But prosecutors asked Garaufis to go easy on her, citing her extraordinary cooperation and testimony at Ranieres 2019 trial. My testimony is scaffolded by the extraordinary research of Steve McMurray who assembled the jigsaw of faces, places, and relationships I recalled and relayed. Crime News is your destination for true crime stories from around the world, breaking crime news, and information about Oxygen's original true crime shows and documentaries. She was told. At one point, Raniere asked Danis mother, Adriana, to stay confined to a room adjacent to Danis, as a way to make it clear to Daniela that her actions were affecting other people close to her, Salzman testified. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Salzman said Ranierehad sex with seven of the eight members of the top inner circle, known as DOS an acronym for a Latin phrase roughly translated as "Lord/master of obedient women." Salzman, who was in NXIVM's Executive Success Programs (ESP) for nearly two decades, testified that she had been with Raniere in a $10,000-a-week resort when authorities in Mexico arrested the. The ghoulish guru landed 120 years behind bars last year for his heinous crimes, and was recently ordered to pay his slew of victims nearly $3.5 million in restitution. So thanks Lauren. Nancy Salzman Salzman, the co-founder of NXIVM with Raniere, was the first of high-ranking officials to plead guilty. I mean, one of my concerns though is that Keith was not being honest with me about what was going on, and he was mischaracterizing things and making promises to me that were influencing my life decisions when I could have gone in other ways and was expressing that I wanted to. If you read through the transcript, news articles and asked anyone at the closing arguments, your Vanturd is guilty without Salzmans testimony. Q Yeah, were you surprised that Keith was having these kinds of interactions with these women, most of whom he was sleeping with? I dont want to talk about it anymore. Raniere is serving a term of life in prison after being convicted at trial of child sex trafficking and conspiracy. A I had concerns that it was problematic and I chose to go with what Keith said. Everyone rises for the jury. The trial transcripts offer by far the most gripping (and soul-crushing) account for sure. TRANSCRIPT of Proceedings as to Keith Raniere, Allison Mack, Clare Bronfman, Kathy Russell, Lauren Salzman, Nancy Salzman held on September 18, 2018, before Judge Scanlon. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. And Judge Nicholas Garaufis interfered with the cross-examination. Despite the negative media attention swarming around the group, the understanding among DOS members was that they would participate in a recommitment ceremony, pledging their allegiance to Raniere which, as Salzman later testified, was assumed to mean group sex. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Lauren Salzman's attorneys argued for no jail time given her cooperation and testimony during Keith Raniere's trial in 2019. Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist. what channel is bounce tv on xfinity. Full name: Lauren Salzman Gender: Female Date of birth: 1977 Age: 44 years old (as of 2021) Ethnicity: White Nationality: American Famous for: Member of NXIVM Sexuality: Straight Height in feet: 5'5" Height in centimetres: 165 Hair colour: Black Eye colour: Green Father: Michael Salzman Mother: Nancy Salzman Sister: Michelle Salzman Raniere also drafted a public statement defending the existence of DOS while simultaneously denying he had anything to do with it. I suspect flipping Allison Mack was crucial to making the trial a waste of everyones time. ; see, e.g., Trial Transcript ("Tr.") at 619-24 (testimony of Mark Vicente regarding Nxivm recruitment strategies); id. Q Now, you just said when you found out that you did things that were criminal, did you intend to do things that were criminal as you did them? I set up an account on PACER and gave them my credit card info (yikes). AGNIFILO: Judge? Lauren woke up! This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded. THE COURT: All right, the witness is excused. Im asking about what you know, what you know based on what you saw and what you saw other people doing with your own senses, eyewitness-type stuff; you didnt see any of that? Lauren Salzman is a name that you'll hear prominently in the unraveling of the self-help group NXIVM. A Yes, but it was at a time when Keith and I werent interacting very much [during] the two years that Pam was sick and dying. Salzman testified that she was even branded during a 2017 ceremony. [she is alternately tearing up and holding back tears.]