There are a few stories that still have to be told to complete the coverage of Nxivm. This is one of them.
Assistant US Attorney Moira Kim Penza told Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis at a sidebar during the trial of Keith Alan Raniere that all his eight first line slaves were criminals.
Moira Kim Penza
She said, “The idea, Your Honor, is that everyone in the first line — the Government believes that every member of the first line was a co-conspirator. There is no question; there’s no distinction about that….. These were people who were — when they joined DOS, they knew that the defendant [Keith Alan Raniere] was their grandmaster and then they conspired with the defendant to conceal his identity and to recruit new people in [slaves] to get naked pictures; to get property; and in some situations, to get women to have sex with the defendant.
“So the Government views those people as co-conspirators and that is the distinction that the Government is drawing” [in deciding to use their first and last names.]
But the distinction ended in terms of prosecution with six of the first line criminals not being charged.
Only Allison Mack and Lauren Salzman were charged and both pled guilty.
This shows, one could argue, selective prosecution, since the other six women were also equally guilty, according to the prosecution.
DOS First-Line Slaves with their master in the middle.
Let’s look at the eight women and where they are today.
Allison Mack
Allison Mack
Everyone knows Allison Mack was charged and involved in a sex cult. She was the top headline maker for the entire cult.
She paid the highest price too, despite the fact that she was no more guilty than the others.
She may have been a little better at recruiting than some and joined in the grotesque lie that DOS was an all-female group, when she knew it was led by a man, the monstrous Keith Alan Raniere.
But she was not more guilty than the others, most of whom will not be punished.
Today, Allison’s life is in shambles. She has been subject to home confinement for more than two years. She pled guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy more than a year ago and awaits sentencing. She faces up to 40 years. That, of course, is an unlikely sentence, but she still will likely do some prison time – possibly three to five years.
None of the time she spent subject to home confinement goes towards time served.
She has lost her fan base. She may never act again. Her reputation is shattered. She went from having an estimated $8 million in assets to being dead broke. She has reportedly had a nervous breakdown. She bitterly and emotionally revealed that she was misled by Raniere and was ashamed and embarrassed – as she said during her allocution before the judge when she pled guilty in April 2019.
She paid a heavy price for her stupidity, gullibility and her complicity in following a demon she thought was her mentor and a helper of women.
If she goes to prison, which seems likely, she can possibly emerge a better woman for it and try to help other women. She could write a book or make a lecture tour or a documentary.
People will be interested in hearing her story – and if she can tell a compelling one, a cautionary tale, she may be able to help other women.
She has a long road to hoe.
However, there are, I understand, numerous men out there, who have proposed marriage to her since her arrest, and she might find one that offers a promise of a good and gentle life outside the limelight.
If I were advising her as her PR agent, I would suggest she start working to help other women after she serves her sentence and possibly even during her sentence. With her natural charm and the fact that she can get publicity any time she wants, she could have a platform to tell women about her mistakes, how she got caught up in this, how she suffered and how she healed, and how other women can avoid the pratfalls she experienced.
It is not too late for her to make a new start. Who knows? She is in her mid 30’s. By the time she is in her early 40s, she may be free of this nightmare and can start helping other women – which purportedly was her goal from the start.
One thing is certain, and I believe this is true for the others who were charged [except Raniere], her arrest was a good break for her. Otherwise, she would have likely remained in the destructive cult for many years, far longer than she will be punished for once being in the cult.
Allison might have spent her whole life with Raniere, had he not been arrested, along with her. And I believe there will come a day, if it has not come already, when she will bless the day she was arrested, as the very first step in her freedom from being a slave to a monster and a member of a brainwashing cult.
DOS slave Lauren Salzman
Lauren Salzman
Lauren Salzman was unquestionably one of the top leaders of the racketeering enterprise known as Nxivm.
Unlike Allison, Lauren knew many secrets of the foul Raniere and kept them hidden. Not just DOS but the whole rotten Nxivm scheme. She profited by it pretty well over the years, always enjoying a six-figure income and a lot of prestige in the company.
She was the last of the eight first line slaves to join DOS, not arriving into the sick sisterhood until early 2017.
She pled guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy and like Mack, she faces a similar sentencing range. However, Lauren was utilized effectively by the prosecution as a witness and did a pretty good job helping them sink the filthy Raniere.
While Mack employed her deceptive wiles on slaves for maybe a year-and-a-half – and likely thought that it was for the benefit of those women [on some insane level] just as she thought she was benefiting herself from Raniere’s teachings – Lauren practiced deceptions on others, mostly women, for almost 20 years.
