NXIVM Trial: Lauren Salzman, Who Enslaved Mexican Illegal Alien, Describes Strap Beatings for Women

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May 20, 2019

Lauren Salzman, daughter of NXIVM sex cult president Nancy Salzman, testified Monday in the trial of cult leader Keith Raniere, describing the beatings that the cult’s sex slaves were forced to undergo as punishment for their perceived misdeeds.

Lauren Salzman already admitted in court when she copped a plea that, “I knowingly and intentionally harbored Jane Doe 4, a woman whose identity is known to me, in a room in the home in the Northern District of New York” and “threatened to deport Jane Doe 4 back to Mexico if she did not complete labor requested by myself and others.”

Monday, Salzman turned against Raniere.

The New York Times reports:

“The witness, Lauren Salzman, said that the women made secret commitments to become lifelong “slaves” to the group’s leader, Keith Raniere, referring to him as “master” or “grandmaster.”

They communicated using encrypted phone applications, executed tasks and drills designed by him and accepted the harsh discipline if they were deemed to have failed at their duties.

Those punishments could include being forced to hold painful poses, stand barefoot in the snow, taking cold showers and whipping each other on the “bare butt” with the strap, Ms. Salzman said during Mr. Raniere’s sex trafficking and racketeering trial. She recalled that Mr. Raniere once called during the beatings to tell the women to make sure that they snapped their wrists in a particular way to inflict the maximum pain.”

New York Times passage ends

With prosecutors in the trial of cult leader Keith Raniere planning to introduce evidence on the NXIVM sex cult’s deep oppposition research files on its political enemies including Roger Stone, documents from the archives are shedding light on how the sex cult stored data on top politicians including Chuck Schumer — whom the cult viewed as a “friendly” ally according to ex-employee Frank Parlato — and Hillary Clinton.

The Albany Times-Union noted in 2015: “A former close confidant of Keith Raniere, founder of the NXIVM corporation, claims top officials in the secretive organization used a Canadian investigative firm or other means to sift the financial records of six federal judges and U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., according to court records. The former NXIVM insider, Kristin M. Keeffe, said that Seagramsheiress Clare W. Bronfman, who oversees NXIVM’s operations, ordered the financial probes at the direction of Raniere, 55. The six judges whose financial records Keeffe alleges were analyzed have all presided over cases involving NXIVM or its perceived adversaries and critics…The allegations by Keeffe, 45, are outlined in emails attributed to her that were filed recently in Albany County Court…Keeffe broke away from NXIVM in February 2014 and is in hiding, according to correspondence and conversations attributed to her in court records filed in Albany County…”

So the NXIVM cult had information on Schumer.

The Times-Union reported in 2015:

Clare W. Bronfman, an heiress of the Seagram Company business empire, allegedly implanted a “key logger” virus on the computer of her late father, Edgar M. Bronfman Sr., so officials with the NXIVM corporation could secretly monitor his emails, including his exchanges with world leaders and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, according to court records.

The extraordinary allegations are attributed to Kristen M. Keeffe, who was part of the inner circle that ran NXIVM, a “human development” organization that has been described by one expert as an “extreme cult.” The accusations by Keeffe are contained in a transcript of a telephone conversation that took place last March between Keeffe and Barbara J. Bouchey, a former NXIVM executive board member who is facing computer trespassing charges in Albany that accuse her and three others of improperly accessing the corporation’s website.’”

Times-Union passage ends

A former NXIVM member testified in the trial of cult leader Keith Raniere that the sex cult illegally raised money for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Big League Politics first reported this bombshell information, which is now confirmed by a witness under oath.

The New York Post reports: “Bronfman funneled thousands of dollars into Clinton’s campaign coffers — far in excess of legal limits to contributions — to “curry favor” with the powerhouse political family, according to Mark Vicente, a documentary filmmaker and former member of the Nxivm group that is accused of keeping women as sex slaves.

“Clare Bronfman approached other people and said she would like to make a campaign contribution but she couldn’t make it above a certain amount,” Vicente testified in Brooklyn federal court Monday.

“I wrote a check. She paid me back.”

New York Post passage ends

NXIVM whistleblower Frank Parlato appeared exclusively on The Campaign Show with Patrick Howley on Patriots Soapbox (Sunday nights, 6-PM Eastern) to discuss Keith Raniere’s trial prior to the trial kicking off.

Raniere’s sex slaves are poised to testify against him, as prosecutors prepare to submit evidence that NXIVM illegally bundled money for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. Parlato made it clear that Clinton was happy to accept the money. (COURT DOCS Confirm Prosecutors Attempting To Introduce Clinton Evidence).

Parlato described how NXIVM imported teenage girls from Mexico, how the cult viewed Chuck Schumer as a “friendly” Democrat ally, and many other bombshells. WATCH.

