Dr. Danielle Roberts has written a letter of support for Keith Alan Raniere. Though she did not use her last name on the letter, readers of Frank Report know full well who she is.
They know her to be the member of DOS who actually did the branding of many of the DOS women. Because of complaints made against her concerning the actual branding practice and the allegation that she knew, but hid the fact from women that the brand was actually the initials of Keith Raniere [KR], she was scheduled to go before the NYS medical licensing board to determine if she should be punished for her alleged malpractice.
The original hearing was canceled due to COVID-19 and Frank Report has not learned of a new hearing date. Penalties can range from admonition to revocation of her medical license. She has also been seen dancing in front of the MDC where Raniere is being held in custody awaiting sentencing.
Dr. Danielle Roberts does a handstand in front of the MDC where Keith Raniere is in custody.
Clare Bronfman, who is also at MDC as of September 30, was another Nxivm leader that Danielle Roberts wrote a letter in support.
Danielle’s letter in support of Raniere is addressed to Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis, who will sentence Raniere on October 27, to what many believe will be a life sentence.
Dear Judge Garaufis,
My name is Danielle ____________ . I am a board-certified osteopathic family practice physician. I completed my bachelor’s of science in psychobiology from Binghamton Cum laude in 2003. I went on to complete a dual medical degree from NYCOM graduating with both my Master’s in Clinical Nutrition and my Osteopathic Medical degree. I completed my residency training at NSLIJ Plainview Community Hospital and have served our communities as both a hospitalist in NY and WI, as well as medical director and physician of 2 medical practices on LI and in NYC. I was one of the Co-Developers and President of exo|eso™ and one of the initial members of DOS.
I was first introduced to Mr. Raniere’s work in November 2012 when I took my first ESP 5-day program. I first met Mr. Raniere personally in September 2013 when I took my first SOP training. I was so moved by his work I decided to move to Albany in November 2013 to take his Ultima curriculum, learn to teach it, and integrate it into my practice. Since then I have participated in; the ESP 16 day, Mobius, Human Pain, Anatomy 2a, Jness 1-12, SOP 1-2, Reverence, Higher Education and DOS. In addition to our professional relationship, I am also a close friend of Mr. Raniere’s.
He has been there for me through many of my biggest life struggles; ethical struggles of leading our company, loss of friends and partners, and death of loved ones – and I for him. It is often his example and words of encouragement I remember at my toughest, most trying moments that help me to endure or push a little bit further. I share this to highlight the amount of direct professional and personal experiences I have shared with Mr. Raniere over the past 7 years. Many of those you have heard from to this point have much less experience of him or have shared removed or indirect experiences of him.
I also think it’s important to point out the secondary gain those that shared at the trial are capitalizing on including: book deals, news and media fame, seeking monetary funds through civil suits, etc. On the opposite side, the amount of fear, hate, judgment and oppression those that would like to share positive experiences of Mr. Raniere have to face in order to do so is significant, and leaves a very skewed lens for you to look through. I believe these are important factors to consider when making your sentencing decisions and hope you find them helpful.
That being said, in my direct experience of Mr. Raniere, I have never met a more caring, gentle, dedicated man. He intentionally and proactively has spent, and spends, many hours a day contemplating how to best help our human team and improve the lives of others.
After the loss of one of his partners of 30 years [Pam Cafritz] he checked with me often for weeks playing and replaying if he could have done anything differently – trying to determine if she were experiencing any fear, and hoping she experienced nothing but peace.
It was not about him and his loss – it was always about her. 90% of all of our numerous conversations were spent discussing how to help me, how to help another, or furthering companies to help people. In fact, I know little details about him or his preferences, because he spends little time concerned with himself.
After his countless hours of investment in mentoring me, and in my darkest hour, I wanted to quit, walk away from my dream and give it all up – I shared “I’m not sure I can do this anymore”.
His response; “It’s ok, I’ll still love you. – The only thing you will lose is the hard work you put into it”. I was so moved. There was no self-focused response – no trying to convince me to stay, no guilting me or reminding me of all the resources and time he had put into me and the project -nothing… This is the kind of teammate and human being Mr. Raniere is.
I saw this in all of his life endeavors: His trainings, and companies were specifically designed to help others get to know themselves more deeply – so that they may get more of what they wanted – develop a deeper sense of their own personal ethics, and humanity through compassion, and science. He sought to help others fortify their ability to choose love and honor what’s deeply right for them, even in the face of loss, hate and violence; He led peace movements in Mexico, pursued equality and world-wide resolution of prejudice through Rainbow, launched solutions to the biased, slanderous, and unethical processes in our media and reporting systems which destroy countless lives, found solutions to help others heal “incurable” physical ailments such as; Tourette’s, OCD, colitis and many others, brought honor to dishonorable TV, empowered men and women, and launched of one of the largest personal growth coaching program’s I know of – all from a place of inspiration – without force, control or punishment.
