For first time, Clare Bronfman can’t afford what she needs: to make $100 million bail, she needs help from sister, another
Tomorrow is D-Day for Clare Bronfman. Whether she goes to jail or returns to her New York City luxury apartment will be the story of the day. Her sister, Sara Bronfman-Igtet, must come from France to appear in person in Brooklyn Federal Court, along with another guarantor, unrelated to NXIVM, to post security for Clare’s $100 million bail bond – $50 million of that must be secured by cash.
On Tuesday, Clare claimed in court she did not have enough cash available to make the $50 million cash part of her bail bond. She claimed that, out of her $198 million net worth, $100 million is in trust and out of her control, and, of the remaining $98 million, she had $22 million in liquid assets – making her shy of the cash requirement by $28 million.
It appears that her sister, Sara, and another family member, or friend, must put up some of the money required for Clare to be allowed to live outside prison – under home detention, with an ankle monitor, as she awaits trial.
If she had not squandered much of her fortune, she would have enough to make her own bail. Former NXIVM consultant, Joe O’Hara, estimates Clare spent some $350 million on Keith Raniere and his sex slaver NXIVM cult since 2003.
In her whole life – up until Tuesday, when she went before the judge – Clare never had a money problem. The problem of not having enough to buy whatever she wanted or needed. For the first time, Clare is experiencing what most of us have at one time or another – of not having enough money.
For years, Clare has been using money to procure the destruction of “enemies” of NXIVM. Through abusive litigation – where she could outspend her opponents at the ratio of $1,000 to one – with her phalanx of attorneys – in the money-driven US legal system – she made her enemies destitute, unable to defend themselves. She ruined lives. She shattered fortunes; she made them bankrupt.
Within this same system, she now finds herself without enough money to buy her own [temporary] freedom. This must be a new and hopefully educational experience for her. She has not enough money to save herself in the arena she chose to battle against the human spirit. Perhaps this is the beginning of her long road of reclamation.
It will be seen tomorrow if she gets the financial help she needs. And later, hopefully, the spiritual help – which must come from within.
