world but create chaos and destruction anyways! 😤
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
✊🏻 IF WE BELIEVE!!!!!! ✊🏻
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
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✊🏻 THERE’S A BETTER WAY!!!!!!! ✊🏻
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I luv your posts L. It is hilarious reading what a douchebag Raniere is from someone who had such an inside perspective. Nevertheless, I’m sorry for your bad experience with him.
I’ve always thought he was an egotistical douchebag from the first time I heard he called himself the Vanguard and held a ten day birthday celebration for himself, and was stupefied as to how anyone with a still functioning mind would think such a clown could be considered an ethical role model. Self-centeredness and self-aggrandizement has always been considered the opposite of virtue.
He just spews inauthenticity to me and like you implied, this entire dialogue reflected the same ingenuousness, and just seemed like a way to weasel out of a commitment he made by turning it around on others while still trying to make himself look good. How often has the douchebag lied about things and himself in making grandiose claims, yet he wants others to think a person’s word is so valuable? Now he’s trying to lie that he never took those pictures of Cami, and that FBI agents who have to swear an actual ethical oath before they can get a job framed him. By his own criteria, he’s a terrible person. What a hypocritical vomit.
Lol. Good point, L. I bet he just wasn’t prepared and was looking for an out. This way, his procrastination wouldn’t be exposed, and he could make massive progress in the “nothing is more important than ethics” con.
Yeah – here’s what gives it away:
“One of the things that led to this decision was something I found out this morning, as I was finishing the curriculum for actually not today, but tomorrow. The curriculum exists, all set to go this morning…”
Oops.. gave it away that curriculum wasn’t completed yet… so no, “it was for TOMORROW” (for a weekend that’s been planned for months)… oops, now he’s created possible questions, so quick – double down “THE CURRICULUM EXISTS…”
Geez – it’s like a teen trying to convince you the dog ate the homework that he really DID do complete with all the nervous tells that say he was really up playing video games all night (or in Raniere’s case, playing other games).
L
I caught that too!
L – I love your comments, always a favorite! In this instance though, I respectfully disagree. Whenever keith can find a reason to torment, humiliate, or destroy, he will do it. So, he was presented an opportunity and I think he thought it’d be hilarious to ruin everybody’s day. So really, he was just being an asshole.
Perhaps. Certain facial expressions and his body language looked to me like Raniere when he is nervous. He’s relaxed by the end of it when he knows his BS has been accepted as “truth”. But I gotta agree he was being an asshole. He generally is!
L- Very good point! It sounds like he caught himself before he said today’s curriculum and changed it to tomorrow’s to make it sound like he was a teensy bit more prepared than he truly was.
Words mean something. What is shocking about this post? Nothing.
This information has been out since the trial. It’s already been posted here. The only part of this embarrassing he said-he said back-and-forth nonsense that is shocking is that instead of testifying under oath on behalf of their Vanguard, these cowards waited years to testify on social media and a Blog. Which by their own determination is worthless because it’s not under oath.
These NXIVM people are all clowns and not worth their weight in shit.
Let’s talk about a real tragedy that is confronting innocent people right now.
In the meantime America is facing a crisis caused by our fearless leaders.
It seems that there is a shortage of baby formula.
Joe Biden knows how to squeeze bribe money from foreign countries but can not provide food for young babies.
It is the hallmark of a country run by Communists that the people are starved by greedy government officials.
And if you think the fun ends there wait until the Biden regime begins to starve all Americans with a government organized famine.
You folks who did not like Trump’s Tweets, how do you like the government organized famine that Joe Biden has given us?
Do you miss Trump yet?
The Baby Formula Shortage Is BAD
Shadow says: “Do you miss Trump yet? The Baby Formula Shortage Is BAD”
A potential bacteria outbreak led to the February shutdown of a Michigan factory that makes Similac formula, and the plant still has not reopened.
So, based on T-Rump’s demonstrated medical knowledge, he would reopen the factory, have babies drink the contaminated formula, but mix it with bleach to kill the bacteria.