Above all, he honors a person’s right to choose and make their own decisions – even if he may not agree. He is the most dedicated person I know in the world today to building good, and honoring free-will. Even from his jail cell – when all but his life has been taken from him (and to my embarrassment) he is thinking how he can help me… help others and improve the lives of others. This is not a self-seeking man.
Photo of Keith Raniere.
From a doctor’s perspective: I believe the results of his work and the impact on people’s lives would have been monumental, cutting edge and changed the way we practice medicine forever… and that’s just medicine. Any one of his projects had the potential to heal and revolutionize its industry of focus.
A man with this dedication, thought process, and devotion does not seek to harm, does not act from bad intent. He does, however, encourage thinking and questioning which may cause people to be highly uncomfortable. In order to create solutions to problems that have not yet been solved in our world, you must challenge the status quo and its current premise. He is provocative, revolutionary, and unconventional… This, unfortunately, triggers fear and can inspire blame and hate from others that don’t understand why. (especially if they have never tried to build something like this). This, I fear, is what has happened with DOS;
As a 2nd– line member of DOS, and their 1st branding artist of membership, I am uniquely qualified to speak to its nature. I became aware of Mr. Raniere’s association with DOS after about a year of membership. This was not a problem for me. His partnership with the women in this organization, I believed, could only make it stronger. I knew him to be skilled, self-less, devoted and aligned with our mission. As a man, I have only ever experienced him seeking to further empower women, helping us see our strengths and weaknesses, exposing us to reality and giving us tools to grow and navigate it better. He was willing to tell us the truth and hold us accountable to our word – something most men in this society are not willing to do for us. I experience most men trying to protect us, letting us off the hook if we cry, tantrum, or the like, and shield us from reality or the consequences of our decisions (as similarly illustrated in this case). As a result, we as women, do not share (and have not earned) a place of equal respect with some of our male counterparts in society. We instead experience discrimination and glass ceilings. I for one, no longer want that. If there was a man to be on our team, he is the one I would choose.
I also have direct knowledge that it was not he that chose to incorporate his initials into the sorority’s symbol of choice, it was the women who chose that, along with other meanings, to commemorate his contribution to the organization’s creation. It was never intended to be a symbol of possession or ownership.
Nor was the collateral held by Keith or ever intended to force, coerce or blackmail – as evidenced by the fact that it has never been released even after countless women have broken their vows. It was a tool for personal use for us to reference and weigh our decisions against, as we strove to reach our goals and find our way as powerful, conscience, compassionate women of our word.
To be clear: I have never experienced force, blackmail, manipulation, violence, unwanted branding or sexual pressure. In fact, I never participated in anything that I, as a consenting competent adult didn’t choose to engage in. My experience was one of consenting adults, making mutually consented-upon decisions to explore different ways of thinking and living. When it got hard, did I sometimes want out? Sure – but no different than when I wanted out in medical school or residency. Did I sometimes forget why I was doing all this and victimize myself to my circumstance? Yes. But that’s no different than choosing any commitment (marriage, medical school, priesthood) and then wanting out or feeling a victim to your choice instead of owning it and stepping up to make it what you want it to be. The coaching I had in DOS helped me face fears and have breakthroughs I otherwise wouldn’t have had. Was it hard? Yes. Was it perfect? No. Was it worth it? Yes.
I joined DOS because I wanted to be strong enough to inspire others to keep going when it was hard – the way he inspired me to keep going at my hardest moments. I wanted to be able to have the type of impact in the world, and in medicine, that he was having, and see exo|eso™ thrive on a global scale. Was this an unconventional way to reach my goals? Sure – but my right to pursue. I believe it has given me the strength to endure more gracefully the oppression and hate I have become the target of in the last 3 years and helped me continue to strive to love, forgive and build good things in the world despite it.
Mr. Raniere is the ultimate example of that for me. I have observed is his consistent honorability, even towards those who have attacked him viscously now, and in the past. I have never heard him speak an ill word, blame, hate or want to punish them. Any mistakes he may have made, or ways in which his lifestyle is misinterpreted needs to be placed in the context of the rest of his life, not taken out of context and spun. If there are mistakes he has made, or errors in judgment, I believe whole heartedly they were made with only good intent in mind and he would be the first to want to address and fix them. He has been modeled this for me again and again.
I am honored to say I know this man. I am so privileged to have experienced a man like this exists. I have seen him help me and so many others around me. I believe we need more people like this in the world. I do believe deeply, your honor, that it is not only I who has been so deeply helped and touched by his choices, but that there are very many others who would share their positive experiences with you if they weren’t scared to. Please allow this perspective to help to balance the unilateral narrative you have bared witness to so far. Please allow it to inform you of the many good things that Mr. Raniere has done when making your final decisions as to how he will spend the rest of his life. I believe he is a life worth saving and someone who’s deepest intents are to help not hurt.
With great respect for the responsibility and lives you hold in your hands,
Dr. Danielle