She and her mother, Nancy Salzman, were two of his chief criminal conspirators. Yet, Lauren will likely get off with a lighter sentence than Allison since Lauren testified for the prosecution and will likely get their backing for a reduced sentence.
The judge also seemed sympathetic to her since, at one point during her cross-examination, after she started blubbering uncontrollably [or at least so it seemed], the judge prevented defense attorney, Marc Agnifilo, from continuing his cross -xamination, a highly unusual event in a criminal case where the defendant faces up to life in prison.
The judge later said that he felt she was on the verge of a breakdown.
Lauren gave the performance of her life and it should help her. Allison did not get that chance. She was never called as a witness.
Still, Lauren is at least part victim. She bought into the monster’s lies and we learned from her testimony that he led her on for many years, literally the best years of her life, thinking she was going to have his baby.
Of these two, Lauren is more guilty by far than Allison. She did both DOS deceptions and Nxivm racketeering for years. Allison only engaged in DOS deceptions as far as is known.
I am not the judge of course, but if I was, I would sentence Lauren to several years probation and no prison time.
I would impose a penalty that she be permanently barred from giving therapy, joining any self-help groups, being part of any multilevel marketing companies, joining any sororities, having membership in any secret groups, and, of course, barred from joining anything even remotely connected to a cult. I would insist that she work at a standard job where she cannot recruit others into anything.
I see no value in putting her behind bars.
As for Allison, I would sentence her to probation also. With the same conditions as Lauren and possibly insist she get some kind of therapy.
Both of these women need to heal. And maybe they can.
Lauren Salzman, childless, single, long time member of Raniere’s harem.
Allison Mack cannot likely go back to being an actress.
As for Lauren, she has a chance of obscurity in the future, and to find employment or a husband or both. At age 42, she might be a little old to have children – the thing she wanted so badly with Raniere.
At age 37, Allison might still have a shot if she wants children. Of course, it all depends on whether they go to prison and for how long.
Now for the six who got off scot-free.
Rosa Laura Junco, wealthy heiress and mother of four.
Rosa Laura Junco
Rosa Laura Junco, the wealthy daughter of the famous Alejandro Junco, the leading news publisher in Mexico, gained great notoriety, especially in Mexico, when it was learned that she offered her 15-year-old virgin daughter to Raniere.
The daughter is now 18.
Rosa Laura is the only one of the eight first-line to have children. The other seven are childless.
Rosa Laura is, of course, as guilty as the other first-line women. She was older, by far the wealthiest of the first-line, and considered a leader and mentor to many women in Nxivm. She also had a major role in organizing DOS. She recruited Lauren into DOS as well as other slaves.
Her father has great wealth and Rosa Laura, a very intelligent and educated woman, knowledgeable of the world, believed intensely in Raniere. So, she recruited for him, left her husband for him, and was willing to offer her child to him.
It is sick, of course, but keep in mind that she was a true believer. She is humiliated now. Everyone knows the depths of her depravity and she is living in virtual seclusion. According to a source, her siblings tried to get her disinherited, but it is believed she still stands to inherit hundreds of millions – so she will never have to work.
When she was at Nxivm, she was reportedly on a million dollar per year allowance.
Her children from her first marriage are reportedly estranged from her [How would you feel about a mother who was willing to have a madman have sex with you when you were only 15?]. Her life is in shambles, but obviously she is not starving.
In time, perhaps she can rebuild a life [with her many millions] perhaps with people who will forget or at least not bring up her horrifying role in Nxivm. She may be able to one day explain why she would offer her daughter to Raniere when the child was a virgin.
But it will not be easy, I think, to get any kind of general acceptance that she thought it was best for the child [which she probably did believe].
In society [and she and her family are known throughout Mexican society], she is considered an outcast because of what she did and it is hard to live that down.
She is reputationally ruined but because she has great wealth, she can lead a private life and perhaps she will marry again [her third marriage.] She also has enough money to go to another country [like Sara Bronfman] or perhaps an island. She has enough money to buy Clare’s Wakaya Island or Richard Branson’s Necker Island and live, I suppose, in obscurity with the natives.
Rosa Laura Junco wrote to Keith Raniere in August 2015, “I am 100 percent clear that you are what I want for my daughter (and obviously myself).” Rosa Laura will not likely be charged for her crimes, but her stigma is as great as anyone connected to Raniere for she offered her daughter to this pig and this no one will ever forget that.
