Clare Bronfman | |
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Born | Clare Webb Bronfman [1] 1979 (age 44–45) New York, United States |
Organization | NXIVM |
Criminal charges |
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Criminal penalty |
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Criminal status | Convicted |
Parents |
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Relatives |
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Family | Bronfman family |
Website | via Internet Archive |
Clare Webb Bronfman (born 1979) is an American heiress, convicted felon and former leader of NXIVM, a multi-level marketing company and cult based near Albany, New York. She is the youngest daughter of billionaire philanthropist and former Seagram liquor chairman Edgar Bronfman Sr. After a brief equestrian career, Bronfman began involvement in NXIVM, a business engaged in criminal activities during 1998–2018, which led to indictments on federal charges, including sex trafficking.
In April 2019, Bronfman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conceal and harbor illegal aliens for financial gain, and to fraudulent use of identification. [2] The prosecution requested a sentence of five years in prison. [3] [4] In September 2020, Judge Nicholas Garaufis sentenced Bronfman to six years and nine months imprisonment. [5]
Bronfman is a daughter of Canadian billionaire Edgar Bronfman Sr. and Rita Webb, the daughter of an English pub owner from Essex, England. Bronfman's parents met in Marbella, Spain. [6] [7] The couple married in 1975, two years after Edgar Bronfman's divorce from his first wife. Webb gave birth to Sara the following year, and had Clare two-and-a-half years later. [6] Shortly after Clare's birth, Webb (who had renamed herself Georgiana) asked Edgar for a divorce. They remarried in 1983, but again divorced. After their parents' second divorce, the girls visited their father at his estates outside Charlottesville, Virginia, and in Westchester County; his home in Sun Valley; and his apartment on Fifth Avenue. However, they resided in England and in Kenya with their mother. [6] [8] Bronfman is of Jewish ancestry on her father's side. [9]
In December 1999, Bronfman competed in the Millstreet Indoor International Horse Show. [10] In May 2001, Bronfman won the Grand Prix at CSI-A Eindhoven (NED). [11] On September 23, 2001, Bronfman's team placed seventh in the World Final of the Samsung Nations Cup Series (Jumping). [12] On May 26, 2002, Bronfman won the Grand Prix in Rome (ITA); her team placed sixth in the competition. [13] In October 2002, Bronfman placed 13th at the CSI-A competition in Bremen. [14]
On October 1, 2018, after her involvement with the NXIVM group came to light, Bronfman was permanently banned by the United States Center for SafeSport, which investigates and issues sanctions to members of Olympic sports accused of sexual misconduct. This rendered her ineligible for any involvement with the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), which governs horse sports in the United States. [15]
Through her sister Sara, Clare Bronfman became involved in 2002 [16] in NXIVM's personal advancement program and "Executive Success Program" ("ESP") workshops. [8] The sisters became committed followers and financial backers of NXIVM founder Keith Raniere, relocating to upstate New York to work as NXIVM trainers. [17] [18] Clare Bronfman also served as event coordinator for "Vanguard Week," an annual festival celebrating Raniere's birthday, stating that "the purpose of 'V Week' is to get the chance to experience a civilized world... [and] craft for ourselves a more fulfilling, purposeful life." [17]
Clare and her sister introduced their father, billionaire Edgar Bronfman, Sr., to NXIVM. Edgar broke with the group after learning that Clare had given Raniere and Salzman a $2 million "loan" at 2.5% interest. In October 2003, Forbes magazine featured Raniere on its cover along with the title "The World's Strangest Executive Coach". The article quoted Edgar Bronfman, Sr. as stating that he thought NXIVM was "a cult". [19] Clare Bronfman eventually became "NXIVM's operations director and one of its largest financial contributors". [2] Raniere reportedly blamed Clare Bronfman for the bad publicity, faulting her for telling her father about the $2 million loan. Ultimately, Clare Bronfman would spend $150 million on NXIVM. [20]
Clare Bronfman installed keylogger software on her father's computer, allowing NXIVM members to access his email for years thereafter. [21] From 2007 to 2009, Clare Bronfman, allegedly at the direction of Raniere, employed private firms to investigate perceived enemies of the group, including six American federal judges. [22]
Eager to distance themselves from cult allegations in the press, NXIVM members sought the endorsement of the Dalai Lama, spending $2 million on the project. [20] Clare, along with her sister Sara, and NXIVM founder Keith Raniere formed an organization called the World Ethical Foundations Consortium. [23] [24] [25]
Clare and Sara were credited with being able to bring the Dalai Lama to Albany to participate in the World Ethical Foundations Consortium's inaugural event on May 6, 2009. [8] [26] On May 6, 2009, the Dalai Lama traveled to Albany, NXIVM's hometown, to give a talk; during the event, he presented Raniere with a khatag (the ceremonial white scarf with the symbolic meaning of "purity" in Tibetan Buddhism) onstage.
