Clare Bronfman, 43, is in federal prison, serving an 81-month sentence. Her release date is June 29, 2026. She was the subject of a TNT documentary, the Heiress and the Sex Cult, that aired Sunday. It was not flattering.
She is the first Bronfman I know of in her famous family to go to prison. Although her grandfather, Samuel, might have died in prison if murdering rivals is a crime. Grandpa Bronfman did not take kindly to laws prohibiting alcohol. I understand it. His name was Bronfman which means in Russian – liquor dealer. The Yiddish is bronfn.
And you don’t let the government outlaw your business and your name. So he had to arrange to kill a few gangsters who got in the way. And he cleared the way to make billions.
Sam Bronfman.
The US Courts convicted Clare of financial crimes concerning insignificant amounts of money. Her crimes were harboring an illegal alien for financial gain and paying a dead person’s credit card.
She oversaw Keith Raniere’s use of Pam Cafritz’s American Express card. Raniere’s baby mama Mariana used the card for shopping sprees. Keith paid the chiropractor. Clare paid for it. That’s a crime – to use a dead person’s credit card. Even if you pay it.
Compared to her net worth, her financial crimes were nothing. Her convictions were only financial crimes. The money amounted to less than half a million. Never was a wealthier person convicted for so little money for financial crimes. But this is Executive Success at work.
Today, I estimate Clare’s net worth is more than $300 million, despite her heavy losses in NXIVM.
She lost more than $100 million in NXIVM. She spent another $20 million on her legal defense and other codefendants. She paid more than 20 lawyers. But she bought an island in Fiji and still has properties in Los Angeles, which she failed to list with the court.
In 2018, after her arrest, she disclosed to the court a net worth of about $200 million – without Fiji or LA. She owns 80 percent of Wakaya Island, which I venture is worth about $100 million.
Investment counselors handle much of her money, much of it in trust. Her semi-liquid assets have taken an upturn in value. In one year alone, sources tell me she made $35 million from passive investments. She regularly made $15-$20 million per year even after her arrest, and while in prison.
Imagine she’s sitting in a prison cell, making $2-3 million per month, and all she can spend is $388/month on commissary. Imagine a woman who makes millions a year in passive investments cheating Sylvie Lloyd out of $90,000. Or short-changing illegal nannies out of $5 per hour – which were her crimes.
It is Executive Success. Nothing more. It is Rational Inquiry.
Clare can also boast another indignity on her wall of shame. She will not compete in the Olympics. Sure, she is 43 with 50 months to go in prison. She will be 47 when she gets out – unless she wins her sentencing appeal. She is likely too old to compete anyway.
But she was once an elite equestrian. Then she found something better than riding horses. She chose to ride people at the behest of her personal rider, Mr. Keith Raniere.
The US Equestrian Federation banned Clare. She cannot participate in activities and competitions it licenses, endorses, or sponsors.
Clare joins the list of 27 others who have lifetime bans. Thanks to one of our readers, this website came to my attention:
The U.S. Center for SafeSport maintains a Centralized Disciplinary Database as a resource designed to keep the public informed when individuals connected with the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Movements, including US Equestrian, are either subject to certain temporary restrictions pending investigation by the Center or are subject to certain sanctions after an investigation found them in violation of the SafeSport Code. To access the Centralized Disciplinary Database, go here https://uscenterforsafesport.org/response-and-resolution/centralized-disciplinary-database/
BACKGROUND
A little background on her and her riding, courtesy of PeoplePill.com
Clare Bronfman is the youngest daughter of former Seagram chairman, Edgar Bronfman Sr. Bronfman Sr, a Jewish Canadian billionaire met her mother, Rita Webb in Spain. Rita was the daughter of an English pub owner from Essex, England.
She married Edgar in 1975. Webb gave birth to Sara the following year and Clare two and a half years later. Shortly after Clare’s birth, Webb asked Edgar for a divorce. They remarried in 1983 but again divorced. After their second divorce, Clare and her sister Sara would visit their father at his estates. But their mother managed their upbringing and they lived in England and Kenya.
