Editor’s Note: This is Part 4 of the “From Prison: Keith Raniere” series on the subject of his co-defendants’ innocence.
Part 2. From Prison: Keith Raniere: Part 2 My Co-Defendants Are ‘Very Innocent!’
Part 3: Keith Raniere From Prison: ‘Nancy Salzman Is Totally Innocent’
I have already explained why I chose to publish this series in Part 1 and in a separate post, Why I Choose to Publish Raniere’s Prison Letters About the ‘Innocence’ of His Codefendants.
Raniere’s codefendants are Nancy Salzman, Lauren Salzman, Allison Mack, Clare Bronfman, and Kathy Russell.
In this article, Raniere addresses the subject of Lauren Salzman, his longtime harem member and slave who became a cooperating witness against him and testified at his trial.
By Keith Raniere
Background on Lauren Salzman:
Lauren Salzman
I met Lauren through her Mom, Nancy Salzman, about 20 years ago. She was bald. Well, almost bald.
She had shaved her head after college and gone on a “road-trip” with friends across Europe, staying in youth hostels and the like. She was now allowing a thin layer of fuzz to grow back.
From the very beginning, she had some values I did not share, but many that I did, and she exhibited a humor and mental “funness” that was contagious.
Keith Raniere and his student and lover, Lauren Salzman
At one point early on, during a walk, she said she imagined we would end up together with children. It was interesting because we were not involved. It was said almost as an aside; it felt very gentle and almost true. After this, it was not mentioned again. She dated other people but we did eventually form a romantic relationship. I am not quite sure if either of us know exactly why, except we shared certain values in a very strong way and Lauren is quite personally irresistible — humorously our anniversary was April 1st.
Lauren’s relationship with me is very old, well-traveled and important; from what I gather from discovery and testimony, I recognize the relationship may have been a valiant effort to force a square peg into a round hole. The exquisite beauty of some unions do not make them good working life partnerships. Lauren has a wonderful intellect, an infectious sense of humor, and is a good soul. She will be a wonderful partner for the appropriate, lucky person.
Nancy Salzman, [?] Lauren Salzman, Keith Raniere and Karen U.
Motivation to Plea:
Lauren faced several adversities especially after her mother plead:
(Nancy’s Plea) Her mother’s plea cast a potential guilt upon the organization and a type of validation of the charges. This went directly against the position of Lauren (innocence and no crime) if she were trying to win at trial;
(Nancy’s Health) Nancy, Lauren’s mom, faces serious health challenges which may shorten her life. Lauren did not want to potentially be in prison if her mom went into critical condition or died; and
(Children) Lauren wants children and she is over 40 years old. If she even goes to prison for 5 years, the hope of having children will be greatly diminished.
During her testimony, it was evident to me the confusion and separation this caused. With someone like me, who is non-traditional and with an intensely singular life purpose, having children is not a given or planned. At one point, I told her I would have to step down from my position in order to live the life I perceived she wanted. I asked her if she would choose that?
I believe I was not clear with what I was illustrating. I think with the force of my conviction and personality, persuaded Lauren to put aside her life wishes. This was never my intent; it saddens me for I was blind to my effects, and caused her pain. Lauren. if you ever read this I am so truly sorry.
MK10ART sketch of Lauren Salzman
I had a dream after Lauren plead guilty: Within the dream she was lying flat on a mattress on the floor of a very stark, bare room. She was staring at the ceiling. I kissed her and told her although I thought what she was doing was very bad (see below) I loved her and wished her well. At first she looked stunned, then returned my kiss.
A voice, which normally represents my subconscious said to me internally, “she is better off without you.”
Plea:
Lauren’s plea was also false.
Like her mother, she stipulated to the enterprise in the prosecution’s indictment. That’s an easy way to make sure you get it in, when no one can actually define it. Lauren did try to define the purpose of the enterprise and it was subjective and different than what was charged. The enterprise was false and there were no criminal actions in the sorority.
My cross-examining attorney knew this well. He was an experienced high-level prosecutor, considered an authority on RICO (which he teaches at law school), and is now a defense attorney with an extraordinary record. He knows we are all innocent, and that certainly there was no RICO enterprise.
Marc Agnifilo cross-examined Lauren Salzman
At one point, he posed a question to Lauren; the prosecution objected; he rephrased the question; and the court said to the witness, “You may answer.”
In the middle of the answer, which revealed Lauren’s plea to be false, the judge interrupted and cut off the cross-examination.
A courtroom sketch shows Lauren Salzman on the stand. Keith Raniere takes notes in the foreground.
Here was a key part of his [the judge’s] later explanation: “l have to sentence this defendant and what you did was, basically, ask her to make legal judgments about whether what she did in pleading was farcical that she took somebody else’s advice, some lawyer, so she could get out from under a trial. I thought that went pretty far beyond the pale, frankly.”
Lauren actually admitted, in effect, her innocence. Often the court reporters do not transcribe every utterance into the record. There are many instances of this in my case. At this particular juncture, I believe Lauren actually ended by saying specifically her intent was good and to help people.
The pledged surety (collateral) for the vow of sorority was completely voluntary with safe-guards, and ethical procedures, to assure the proper care of this mutual trust. In Lauren’s plea she ignored all of this assuming coercion and knowing bad intent. This was certainly not true. Without this broad assumption. none of Lauren’s plea is true or even makes sense. If my attorney was allowed to continue his cross-examination of Lauren, I am confident this would have been abundantly clear.
Lauren Salzman leaves court
Keith Raniere gives a kiss to Lauren Salzman.
Cooperation with the Prosecution:
Lauren cooperated with the prosecution and testified against me.