Derek Thompson of The Atlantic has noted. Donald Trump exacerbated the situation with a trade policy that made it harder to import formula from Canada. These policies benefit American formula makers, at the expense of families.
There is hidden homosexuality in these people. Before I saw the photo, it came to my mind before. All this is mixed with admiration. It’s just an opinion or intuition.
Mark and Jim were a great team. I miss Jim. He was a great soldier for goodness.
Just wanted to point out that time and effort was put into this whole presentation. In other words, they think that this actually matters and is going to have some kind of impact in turning the tide about Keith rRniere. It’s hard to even type this without laughing.
Too bad they didn’t get to all circle up again and slap the shit out of each other. That would be a recording worth watching.
Why didn’t the smartest man in the world have an RSVP system in place and if they didn’t have the magic number of cucks to attend, cancel it a week before?
This is so stupid. Frank, you are really destroying any credibility left by doing PR for these embarrassing goons.
This is supposed to discredit Mark completely? This battle of opinions, interpretation and memory of something really dumb? Years later?
Why didn’t those brave Raniere lovers TESTIFY IN COURT? And tell their very uncompelling rebuttal IN COURT? Under oath? Did I mention, in court? During the trial? As a witness for the defense? IN COURT?
I think it is an honest insight into the world of NXIVM and SOP. It is not for everybody. It is not even important.
I’m curious, do you think it makes Raniere look good?
Because you asked… No.
But…do I think that the loyalists to Keith Raniere think that it makes Keith look good? Yes.
And the loyalists believe it makes Mark Vicente look less good. So they mistakenly believe it is a real high-mark toward proving the trial was a sham.
Which is tragically sad for them.
For my part, it was a fascinating slice of NXIVM history and showed Raniere in a way that spoke volumes. This was much more about Raniere than Mark V.
And yes, I think the supporters of Raniere think it makes him look good. If it were me, I would have done the weekend, 98 men or not.
If it were you, you might have had something to present, imagine that? You hold a weekend workshop for which you actually prepare sufficient learning materials and are ready to go… But not Raniere, it’s exactly as L points out. Money back for cancellation of service or goods is standard. Not proof of ascended anything, except efficiency of common law.
Crap teachers do this on occasion in my game – you know they haven’t cancelled their much vaunted extra curric. nonsense because ‘their dog died’ but because they are lazy f*cks who like to present as virtuous but plainly lack the backbone and sense of duty to follow through on the self-promo, leaving others to voice their lame excuses and deal with the fallout.
Did anyone actually get their money back?
Did anyone ask for their money back and not get it?
I think this might be a great example – similar to the characterizations made by Sarah Edmonson that she ‘wept the whole time’ during her branding ceremony – of how this group of people reported their experiences while in NXIVM to the outside world.
I wonder what ramifications these details have for the lawsuit.
Does PhillyNeil® know the details here?
How will he address them?
Alanzo
What are your updated thoughts on PhillyNeil? Unless I just missed it, I didn’t expect radio silence from you after the Scio lawsuit.
I’ve read the lawsuit, which makes much more sense than Philly’s NXIVM one. I am familiar with Valeska Paris, but more familiar with her sister, Melissa, who is for some reason not part of the lawsuit.
Melissa and Valeska had their family destroyed by Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder and David Miscavige, then were kidnapped and held on the Freewinds, Scientology’s cruise ship. as children. This was in retaliation for the activism of their highly trained mother, Ariel Jackson, who was the first person to release Scientology’s confidential OT 8 onto the Internet.
Melissa was part of a TV show that was set to air on A&E, exposing all this, when Mike Rinder and Leah Remini presented their “Scientology and the Aftermath” to the network. Melissa’s show was canceled, and Mike Rinder’s, the former head of OSA, show was chosen to air.
Mike and Leah had no episodes about kidnappings, murders made to look like suicides, or anything that would make any changes to Scientology, or put anyone into criminal jeopardy – especially David Miscavige.