The Dalai Lama additionally wrote already in April 2009, the foreword to Ranieri's occult book entitled The Sphinx & Thelxiepeia. [27] [28] Eight years later, it would be revealed Clare's sister Sara had a 2009 sexual relationship with Lama Tenzin Dhonden, the Dalai Lama's gatekeeper who arranged the appearance, who as a monk had taken a vow of celibacy. [29] Amid accusations of corruption, Dhonden was replaced. [30] [31]
In June 2017, NXIVM member Sarah Edmondson revealed the existence of a "secret sisterhood" within NXIVM to Frank Parlato, who published the story on the Frank Report. [32] Edmondson revealed that within the secret group, female members were allegedly referred to as "slaves," branded with the initials of Raniere and Allison Mack, subjected to corporal punishment from their "masters", and required to provide nude photos or other potentially damaging information about themselves as "collateral". [33] [34] [35] [36] [37]
In July and September 2017, Clare Bronfman was contacted by multiple women who were part of DOS, demanding return or destruction of their collateral, but she failed to respond. [21] In July 2017, she contacted the New York City Police Department and the Vancouver Police Department, attempting to have criminal charges filed against DOS whistleblower Sarah Edmondson. [21] In September, she and Raniere drafted letters which were ultimately sent by attorneys in Mexico to DOS whistleblowers, threatening them with criminal prosecution. [21]
I am troubled by evidence suggesting that Ms. Bronfman repeatedly and consistently leveraged her wealth and social status as a means of intimidating, controlling, and punishing...I don't know how many other multimillionaires are out there, ready to devote the limitless resources at their disposal to supporting pyramid schemes run by dangerous criminals. [5]
Federal judge Nicholas G. Garaufis when sentencing Bronfman in September 2020
In 2018, Raniere and associate Allison Mack were arrested and indicted on several federal charges involving a cult alleged to operate within NXIVM; the charges included sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit forced labor. [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] Bronfman was arrested by federal agents on July 24, 2018, in New York City, and charged with money laundering and identity theft in connection with NXIVM activities. She pleaded not guilty in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn. She was released on $100 million bond and placed on house arrest with electronic monitoring. Also charged were Bronfman's long-time mentor and NXIVM president Nancy Salzman; Salzman's daughter, NXIVM executive board member Lauren Salzman; and former NXIVM bookkeeper Kathy Russell. [43]
On April 19, 2019, Bronfman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conceal and harbor illegal aliens for financial gain and fraudulent use of identification. The prosecution asked for five years in prison, and she agreed to forfeit $6 million. [2] [4] On September 30, 2020, she was sentenced to six years, nine months in prison by a federal judge. [5] In addition, she was fined $500,000 and was ordered to pay restitution to victim "Jane Doe 12" in the amount of $96,605. [44]
A week after her sentencing, her lawyers asked that she be freed from the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, while she appealed her sentence. Her lawyers called it "disparate with the sentences received by other individuals who pleaded or were found guilty of similar non-violent crimes", particularly since the prosecution had asked for only five years. Bronfman also had a liver condition that made her a higher risk for contracting COVID-19 in prison, they said. [45] Her lawyers and the judge had already agreed that she could serve her sentence at a minimum security facility near the New York area. [46] She spent the early part of her sentence at FDC Philadelphia, a temporary/in-transit federal prison facility normally used to house inmates prior to or during court proceedings. [47] Bronfman was then transferred to Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury. She was then transferred back to FDC Philadelphia. [48]
Bronfman was released to a halfway house in the Bronx on May 4, 2024. [49]
In January 2020, several NXIVM individuals, including Clare and her sister Sara, were named defendants in a civil lawsuit filed in federal court by 80 former NXIVM members. The lawsuit details allegations of fraud and abuse and charging the NXIVM organization of being a pyramid scheme, exploitation of its recruits and conducting illegal human experiments and making it "physically and psychologically difficult, and in some cases impossible, to leave the coercive community." [50] [51] [52]
Edgar Miles Bronfman was a Canadian-American businessman. He worked for his family's distilled beverage firm, Seagram, eventually becoming president, treasurer and CEO. As president of the World Jewish Congress, Bronfman is especially remembered for initiating diplomacy with the Soviet Union, which resulted in legitimizing the Hebrew language in the USSR, and contributed to Soviet Jews being legally able to practice their religion, as well as immigrate to Israel.
