On behalf of 80 former Nxivm members, Philadelphia lawyer Neil Glazer has filed a federal civil lawsuit against the leaders of Nxivm.
Most of the leaders are broke, but at least two of them, Seagram’s heiresses Clare and Sara Bronfman, have enough remaining assets that the lawsuit could be quite lucrative after all.
Let us, over the next few posts, examine what these two dunderheaded but vengeful heiresses did while they financed the brutal Nxivm cult, while following their leader, Keith Alan Raniere, AKA Vanguard.
In the lawsuit, Glazer not only lays out civil claims but alleges clearly criminal conduct that could form the nucleus of additional charges for Clare and possibly Sara.
Here are some excerpts from Glazer’s suit:
Also, for the delight and delectation of Frank Report readers, we will be including numerous photos of Clare Bronfman.
Readers Beware a Collection of Uniquely Ugly Photos Ahead; Please Use Caution
Clare Bronfman leaves court with high-priced lawyer, Mark Geragos. She may soon be headed to court to face additional charges.
Funded Human Fright Experiments
The [Nxivm racketeering] Enterprise and Defendants were… responsible for conducting experiments on NXIVM members that strayed far beyond the bounds of what is acceptable in the medical and psychotherapeutic professions.
Indeed, these reckless experiments, sponsored, financed and facilitated by Defendants Clare and Sara Bronfman, seriously damaged many people.
For instance, at least forty members of the NXIVM community, trusting in Raniere, Nancy Salzman and Defendant Dr. Brandon Porter, M.D. were subjected to a “human fright experiment,” in which individuals were seated in front of a video display with electroencephalogram (“EEG”) electrodes placed on their skulls to measure brainwaves.
These subjects believed they were going to watch a talk by Raniere, but instead were subjected to scenes of escalating violence including actual, extremely graphic footage of the brutal beheading and dismemberment of five women in Mexico.
Clare Bronfman trying out some orange-colored clothing…
Vexatious Litigation and Threats of Litigation
In order to silence critics and witnesses, Defendants engaged in withering campaigns of abusive, vexatious litigation and the initiation of bogus criminal investigations, by falsely accusing people who left the community, going so far as to inject themselves into these
victims’ NXIVM-caused bankruptcy proceedings.
It has been reported that, with the involvement and backing of Defendant Clare Bronfman, NXIVM hired 50-60 lawyers from 30 or so law firms to pursue litigation or threats of litigation against actual or perceived potential NXIVM critics.
These highly publicized in terrorem legal wars were financed in large part by Defendants Clare and Sara Bronfman. Also, as part of a pattern of vexatious litigation, witness tampering, and retaliation, Defendants engaged in and directed unlawful activities including
perjury, making false statements to law enforcement agencies, destroying or altering evidence, spying on victims and their attorneys, computer hacking, intercepting communications, and even attempts to unlawfully obtain financial account records and other private information about federal judges and other “enemies.”
Filing False Criminal Charges
After Sarah Edmondson stopped participating in all NXIVM programs, the Defendants attempted to silence her. Among other things, Clare Bronfman made false statements to the Vancouver Police Department that Edmondson had allegedly committed crimes against NXIVM.
As a result of the police investigation, Sarah retained an attorney to defend her, incurring legal fees and other expenses. The police department ultimately concluded there was no evidence to support Bronfman’s allegations, and they closed the investigation.
Clare Bronfman got great joy out of punishing people…
Subsequent to [Jane Doe #2’s] her departure from NXIVM, Defendants Raniere and Clare Bronfman directed a co-conspirator [Alex Betancourt] to cause false criminal charges to be lodged against Jane Doe 2.
Raniere and Clare Bronfman then instructed an attorney to send Jane Doe 2 a letter threatening legal action if she told anyone about what Defendants did to her. That letter and the charges have never been rescinded, and thus Jane Doe 2 is still subject to this intimidation.
The photo used by the prosecution during the trial of Keith Raniere. Some say it suggested she is related to Alfred E. Neuman.
Subsequent to [Jane Doe 3’s] departure from NXIVM, Defendants Raniere and Clare Bronfman directed a co-conspirator to lodge false criminal charges against her.
Defendants Raniere and Clare Bronfman then wrote several letters threatening prosecution if she told anyone about what Defendants did to her, which they sent to an attorney, who printed them on his law firm’s letterhead and then mailed them to her at an address in this
judicial District, where she resided.
Defendants Raniere and Clare Bronfman subsequently directed another attorney to send an additional threatening letter to Jane Doe 3. The letters caused her to experience tremendous fear and intimidation, and instead of coming forward and speaking with an attorney or authorities, she went into hiding and avoided contact with authorities for a period, even after learning that the FBI was investigating the Defendants and others. Those letters and charges have never been rescinded.
Subsequent to Jane Doe 5’s departure from NXIVM, Defendants Raniere and Clare Bronfman directed a co-conspirator to cause false criminal charges to be lodged against her.
Defendants Raniere and Clare Bronfman then directed an attorney to send a threatening letter to Jane Doe 5 at an address in this judicial District, where she had been hiding. The letter, delivered to an address that was not hers, caused her to experience tremendous fear and
intimidation, and she felt compelled to continue moving in order to avoid the Defendants’ wrath. The letter and the charges have never been rescinded.
As a result of Defendants’ scheme, criminal acts, and misrepresentations and omissions, Jane Doe 5 was emotionally and financially harmed
The “cleaned up” Clare Bronfman staring vacantly into the future…
Jane Doe 16 concluded she could no longer endure the hardships and coercion Defendants and others subjected her to, the abject poverty she had fallen into, and the psychological abuse inflicted upon her by Clare Bronfman whenever she tried to complain about her lack of compensation and her poor working conditions.
