Daniela was the 14th speaker to make a victim statement at the sentencing hearing of Keith Alan Raniere on October 27, 2020. She was the last speaker to appear in person.
Daniela is a Mexican woman whose entire family joined Nxivm and came to live in Albany to be near Raniere. That included a mother and father, three attractive daughters, and a son. Raniere was to have intimate relations with all three daughters.
One of the daughters, Camila, figured heavily in Raniere’s conviction because it was alleged he had sex with her when she was 15.
Her elder sister, Daniela, also figured heavily since she testified at his trial. She was the woman who spent almost two years in solitary confinement in an unlocked room in her family’s home. Her confinement was aided and abetted by her mother, father, sister Camila, and brother Adrian, who all prepared and brought her meals and left them outside the door – and otherwise helped to enforce the conditions of her confinement.
The reason Daniela was confined in the room, according to Daniela, is that she developed amorous feelings for another man – which was something that Raniere did not allow once he had established a sexual relationship with a woman. This was her “ethical breach,” she said.
Raniere did not testify at trial, but he has made statements in recent conversations that allege this was not the reason for her breach.
Daniela’s victim statement was short. She did not go into her abuse. One of the main premises in her statement is that Raniere will be forgotten.
She might have said this because she believes it sincerely, or she might have said it because she thought it would get under Raniere’s skin, since he has evinced a desire and expressed a belief that he will be long remembered as a noble contributor to humankind.
And she might have said it because she wants this chapter in her life to be forgotten by the world, her family, and herself.
The prior speakers were:
Now here is Daniela’s statement:
By Daniela
Good afternoon. I already testified at length in your trial, Keith, before this court about some of the things that you did to me and to my family. You took ten years of my life, from 16 to 26, and time is the only easy metric because I cannot quantify what you did to me in any other terms.
You abused my innocent body; you broke my able mind and you set my family against me. You took and broke every single piece of me.
I survived. But not because you were merciful, but because I was resilient. However, I will never know what my life would have been like without all this pain and horror you inflicted upon me. I find relief in knowing this is over. I find relief in forgetting about you. And this is the last time you will hold my attention.
And I believe it will be similar for the public at large. I believe people will forget about you. They might think you’re interesting today, but that will fade. Like the once-interesting smartest man in the world, when the con is clear and the conman is exposed, it’s all very obvious and boring stuff. You’re just a liar.
Today people are fascinated by your monstrosity. I agree, your viciousness is remarkable. And you may be the criminal du jour, but you are, unfortunately, not the only cruel and depraved man, not the only abuser in this world. I am not qualified to use fancier words to describe your condition, but I know you are not the only person like this, and thus you are but one more criminal in a category of criminals. Nothing special.
You are a vicious monster when facing me, when facing my little sister, but a lying coward when facing justice. You are weak and you’re pathetic. In the rigor of a court of law, word against word, fact against fact, you are ridiculous.
The one interesting conversation to be had after all this has nothing to do with you, and it is this: How does someone fall prey to this? And for me, the lesson here is only one. We must teach our children about people like you. Not about you, about people like you.
Because you, Keith Raniere, your words will disappear, your name will disappear. All memory of you will disappear.
I would like to address the Court now, if I may. I want to thank this court for listening to me during the trial and now. I am very appreciative of the justice system of the United States of America. Testifying was hard, but it was a privilege. It is not lost on me that many victims of crimes are never heard and never see justice. For me, to be heard was enough.
In addition to that, it’s been a rectifying experience to see the exacting precision of the law dissect the crimes, the methods, and the nonsense of Keith Raniere. This process has been soothing to my mind and has brought me peace.
And last, as the Court sentences Keith Raniere, I would like to remind them he showed me no mercy, he showed my little sister no mercy. He deserves no mercy.
Thank you.