Edgar Miles Bronfman Jr. is an American businessman, filmmaker, theater producer, and media executive who is a managing partner at Accretive LLC. He previously was CEO of Warner Music Group from 2004 to 2011 and served as its Chairman from 2011 to 2012. Bronfman served as the CEO of WMG during its May 2011 sale to Access Industries. In August 2011, he became Chairman of the company as Stephen Cooper became CEO. Bronfman previously was CEO of Seagram and vice-chairman of Vivendi Universal. Bronfman expanded and later divested ownership of the Seagram Company, and also worked as a Broadway and film producer, and songwriter under the pseudonyms Junior Miles and Sam Roman. He is Chairman of FuboTV.
Allison Christin Mack is an American actress. She played Chloe Sullivan on the superhero series Smallville (2001–2011) and had a recurring role on the comedy series Wilfred (2012–2014).
The Bronfman family is a Canadian family, known for its extensive business holdings. It owes its initial fame to Samuel Bronfman (1889–1971), the most influential Canadian Jew of the mid-20th century, who made a fortune in the alcoholic distilled beverage business during American prohibition, including the sale of liquor through organized crime, through founding the Seagram Company, and who later became president of the Canadian Jewish Congress (1939–62).
Nicki Clyne is a Canadian actress, known for her role as Cally Henderson on the SyFy television series Battlestar Galactica. Clyne was a member of NXIVM, a multi-level marketing company founded by Keith Raniere that has been described by former members, the media, and cult experts as a cult.
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NXIVM was a cult led by Keith Raniere, who is now a convicted racketeer and sex offender. NXIVM is also the name of the defunct company that Raniere founded in 1998, which provided seminars ostensibly about human potential development, and served as a front organization for criminal activity by Raniere and his close associates. Following Raniere's conviction in 2019, the Department of Justice seized ownership of NXIVM-related entities and their intellectual property through asset forfeiture.
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The United States Penitentiary, Tucson is a high-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Arizona. It is part of the Tucson Federal Correctional Complex and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. The facility also has a satellite prison camp for minimum-security male offenders.
Keith Allen Raniere is an American cult leader who was convicted of a pattern of racketeering activity, including human trafficking, sex offenses and fraud. Raniere co-founded NXIVM, a purported self-help multi-level marketing company offering personal development seminars and headquartered in Albany, New York. Operating from 1998 to 2018, NXIVM had 700 members at its height, including celebrities and the wealthy. Within NXIVM, Raniere was referred to as "Vanguard".
Sara Rosner Bronfman is the daughter of the billionaire former Seagram chairman Edgar Bronfman Sr. Bronfman was a leading funder and a member of the leadership team for the controversial multi-level marketing company and cult NXIVM, as was her sister, Clare Bronfman.
Carlos Emiliano Salinas Occelli is a Mexican venture capitalist and businessman. He is the son of former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
Marc Elliot is an American former motivational speaker and a loyal follower of Keith Raniere and his organization NXIVM, a purported self-improvement company which has been widely accused of being a criminal organization and a cult. Elliot has claimed the group helped him overcome Tourette syndrome. Since Raniere was sentenced to 120 years for racketeering and other crimes, Elliot has advocated for the conviction to be overturned.
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Nancy L. Salzman is an American convicted felon and the co-founder of NXIVM, a multi-level marketing company and cult based near Albany, New York. A former nurse, Salzman worked with Keith Raniere in the development of the organization beginning in the 1990s.
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The Vow is an American true crime documentary series directed by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer that revolves around the cult NXIVM and its leader Keith Raniere. The NXIVM documentary series premiered on August 23, 2020, on HBO. In October 2020, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on October 17, 2022.
Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult is an American true crime documentary television miniseries revolving around the cult NXIVM and its leader Keith Raniere, with a focus on the perspective of India Oxenberg, who was an executive producer on the series. It consists of four episodes and premiered on October 18, 2020, on Starz.
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Nicole Blank Becker is a Michigan-based lawyer known for being the defense litigator of R&B singer, Robert Sylvester Kelly.
In a letter, the agency said it would not look into Dr. Roberts because she was not acting as Ms. Edmondson's doctor when the branding is said to have happened.