Guest View: Not Contrite — Lauren Salzman Likely Facing Incarceration

Here is an anonymous guest view – from one of our readers. It is a critique of Lauren Salzman’s Sentencing Memorandum and seems to be a pretty sound analysis, written by someone who appears to have considerable insight into NXIVM and its history. 

 A Review of Lauren Salzman’s Sentencing Memorandum

MK10ART

MK10ART painting.

By Someone Who Knows

Unfortunately for Lauren Salzman, she is likely facing incarceration.

Unlike Allison Mack, her pre-sentencing presentation of herself and the facts surrounding her involvement is noticeably lacking in critical areas.

Significantly, she hasn’t individuated from her mother and obviously cannot appreciate or articulate their separateness nor the harm her mother caused separate and apart from herself. The whole thing reads like “My Mom and I are victims” and contradicts true contriteness in subtle ways, especially considering the high-end lifestyle Lauren and her mother lived for two decades where her mother was the president of the cult.

MK10ART's painting of Allison Mack being accompanied out of court with her attorneys, Sean Buckley [l] and William McGovern [r]

MK10ART’s painting of Allison Mack being accompanied out of court with her attorneys, Sean Buckley [l] and William McGovern [r]

Unlike Allison, who sought to integrate into her Non-NXIVM family and obtain an associate’s degree in psychology, how is Lauren building “a stronger relationship” with her cult co-leader Mother evidence of rehabilitation?

Starting a business with the financial support of your parents (plural), when one of those parents is your co-defendant and was found with $500K in cash stashed around the house, is not a good look with the Judge.

Nancy’s statement seems to contradict Lauren’s. Nancy takes the credit for Lauren’s cooperation with the government and says she (Nancy) agreed to cooperate first. That contradiction stood out to me very boldly.

Although a compassionate person may seek to empathize, rightly intended, with Lauren’s 20-year relationship with Keith Raniere, Lauren’s memorandum overall goes too far in this direction to the point of denial of responsibility.

Unlike Allison Mack’s, which struck just the right balance.

Noticeably absent is an acknowledgment of the money and power Lauren accumulated over all those years, while advocating for near slave wages and the financial destruction of others throughout her career. Till it all blew up in her face in a three-month period through DOS.

I recall reading on the Frank Report sometime this year that Lauren sold her $350K home and within her memorandum, she mentions owning two cars and two properties. There are a lot more judicious and repentant ways Lauren could have leveraged her accumulation of assets to support a more fulsome attempt at rehabilitation and making amends than she has evidenced. I just don’t see it.

Lauren Salzman leaves court with her Arizona attorney, Hector Diaz.

MK10ART's painting of mother Nancy Salzman with her daughter Lauren Salzman.

MK10ART’s painting of Nancy Salzman with her daughter Lauren Salzman.

Lauren’s attorneys have done her a disservice by not advising her better to make her case strongly, separate, and apart from her mother’s.

Lauren’s memorandum seems to absolve and excuse her mother’s acts as if they are co-victims rather than co-defendants. It would have been better for Lauren to leave her mother out of it. Instead, the undue influence of Nancy Salzman’s sophisticated powers of persuasion and indoctrination are felt throughout Lauren’s attempt to make a strong case for herself.

Nancy Salzman and Keith Raniere

Nancy is clearly a continual danger to society and by association, Lauren may be perceived as such. It’s unfortunate for Lauren but not unexpected. Nancy was the wind beneath Keith Raniere’s wings for a long, long time and continues to maintain a strong influence in the former NXIVM community where I understand she still marshals considerable fees for coaching and EM’s.

Given Keith’s own tendencies for self-destruction, you’d have to have some considerable skills to partner with him in a successful business for twenty years.

Also absent is an acknowledgment from Lauren of her being the most influential and highest-rank person in NXIVM to join DOS, and how her enrollment may have emboldened Keith to dramatically up the recruitment requirements for DOS members already enrolled resulting in many more victims.

I seem to recall reading somewhere, from Sarah Edmondson maybe, that after Lauren’s DOS enrollment, the very small group grew exponentially in a short period. Going from a few dozen to over one hundred or one hundred and fifty women.

All in all, it’s hard to imagine all this will escape the judge’s attention, nor should it.