Given that Clare Bronfman comes from a family of mobsters, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that she turned out to be one herself.
But the world might never have known about the mobster side of Clare had she not crossed paths with Keith Raniere AKA The Vanguard.
Raniere recognized that part of Clare early on – and sought to utilize it for his own advantage.
But Clare never balked at anything she was asked to do – even though she knew that many of those things were illegal.
Perjure herself on the witness stand? No problem.
File false claims against others with law enforcement officials? No problem.
Launder money from other countries? No problem
Try to obtain the personal records of federal court judges and Raniere’s “enemies”? No problem.
Hack into someone else’s computer files? No problem.
Falsify applications for non-residents’ Visa applications? No problem.
And on and on and on…
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As readers of Frank Report are well aware, Clare recently pleaded guilty to two relatively minor felonies: one count of harboring an illegal alien – and one count of fraudulent use of another person’s identification.
In return for those pleas – and, of course, the payment of a $6 million fine in lieu of the forfeiture of any of her other assets – Clare was allowed to walk away from the much more serious charges of Racketeering and Racketeering Conspiracy that three of her former co-defendants – Nancy Salzman, Lauren Salzman, and Allison Mack – pleaded guilty to (Nancy only pleaded guilty to the Racketeering Conspiracy charge).
But according to informed sources, Clare’s plea deal did not include a “Non-Prosecution Agreement” from any other federal district.
Which means that Clare can still be prosecuted for some/all of the other crimes she committed during the time that she ran the NXIVM/ESP crime syndicate, many of which occurred in the Northern District of New York (NDNY).
Of course, in order for Clare to be held accountable for all the illegal acts she committed while serving as Director of Operations and de facto Chief Executive Officer of NXIVM/ESP, the NDNY prosecutors would have to actually do something about the corrupt organization that it allowed to flourish in its backyard for the past two decades.
So, whether Clare will actually face any more charges is pretty much up to Grant C. Jaquith, the U.S. Attorney for the NDNY.
Jaquith took office on July 1, 2017 – just a few days after Frank Report first exposed the branding ceremonies that would eventually bring down the entire NXIVM/ESP enterprise.
Although the NDNY would have been the logical venue for the prosecution of Keith Raniere and the other members of the NXIVM /ESP crime syndicate, it was the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) that stepped forward to take on that task.
But during the course of the EDNY’s prosecution of Raniere, Clare and their four co-defendants, four charges were dismissed – and referred to the NDNY – because of issues that were raised about the proper venue for those charges to be prosecuted:
(1) Sexual Exploitation Of A Child – Jane Doe 2 (Keith Raniere);
(2) Sexual Exploitation Of A Child – Jane Doe 2 (Keith Raniere);
(3) Possession Of Child Pornography (Keith Raniere); and
(4) Conspiracy To Commit Identity Theft Regarding Jane Doe 7 (Keith Raniere, Clare Bronfman & Others).
So, at the very minimum – which, unfortunately, is much more than we’ve seen in the past from the NDNY – Clare Bronfman should be facing at least one charge there.
But what if Jaquith decides to act like a real U.S. Attorney – kind of like Richard P. Donoghue, the U.S. Attorney for the EDNY – and opens up a full-scale investigation of all the criminal activities that were part of the NXIVM/ESP operation?
What additional charges might Clare be facing if that were to happen (Raniere would also be facing most, if not all, of those same “additional charges” – as would a host of other former high-level members of the NXIVM/ESP cult)?
Let’s take a look…
For the sake of simplicity, I won’t bother to distinguish federal crimes from state crimes. Nor will I separate out felonies from misdemeanors.
And so, here are some of the crimes that Clare Bronfman could be facing in the NDNY if U.S. Attorney Grant C. Jaquith decides to reverse two decades of indifference and ineptness on the part of his office – and do what’s necessary to achieve justice for all the victims of NXIVM/ESP:
• Employment-Related Crimes
– Failure to Issue W-2 Forms and 1099 Forms
– Failure to Report Income Paid to Consultants & Employees
– Failure to Withhold & Pay Employer Taxes
– Forcing Staff to Kick-back a Portion Of Their Wages
• Financial-Related Crimes
– Bringing Undeclared Money Into the U.S.
– Falsifying Business Records
– Fraud
– Grand Larceny
– Money Laundering
– Operating a Ponzi Scheme
– Reimbursing Staff for Mandated Political Contributions
– Structuring Bank Transactions
– Tax Evasion
– Tax Fraud
– Wire Fraud
• Computer-Related Crimes
– Hacking
– Identity Theft
– Tampering
– Trespass
– Wiretapping
• Immigration-Related Crimes
– Fake Marriages
– Filing Falsified Visa Applications
– Smuggling Unregistered Immigrants Into the U.S.
– Harboring Immigrants Whose Visas Have Expired
– Providing False Documentation to Immigrants to Allow Them to Obtain Visas
• Sex-Related Crimes
– Rape
– Sex Trafficking
– Sexual Assault
– Sexual Exploitation
– Sex Trafficking
– Statutory Rape
• Miscellaneous Crimes
– Assault
– Battery
– Blackmail
– Bulk Cash Smuggling
– Bribery of Elected Officials
– Bribery of Law Enforcement Officials
– Child Abuse
– Coercion
– Conspiracy
– Criminal Facilitation
– Criminal Mischief
– Criminal Nuisance
– Defamation
– Defrauding the Government
– Endangering the Welfare of a Child
– Extortion
– False Advertising
– Falsely Reporting Incidents
– Falsifying Evidence
– Filing False Affidavits
– Forgery
– Harassment
– Hazing
– Hindering Prosecution
– Illegally Accessing Personal Information
– Kidnapping
– Larceny
– Obstructing Governmental Administration
– Operating Unlicensed Day Care Center
– Operating Unlicensed Schools
– Perjury
– Practicing Therapy Without a License
– Retaliation Against Whistleblowers
– Retaliation Against Witnesses
– Slavery
– Stalking
– Tampering with Private Communications
– Unauthorized Scientific Experiments
– Witness Tampering
*****
My list is not exhaustive – but it’s also not a bad place for Mr. Jaquith and his esteemed colleagues to start.
And if they need help putting together the names of the other people besides Clare and Keith who should be investigated with respect to each of the above-listed crimes, all they need to do is reach out – and we at Frank Report will be happy to supply that information.
Time to put on your big-boy pants and get in the game, Mr. Jaquith….
*****
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