Monica Duran
Monica Duran was around Raniere for well over 15 years. She was part of the Mexican contingent, all recruited from the down-line of Edgar Boone. Monica was not wealthy and came to live in Clifton Park, in Knox Woods where Raniere lived, to work full time for Nxivm and be one of Raniere’s sex toys.
For years, she was Clare Bronfman’s assistant and through Clare, she recruited Sylvie as her slave. She gave the best years of her life to Raniere, waiting for him and waiting on him.
She used to keep the door unlocked at her town home and wait at home for the day or night when Raniere would stop in to see her, perhaps for a “quickie” – which, knowing Raniere, resulted in only one-sided satisfaction.
Neighbors who knew her say she was a sweet girl. No one had a word to say against her. She was quiet, friendly, smiling, considerate.
I know no one from Nxivm either who had a bad thing to say about her. Even Sylvie said nothing horrid about her and yet she willingly lied to recruit women as slaves and get them to do free labor and have sex with Raniere.
Monica Duran, single, childless, longtime member of Raniere’s harem.
She could potentially move on with her life. She could change her name. Get a job. Find a husband. It is not known if she still considers herself in Nxivm and a follower of Raniere. But unlike Allison and Lauren, she faces no criminal penalties and unlike Rosa Laura, she is not famous.
She could leave her Nxivm past behind.
Loreta Garza
Loreta not only recruited for Raniere under false pretenses, she laundered money for him and ran his notorious Rainbow Cultural Garden child experiment. She will not likely be charged, however.
She spent years in the USA, getting in illegally by lying on her visa, for which she also won’t likely be charged.
Loreta Garza with Keith Raniere. Garza, single, childless and longtime member of Raniere’s harem.
Loreta Garza
Loreta brought her two sisters into Nxivm and into DOS – Jimina and Carola Garza. All three sisters got branded.
Carola and Jimina are married. Loreta remained single as part of Raniere’s harem. She had a unique infatuation with the villainous Raniere so much so that she brought in her sisters.
This suggests she truly did believe in the madman. For no one who is close to one’s sisters, like Loreta is, brings them into something one does not believe in. This to me is a mitigating factor in her favor.
Loreta also believed in Rainbow – though she made good money at it – enough to own a half a million dollar home in Raniere’s neighborhood paid for by cash.
But she believed in her work at Rainbow and her sister, Carola, ran the Monterrey Rainbow. Her sister, Jimina, co-ran, with her husband Omar Boone, the Monterrey Nxivm center. Both are closed now, though Omar and his brother Edgar continue to lead Nxivm Mexico, or what is left of it.
It is believed that all three Garza sisters and the two Boone brothers are still faithful adherents to the Vanguard – and believe that he will use his supernatural abilities to get out of prison – perhaps on appeal and resume the leadership of Nxivm.
Loreta got her start in Nxivm as Nancy Salzman’s assistant. She was slender and attractive and Nancy soon set it up for Raniere to enjoy her sexually.
Jimena Garza and husband Omar Boone
Daniela Padilla
Dani Padilla [left first row] was part of Keith Raniere’s harem. She was never top of the harem which she did not seem to mind. Barbara Bouchey was the top harem woman and is shown here next to Keith Raniere [Monica Duran second row right]. Dani was smart and was always available for Raniere. She married Sean Bergeron to stay in the country. She is from Mexico and comes from a fairly affluent farming family. She has returned to Mexico and is living in obscurity there. It is not known if she has left Nxivm or is waiting for Raniere’s triumphal return.
Dani Padilla on a walk with Keith Raniere
Allison Mack and Dani were threesome partners with Keith Raniere. The two women were very close and spoke with joy about being sister-wives.
Dani was one of the kinkier DOS slaves. She was more into sex than the bad-ass warrior part of DOS. She took the lead in buying the sex toys for the women and loved her bisexual adventures apparently.
Speaking of bad ass – or happy ass – it is hard to tell which, the story is told of how Keith wanted the DOS women who needed to be punished to be paddled. One day, Keith actually paddled Dani vigorously as punishment. He expressed extreme chagrin when he told the story that instead of feeling punished, Dani actually enjoyed getting her bare-ass paddling.
Camila Fernandez
Camila Fernandez started having sex with Keith Raniere when she was 15 or possibly younger. Though Camila, who Raniere nicknamed “Virgin Cami” when she was just a teen, is also a criminal – and, as the prosecution said, also a victim too.
Raniere started sexually exploiting her when she was no more than 15 and quite possibly younger.