EQUESTRIAN CAREER
Bronfman started her equestrian career at the age of 17 and began to qualify and compete at the elite level at age 20.
In December 1999, Bronfman competed in the Millstreet Indoor International Horse Show, riding her horse Enchante against 56 other entrants. She did not win the £20,000 purse. Still, She competed closely with accomplished equestrians such as Katie Monaghan-Prudent, Tim Stockdale, Billy Twomey, and the winner, Robert Splaine.
Robert SplaineIn May 2001, Bronfman won her first international competition aboard Charlton (Cavalier). She won the Grand Prix at CSI-A Eindhoven, claiming the £10,000 winner’s purse after a narrow victory over Dermott Lennon, who finished with the fastest time but faulted on a jump.
Bronfman participated in the World Final of the Samsung Nations Cup Series (Jumping) in Madrid, Spain, on September 23, 2001, again aboard Charlton. As part of a team including Alice Debany Clero and Richard Spooner, she made a magnificent showing, scoring 5 faults in round one and none in round two. Thanks to Bronfman’s performance, the team placed seventh in the competition.
On May 26, 2002, a year and a day after winning the Grand Prix at CSI-A Eindhoven (NED), Bronfman won the Grand Prix in Rome (ITA), riding Charlton again.
Clare Bronfman (USA) aboard Charlton; 2002, Concours Hippique International Officiel, World Equestrian Festival Aachen Equestrian sport, women’s singles.
Bronfman missed the original cut for the team. But she was brought in as a last-minute replacement because of an injury sustained by a competing horse. Her teammate Laura Kraut finished second. The two American women put on an impressive performance.
Their team placed 6th in the competition due to their superb riding. Bronfman performed the best out of the five riders representing the U.S. at the CSI-A competition in Bremen, Germany, from October 3 to 6, 2002.
Aboard Lord William (Lord Caletto – Rocky, by Rousseau), a Westphalian gelding, she placed second in the Der Joker competition and second again in another class aboard Enchante, a Selle Francais gelding. From October 17 to 19 aboard Lord William, she won the speed and handiness competition two weeks later. Bronfman placed 13th in the main competition aboard Enchante, making her the highest-placing American after Kaye Levy, who placed 32nd overall.
At the height of her equestrian career, Bronfman was ranked 12th in the U.S. and 80th in the world.
She initially said she owed her success to her equestrian mentors and trainers. She enlisted the help of three world-class equestrians – Peter Leone, a silver medalist in the 1996 Olympics; Lauren Hough, a member of the 2000 Olympic team; and Henk Noreen, a renowned Olympic coach based in Belgium.
Then she got even more equestrian training from a man who had never ridden a horse as far as anyone knows.
She realized that this one man knew more than all the others put together. He was a man who never jumped a fence or directed a refractory horse to calm. Keith Raniere provided her with the necessary guidance and support so essential for athletes competing at elite levels.
However, despite his superb mentoring, Clare quickly fell in the rankings. Her mentor soon persuaded her that the money she spent on the expensive sport could be much more equitably spent on something that would make the world a more noble place. Noble like he was.
She started spending money on lawsuits.
As one of our readers observed, “Clare is sanctioned (“permanent illegibility”) by US equestrian to ever have a position in that sport (and possibly any sport). She can go horse jumping again, her original passion when she gets out, but she will not be able to rehabilitate herself by pursuing a formal position in any sports organization.”
Her mentor took her from a stagnant place – ranking #12 in elite show jumping to number one heiress in prison in the USA.
It would be unfair not to mention that we, the people of the United States of America, pursuant to forfeiture of assets in the matter of USA v. Raniere, now own the complete technology of NXIVM, Rational Inquiry, and Executive Success Programs.
We may follow in her footsteps, perhaps to have documentaries made about us one day, if we could only find a similar mentor. For which we will proudly say, “Viva Executive Success!”