The last I spoke with Melissa was a few years ago. She had just finished a degree in criminology and told me that she was working out a strategy.
I believe her.
Let me just say one thing: You don’t fuck with Melissa Paris.
Neal’s lawsuit has made me very curious and hopeful about what’s going on here, and it’s going to be a path of reporting for me.
Let’s hope what happened to NXIVM happens to Scientology.
And let’s hope Philly Neil can ignite that legal spark again.
Alanzo
Thanks for the info. WIll be interesting to see what transpires.
Alanzo,
I’m curious in regards to the following quotes:
“Melissa and Valeska had their family destroyed by Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder…”
“Melissa’s show was canceled, and Mike Rinder’s, the former head of OSA, show was chosen to air.”
Why the hell didn’t you explain these facts before, you went off ripping on
Mike Rinder for months. People think your a nutty malcontent. Apparently you aren’t too nutty; you’re just an a deeply, flawed communicator.
Also, you should explain how Mike Rinder destroyed a relationship you had with someone you cared about. I’m not mentioning whom, because it’s your business.
***
The following statement by you seems INCONGRUOUS with everything you’ve previously posted on the Frank Report:
“Let’s hope what happened to NXIVM happens to Scientology.
And let’s hope Philly Neil can ignite that legal spark again.”
It’s like WTF, is this really Alanzo……
Please explain!
***
In the future, you might want to elucidate in a more lucid manner, the reasons for your various feelings and stances on certain topics, before you start the “diatribe and tangent”, monologues; else your anger and rage seem misplaced and nutty.
In other words improve your communication skills!
Have a nice weekend and try not to dry-hump the neighborhood dogs. Somethings are incurable, unrepairable, and permanent. You don’t know until you abstain.
One minute Allen Stanfield is claiming the victim of an FBI frame-up and in league with the dead-enders saying he should be freed.
The next he is saying Scientology deserves the NXIVM treatment.
Of course, for Stanfield it is always the fault of Mike Rinder and Marty Rathbun is his hero.
Mental illness is sad to watch, but it is humorous in Stanfield’s case.
The Edmonson, Vicente Group ?
The center owners ?
Hey Marshmallow Boy (Alanzo)
Did you know that Sarah Edmondson’s branding video was heavily edited,,,,,
……Before the Mexican contingent of NXIVM released video to the Mexican media.
Now run along and mull it over, while you stuff RingDings®️ down your blowhole.
Except Frank seen (and verified) the UNedited version and affirms this as truth.
No weeping but laughing. No 60 minutes of burning flesh but 2 minutes totaling 7 strokes with a tool that can be bought online…and a thank you at the end.
This is all the dead-end and Frank have on Mark Vicente after years?
Mark clearly says he’s unsure on some things or best that he can recollect.
Wow. Such cult desperation
Bonnie is in a new Star Wars project.
“actor” Eduardo is starring in this homemade tripe.
Looooosssseeerr
Not so much fun when the camera is pointed @ you , Mark or so it seems.
I would join this group. The leader said it fair and straight.
I don’t know if I do agree that it should be canceled. But I see his point. They said they would gee 100 and did not get the 100.
Why is this little guy doing a two face? 1 he says he was wrong 2 he says the leader is wrong. Two face.
I wish a group like this existed. Men need to be protectors and keep their word not like the little guy who two faces. He needs to go back to the class to keep his word.
Who are these men “protecting”? You didn’t study hard at Nxivm University or you would know that women aren’t supposed to ask men to protect them.
Women need to stand up for themselves. But women also need to shut their bitch holes, paddle each other naked, starve themselves, get blackmailed, get branded on their vagina and give Keith a group blow job and close up pussy porn on demand.
Really what else is there to protect these women from? Child porn? Keith’s done it. Raping teenage virgins? Check!
This is fascinating.
One question, though:
How many men who showed up to this “men’s weekend” – besides the Retired Ice Dancer – actually kissed Keith Raniere on the lips?