Her nude photos were found in Raniere’s library, taken by him of her when she was 15. The fool was not smart enough to destroy them before he fled to Mexico, although one source said that he left that assignment to Nicki Clyne who flubbed it.
Still, if you want a job done right, do it yourself. It would have taken very little for him to do it himself. He left the evidence behind that was the most damning of all – child porn – right in plain sight in his library on a hard drive that it would have taken him less than 30 seconds to destroy.
This was the crucial evidence that made the other five codefendants take plea deals, one after the other. It came late – after the indictment and superseding indictment. And when it was found out that the feds had nude photos of Cami when she was 15 – held by Raniere for a dozen years – on a hard drive – making possession of child porn a fresh charge – the five female co-defendants did not want to be tried with a man who sexually exploited a child and they all quickly took plea deals.
During the trial, the jury and the public were treated to hours of texts between Raniere and Cami, recited by an FBI agent and the prosecutor – which showed the highly abusive nature of their relationship.
No one who reads those texts can think of Cami as anything but a victim. Yet she, as of the last report, continues to be part of Nxivm and awaits the release of Vanguard – which she has been told is imminent.
Cami could one day wake up and realize Raniere is never getting out of prison and start a new life. She is around 30 and a life without waiting for Raniere could bring her success. She is an intelligent and sensitive young woman. And for the most part, she is unknown. That is a great boon for all those who wandered into the world of Nxivm – being unknown.
Nicki Clyne
I will always have a warm spot of Nicki, for she let me know where Raniere was hiding in Mexico and I was pleased to pass that message on to the authorities by publishing it on my website. He was arrested shortly after that.
Of course, Nicki was not deliberately trying to help me. She just posted her location on Instagram.
Nicki was not as popular an actress as Allison, but she was the first actress in Nxivm to forsake all and join the cult.
It was interesting. Kristin Kreuk, Allison Mack and Nicki Clyne, all actresses, all joined around the same time – around 2006. Kristin never gave up her career and silently left never mentioning Raniere publicly after she left.
Allison took her time but finally gave up her career to be in Nxivm fulltime and was destroyed and then, when she took her plea deal, she renounced Raniere.
Nicki gave up her career almost at once, seems to have escaped prosecution – and reportedly is still loyal to Raniere.
Kristin Kreuk Nicki Clyne and Allison Mack put on a show to promote Keith Raniere. Note the banner in the background.
She quit her role on Battlestar Gallactica and the chagrined producers had to kill off her popular character.
For a time, Nicki was queen of the harem and Raniere’s favorite. It did not last long. Ever desirous of being on top again, she felt special when she offered to be Raniere’s personal slave and he, enamored with the idea, accepted it.
In a sense, Nicki virtually created the idea behind DOS. She thought she found her niche and that she would be his only slave. She helped Raniere flesh out what a master/slave relationship would look like. But Raniere wanted more slaves. He saw in Nicki’s model an opportunity to expand or mass produce it. He loved the dog collar and liked the idea of a tattoo or mark on Nicki and we all know where that led.
Of course, Raniere did not bother to tell Nicki he was out finding other slaves, while he practiced on her.
When Cami found out that Nicki was also his slave, just as she was supposed to be, she was very upset for she did not like Nicki.
When Nicki found out that Allison was a slave, she was terribly upset. She did not feel like she wanted to share Raniere with Allison.
When Allison was arrested, Nicki took over Allison’s remaining slaves and did her best to lead DOS, which was in shambles after the grandmaster Raniere was in custody and could no longer give daily commands.
Amazingly, and I suppose this is a sign of her not being too famous, Nicki was able to get work at a vegan bar in Brooklyn under the assumed name of Nicki Lee and fooled most of the employees for several months until she was outed.
Apparently while there she did her best to recruit new women into the branding and blackmailing cult. The bar, Izzy Rose, is closed because of the pandemic.
Where Nicki goes from here in life is hard to say. She went from being a budding star to a cult slave to a bar manager.
She probably thinks she is a hero, a true badass, keeping the faith for Raniere, living in Brooklyn near him. Maybe one day she will come to realize that she was fooled. A return to acting seems dubious. But she could possibly write a book or reinvent herself as a victim turned woman who wants to help other women.
There is always a chance for a comeback for all the women, and all of them should be thankful that Raniere was arrested.
Though I must admit that the hardest one to rehab is going to be Rosa Laura. But who knows, it might be done. In the end, Raniere did not get her hands on the virgin.