Effects:
(Life in Prison)…. No matter what Lauren feels did to her or others, this is what she is voting for and supporting. I do not think she has fully thought this through;
(Supporting Hate see Nancy Effect 7 (Justifying Hate)) Supporting hate is a major moral issue: A valid prosecution does not need or use hate to inspire prejudice to convict — a conviction should come strictly from factual truth without prejudice. By cooperating (and testifying for) this prosecution, who used hate, one supports it. It is better to release a criminal then [sic] to support hate in his or her trial. Supporting hate supports the essence of crime;
(Effect on Supporters) Our community was deeply affected by the act of Lauren cooperating and her testimony. This led many remaining supporters to either outright leave and become negative, or pull away in fear;
(Our Relationship) By testifying Lauren used the credibility of our 20-year partnership to support something bad. This hurts the concept of long-term relationships and, in particular, my long-term relationships. Using that credibility amplifies the weight of her opinions and if she is even partially incorrect, amplifies the and wrongness of them. This is a position from which one must be absolutely sure one is precisely and completely correct;
(Criminalization see Nancy Effects 3 (Criminalization)) Testifying (and pleading) is a form of certifying the charges, and that there was crime. It taints NXIVM and all we have done with criminality. This is not true and the charges are false;
(Breaking Vow) By breaking her sorority vows she betrayed all other sisters, threatened the trust she had with them, and upheld the lies of others who broke their vows before her;
(Founding Sister) Lauren was a founding sister…. By breaking her vows she betrayed the concept of the sorority and this type of secret society for women. She dishonored all of the sorority and all of the sisters effectively destroying the sorority, as we know it, for all others;
(Breaking Promises) A number of her actions break her admitted, personal, promises to me. This erodes at her word and also the concept of life vows. The more people that visibly break the less meaningful life-vows becomes [sic]. It does appear Lauren had been breaking our life-vows throughout the relationship which is my fault also (see below);
(Breaking Confidences) She disclosed, to the detriment of others, and also inaccurately, two direct things told to her in absolute confidence: Lauren identified Cami as the participant in Nicole’s test (this hurt Cami publicly), and claimed Dany Padilla told her I kicked her once (which makes me appear violent); and
(Speaking with Dishonor) Lauren’s testimony contained what we would consider dishonorable speaking. Dishonorable speaking, by definition, creates unnecessary damages through the use of hateful prejudice. Additionally, this lessens the virtue of speaking with honor and, if a top member of our community could speak with dishonor so publicly, it lessens everything the community built and creates the thought that our community members are only virtuous when not under pressure. We believe one should always ask his or her self, “What if I am wrong?” “How would I ever undo it?” How can anyone be sure he or she is right? To hear someone speak publicly with dishonor, who has upheld speaking with honor for so long, is chilling and disheartening.
Lauren Salzman and Keith Raniere on the volleyball court.
My participation:
(Contact) As in the first four sentences of item one above under “My participation (Contact)” With Nancy, the same is true here;
(Environment) It is evident to me I created an environment within our relationship wherein Lauren felt she could not keep her promise to me of full disclosure. She was too scared of me, or losing our relationship, to disclose a number of things. This is my fault. I did not provide what Lauren considered a safe enough caring place for her to tell me everything. When I exchange promises with a partner it is incumbent upon me to provide the safety for the full disclosure required. I failed and need to improve all my relationships from now forth and I will live with these consequences for the rest of my life. I am sad this mistake (likely a series of mistakes and a way of being lasting over many years) was so hard on Lauren;
(Values) I didn’t focus enough on the differences in values I saw. Since aspects of our relationship were extraordinary, and we did not fight, I thought we would grow together and our lives would align. What I did not do was take it a step further and recognize if my values were set and not going to change, I was counting on Lauren’s changing which is unfair to her. If someone has to change (or sacrifice) their values in order to in a life-partnership, then the life-partnership is probably not meant to be;
(Signals) From my perspective, I would see Lauren change her position with respect to very important things: at one point she told me if faced with the decision of staying with me and not having children, or leaving me and having children, she would rather stay with me. This position seemed to change at times. I should have seen this as a signal to either thoroughly resolve the issue, or end the relationship. I am very reluctant to end relationships. In this case, it was not being healthy or fair to her;
(Connection) There were long periods of time I did not connect deeply with Lauren — I just let the relationship “be.” Because she is an independent woman, I did not weight [sic] this separation through non-connection enough. In effect. I took Lauren’s beauty, tolerance, and independence within the relationship for granted.
(Sharing Myself) For Lauren to believe she did not know who I was after 20 years of a relationship means I did not share myself enough, nor give her the opportunity to know me deeply enough, so she would be unshakable in who I am — for better or for worse. It is always our responsibility to show, and allow people to know, who we are — especially our loved ones. We should not think it is their job to somehow figure us out and then be upset if they don’t or can’t;
(Compensation) There were people close to me who had difficult relationships with Lauren. I should have moved more strongly to arbitrate these situations instead of compensating for them. An example is Lauren being invited into the sorority many months after all the other founding sisters. Had I arbitrated these situations, I suspect Lauren would have either been invited in the beginning (and felt differently now) or not have been invited at all; and
(Unfinished Work) Lauren had certain specializations within the sorority. I did not spend enough time finishing the special therapeutic techniques which were to be under her auspices so they were never released. I suspect her with them would have deepened her experience with the sorority, given her participation even greater meaning, and given her a more directed purpose. I feel these techniques are truly beneficial, healing, and quite extraordinary.
A Few Photos of Lauren Salzman
Lauren Salzman
Lauren Salzman
MK10ART – Lauren Salzman
Lauren Salzman by Marie White.
Lauren Salzman with her cat
Lauren Salzman with Allison Mack
Marie White’s depiction of Lauren Salzman
Clare Bronfman and Lauren Salzman.
Lauren Salzman
