Though he has left Albany where he lived for years near his mentor, Keith Raniere, and returned to Mexico, with his wife and children, after Raniere’s arrest, Edgar Boone remains the highest-ranking member of Nxivm – holding the Blue Sash.
In the history of Nxivm, Boone was the fifth highest-ranked member – with only Keith Raniere [ethereal sash] now incarcerated; Nancy Salzman [gold sash], awaiting sentencing, the late Pamela Cafritz [purple sash] and the late Barbara Jeske [purple sash] with higher ranks.
Boone remains a supporter of Raniere and wrote a letter to the judge to persuade him to sentence Keith to a lenient sentence.
As we review Keith’s 120 year sentence, and whether it was fair, Boone’s viewpoint may be instructive. Here is a man who had been with Raniere since the early days of Nxivm. He was the pioneer of the Mexican recruitment for Nxivm – and his view of Raniere is unsullied by the views of many former members and most of the public who have examined the facts surrounding Nxivm and Raniere.
It would be easy to criticize Boone’s views and rebut his opinions with examples of Raniere behaving the opposite of Boone’s idyllic view of his mentor. But I prefer to let his words speak for themselves. This is a man who believes in Raniere and rose high in the ranks of Nxivm.
As I understand it, Boone’s father is a wealthy man and his sons do not have to worry about money. He was one of the many elite, rich Mexicans who found Nxivm and Raniere a source of inspiration that gave meaning to their lives.
August 30th, 2020
By Edgar Boone
Dear Judge Garaufis,
My intent in writing this letter is to help expand the court’s perspective on Keith Raniere’s character as you evaluate his sentence.
What I have seen in the last two years in the media and later in court, is that Keith has been mostly shown as a type of psychopathic monster who only did bad things in the world, and who always had bad intent in everything he did.
My experience of him as a person, and leader of an organization, is the opposite of what some people have expressed about him, and how the media has portrayed him. It’s been a horrible experience to see how people hate him so much, when he has helped thousands of people have a better life by the tools he developed and with his personal interactions.
Below I’ll share with you some personal experiences that hopefully can help you get a more complete view of him as a human being.
Helping People
In all the years that I have known him I would say that helping others is one of his highest values. Every time I saw him, either casually or in one of the many organizational events, he would always take the time to connect with the community and support them in all he could.
It seems to me that he always wanted to give more to others than what he received. For many years, I saw him invest his time on someone who was highly disrespectful to him and many others. I could never understand why he would be so patient and loving with someone who was so entitled and mean. But he did. He wanted to help others, even those who were rejected by most, for being obnoxious.
When one of my brothers had a problem, I shared with him what was going on. He took the time to help me help him. And then followed up for a while asking me how he was doing.
I also remember someone who wanted to become a better runner. I saw him for months take the time to help them, give them feedback and talk to them, without ever charging them a dime.
Humane & Honorable Decision Making
In all the years that I have known him and all the decisions that I brought to him regarding personal or business matters, he would always bring the highest principle in mind and see how we could uphold it, even if that would affect personal comfort, financial benefit or other possible superficial aspects.
For example, one day I was thinking of making some changes to the way we evaluated the ranks in ESP. And he took the matter at hand and then came up with an answer that took into account what would happen generations later. This long-term view was characteristic of him.
In my experience he would deliberately take time to evaluate his decisions, especially those that involved other people. He would share with me how he would take time specifically to evaluate his decisions using all the emotional and mind fortitude available to him.
One of the things that I saw him do often, something that has been a source of a lot of anger and even hatred towards him, is that he would not give attention to someone if they had not earned it in his view, or if they had done something destructive. For example, there was this person who I experienced as very angry and irresponsible. This person would want to see him and spend time with him, but he would not, not until this person changed the behavioral destructive pattern they were doing. This person got very upset with him, threatened to cause a lot of trouble, and did.
Keith Raniere
Not conventional
If there’s something that defines him is that he’s not conventional and would often not follow societal rules for their own sake.
For example: He seemed to have a very different sleep schedule than most people. He would often sleep during the day and be awake at night.