. So you have your record, and if there is a conviction, you can appeal my decision to the Second Circuit, okay? And you betrayed us. AGNIFILO: Your Honor, most respectfully and I am not going to belabor the point I think it is an important she talked about the change in perspective, she did, and Im trying to explore that change. I just want to say thank you for this post. Pea!! I did not do that in my group [get Keith sex slaves]. THE COURT: You said thats not what made it hard? So IMO no appeal will be granted- KAR own lawyer probably put the last nail in the coffin! After providing collateral in the form of embarrassing documents and explicit naked photos, Salzman became what she referred to as a first-line slave of the group, or a member of DOSs innermost circle, reporting directly to Raniere, along with Junco, Mack, Clyne, and four other women. There is zero chance a judge will over turn this conviction. He was sentenced on October 27, 2020. Thats not how it works. Sorry. I figured this would be useful for others as well. The daughter of group cofounder Nancy Salzman, who has pleaded guilty to a single charge of racketeering conspiracy, Salzman, 42, began her testimony last week describing her first meeting with Raniere in 1998, when she was 21 years old. He thought if she did this process, shed have some kind of breakthrough, Salzman testified. When she finally left in February 2012, she was driven to the Mexican border by her father and another NXIVM member, who refused to give her immigration papers; in a series of emails read during the trial, when she begged for her papers back, NXIVM officials refused, accusing her of being manipulative and playing games., Of all the things I did in this case and all the crimes that were committed, this was the worst thing I did, she said, sobbing. If I didnt think it was problematic, I wouldnt have raised it. And also I mean, I knew it because when I joined DOS there was something that had been created over a period of time that seemed pretty extensive. The 100 Best Albums of 2022. Resolved: Release in which this issue/RFE has been resolved. It felt very hurtful and confusing to me. Nonetheless, she stayed in the group. This is a broken person, as far as I can tell. Trial transcripts are available on the federal PACER system, you can download each individual day as a PDF. And you betrayed us. Salzman, a former member of NXIVM leader Keith Raniere's Read More FILE - This Oct. 4, 2018 photo shows Lauren Salzman as she leaves Brooklyn Federal Court in New York. Q And with the exception of Rosa Laura, Keith slept with all of those women? A woman who testified about confining an undocumented migrant in a New York bedroom for nearly two years was sentenced to five years' probation with no prison time on Wednesday. Padilla had also planned to purchase a cage, though she canceled the order shortly after the inner workings of DOS were made public in the spring of 2017. I didnt know what it was. Its clear she wasnt totally deprogrammed yet. President (To Win Colorado) (D) Joe Biden* (R) Donald Trump. I'm sure you sound this way too. Nxivm leader Keith Ranieres former sex den has been condemned., https://nypost.com/2019/06/20/nxivm-leader-keith-ranieres-former-sex-den-has-been-condemned/. A Yes. I know some of Keefe and Durans criminal activity came up during the trial already, but it would be nice to have it summarized. Our legal system gaurantees the right to a trial by jury, but when there is a recording of your confession, why bother? Two cages had already been ordered for the dungeon, according to the New York Post. As Salzman ascended through NXIVMs ranks, Raniere encouraged her to have sex with other women he was involved with, but forbade her to sleep with other men. And it says something about the utter STUPIDITY of Lauren Salzman that it takes the Mexican Police pointing machine guns at her head to begin to wake her up. He called in and wanted to make sure we were flicking the wrist hard enough, Salzman said. Unfortunately for Raniere, however, the ceremony never happened, as authorities arrived at Ranieres home on March 25 to arrest him on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. As NXIVM membership rates dwindled, Salzman stuck to the narrative that Raniere was unconnected to DOS and had no knowledge of the group. THE COURT: I took her guilty plea, sir. I'm very PACER illiterate, I wish I could help you otherwise! She has been on the stand for hours. Q You didnt know the specifics of the conversations because you werent there; right? She avoided jail time and was sentenced to time served, five years. Padilla had also planned to purchase a cage, though she canceled the order shortly after the inner workings of DOS were made public in the spring of 2017. We were taking naked pictures up-close vagina pictures three times a week. She talked to the police through the bedroom door, asking if they had a warrant. Lauren is growing more upset. Bummer Let me know if you find them at some point- and thanks! at 1619-20 (testimony of Lauren Salzman