Paralyzed by the fear of retaliation by NXIVM, Jane Doe 16 quietly severed her ties to the NXIVM community, moved far away, and kept silent about her experience.
Clare Bronfman appeared to have deteriorated quite a bit after she was arrested
In 2014 Raniere invited Jane Doe 17 to be a member of the Ultima committee tasked with developing and running exo/eso, which required meeting with Raniere, often in the middle of the night.
Raniere, Clare Bronfman and other Individual Defendants convinced Jane Doe 17 that she had a promising career waiting for her at NXIVM, and so she moved to the U.S. on a work visa based upon terms required by that visa and promised by Defendants, including
Clare Bronfman who personally wrote a letter attesting to the terms of her employment.
Once in the U.S. and immersed in the NXIVM system and community, Jane Doe 17 realized that Defendants had no intention of providing her with the kind of work or the level of compensation required by her visa.
Raniere assigned her to help develop and run exo/eso, as one of six women he personally selected with assistance from Clare Bronfman and other Individual Defendants. She was required to work enormous numbers of hours, including meeting with Raniere, often in the middle of the night. She was also required to continue performing other work for the Defendants.
Only after she complained to Clare Bronfman that she was in violation of her visa’s terms, and thus in the U.S. without immigration status, did Clare Bronfman begin to provide her with the funds required by her visa.
Later, however, Clare Bronfman informed Jane Doe 17 that the payments she received were not compensation, but rather a loan that she would have to repay, leaving Jane Doe 17 in mounting debt and with no real compensation.
Eventually, Jane Doe 17 was unable to keep up with the requirements of NXIVM. She was constantly fearful that if she was labeled as “defiant” by Raniere and the other Individual Defendants, she could be reported to authorities for being and working unlawfully in
the United States, and so she returned to Canada.
After [Jane Doe 17 left] the NXIVM community, Defendant Clare Bronfman harassed Jane Doe 17, demanding that she repay the “loan,” threatening her with legal action for taking work as a yoga instructor, which they alleged was a violation of exo/eso. They insisted that she return to NXIVM and Albany and earn her way back into their good graces. Paralyzed by the fear of even greater retaliation through NXIVM’s infamous abusive litigation tactics, Jane Doe 17 quietly severed her ties to the NXIVM community and kept silent about her experience.
Clare Bronfman – there is no other way to say it – is a bully.
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I love this last one.
Clare threatened Jane Doe 17 [who I have interviewed] because she was teaching yoga in Canada.
Clare claimed it violated her non-compete in her eso/exo agreement.
Now imagine how preposterous this is.
Jane Doe is in a remote region of Canada. She is broke because she lost money working for Nxivm.
What could she be making as a yoga teacher? $1,000 a month? How could her teaching a few yoga students in Canada possibly harm Nxivm or exo/eso?
It’s just plain bullying. Clare did not care about the yoga classes. She wanted the woman to starve so she would have to come back to Nxivm. That’s all this was about.
But there is something surreal about this.
The claim Clare made in part is that Jane Doe 17 had learned secret, valuable teachings from Nxivm/exo/eso that she might use in her yoga classes. As if yoga stole anything from eso/exo. But exo/eso stole plenty from yoga.
As I recall, Jane Doe 17 was a yoga teacher before she came to the US to be part of Nxivm.
I am quite certain Clare and Raniere did not tell her that once she took some yoga rip off exo/eso classes, she could not go back to her work as a yoga teacher.
This is the kind of endless, sinister games Keith and Clare played.
And consider the end result.
Consider the felony that Glazer alleges Clare committed – by not paying her the wages she swore she would pay on her immigration papers. This is a truly stupid financial crime.
Clare did not need the money she sought to save.
She did not need to cheat this woman. She did it because she is a sadist and a skinflint and also because Raniere told her to do it.
Raniere said that it was unethical to pay Jane Doe 17 the $40,000 or so she was promised – and so Clare committed immigration fraud over something like $20,000.
An heiress worth hundreds of millions committing a felony for $20,000.
She could spend years in prison for that $20,000 and, remember, this is the same dunce who blew $100 million on Raniere on litigation and insane investments and lost it all.
And she is torturing a poor woman for $20,000.
It would be one thing if she had not signed immigration paperwork under penalty of perjury to get Jane Doe 17 in the USA guaranteeing her a certain salary.
Being cheap is not a crime. But perjury is – and that’s what Clare has done and this is a criminal charge she has not been charged with yet.
So Clare shortchanges Jane Doe 17 and several others over what amounts to nothing – at least to her.
Put it in perspective – Clare committing a financial-based felony over $20,000 would be like a person with a $200,000 net worth committing a financial felony for $20.
Literally, Clare committed felonies that could land her in prison for years to gain the equivalent of $20.
It was never about the money.
For Clare, it was about sadism – just like it was for Raniere. But his sadism was not just played upon Jane Doe 17, but also upon Clare. He wanted her to commit felonies. Wanted her vulnerable. Wanted her doing psychopathic deeds like this that were also criminal.
He could always get her, blackmail her, threaten her if he had to. And he loved destroying others.
He only made one miscalculation. He did not consider federal RICO charges and that despite his name not being on anything, he could be charged for the racketeering actions he committed – or had others commit.
He had this wonderful dunce, an heiress and he could bend her to do almost anything. And all he really wanted was to use her to destroy others and to destroy herself.
We are dealing with a true psychopath, or rather two psychopaths. Don’t forget to include the crazed woman who still believes in his almighty powers, the world’s stupidest heiress, the most sadistic, Clare Webb Bronfman.
[To be continued]
