When Toni Natalie’s book – The Program: Inside the Mind of Keith Raniere and the Rise and Fall of NXIVM – was first released back on September 24th, she made several public appearances to talk about the book and share her opinions about Keith Raniere, the founder and leader of the NXIVM cult.
Clips from some of those interviews are available at:
– https://www.facebook.com/Radio951Rochester/videos/947330208934329/
Toni Natalie at the Albany Times Union forum {photo courtesy Albany Times Union.]
She was also one of the featured speakers at the Times Union Forum on October 1st – where she also signed copies of her book at the conclusion of the event. A partial audio of that event is available at:
– https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/NXIVM-Exposed-A-post-trial-podcast-14535753.php
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Lots of Unanswered Questions
In recent weeks, however, Toni has been a lot less visible – and unwilling to answer the many questions that have arisen about her and her book.
And, as Frank Report readers are well aware, there are lots of questions.
Questions like:
Why did she choose to describe herself as a “single mother” in her book when, in reality, she abandoned her son, Michael – and left him to be raised by his father, Rusty DeCook?
Keith Raniere [l], Michael DeCook [m], and Toni Natalie [r]
Why did she not disclose that she and Raniere put her son on a mandatory “low calorie” diet when he lived with them – and made him weigh himself in front of them whenever he returned from staying with his father (Until he decided at the age of 9 that he didn’t want to live with Toni and Raniere at all, Michael used to just spend summers with his father)?
Why does she claim that she and Raniere lived as a “couple” for almost 8 years when, in fact, they only lived together for less than three months before he moved back in with his original harem members, Pam, Karen, and Barb?
Why has she not talked more about the important role she played in building up Consumers Buyline, Inc. (CBI), Raniere’s original pyramid scam operation that was eventually shut down after investigations by twenty-three State Attorneys General and two federal agencies?
Consumers Buyline ad
Why did she help Raniere violate the “Consent Decree” regarding CBI he had entered into with the New York State Attorney by putting his next pyramid scam operation, National Health Network, in her name?
Why did she help Raniere hide other assets he owned by agreeing to let him register some of his patents under the name of a company that she owned (Years later, she tried to force Raniere to pay her $1 million to regain control of those patents)?
Why does she claim that Raniere was responsible for her brother’s suicide – if her brother did, in fact, commit suicide – when, in reality, Raniere had very little contact with her brother for several years prior to his death?
Toni’s brother, the late John Natalie
Why does she claim that Raniere poisoned her dog when Kristin Keeffe, the person she claims told her about that poisoning, emphatically denies that she ever had any such conversation with Toni?
Why does she claim to be “Patient Zero” for the NXIVM curriculum when others who were there at the time say that she was just one of the participants when some of the early training modules were being created?
Why does she fail to state the fact that she was one of the top two recruiters in the early stages of NXIVM?
Why has she had so many negative things to say about the people who were really responsible for taking down Raniere and his NXIVM cult – people like Sarah Edmondson, Mark Vicente, Bonnie Piesse, Heidi Hutchison, Frank Parlato, Susan Dones, Rick Ross, Barbara Bouchey, etc.?
Sarah Edmondson stood up to Keith Raniere but was subsequently besmirched by Toni Natalie.
Why did she choose to trash her co-author, Chet Hardin, by telling several people that he had been fired from his last job because of a sexual harassment complaint?
Toni’s co-author and friend, Chet Hardin
Why did she lie and tell me – and several others – that Mary Jane Pino had given permission for us to utilize her Username and Password to access NXIVM’s website (Mary Jane subsequently denied Toni’s claim in a sworn affidavit that, if false, would subject her to perjury charges)?
Why did she not disclose the fact that she had been accessing NXIVM’s website for more than six months before she shared Mary Jane Pino’s Username and Password with me and others?
Why did she choose to denigrate her third husband, Rusty DeCook, in her book – referring to him as a “paper airplane” when it came to sex as opposed to Raniere being a “Concorde Jet” – when all of that bullshit was totally irrelevant?
Why did she describe her marriage to Rusty as “a loveless marriage” in her book (e.g., no sex for three years) when she had previously told former Times Union reporter Jim Odato that it was “a good marriage”?
Why does she claim that as part of one of NXIVM training modules, the Proctor leading the discussion would describe her as “the pretty brunette with a green scarf…who broke Vanguard’s heart” when, in fact, several people who actually served as Proctors say they never made any such statement?
Why has she never responded to Nancy Salzman’s claim that she loaned $80,000 to Toni – and never got paid back?
Nancy Salzman claims that Toni stiffed her on an $80,000 loan.
Why did she tell Susan Dones that Nicole, a witness for the prosecution in Raniere’s criminal trial, had testified that Frank Parlato threatened to release her collateral if she didn’t give him the names of other members of DOS – when, in fact, Nicole never said any such thing?
