Susan Dones Wants an Apology From Nancy Salzman; ‘She Needs to Wake Up’

Susan Dones has a few comments on Nancy Salzman now that the BOP has released her from prison to a halfway house in Albany, NY.

Dones joined NXIVM in December 2000, stayed about ten years, and headed the Seattle-Tacoma NXIVM Training Center.

Dones said the BOP released Salzman from FCI Hazelton to deal with her medical issues at a halfway house.

“She was not considered sick enough for home confinement or a hospital,” Dones said.

Though Salzman is in the last year of her sentence, Dones does not think she realizes the harm she did to others.

“Has Nancy Salzman fully awakened and taken responsibility for her actions in NXIVM? Not in my opinion,” Dones said in a recent comment. “She has not even come close to coming clean of her sins.”

Salzman appeared in Season 2 of HBO’s ‘The Vow”. She blamed Raniere and claimed she didn’t know about the criminal side of NXIVM.

“Denial,” Dones said, “can be a beautiful thing. It might be the only way Salzman can hold it together.

“But I know (and so do others) that it wasn’t all Keith Raniere.

“When I was in NXIVM, I (and others) confronted Nancy on the ethical, moral, and illegal BS in NXIVM. She can’t say she didn’t know. She knew and did nothing to stop Raniere. She fucking helped him.”

Psychiatric Nurse Claim

In the past, Dones enumerated some of the illegal and immoral things Salzman knew about. In her early days of NXIVM, Dones said Salzman told people she was a psychiatric nurse.

“Salzman attempted to tell me that her training in NLP qualified her to be a psychiatric nurse. This was a lie she told all the time,” Dones said. “I knew she didn’t have the licenses to do that. This was insurance fraud and when the bills went into the mail, it was also mail fraud.”

Tax Evasion

Dones recalls being approached by Salzman about evading taxes, which she wanted her to do since Raniere believed paying taxes was “unethical.”

“I was under constant pressure from Ms. Salzman… because I would not mind bend into her way of thinking.”

Dones is skeptical about Salzman’s claims of being forced by Raniere, let alone unaware of what went on.

“The company was in her name. She could have gone to the Feds at any time and ended it.”

An Extortion Bid

Dones told the story of how  Salzman once tried to “feel her up” in a car, which Dones suspects was “a seduction assignment given to Mama Salzman by Vanguard/Keith Raniere.”

Dones had no romantic feelings for Salzman.

Later, Nancy insisted Susan write a letter professing she had a romantic or sexual interest in her as a “test” based on NXIVM’s teachings, which Susan reluctantly did.

Susan informed her spouse about the coerced letter.

Financial Exploitation

Dones said Salzman and others strong-armed her into paying $30,000 for multiple levels of training, putting her deeply into debt.

She once commented, “It was like shark-infested waters with the inner circle chumming the waters feeding on people to stay.”

Illegal Financial Activities

In 2009, Dones claims Salzman admitted that NXIVM evaded taxes on millions of dollars received from Mexican members and hid the cash in her basement.

“She told me about their money laundering and tax evasion from Mexico. She could have stopped it, but didn’t because she got a huge cut.”

When the FBI raided Salzman’s house, agents recovered more than $500,000, in cash.

Dones said when Salzman told her about the money laundering scheme, she left NXIVM and shut her center down.

“I was not going to be part of a criminal organization,” Dones said.

After she left in 2009, Dones had a protracted legal battle against NXIVM, which required her to go pro se because she couldn’t afford an attorney.

“Salzman tried to get me arrested and signed papers for NXIVM to come after me, with seven attorneys to sue me,” Dones said.

During the battle over Dones’ bankruptcy, NXIVM’s attorneys used the letter Susan wrote to Salzman against her to portray her as a jilted lover.

The bankruptcy judge, Brian D. Lynch, dismissed NXIVM’s claims against Susan, criticizing their legal tactics and stating that Susan’s only “fault” was leaving the organization.

Dones said, “Did I at one time look up to and respect Nancy? Yes. Was I in love with her or crushed out on her? No. She betrayed me, she emotionally abused me, and she used me for her personal financial gain.”

Apology?

According to Dones, Nancy never publicly apologized to anyone but her daughter Lauren.

“Everyone else, including Clare Bronfman, made a public statement of regret for what their actions created, except for Keith Raniere and Nancy Salzman,” Dones said.

Dones would appreciate an apology.

“I still haven’t gotten a letter or phone call from Salzman saying she is sorry for the shit she put me through trying to bend my mind or the legal hell she was part of.

“When she does this publicly for me and the others she has helped harm, we will know she has started to wake up and is healing herself.

“Nothing would please me more than Nancy Salzman to start her healing process. It will help her with health.

“It will all depend if she can sallow that giant ego of hers.  She must admit she stood next to Raniere as the top leader of the Cult of NXIVM. Salzman has never been an innocent victim she tries to make herself out to be.”

Frank Parlato