Did these men kiss each other on the lips when they greeted each other at the airport, at hotels, and when they showed up for the meeting?
If a man kissed a man on the lips when he greeted another man at the airport, did you kiss that same man on the lips when you saw him the next day?
Just how much man-on-man lip kissing was actually going on during this weekend?
Alanzo
Sounds like Alonzo is turned on like a 10,000 watt light bulb.
***
Alonzo, now that I’m aware of your sexuality, I will never tease you regarding this topic again. Sincerely.
Did you hunger for Emily to peg you in the cottage last weekend?
Glory be! All these odd and specific inquiries by Alonzo regarding make-out sessions……
……I wonder if Alanzo desires to inhabit their shit lockers.
Legit questions that we all deserve answers to. I saw no man on man spit swapping, but I guess things changed over the years…?
NutJob,
If you were part of the group how do we know you’re telling the truth? Duh.
Circa jerk anyone…………
If I wasn’t part of the group, how do you know I’m telling the truth? Duh.
You seem honest and intelligent. I think I’ll choose to believe everything you type.
Just the previous Ramatha follower then?
Sounds like Alonzo is turned on like a 10,000 watt light bulb.
Re Alanzo and kissing- It is a good question and one I hadn’t considered. How many smooches happened daily?
Nutjob was the kissing a thing back in your day (not being a smartass I swear) or did it happen later?
Oh and unless you a purchasing a nonrefundable ticket to something or attending the FYRE event, I believe standard protocol is a refund.
Missouri,
NutJob never kissed a man……
He just gave some of the guys CPR.
Old story. How about that DOS handbook post? Doesn’t fit the new agenda on Frank Report?
What a bunch of pussies!
High Council of Pussies. Men could join SOP and be just like them 🤡
Exactly, Natashka!
My thoughts exactly. Not the type I would want protecting me.
I admire the strength and honesty of these men, especially Jim Del Negro
They got busted because they stole attendees from Keith’s girlfriend’s class and worried they’d get kicked out of their little clown fraternity 🤡
9:53
🖕🏻
Raniere was training these men to act at a moment’s notice without question.
No one in SOP could answer the question “Act for what?” They were being trained as an army for Raniere who kept their word, but the word was Raniere’s.
Ask yourself, what could Raniere have been planning for with an army of men who did not question his word but just acted, not exploring the ethics of who or what they were acting for? Readiness drills day and night. And if you asked them “Ready for that?” They didn’t have an answer.
The way he handled that canceled weekend locked so many of them in as abject followers.
Very useful post.
Raniere seems to have acted transparently and ethically.
I admire the participants learning ethics, integrity and discipline. No one seems to blame anyone and people are learning to be strong leaders.
They got busted cheating and lying by a girl. SOP empowers men. 🤡
Is parroting lies about Rainier and his alleged accomplishments really good leadership?
Damon Brink has even acknowledged those grandiose claims are false.
Is it ethical to take money from people and have them travel under fraudulent circumstances? The man scheduled to speak had not accomplished what the organizers claimed.
That’s a grift. A fraud. A con.
And we come full circle. Spot on with this.
This ethics act of Keith’s, was absolutely not new. It was part of the con. It was what Keith did. However, this was Keith taking it to a whole other level. Everyone who read this article can see how and why this “ethics” angle/con helped Vanguard reach his goals.
Whoooooo Hoooooooooo!
Dead horse bourguignon again today at the prison commissary!
Dish up, people!
This is different than what Mark said he said.
Yes, it is. Mark is a big, lying, cheating clown like the rest of these little SOP members. Viva empowering men’s success 🤡
But Mark said it under oath. That is the standard for believing a person the dead-enders setup.
No one should believe Camila. Her statement was not made under oath.
That’s what the dead-enders say over and over and over and over again. If it was so important to Eduardo or any of these (and I use the term very Loosely) men to tell a different version of this story, then why did they not get on the witness stand and tell it under oath?