I reported:

Democrat senator and presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand’s family ties to the NXIVM sex cult are coming to light, raising serious questions about her relationship with the cult that she once denied knowing about.

Gillibrand’s father and stepmother, who are second cousins, were both heavily involved in the cult in the period shortly before they got married, according to eyewitness accounts from ex-NXIVM employees who spoke on the record to Big League Politics, and according to court documents proving that Gillibrand’s father Doug Rutnik was employed by NXIVM.

Gillibrand’s father served as a broker between NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere — whose initials were branded on his female sex slaves — and the then-New York attorney general to resolve Raniere’s financial problems with the state, according to  ex-employee whistleblower Joseph O’Hara, whose revelations are printed below.

Gillibrand’s stepmother Gwenn Belcourt got “hooked” on the cult as did Bill Clinton’s close friend Richard Mays, according to the whistleblower. Nancy Salzman, the NXIVM president, acted as a personal “guru” for Gillibrand’s stepmother.

Ex-cult employee Frank Parlato — who exposed the fact that Raniere was branding women — is working with Big League Politics to uncover the deep longstanding links between Gillibrand, the Clintons, and NXIVM.

“The very first time I ever met Gillibrand she was at an event for Hillary Clinton in the Hall of Springs in the State Park. This was in 2006. I was at a table with a Russian friend and Mike Roohan and his wife. I was on the Democratic committee at the time and was given two comp tickets. Gillibrand came up to me introduced herself and said she was running against John Sweeney. This was before all the stories of his drunken behavior came out. He was still congressman kickass at that time. I promised my support and wished her well. i than commented to Mike that with her baby voice and demeanor that she was a lightweight. Boy was I wrong. But the kicker was when the mixing was over and Clinton went to speak. Gillibrand sat with one of the front tables. Yeah the three front VIP tables were all brought by NXIVM and she was sitting with Nancy Salzman. You can quote me on that,” said witness John Tighe in a statement provided to Big League Politics.

Nancy Salzman has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy while her daughter Lauren Salzman admitted to enslaving a woman, stating in court, “I knowingly and intentionally harbored Jane Doe 4, a woman whose identity is known to me, in a room in the home in the Northern District of New York” and “threatened to deport Jane Doe 4 back to Mexico if she did not complete labor requested by myself and others.”

JOSEPH O’HARA TELLS BIG LEAGUE POLITICS HIS NXIVM STORY

Joseph O’Hara was living in Saratoga Springs at the time, and a woman he met socially called him up out of the blue and asked for him to meet with the leaders of NXIVM.

“I agreed to meet with them. We met the very next day. We had coffee and that’s when I was introduced to Nancy Salzman, the president of NXIVM, and she described to me the various problems they were having,” O’Hara said, referring to lawsuits, public relations issues, and governmental issues stemming from trying to get a building permit for a NXIVM center.

“I said give me a day or two,” O’Hara said. “After I thought about it, I wrote back to them and said I don’t think there’s anything I can do personally but I can play centerfielder and pull in people you need. I think you need a bigger law firm on this. Yes I can get you a PR firm that can come in and help you. That’s what I proposed to them, that I would be a middle man.”

“They hired me in October of 2003 and I worked for them for 15 months. At the end of 2004 a variety of issues had come up and I resigned.”

O’Hara, whose official title was “consultant,” said he “met primarily with Keith” Raniere and with bookeeper Cathy Russell and legal liaison Kristin Keefe. O’Hara remembers Raniere vividly.

“I thought he was a little strange. He was an odd fellow. Before I met him I had been told a lot about him. I guess when I met him I was a little underwhelmed,” O’Hara said, referring to a tall tale about how Raniere supposedly tied a record in the hundred-yard dash. Raniere held volleyball games with the women in his cult, but O’Hara did not attend.

Kirsten Gillibrand’s Father Doug Rutnik Acted As A Broker Between NXIVM and the then-New York Attorney General

“I had known Doug Rutnik for a number of years. He was one of the people I thought of immediately for a couple of the problems that he (Raniere) had,” O’Hara said, including the fact that Raniere agreed to pay a certain amount of money to New York State stemming from the bankruptcy of his previous venture Consumer’s Buyline. “Keith never made the payments. I think it was around 45 or 50 thousand dollars.”

“I contacted Doug, and explained to him the situation. Doug could be the broker between Keith and the attorney general” O’Hara said.

“Doug and I, Nancy and Keith had lunch at a little club. Keith came in and looked like a young middle-aged business exec. Doug said let’s check this out a little further,” O’Hara remembers. NXIVM was trying to get a license for a school.

The meeting occurred at the Fort Orange Club in Albany in 2004, according to O’Hara.

O’Hara hired a third party attorney in Albany to take a 5-day executive course at NXIVM, and the attorney expressed concerns about the group potentially not paying taxes and “living off the grid.”

