Those who know a ton about NXIVM are outraged by yesterday’s New York Times Magazine piece https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/magazine/sex-cult-empowerment-nxivm-keith-raniere.html. Writer Vanessa Grigoriadis went “inside NXIVM” as much as she possibly could – meaning, as much as the group, which had banned media for 14 years prior to her arrival, would allow.

Her access seemed to have been greatly controlled, and the people she met with (including Nancy Salzman, Clare Bronfman, Keith Raniere and Allison Mack) used carefully crafted language that reflected intense media training.

The result may have been the most positive coverage of NXIVM as an “empowerment group” to date. Which is truly baffling. The lengthy article omitted numerous important negative aspects like the “terrorism by litigation” (Raniere ex Toni Natalie’s term) that Raniere and Bronfman vengefully subjected former members to.

Frank Parlato, the NXIVM publicist- turned NXIVM whistleblower, took to his website The Frank Report (www.FrankReport.com) to document the glaring ironies and inaccuracies in Grigoriadis’s piece. Shortly after, he and I corresponded:

“I think she (Grigoriadis) was selected by Clare Bronfman’s PR team to deliver a positive story for them and she did deliver a positive story for them. This was good public relations work by Bronfman. The problem is: it is a case of too little, too late. Raniere got arrested between the interview and the publication of the story. The story was meant to protect Raniere from getting arrested, show Allison created DOS and that all of it was consensual, but it came out too late which proves that timing is everything in PR. Against the backdrop of negative PR, it hardly moves the needle.”

I then asked a friend of mine what her thoughts were on this article. She is extremely well-versed in NXIVM facts as a voracious reader with a photographic memory. She often refers to herself as an “armchair psychologist” and frequently shares insight with me. She is also fascinated with and keeps current on every aspect of this cult. “It was a very kiss-ass article,” she remarked, “It was like a PR piece and everyone was prepped. Frank (Parlato) must be pissed.”

In fact, Frank Parlato did have a lot more to say:

“…On the other hand, it shows that Bronfman money can even buy a positive story in The NY Times. Lastly, my best laugh came from Raniere crying about Pam Cafritz his late pimp woman. Those were tears on cue. He never showed emotion to his followers when she died. But maybe the tears were real – for himself. Pam could get him the underage and pretty young women workout resorting to branding. Allison replaced her as head pimp and she did not have Cafritz’s talent for pimping and had to use branding. The gentle dove Raniere, crying for his lost love and speaking of the importance of intimacy and love while he lies to a harem telling them each he is going to father their avatar baby. Maybe Trump should hire her PR people.”

It is worth reading The Frank Report to see not only how Frank Parlato himself dissects Grigoriadis’s article, but to note the comments section that is filled with feedback from NXIVM defectors.

A “fluff piece” on NXIVM – at least an article that appears as such – just seems incredibly ill-timed with Raniere’s next hearing scheduled for June 13th…Plus ALL ELSE that’s recently come to light.