For those who think that NXIVM is dead – and that we can all move on to other battles—think again.
Just last Sunday came more proof that even though some of the leaders of the NXIVM criminal enterprise have been taken down, the entity itself is still alive (In that way, I guess NXIVM is really more like a worm than a snake).
That’s when the Daily Caller revealed in a feature piece that Rainbow Cultural Garden (RCG) operations are still going strong in several locations.
Raniere founded the first RCG operation in 2006 in Clifton Park, NY. At the time, he described it as “a “revolutionary child development program promoting children’s cultural, linguistic, emotional, physical and problem-solving potential” – and claimed it could teach children as young as 2 to be simultaneously fluent in as many as seven languages.
Raniere MK10ART – Tangled
As unbelievable as it may sound, this total sham of a child development program – which is really nothing more than a scientific experiment dreamt up by Keith Raniere and promoted by Dr. Brandon Porter, Raniere’s later-day version of Josef Mengele – is still being operated in several locations.
Dr. Brandon Porter
As reported by the Daily Caller, an investigation undertaken by the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) found that Raniere’s followers are still operating RCG programs in France and Guatemala – and that they still have a presence in the United Kingdom.
In addition to those operations, Frank Report has also confirmed that RCG is also still operating in Mexico.
The French Connection
According to the Daily Caller report, the RCG operation in France is run by a company named Athal Education Group (AEG) – which was founded by Sarah Bronfman and her husband, Basit Igtet.
Basit Igtet & Sara Bronfman
In December 2018, AEG launched what it called its “Campus Beyond The School” program – which it claims “…will guide children as young as 2 years old to master their mind, body, expression and world as they are simultaneously taught German, English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French, Japanese and Russian”.
In addition to its founders’ ties to NXIVM, several of RCG’s staff also have ties to the cult.
They include Edith Alcaino, the school’s Multicultural Director – and its Arabic teacher, Elias Boukhari. Both of them were pictured in the September 2018 issue of L’Aptesien.
Another AEG school employee with NXIVM ties is Baron Stewart, who has stated on his personal blog that he has “adopted Keith Raniere” as a member of his family. He teaches math and science at the school.
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The British Connection
Sarah Bronfman is also the head of RCG’s operation in England – which is jointly owned by Events for Humanity, one of the business entities that was identified by the prosecutors in Raniere’s trial as having ties to NXIVM, and The Capital international Trust, which is based in Seychelles.
Sara Bronfman, Basit Igtet and one of their two daughters. It is not known how many languages their daughters speak.
According to Sarah, “Children in our programme speak four to seven languages fluently”. At least that’s what she claimed in a July 2017 interview with Quintessentially Education.
Sarah went on to explain that the current RCG operation operates more like an alternative to nannies rather than a separate school.
“Here in London, we offer Rainbow as a bespoke, in-home service with plans to launch our fully fledged programme in the next year”, she explained. “This service replaces a nanny or other childcare options from as early as three months to school age and beyond”.
Sarah went on to describe a typical day for a child who is enrolled in the RCG program. “As an example, a child might have a Spanish development specialist from 8 – 11am, Chinese Mandarin from 11am – 2pm, and Russian from 2 – 5pm each day of the week, to introduce age-appropriate exercises in each language”.
Sarah also proved to be almost as good a liar as Raniere – especially when she described the credentials of the program’s Multicultural Development Specialists in London: “All of our development specialists have undergone a rigorous examination process and they all have enhanced background checks and paediatric first-aid training. Above all, though – they genuinely love nothing more than to be with children”.
Unfortunately, that last line might be true…
The RCG operation in London was investigated by the Office of Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills back in 2017-2018. But the agency closed its investigation when it learned that the parents of children who were enrolled in the program stayed in the home while the child was being tutored.
Several of the staff at the French operation are also involved in the British operation.
That includes Alcaino who serves as the Program Director for the British operation – and Boukhari who serves as its Recruiter and Human Resources Coordinator.
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The Guatemalan Connection
It also appears that there is another RCG school currently operating in Guatemala City.
Although it operates under the name Sunshines Multicultural Academy, it previously used the RCG logo – and referred to its students as “Rainbow kids”.
Is Sunshines Multicultural Academy a Rainbow operation?