that Raniere preferred DOS recruits to be individuals "in positions of power and influence"). Allowed herself to be both vulnerable and strong. I lied to the entire community about it, she testified. Q And she just left like one day. Edmonsons husband publicly confronted Salzman about DOS at a NXIVM event, prompting the rest of the organization to learn about the existence of DOS. A former follower of self-help guru Keith Raniere says he was a taskmaster who expected her to be as obedient as a "hungry dog." Lauren Salzman testified Monday that she and other women, including TV actress Allison Mack, were under orders to send Raniere nude photos of themselves and paddle each other if they . I didnt want to sit at the defense table and tell a false story about what happened. Following Ranieres arrest in Mexico, Salzman said, she started to come to terms with the true extent of Ranieres thrall over her; at times, she appeared to be processing it even while she was on the stand. Q So the Government plays these recordings for you; right? Then Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis rose. Raniere's trial began on May 7 and ended on June 19, 2019. Q Im going to ask you the question again. Q And one thats one of the things that you went through; right? Its all there, its on the record. Among the more sensational allegations: Some women "slaves" in a secret NXIVM sorority were branded with Raniere's initials as part of their initiation. Yet she tried to remain calm. [Lauren is growing visibly upset and is crying]. AGNIFILO: No, no, I thought she was about to answer, so I told her not to. Former Nxivm slave master Lauren Salzman who admitted to keeping a woman captive for nearly two years during her stint as a high-ranking member in the upstate sex cult dodged jail time at her sentencing on Wednesday. That makes their state of mind at the time meaningless, as long as they woke up later. I do a lot of transcription for work and this is how everyone's transcribed speech reads like. She pleaded guilty to only racketeering conspiracy, and was the. Q . I wanted her to be able to have that. Initially, Raniere said Dani would only have to stay a few days in the room, which contained little other than a bare mattress, for a few days. At times she approached tears and spoke sometimes in a shaky voice. . A The conversations sound different to me now than they did before and so I dont hear them the same way and thats difficult. But Im telling you, I was watching this witness. He is in every sense a hypocrite. And her testimony was transcribed verbatim. that Lauren Salzman was held down as another Raniere devotee used a cauterizing pen to etch the initials of Raniere into an area near her pelvis, according to her testimony . Salzman and other DOS masters, including Garza. The account of Ranieres arrest capped off the highly revealing direct testimony of Salzman, who has pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy. The line of questioning was not relevant for reasons Scott Johnson stated. She had faced 14 to 17 1/2 years for working as Ranieres right-hand woman to lure victims into DOS. The emotional sentencing capped a lengthy legal case that saw Salzman, who now works as a dog groomer, turn on longtime ally Keith Raniere and help put the twisted cult leader behind bars. Q Did you intend to commit a racketeering violation at the time that you did it? A Oh, Im sorry. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Lauren Salzman, a former high-ranking member of Nxivm who pleaded guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges and testified against founder Keith Raniere at his 2019 trial, will. She said she recruited six women, whom she called her slaves, and who were inducted into the group. Salzman, a former . Master, please brand me, it would be an honor, an honor I want to wear for the rest of my life," Lauren Salzman testifed she told Keith Raniere at a branding ceremony. She avoided looking at Raniere during her testimony. Q Was it hard to listen to the conversations? Salzman testified that being locked in a cage for days until surrendering was supposed to be a way for the most committed members to grow. lauren salzman testimony transcript . Learning that Cami and Keith had a special relationship is not what was troubling to me. Yeah, where he says . Marc Agnifilo begins to try to elicit from Lauren the possibility that she was upset by what she learned in discovery after she was indicted that might have led her to turn away from Raniere and prompted her to change her view about him post facto. Article continues below advertisement Meanwhile, Mack pleaded guilty last month to charges she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for the group's spiritual leader. In response, Salzman sent him a seven-page letter recounting all the ways she was behaving inappropriately. Salzman