Doug Rutnik’s Second Cousin, Gillibrand’s Future Stepmother, Got Very Involved

“Doug said I know somebody else I could send in. It’s his cousin Gwenn Belcourt. She comes back with rave reviews and Doug gets hired. Keith comes up with the money and pays off the attorney general.”

Thus, Gillibrand’s father acted as the broker between NXIVM and the then-New York attorney general after Gillibrand’s future stepmother Gwenn Belcourt gave NXIVM her full seal of approval.

“Doug was the one, I don’t know who he talked to, but he was the one who got the okay for…NXIVM sent Doug the check, and it was expressly to resolve the issue over Consumers Buyline. And then the issue went away.”

“Gwenn and I met. Doug said let’s have Gwenn go in and take a week-long course. She went in and she wrote up a report and was extremely positive. No issues with the schooling. No issues with the curriculum” at the NXIVM Center, O’Hara recalled.

“He told me this is my second cousin Gwenn. She was engaged at the time. She was a lawyer, someone Doug trusted.”

“Things were happening, one right after the other. Gwenn comes in, she writes the report, and Doug is doing work for them.”

“Meanwhile Gwenn does her thing and she starts taking more classes on her own. We paid for the one class she took…at some point Doug says, this is getting a little weird with Gwenn. He said she broke off her engagement because Nancy told her she needed to re-think her life. Nancy Salzman became Gwenn’s personal guru. She wanted to bring Gwenn in as full-time in-house counsel.”

“I know that she was taking a lot of classes at NXIVM,” O’Hara said of Gwenn Belcourt.

“NXIVM initiates a lawsuit against me and Doug, and Gwenn is still involved in NXIVM at that point. Doug goes in like a rescue mission. He finally convinces her what’s going on there and she leaves NXIVM. The next thing I know all of a sudden he said Gwenn and I are dating now. Shortly after that they’re engaged.”

“For several years, I saw them after they were married,” O’Hara said, noting that the couple was no longer in the cult.

Clinton Friend Richard Mays and Gillibrand’s Stepmother Gwenn Belcourt Both Got “Hooked” on the Cult

“I had done work down in Arkansas, I had met Richard (Mays) down there. He had great connections with Governor Clinton. His lieutenant governor Tucker became governor. I was trying to get in to make a presentation to the governor. Richard got me the meeting. He got me the meeting with Jim Guy Tucker,” O’Hara said.

“One of the other problems Keith had, he had an unpaid bill in Arkansas and he wanted to get an exoneration in Arkansas so he brought Richard Mays in and he got involved. Richard Mays started taking classes and got his daughter taking classes” at NXIVM.

“There were people who got hooked on it. Richard Mays was one. Gwenn Belcourt was another,” O’Hara said.

“I Had Created This Monster”

O’Hara said that he uncovered Raniere evading taxes and illegally obtaining private investigator information on his enemies, which led him to quit. NXIVM then waged lawfare against him.

“They destroyed me. I had created this monster. They didn’t know how to get political consultants. They didn’t know how to hire former senator D’Amato, they didn’t know how to hire Richard Mays out of Arkansas, best friends with the Clintons. They had all these people now in their arsenal and they destroyed me in short order,” O’Hara said.

Raniere once admitted in a videotape pulled from the Internet, “I am just a demon.”

PROOF RUTNIK WORKED FOR NXIVM

Former NXIVM employee Frank Parlato provided Big League Politics with copies of the court documents in NXIM’s suit against Rutnik, which prove Rutnik’s employment by the group. (READ THE FULL DOCUMENTS HERE).

“I worked as the publicist,” Frank Parlato told Big League Politics. “We ran into a major disagreement and we split. At the time I worked for them I thought they were a little peculiar but it wasn’t until the end that I realized they were a downright evil group.”

“There are women on the record who are now adults who have accused Raniere of statutory rape and there are some very suspicious incidents where Mexican girls came under the perimeters of Raniere’s control and left under suspicious circumstances. They came from Chihuahua Mexico. I reported this to the authorities,” Parlato said.

“Her father Doug Rutnik came to work as a consultant for NXIVM…he was fired, they sued him, and he had to pay them $100,000,” Parlato said, referring Gillibrand’s father.

Parlato is the NXIVM whistleblower who blew the lid off the case, including the revelation that NXIVM leader Keith Raniere’s cult was branding women with his initials.

“Her father’s wife, her stepmother, was also a member of NXIVM…Doug got her into the cult, Gillibrand’s father got Gillibrand’s future stepmother into the cult. Doug left the cult because he was sued. Clare Bronfman after her father was sued donated money to Gillibrand. Gillibrand accepted it.”

“One is inclined to call her a liar,” Parlato says of Gillibrand.

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