The Guatemalan operation stripped all the “Rainbow” references from its Facebook page – and from its advertising – in September 2018, about six months after Raniere was arrested in Mexico.
When asked about the school’s curriculum, Michelle Luttmann, a spokesperson for the school responded by saying that “We teach Mandarin, Russian, English (England) and Hindi, with native teachers of the country.”
But when asked whether the school had any ties to RCG, Luttmann did not respond.
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The Mexican Connection
Our sources indicate that RCG is still operating in Mexico. But we will be doing a more in-depth report on what’s going on there in the near future.
In the meantime, we have heard several reports about parents who decided to pull their children out of a Mexican RCG school – and place them in private or public schools.
Mexican Flag
Apparently, those parents are having a very difficult time finding a school that will accept any child who has previously been enrolled in a Rainbow Cultural Garden school.
Seems the schools are worried about the status of the former RCG students – and whether they will be able to fit in with the schools’ other students.
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Former Member Speaks Out Against Rainbow Cultural Gardens
Ariella Menashy, a former member of NXIVM who once was interested in opening her own RCG operation in Vancouver, confirmed that the AEG operation in France “100% sounds like Rainbow” – and that the languages it teaches are the same ones offered by RCG.
Menashy also confirmed that Bronfman, Igtet, Alcaino, Boukhari, and Stewart all have NXIVM ties. She saw Bronfman, Igtet and Stewart at V-Week celebrations – and attended a “Family Values Intensive” with Alcaino and Boukhari back in 2015.
Menashy made it clear that she thought it was inappropriate for RCG schools to still be in operation.
“Just stop this ridiculousness of propagating the ideas of a sociopath,” she said. “There’s really no question at this point [Raniere] has bad intent.”
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Others Also Speak Out Against Rainbow Cultural Gardens
Rick Ross, an expert on cult operations, suggested that all the RCG operations should be shut down.
Rick Ross
“If there is any school or camp that is connected to NXIVM, the philosophy of rational inquiry, and the ideas of Keith Raniere, parents and families should stay away from those schools and camps and should be made aware of their notorious history,” Ross said. “Child protection officials should be looking very closely at those schools.”
Frank Parlato, the publisher of this blog, was also questioned by the Daily Caller during the course of its investigation of RCG.
MK10 Frank Parlato
“I think the real thing to focus on, the real terrible thing, is that these kids are being abused,” Parlato said. “Their parents are still believers in Keith’s ideas and greatness”, he added.
“These children are being raised by a series of strangers, who are not highly paid, who are speaking to them in different languages every day,” Parlato said. “And the kids don’t get a rest, they don’t get the opportunity to just talk with their mother or be with their father.”
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Some Personal Thoughts
When I first heard about the Rainbow Cultural Garden operation in Clifton Park, I was horrified.
I had seen this type of operation before – and knew exactly what kind of mind-control opportunities it presented.
During the period of time that I served as the Director of the Missouri Department of Social Services, I became very familiar with several militia groups in the Northwest quadrant of the state that had set up their own “schools” so that their children would not have to attend public schools.
Along with the Missouri Department of Education, we undertook a detailed investigation of these “schools”.
What we found is that they did not qualify as home-schools because they did not have any curriculum or qualified teaching staff. Nor did they qualify as daycare centers because they lacked properly trained staff – and adequate facilities for the number of children attending them.
We also found that these “schools” were essentially indoctrination camps that were focused on preparing children to become members of the various militias operating them.
With the assistance of the Attorney General, we shut these operations down. But not before several of us received death threats.
I tried everything I could think of to get the RCG operation in Clifton Park shut down.
But no one wanted to take on NXIVM.
Not the then-New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
Not the New York State Department of Children & Family Services.
Not the Saratoga County Department of Social Services.
And certainly not the New York State Police – and its esteemed Senior Investigator Rodger Kirsopp.
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One of the primary reasons why Kristin Keeffe decided to flee from Raniere and NXIVM is because of her concerns about the effects that the Rainbow Cultural Garden training was having on her son.
That took a lot of guts – especially knowing how Raniere reacted to others who had left him.
Kudos for her doing what she did – and good luck to her and her son as they try to overcome the harm that Raniere did to both of them.
