News of NXIVM – Old Faces and New Stories

by Paul Serran

Now that ‘The Vow Part 2’ has premiered on HBO, the eyes of the world once again turn to the misadventures of the people from that Albany multi-level-marketing-scam-turned-sex-cult.

Keith Raniere, Nancy Salzman and their not-so-merry band have hit the web in a series of news pieces that we have aggregated here for you.

The most consequential news breaking this week concerns Nancy Salzman, the ‘longtime Raniere underboss known as Prefect co-founded cult-like company’.

‘Former NXIVM president Nancy Salzman may have a starring role in the second season of HBO’s “The Vow,” but the longtime Halfmoon woman is no longer part of a civil lawsuit filed by scores of victims of the cult-like organization that she co-founded with Keith Raniere.

The latest filings in the civil case in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn showed that more than 60 plaintiffs have dropped their suits against Salzman, her daughter, former NXIVM education director Lauren Salzman, and another former high-ranking NXIVM member, Karen Unterreiner. All three women have disavowed Raniere, 62, the purported self-help guru known as “Vanguard” who is now widely viewed as a cult leader.

The Salzmans both pleaded guilty to racketeering-related charges in 2019 before Raniere, also of Halfmoon, went to trial. Nancy Salzman, 68, known as “Prefect,” is serving a three-and-a-half year sentence in Hazelton federal correctional facility in West Virginia. Lauren Salzman, 46, the prosecution’s star witness against Raniere, is serving five years probation. Unterreiner was never charged.’

Read more on the Times Union.

As it was bound to happen, some of the ‘news’ being written about are actually old pieces of information that the readers of the Frank Report have known and debated for many years.

‘There are, however, a few startling revelations in The Vow Part II, such as Salzman’s recollection of the time Raniere let NXIVM exec Pam Cafritz, who was dying of cancer, lay in her own feces while he finished his morning breakfast, or Lauren Salzman’s testimony that Raniere was constructing “a BDSM sex-torture dungeon” for the members of DOS, the all-female sorority within NXIVM whose members were branded and served as Raniere’s sex slaves.’

The main attraction seems to be a part of the story that producers of ‘The Vow’ withheld from the viewers in order to make for shock material in this second season.

‘The most disturbing part of the docuseries is the story of Camila, Daniela and Marianna, three sisters from Monterrey, Mexico, who joined NXIVM as teenagers. After the girls’ parents fell under Raniere’s spell, he convinced them to ship Daniela and Marianna to Albany, New York, and have them study under him.’

read more on the Daily Beast.

With each passing documentary, podcast or article, the cast of characters in this real life drama become more and more familiar to the public.

So there’s naturally going to be a curiosity going around about the fate of Clare Bronfman, Allison Mack, Nancy and Laura Salzman, and of course the band-leader Keith Raniere.

‘After more than two years and many high-profile trials and sentencing in the world of NXIVM, HBO’s The Vow is back for Season Two.

While last season focused on the inner-workings of the multi-level marketing scheme turned sex cult, this season (which premiered October 17 on HBO, continuing to air on Monday nights through the end of November), focuses on the criminal proceedings that have followed. Here’s where all the major players in the organization are now, and the details of their sentences.’

Read more on the Esquire.

He speaks! A feature of the NXIVM saga is that so far, everyone had a voice in telling this story, but the central character of the play. Not anymore. ‘The Vanguard’ decided to give an interview, that the uninformed media thinks it’s his first since his arrest, but it’s not – we all know that Frank Parlato interviewed him from prison in October 24th, 2020 – 2 years ago, almost to the day.

‘NXIVM founder Keith Raniere, in his first [actually second] interview since his 2018 arrest, said he was at first “embarrassed” and then honored by the female members in the cult who had his initials branded into their skin.

“In a way, [I felt] almost embarrassed,” he told “Dateline NBC.” “Well, if it was Albert Einstein’s initials, no one would care. And then I thought, if it was Brad Pitt’s initial maybe you’d have some jealous husband. But that’s not what I’m like. So I took it as an honorary thing, a tribute thing. And that brand was going to be tattooed over anyway. It was symbolic.”

While he denied being the mastermind behind the branding, he said he felt “responsible” for “all the damages” he participated in. “It’s not just a matter of, ‘Did I cause it all myself?’ I’m involved in the cause of it. And for that, that haunts me forever,” he said.’

Read more on Bustle.

Another aspect of NXIVM that is being unfurled to the general public with this new ‘The Vow’ is the group of people who still stand by NXIVM, DOS and the Raniere legacy.

Michelle Hatchette was featured in a profile in which she shared her worldviews, and also threatened to doxx the people who are anonymously suing Keith Raniere.

‘Hatchette’s brief appearance in the first episode solidifies her stance as a supporter of Raniere and NXIVM, and she recently made headlines after saying she wanted to publicly out 12 anonymous people who are suing Raniere in a federal court case. In a video posted to Instagram, Hatchette said, “For those of you who are Jane and John Does watching this, this is your last opportunity to come forward and put your name to your claims. If you don’t, it is my moral obligation to name every single one of you. The clock starts now.”’

‘Hatchette appears in Season 2 and immediately rejects the idea that the members are “brainwashed bitches doing Keith’s bidding,” calling that characterization “insulting.” Hatchette shares the origin story of her involvement in the NXIVM and DOS groups, saying that she found the group after going through a particularly hard breakup that left her suicidal. Mack recruited Hatchette into the group, outlining that NXIVM was just for women and would help her out of her distress. DOS (Dominus Obsequious Sororium) became the nucleus for the sex trafficking charges as members were encouraged into a master/slave relationship and were allegedly branded with Raniere’s initials.’

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How’s that for a start? We will keep an eye on the developments here, as more articles and news pieces keep being published. If you have some example about new media looks into NXIVM, drop it in the comments!

Paul Serran