The cult followers insist that under oath is the gold standard for being believed.
Yet none of them testified for the defense to tell a different version of a fairly benign story that there’s no real risk for recounting. Under oath.
Why not? And how can we believe them now by their own reckoning they have said we cannot believe even a child who was victimized unless she has told us everything under oath, right?
Yeah, people remember things differently. They may even experience them differently and Mark was cross-examined. They could have cleared this up during the trial. Just like all these dead-ender guys could have testified during the trial and told what they believe to be the truth under oath. But they didn’t. Because they’re a pack of pussies and didn’t want anyone to ask them questions on the stand and to open themselves up for other questions about their own criminal behavior. Or because they’re lying? Just like they keep accusing Camila of lying. Because she wasn’t under oath. And neither are they.
Raniere is inspirational. Totally different than he is portrayed. A genius principle honors he sticks to his word.
You’d probably enjoy being one of his followers. Go for it. Let us know how it works out.
When I saw how he did not care about money in the video, I felt a sensation of joy. He cares about people. He didn’t give a damn about money. I was deeply touched. Do you know how I can contact him? Do you know him?
Sounds like Keith can’t get to the phone right now but please leave a message with his Power of Attorney available on twitter
Course not – wasn’t his money. Clare would cover anything that actually was repaid (if anything was actually repaid.)
You can contact him at the sex offender prison he lives in now and for the rest of his life. The man very much cared about money. He took enormous amounts of money from Clare Bronfman. He lost enormous amounts of other people’s money. He participated in identity fraud of a deceased woman so he could gain – you guessed it – money! Keith loves money. He loves spending other people’s money. So, if you want to get close to him it would help if you are very, very rich.
On a separate note, I am sincerely worried about you. You cannot just see somebody on a YouTube video and decide that you need to contact them because they gave you the impression that they don’t care about money. That sounds like a very dangerous lifestyle choice. Be safe!
He didn’t seem to care about money because it wasn’t his money. It was his sugar mama Clare’s money.
“Character and honor”. What a joke.
These so-called men come across as a bunch of whiny, squabbling, prevaricating children. Mark Vicente wouldn’t know the truth if it hit him in the face with a wet towel. They cheat and when they get caught they crow about what a great lesson it has all been. Raniere walks out on his obligation and makes it seem like he’s doing a fine thing.
And then all these “men” obediently lick his boots.
I wonder how many of these pathetic rabbits actually got their travel expenses reimbursed? Raniere was infamous for withholding funds. And they all seem far too intimidated by their Vanguard to insist.
Maja Miljkovic was one of the women who took SOP sessions as Nxivm encouraged. These sessions resembled “schoolyard bullying, complete with name-calling”. The men gave the women sexualized nicknames and sneaked photos of their bodies, then did a “best in show” slideshow. This was what “character and honor” meant in Raniere’s world.
SOP was nothing more than antiquated misogyny. “Character and honor” my rosy pink ass.
I wasn’t there so you may be right about the misogyny. And, if so, that is distasteful.
I personally found it helpful listening to the video.
It’s more than just distasteful. The misogyny is part of the whole culture at Nxivm that led to abuses of women like Daniela and young girls like Cami. In this community, the misogyny was dangerous and damaging.
Misogyny is why a fat ass broke dummy like Damon Brink was held up as a leader but a wealthy successful attractive woman like Allison Mack was starved, silenced, branded, and tormented. Reduced to a being a personal pornstar sharing a man with at least 25 other women and hoping not to be paddled or locked in a cage in an Albany basement.
Lost sight in all this caterwauling and bellyaching is that the entire weekend was based on fraudulent advertising to begin with. keith did not make 1,000 millionaires so any talk of ethicful activity in nonsenseful.
I would have asked the following questions:
1 . Can we please change the name of this club?
2. What the hell does VCB mean on that shield thingy?
3. This is the 7th weekend of this shit. Has anybody actually achieved anything in all this time?
Speaking of “Butt Camp”…