Many of his meetings he would do walking instead of sitting at a desk. I think he was more understood or accepted by women in general, which may be why they were/are attracted to him. To men, to see women be attracted to him would sometimes create jealousy, anger and even hate.
There have been many times when I did not understand his decisions. Often my not understanding had to do with him not deciding just to do something for some material benefit, but for a higher value that involved the values of humanity. For example: There were people in the company that would not do their jobs very well or to a standard that would help many of us run the company more efficiently and effectively. But he would not fire them right away just
because of that. He would give many opportunities to change, to grow, to step up. His highest value didn’t seem to be making money, but supporting the person’s development.
Keith Raniere with Edgar Boone
Honorable Sportsmanship
In the almost twenty years since I have known him, before he was taken to jail, he was the most consistent person I have seen to show up consistently to his commitments. One of these commitments was playing volleyball with the community. In these games, every time there was doubt in how a ball was called, he would always ask to stop the play until we made sure that all involved were in agreement with the decision. If there was no consensus then the play would be repeated to honor the perspective of everyone involved.
Alcohol & Vegetarian
In all the years that I have known him I’ve never seen him drink alcohol nor does he support that habit. He is a believer of being fully present and fully aware of your choices at all moments.
I have always seen him uphold a vegetarian diet. He shared many times with others that he was vegetarian mainly because he took a vow of non-violence and killing an animal to eat when his personal survival was not in question, would go against that value.
Emotional States
I have never seen him being angry or snap at anyone. I think he is the only person I have known in my life that I’ve never seen angry.
He was always centered, even at times when I saw him deeply sad by losses of a loved one. For example, when a good friend of ours died, I saw him very sad for weeks. When his partner died, he was grieving deeply until the last time I saw him. I could see it. And even then, he would show up to volleyball and play his games with a positive state.
Keith Alan Raniere.
Supportive
When a mutual friend of ours got married, I saw him support them to start their new life together. When I was making the decision to step out of the organization in 2009 and become Emeritus, he did not want me to do so. He wanted me to be part of the Executive Board. I chose not to, and even when I made a choice that he did not agree with, he respected my decision and even helped me with the transition I was going through, and into a new stage in my life.
At times, he and I disagreed in what needed to be done and how it needed to be done. But these disagreements were always respectful from both sides and he was supportive of me as a person, even when we would not see eye to eye on other matters.
One of the things I find amazing about him, is that he invested a lot in people. He would invest his time, his efforts and abilities to help someone become more capable, have a better experience of life, and be able to start developing companies that related to what they wanted to do. At times some of these people would just quit, at which time, I never saw him complain.
Through the years he taught me many things, he helped me resolve inner issues and he was supportive of me and my family. He never asked anything in return, never. One time when I asked him what I could do for him in exchange for his time, he just said “pay if forward”. And I have done so ever since.
Ethical
One of the principles that I saw him talk about more often and consider in his decision-making process, were his ethics.
The principles that he held dear and by which he chooses to live.
Being ethical is not easy in this world, and I have seen him uphold his principles even at great personal cost to him. For example, he had the chance to speak dishonorably about the people accusing him in the media and in court. But he chose not to do it. I also assume he also had a lot of private, personal and unflattering information about some of the people who accused him, that he if he brought forth, would have helped his legal case and his public image. And yet, he has chosen not to speak about them.
Humanitarian
In my experience with him, people were always the most important. More important than material things, riches, fame, etc.
He would say often: The person is more important than the company’s profits. And that’s how he would lead. Often with negative financial effects.
Personally, I can tell you that he has always been a supportive and good friend. And I have seen him again and again be the same to others throughout good times and bad times.
In my experience, he is a very mindful person, who takes the time and puts the effort to deeply evaluate decisions for the benefit of all, especially those that involve many people. I’ve never seen him being reckless.
Through the personal growth tools that he developed, he has helped me and thousands of other people to have a better experience of life, to have more inner peace, to have more joy, to value and appreciate life, and to be more successful.
In summary, in my experience, Keith has been a kind, hardworking humanitarian, and ethical human being, who developed some amazing personal growth tools that thousands of people have used to better their life.
I hope this helps in your evaluation of his sentence.
Kindly
Edgar Boone