Why did she tell Susan Dones that FBI agents would have arrested Frank Parlato if he had been in court on the day of Nicole’s testimony – when that is totally and completely untrue (Frank was actually in the courthouse a few days later and was not questioned by any FBI agents, let alone arrested)?
mk10art’s depiction of Susan Dones
Why did she deny to Frank Parlato that she had ever made those statements to Susan Dones – and later tried to gloss over everything as a “misunderstanding”?
Why did she describe Raniere as a fabulous lover in her book when she previously described him – to several people – as a “lazy slug” in bed?
Why did she claim she never knew that Raniere was having sex with any other women during the 8-years she was involved with him when she told several people that the local police had caught Raniere and Dawn Morrison having sex in Toni’s car out in the woods?
Dawn Morrison, nature lover
Is she currently receiving monthly payments from Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) because of her alleged PTSD and fibromyalgia – and, if so, has she properly disclosed all of her assets and income to the Social Security Administration?
Why does she claim that upon meeting her for the first time, Kristin Keeffe described Toni as looking like Valerie Bertinelli when Kristin claims she never made any such comparison?
Toni Natalie look-alike Valerie Bertinelli
Why does she claim to have been alone with Raniere for “two hours and forty-five minutes” while he cured her of smoking when Rusty DeCook – who was waiting for her while that session was taking place – claims that she was with Raniere for about 20 minutes?
Why has she given multiple answers as to what year she was in when she dropped out of high school – and why is her picture in the Greece Athena High School 1975 Yearbook (That would have been the year that Toni graduated from high school)?
In her book, Toni Natalie claims she dropped out of high school in the 10th grade. So why is her senior picture in the high school yearbook?
Why does she claim to have seen Raniere tutoring Rhiannon, the girl that he started raping when she was 12, on the first day that Toni met Raniere in August 1991 (Rhiannon was, in fact, ensconced at St. Anne’s Juvenile Home from June 1991 through June 1993)?
Why does she claim that her fourth husband, Scott Foley, was the victim of a fake honeypot operation set up by Raniere when the simple truth is that Scott left her for a much younger woman (Scott has since married this “non-existent” woman)?
Scott & Denise Foley
Why did she claim in her book that just prior to her disappearance, Kristin Snyder had “…called her parents and raved maniacally, telling them she was responsible for the space shuttle Columbia blowing up” when, in fact, no such call ever took place?
Why has she claimed that Kristin Snyder’s sister, Kim, is “retarded” and has the mental capacity of an 8-year old – neither of which is true?
Kim Snyder
Why did she convince Kim to allow her to read Kim’s “Victim Impact Statement” at Raniere’s sentencing rather than have Kim do that herself (Kim has since rescinded that arrangement – and asked Toni to return her “Victim Impact Statement” to her).
Why did she claim in her bankruptcy filings that the extent of her business experience was selling fruit baskets from her home while she claims in her book to have owned and operated a very successful day spa, to have managed a very successful division of Consumer Buyline, Inc., and to have been the founder and operator of National Health Network?
Why did she claim during a deposition in her bankruptcy case that she did not own any valuable artwork when her house is full of such artwork – including one piece worth more than $50,000 that was supposedly a gift from the artist to her son, Michael?
Toni Natalie with the painting of Michael
Why did she have so many equipment leasing companies listed as creditors in her bankruptcy case – and were those companies part of a large-scale fraud scheme that she and other members of her family carried on for several years?
And last (at least for now) but not least, why has she chosen not to respond to the numerous offers that have been made to publish her responses to all these questions – and, instead, has told several people that Frank Parlato is simply publishing lies about her to save his “dying website” (BTW, this “dying website” has already had more than 5 million views this year – and will likely hit 6 million by the end of the year)?
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Will Toni Show up at Raniere’s Sentencing Hearing and Subject Herself to Questions from the Media?
From the day that Raniere was arraigned until the day he was convicted, Toni was in attendance just about every time that Raniere appeared in court.
The courtroom in which Keith Raniere will be sentenced. Will Toni Natalie be there or will she be in hiding?
Recently, however, when Raniere appeared in court for another Curcio hearing, Toni was nowhere to be found.
Did she miss Raniere’s most recent court appearance because she’s afraid that the media representatives in attendance would start asking her some of the questions that have been raised in Frank Report?
And does that mean that she will also not show up for Raniere’s sentencing hearing on January 17th?
C’mon Toni, now that you’re a public figure and the author of a highly detailed book – albeit one that is totally full of gross exaggerations, multiple misrepresentations, and many outright lies – don’t you think you should answer these questions?
Inquiring minds really do want to know!
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[Author’s Note: Toni Natalie and her erstwhile attorney, Michael Grygiel, are currently preventing me from regaining possession of the nine boxes of NXIVM-related materials that the New York State Police seized from me back in October 2013. Even though Toni has absolutely no claim to any of those materials, she has refused to sign a “Release” so that they can be returned to me. So, I guess I do have one more question for Toni: Do you plan to extort some sort of ransom from me so that I can get back things that are rightfully mine?].
