“The Rat” is an anonymous commenter who made a single comment on John Tighe’s Saratoga In Decline blog – on October 24, 2010 at 4:34 PM.
It is a stunning comment because, when the Rat made it, it was not publicly known that Keith Raniere had a history of statutory rape.
And the purported suicides of Gina Hutchinson and Kristin Snyder were all but forgotten, except by those who knew them.
No one was blaming Raniere then. No one was pointing a finger at him for the little girls he molested or the women who died or disappeared.
This was 2010. Almost a year and a half before the Albany Times Union published their first report on Raniere’s suspected sex with underage girls.
Kristin Snyder disappeared on Feb. 6, 2003.
Gina Hutchinson
Yet the Rat, whoever the Rat is, came out with these allegations – of Raniere’s two most heinous crimes, statutory rape and possibly hyper- assisted suicide or murder [there is a grey line between them], years before these allegations came to the fore.
They came vividly to the fore – the statutory rape and possibility of murder – in 2019. The first at his trial and the second in a documentary two-hour film I coordinated and appeared in for Discovery ID, called “The Lost Women of Nxivm” [which airs Sunday, Dec, 8, at 9 PM ET.]
The Albany Times Union brought out the rapes and the suicides – noting it was suicide [Kristin Snyder and Gina Hutchinson] – nothing more than suicide – in 2012 – in their landmark series The Secrets of Nxivm and in particular one of the series In Raniere’s Shadow.
I began exposing the same issues, but questioning the “suicide” of Kristin Snyder, after Elaine Smiloff, the last woman known to have seen Kristin Snyder alive, contacted me in August 2017 to tell me that Kristin told her she was pregnant.
But before all that – from out the blue – comes the Rat – in October 2010 – when things were going well for Raniere, when he had Bronfman millions at his disposal, a harem of women, beautiful actresses recruiting for him – the Rat gave a shocking disclosure.
Nothing was done about it. But some never forgot the Rat and that single comment.
Just put it in context – of what we now know about Gina and Kristin Snyder.
The Rat said [and this is the Rat’s spelling and punctuation] exactly as it appeared:
by the time they read this, I will have gone back to mexico with edgar. i served as their pawn for too long (like jim). i see my responsibiy in the deaths of both kristen’s friend in the monistary and ester’s friend in AK. He did not kill, I did for him. I put the idea in thier heads. It was suicide, so it could not be linked to me and keith. But we still encouraged it to happen.
At least those who died, had thier lives ended. What will come out in the future will be the young girls (who are now women) who were taken advantage of (how old was Angel, Megan, Michelle, and Rosie). I think if someone looks into Kristen’s friend (who was under age) and those other teenagers that worked for CBI they will see that he is a molester. That is what bothers me above all. Murder is one thing, thier lives are over. When you take advantage of girls who work for you and play video games in an emtpy warehouse after hours (Keith knows what I am talking about) that is sick.
If this isn’t enough, he did it again with the —- girls. Thier parents trusted you (Pam) with thier care and you (Keith) molested them. What is worse is what you did to their brother. You made him tape tape it all. Not just what happened with the girls, but also what happen with your girlfriends. No young boy should be exposed to that.
I am praying for the day that one of these victims comes forward…as they are innocent. I am guilty and can’t. Those in the inner circle will know who wrote this because I will be gone by the time they read it. I thought what I was supporting was humanity…I recently realized it was just the preversion of a sick man.
A total of 315 words that indicts Raniere as much as anything ever written.
It almost has to be from an insider for the Rat knows too much, way too much given that the time was October 2010.
Let us look at what the Rat really said. I will correct the spellings and grammar mistakes and make my comments in brackets. parenthetically.
The Rat:
By the time they read this, I will have gone back to Mexico with Edgar. [Boone?]
I served as their pawn for too long (like Jim) [Del Negro?]
I see my responsibility in the deaths of both Kristin’s[Keeffe’s] friend in the [Buddhist] monastery [in Woodstock NY where Gina Hutchinson’s body was found. Gina was a close friend of Keeffe’s] and Esther [Chiappone Carlson’s] friend in AK [Kristin Snyder. Kristin would have appeared to be Esther’s friend for Esther housed her when she came to Albany].
He [Keith Raniere] did not kill, I did [it] for him. I put the idea in their heads. It was suicide, so it could not be linked to me and Keith. But we still encouraged it to happen.
At least those who died, had their lives ended. What will come out in the future will be the young girls (who are now women) [and it did come out] who were taken advantage of (how old were Angel, Megan, Michelle, and Rosie). [underage girls who Raniere is suspected of statutorily raping]
I think if someone looks into Kristin’s friend (who was underage) [Gina] and those other teenagers that worked for CBI [Consumers’ Buyline, Raniere’s company before Nxivm] they will see that he is a molester.
That is what bothers me above all.
Murder is one thing. Their lives are over.
When you take advantage of girls who work for you and play video games in an empty warehouse after hours (Keith knows what I am talking about) that is sick.
If this isn’t enough, he did it again with the Fernandez girls. Their parents trusted you (Pam) [Cafritz] with their care and you (Keith) molested them. What is worse is what you did to their brother. You made him tape it all. Not just what happened with the girls, but also what happened with your girlfriends. No young boy should be exposed to that.
[Did Keith have Adrian ‘Fluffy’ Fernandez actually tape sex he had with women when Adrian was a teenager?]
I am praying for the day that one of these victims comes forward as they are innocent. I am guilty and can’t. Those in the inner circle will know who wrote this because I will be gone by the time they read it.
I thought what I was supporting was humanity… I recently realized it was just the perversion of a sick man.
***
Again, keep in mind the Rat wrote this comment in October 2010, one year, and four months before the Albany Times Union came out with their expose of Keith’s alleged pedophilia.
The Rat then was the first-ever public comment about Keith’s pedophilia. It turned out to be true.
It follows that the Rat’s other statement – about the assisted suicide – might be true.
But how much assistance was really given? Did it cross the line into murder?
Finally, who is the Rat? Who would have known this information and was around at the time? It’s hard to believe the Rat was a troll.
Who knew at the time the Rat published a comment on John Tighe’s blog that girls like Rhiannon were raped by Keith Raniere almost 20 years before.
Here is the police report Rhiannon signed. Note that she said she had “sexual intercourse with a man named Keith Raniere. This occurred when I was approximately 12-13 years old and occurred either at Keith’s townhouse at 3 Flintlock Lanes, Clifton Ny or his business located at Rome Plaza Clifton Park, NY”
Keith Raniere at the time he operated Consumers’ Buyline and told one of his employees that he would tutor her 12-year-old daughter, Rhiannon, in Latin and algebra. Instead, he raped her some 60 times.
Either the Rat had some uncanny premonitions or the Rat knew about Keith and his statutory rape.
So again, if the Rat knew what few others had known – the rapes of children – did the Rat also know what really happened to Kristin Snyder and Gina Hutchinson?
