There is a well-known Mexican family whose members were at one time all members of Nxivm, the father and mother, three daughters and a son.
Though their last name is well known, Frank Report is using first names only: Hector, Adriana, Marianna, Daniela, Adrian, and Camila. For now, we shall refer to them collectively as ‘The Family.”
The son of the family, Adrian, was well known in the Nxivm community by his nickname Fluffy. He is brother to Camila, Daniela and Marianna and was one of two men among the 15 victims who spoke at Raniere’s sentencing. This was the first time Adrian has spoken publicly about his time in Nxivm. He was the 12th person to speak at the sentencing hearing which took place on October 27th. At the conclusion of the hearing, Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison.
The prior speakers were:
By Adrian
Your Honor, I’m Adrian. I’m Cami’s and Daniela’s and Mariana’s brother. Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to share my statement in today’s hearing.
I arrived to the Albany NXIVM community from Mexico with my parents and my little sister when I was 15 years old. She was around 14 years old at the time. My older two sisters had already been part of the community for a few years.
From the beginning, Keith was sold to me as a teacher, a leader and basically was perceived as a flawless man by his community. I looked to him as a mentor, someone who could help me achieve my goals.
At that time, I had no reason not to believe him. I was so young. If I had any doubts, questions or hesitations, he had a group of enablers, his inner circle, who helped him blur the lines between the truth and lies. The lies allowed him to portray this fake persona, one that pretended to be a genius, a scientist, a humanitarian that cared deeply about people. He lived in that blur.
I supported him loyally, dedicated my life to his vision, defended his character. I worked countless hours filming him so that the world could see how good of a person he was. He seemed to be so misunderstood by the media and his perceived enemies.
I saw him as a friend. With the help of his never-ending and highly expensive trainings, he knew everything about me. He knew my fears. He knew my mistakes. He knew my desire to be a businessman. He knew my family is everything to me. He knew I trusted him. But most importantly, he knew how naïve I was.
He used my truth against me in a way that I can only describe as cruel and just plain messed up.
He played me for 16 years. The whole time, abusing my sisters and other community members right under my nose.
Keith Raniere began to prey on my 14-year-old sister as soon as she arrived in his community. Immediately, she was given special attention. He gave her his personal phone number so that they could talk in private. She was allowed to go into his houses and spend one-on-one time with him.
With the help of his inner circle, like Nancy Salzman, Pamela Cafritz… and many others, she began to be sexually groomed for Keith Raniere. She was asked to keep it a secret.
He began separating her from her friends and family so that she no longer had a support system outside of him. She became guarded and private: Always busy, always broke, never having time for family, always on call, and always on diets.
Growing up, we were very close. Towards the end of my time in NXIVM, we barely spoke. Even though we lived in the same neighborhood, we barely saw each other. Until this day, I don’t know where she lived while she was in Albany.
Camila was secretly ensconced at 120 Victory Way. Her rent was paid for her and she was told not to tell anyone where she lived. Yet she lived within easy walking distance of most of the Nxivm community.
I’ve learned that Keith had sexual relationships with all three of my sisters, sometimes during the same time frame.
One of my biggest regrets in life was supporting Keith Raniere in upholding what he called my sister’s “ethical breach plan,” which lasted years and culminated in a cruel and heartless punishment of being locked up in a room for about two years.
[Adrian is referring to Daniela, who, though not physically locked in a room, was told by Raniere and enforced by her family and Lauren Salzman to remain there until Keith was convinced she cured her ethical breach. She remained in solitary confinement in her family’s home in her room for almost two years. Her family provided her meals, leaving them outside the door.]
I was told by Keith directly that she was a psychopath and that she just liked to play games. I thought I was helping her. At times I begged her to continue with her plan. I was told to leverage our relationship because family was all she cared about, so I threatened to cut off my relationship with her if she didn’t stick with the plan, it was so important that she healed her breach with Keith.
It wasn’t until years after that I found out what her actual breach was. All of this waste and torture because she liked another man.
He tried to break everything that she cared about. He turned her own family against her, labeled her a suppressive and a psychopath. He tried to take away every resource that she needed to succeed or even survive in life. Her own family and friends completely shunned her for six years. Some continue to shun her.
I was told to keep her situation [that she was confined in a room in the family’s house] a secret from the [Nxivm] community because people wouldn’t understand. Most members outside of the inner circle never found out what happened to her. For them, she just vanished. But in reality, she was sent back to Mexico with little to no money and no papers.
[After nearly two years in the room, Daniela was sent back to Mexico by her father.]
After my mom left NXIVM, I shunned her for three years. Even if she tried to contact me, I wouldn’t allow her to come back into my life, all because she no longer supported Keith and his teachings. His enablers would tell me how honorable I was being for supporting Keith in this way, reinforcing his indoctrination.
Throughout my time in the community, whenever I would have a reaction or if I was asked to do something that didn’t feel right, I would direct it towards getting an exploration of meaning. I realize now that it detached and desensitized me to my gut feelings and my conscious.
Keith Raniere
Chaos follows Keith everywhere he goes, but he spins it to make himself out to be a victim, a martyr. All of his charades during and after his trial are prime examples of how he tries to dodge any responsibility for his actions. He continues to show no remorse whatsoever towards his victims.
Keith Raniere has negatively impacted my life in so many ways.
Before being part of NXIVM, my family was close. He destroyed my family. For three years, I didn’t speak to my mother and for six years I didn’t speak to my sister [Daniela] out of my support for Keith. I will never be able to get that time back with them. Now my father and oldest sister [Marianna] have shunned me for about two years. They continue to believe his lies. My family hasn’t been whole for a long time.
I’ve gone into debt taking his intensives; a lot of my work was either underpaid or never paid. I’ve lost so much time, especially when I was asked to go into hiding for about a year. The Albany Times Union wanted to interview me because they were trying to expose Keith, so I was told to go into hiding. At the time, I was afraid because I no longer had a legal immigration status. I had lost my status because they told me not to go back to Mexico to renew my visa. They promised me they would take care of it if I stayed. That turned out to be a lie. They knew I was here illegally and they used that to their advantage. I was completely dependent on them.
My time in isolation was a dark time. I was very depressed. I felt like I had no life whatsoever. I considered ending my life.
My entire four years of marriage [Adrian married an American Nxivm member] have had an undertone of him; navigating, surviving and trying to love each other through the trauma. The guilt and the shame of being a part of his experiments, the wasted time, the triggers that we both carry, the concerns of being able to pay for things, trust issues, getting rid of NXIVM’s indoctrinations that was drilled in us for so many years. It’s a lot.
I want to express my gratitude towards the government, the prosecution, and everybody involved for giving me a chance at a normal life. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but after so many years of chaos and abuse, I look forward to being able to move on and rebuild my life.
In conclusion of my statement, I want to read a quote to Keith. “Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid.”
Keith, your time has come. You deserve to lose every ounce of freedom and luxury you have stolen from others. I look forward to the day your name will be forgotten.
Thank you, Your Honor, for your time.
