By Dianne Lipson‘
Lauren Salzman cried copiously while testifying about her cruelty to the Mexican woman [Daniela] confined to a room for almost two years. And offered information about a novel plan for first line DOS slaves to have a special ceremony with Keith where the eight women would give him a joint blow job.
Just another day at the trial of Keith Alan Raniere.
Lauren took the stand in the morning and continued telling the jury more about the wonders of Keith Alan. She testified:
PR MOVES
After DOS was publicly exposed, there was discussion about releasing a branding video to show reporters. Most of the talking [and screaming] would be edited out of this, but they would keep the part where the person to be branded says, “Master, please brand me, it would be an honor that I want to wear for the rest of my life.”
But there were concerns that this video might make things worse, it might make it look like the group was sexual in nature. The video was never released.
Keith drafted a position statement about DOS which was emailed to first-line dos slave masters a few days after the New York Times article came out [October 17, 2017]. In the statement, Keith said that the [NY Times] shaming of the women is misogynist and against the rights of women – and that the DOS women should be allowed to do what they want to do. That this was a campaign against alternative lifestyles and against women who chose to show solidarity. Women should have the freedom to express themselves.
He also said DOS has nothing to do with Nxivm but that Nxivm supports their right to do consensual activities without shame. This was the kind of rights our forefathers fought for he argued.
The government asked, “How do you feel about that now?”
Lauren said. “It’s misdirection. The New York Times article asserted coercion, and it wasn’t anything against an alternative lifestyle.”
Lauren felt that once you have collateral, it’s different. It’s coercion. She said it was also deceptive in the way that collateral was obtained.
Keith wanted the slaves to state that he was not involved. He said not to tell anybody that he was the Grand Master.
Lauren said she felt the purpose of DOS was to create an army of women for Keith.
BRANDING DOS
Lauren said Allison Mack told Vanessa Girgoriadis [NY Times Magazine] that Mack was taking credit for the brand. This was an opportunity to explore their sensuality and sexuality as women.
Nicki Clyne wanted to have a visual representation of the brand, which Lauren drew. They tried to characterize the brand as symbolic, symbolizing the elements, mountains, rivers, and the fire was the actual fire of the brand. They tried to pass it off as an esoteric symbol [as opposed to Keith’s initials.]
VIVA MEXICO
Keith Raniere fled to Mexico in late 2017. When Keith was in Mexico, burner phones were used. Keith said there were investigations ongoing in three countries but that “We’re going to win because the truth is on our side.”
At some point, Lauren told law enforcement that Keith wasn’t involved with DOS and that the branding was the women’s idea. That would, of course, be a separate crime that could have resulted in a 5-year sentence for Lauren.
Clare put out a public statement [Decemebr 2017]. Lauren asked Keith what Clare really knew – and Keith responded that Clare did not want to know anything she didn’t need to know.
At this point, Alex Bentancourt told Lauren that Emiliano was upset because a former DOS slave, Nicole, went to Emiliano and told him she was forced to have sex with Keith.
Lauren met with Emiliano. He said he was leaving NXIVM – which was a very sad and significant thing for Lauren.
Later on, in a conversation with Keith, Lauren wanted to know who performed the oral sex on Nicole while she was blindfolded. Was it Allison Mack?
Keith said it was Camilla and that this was something Camilla was interested in exploring.
Lauren felt this was disturbing. She was starting to have real concerns. She’d never worked outside of Nxivm. She felt that if she left Nxivm, it would separate her from her mother and sister, Michelle.
Lauren wanted to believe that all of this was for her growth. And she wanted to make everyone proud of her and wanted to have a child with Keith. She didn’t want to think that all her choices over the course of the past the last 20 years had been bad ones.
If she didn’t support Keith, she’d be seen as somebody who didn’t keep her word or who didn’t want growth. And that would affect her relationship with her family.
“It would have meant leaving my entire life,” she said.
When DOS was exposed, there was a renewed discussion on the subject of Lauren having children with Keith. Keith said he would do some kind of fertility treatments to have a child with Lauren if Lauren stayed.
Lauren felt that Keith’s priority was Mariana – and, true to form, Keith did not follow up with the fertility treatments even though it would have been easy for him to do so.
Keith floated the possibility of there being a fertility clinic associated with Nxivm. But Lauren wanted a child now. She had waited long enough. She didn’t want to wait for several more years while Keith got around to starting a Nxivm fertility clinic
Group Blow Job
Daniela Padilla contacted Lauren about a proposed re-commitment ceremony for DOS, which was to take place with most of the first line slaves, except Mariana and Camilla. The commitment ceremony was to involve a group orgy which was watered down to a group blowjob for Keith.
Lauren didn’t want to participate in the orgy.
“I have no way of surrendering except to a group blow job,” Salzman said.
Keith told her this group blowjob was not something he asked for and Daniela took responsibility for this idea. Lauren didn’t believe that. But Lauren decided to go through with the [blow job] re-commitment ceremony.
Keith’s arrest
Lauren went back and forth to Mexico to be with Keith. One day, Mexican police were surrounding the property, banging on the door. Lauren tried to get Keith to escape out a window. Keith said she could call [Nxivm member] Jack Levy, but Lauren didn’t have a phone to call him.
Police were banging on the door. Keith said to ask them if they have a warrant. There was back and forth. “I will show you the warrant if you open a door” – “No show me the warrant first”.
Keith then hid in the closet
“The whole time I kept thinking they could just shoot in this door, thinking really legitimately, “I could get shot right now,” Lauren said.