obviously did. Thanks. I am the one who is disappointed. She was more and more upset. C-SPAN's operating revenues come from license fees paid by cable systems and satellite companies that offer the network to their. Q You said [in the direct examination] when Keith was arrested in Mexico, Mexican police came in and they had machine guns? If youre going to commit a crime, dont record yourself admitting to it. [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] Agnifilo referred audiotapes [and transcripts of the tapes] of meetings held for DOS in 2016 before Lauren joined DOS. This failure, combined with his on the record statement that he was done, will seriously hamper any appeal. It is the final installment of our report on her cross-examination. Are the transcripts of the trial released anywhere? C-SPAN is a private, non-profit public service of the cable television industry that covers the political process. This book would not exist, and my integration would not have been as thorough, without Steve's research efforts. According to Salzmans testimony, he immediately instructed all of the DOS first-line slaves to deny that Raniere had any knowledge of DOS, and that the women had branded themselves of their own volition. And then he characterized the reasons for why he didnt uphold his word to me as being because it was so difficult that two of our best friends died of terminal illnesses [Pam Cafritz and Barbara Jeske] and the void that that left in our community, and how much extra work fell on him and how hard its been because of all of our failures and ineptitudes and the political situation. A I didnt want I didnt want to sit I didnt want to defend the things that I did that were bad and that were criminal as good. Not only is . The branding ceremony took place in 2017 inside a house near Albany, where female members of the so-called cult Nxivm . In response to the bad press surrounding NXIVM, Raniere went into damage control mode. DOS members were also required to do penance for perceived misdeeds. Q I think you said on direct examination that you thought Keith changed when Pam passed away? Lauren Salzman leaves Brooklyn federal court in New York. PUBLISHED 4:16 PM ET May 20, 2019. Numskull. You may stand down. Lauren Salzman entered her plea at a hearing that did not appear on any public calendar, and prosecutors had portions of a transcript blacked out. Related I am responsible for Lauren being before you.. Dani in that room actually made clear something I hadn't realized that she was actually free to leave I'd she just copped to her shit Q You didnt know that Keith and Cami had a relationship? Q Did you know he was having these kinds of conversations with these women? A Kristin left the community with Gaelyn, their son, in 2014. Salzman, the daughter of NXIVM. THE COURT: You may ask your question. Watching Raniere skulk out of a walk-in closet as guns were pointed at her head, however, put all of his teachings, all of his promises, and all of their shared dreams together into perspective. THE COURT: Is there anything else from the Government for tonight? Instead of delaying the trial until the next day. This is Part 6 of Lauren Salzman: Cross-Examination Stopped by Judge. AGNIFILO: Im more concerned, quite frankly, about, I thought I took great pains to be appropriate and even-keeled. Raniere had also planned to build a dungeon in the basement of the sorority house, and Padilla purchased various BDSM sex toys for use during penance, as a sex-toy company owner testified last week. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time I am worried about her composure in this case. According to Salzmans testimony, he and Dani reached an agreement that she would be confined in a room in a home she shared with her parents, with no communication with the outside world; if she did not agree to these terms, Salzman testified, she would have to go back to Mexico. Lauren Salzman got time-served in July in light of her cooperation. But the jurist was convinced Salzman was a changed woman, saying. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Lauren also admitted to threatening the woman with deportation if she continued to disobey Keith's orders. Q Keith had a child with Kristin Keefe; right? Salzman reluctantly agreed to these conditions, as she desperately wanted to have a child. All Rights reserved. But what I had here was, I had a crisis here. At the end before the jury leaves when the Judge says you are done, Agnifilo says, I know I am done. Therefore the defense had concluded by his own words that the questioning was over. She rose up and is actually practicing what she preached. Q Was your intention to hurt people or was it to help people? I am happy as a bug in a rug reading all of this! Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. He basically verbally confessed to racketeering.