At some point, the Mexican Federal police kicked in the door – and Lauren was held on the floor with four machine guns pointed at her. The police were demanding to know if anybody else was inside. At first, Lauren didn’t answer, but at some point, Lauren called out Keith’s name.
They found Keith and threw him on the floor and handcuffed him. Then they took Keith away.
Lauren was crying. She felt terrible for months afterward because she felt she had let Keith down.
Lauren explained why she felt bad about that. “Everything I believed all centers around living a principled life centered around love, dying for a principle is the most noble thing you can do.”
Lauren beat herself up after that for lack of character and for acting like a woman, because men were noble and women were not.
“I chose what I believed we had been training for this entire time. I chose love,” she said. “It never occurred to me that I would choose Keith and Keith would also choose Keith.”
Daniela
Lauren first met Daniella in Monterrey, Mexico in 2001 when she attended an intensive. Daniela was a student, 17 or 18. Daniela was bright and grasped the concepts more readily than others. She took to the teachings faster than most.
At some point, in Albany, Lauren got a call from Hector, Daniela’s father, who said that, instead of Daniela going to Switzerland to study, she wanted to do an internship with Nxivm. Daniela came to Albany and her sister, Mariana, joined her later and then the others in the family came.
Lauren thought Daniela was going to do an internship to learn how to become a coach, but what soon happened was Daniela started spending time with Keith, working with him on book reports so that Keith would not have to read the books.
At some point, there was a fight between Daniela and Keith, a big, yelling fight and tension between them. At this time Daniela was in her early 20s.
It turned out that Keith wanted both Daniela and her sister, Mariana, to take a nap with him. This was upsetting to Daniela.
There were other problems with Daniela. She was not doing the work she had committed to do.
Daniela was given an ultimatum to go into her room and come up with a plan to fix it or be sent it back to Mexico. Danielle had to come up with a plan to rectify what she had done.
When asked what did she do? Keith said, “Daniela knows what she did.”
Lauren was assigned the project of supervising Daniela.
Here’s how Keith convinced Lauren. This was against the backdrop of all the kidnappings in Mexico. Keith said to her, “someday you might have a child and somebody may call you saying they want a million dollars for your child. They might be holding your child for ransom and say they want a million dollars. You can learn how to work with that kind of personality now, or you can deal with it when it happens.”
hat kind of personality meant Daniella, meaning Daniela had a psychotic personality.
Lauren initially did not think that Daniella was game playing but at some point she came to think that everything Daniela did was game play.
Daniela wrote messages to Keith but he wasn’t accepting what Daniela was writing. Sometimes he didn’t even read what she wrote.
At first Lauren visited Daniela every day but then her visits became less frequent. Sometimes a month would go by and she didn’t visit.
Lauren didn’t have sympathy for Daniella. Lauren was angry with Daniela for not figuring out how to deal with this, for not doing what she was supposed to be doing, for manipulating. Lauren was not compassionate and unkind.
Lauren felt that this project [of getting Daniela to admit she was wrong] was unsuccessful and that her failure to get Daniela to do the right thing and leave the room could be jeopardizing Lauren’s chance to have a child with Keith.
The government asked, “ How do you feel now?”
Lauren said, “In all the 20 years I worked with Keith, this is the worst thing that I ever did.”
Lauren was crying as she said she kept Daniela in the room for close to two years.
Lauren also said that Daniela and her family had been close but that they became severed and she thinks that was terrible.
At some point, Daniela cut her hair even though Keith told her not to cut her hair. The proposal then was for Daniela to stay in the room for three years until it grew back. Daniela didn’t want to do that.
Through all this testimony Lauren was crying.
Keith said Daniela could have a new experience of herself. But instead, her focus was on manipulation.
At some point, Daniela’s mother agreed to stay in a room next door to Daniela, as sort of a prisoner, so that Daniela could see that she was making other people suffer because of what she was doing.
The mother stayed for a time, but then somebody close to the mom died and she went to the funeral and didn’t come back and the mom eventually left to join another consciousness-raising group called ‘Book of Knowledge.”
It was then proposed that because the mom broke her commitment to stay in the room until Daniela did the right thing that Daniela should stay in the room until her mom came back.
At first, Daniela thought this was a good idea.
At some point Daniela’s sisters, Camilla and Mariana were trying to work with Daniela. Lauren thought they could not be objective since they were both having sex with Keith.
At one point Daniela said in a letter, “let me out, I’m coming undone.” Camilia intercepted her sister’s letter and didn’t show it to her parents because their parents would be too reactive. They might take action on this.
Camilia asked to speak to Daniela but Lauren told her “No, the family is not to speak to her.”
Keith said that Daniela’s letter was a sort of tantrum to get what she wants. And it wouldn’t be good for Daniela to throw a tantrum and then subsequently get what she wants.
Keith said letting Daniela out of the room is the opposite of healing a breach. If they gave into this, Daniela would learn that she could get upset then get what she wants.
Keith said you don’t want to buy into Daniela’s tantrum. And asked her the difference between being in the room for a day or being put in the room for all the time she has left.
After this, Daniela was in the room for three or four months more.
[By the way, as readers of Frank Report know – the ethical breach that required Daniela to be confined to a room – which nobody at the time knew – because Keith did not say – was that Daniela wanted to be with another man other than Keith. That man’s name is Ben Myers. He ultimately married Lauren’s sister Michelle.]
This ended the morning session and the court adjourned for lunch.