A question on some reader’s minds is – “Is the woman who claims to be Allison’s slave telling the truth?”
We may never know.
We have seen an example of the difficulty in determining veracity in the matter of Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford. They told contradictory stories. Many think they know who is telling the truth. Opinions are divided – with Democrats generally saying Ford is truthful, and Republicans believing Kavanaugh – which suggests perception may be rooted in the desire for a particular outcome.
On Frank Report, we had a man who identified himself — and who then came up with a story that some believed and others didn’t. His name is Ben Szemkus and he claimed to have attended a NXIVM party in Connecticut where, among others, Stormy Daniels, Anthony Weiner, Huma Abedin, and Eric Schneiderman appeared.
Although Ben’s story seemed implausible, I published it because, on the odd chance it is true, it points to a larger reach of NXIVM than previously thought. Some people felt it was outrageous to give it credence because they “knew” it was a lie, and it maligned Stormy and the others by tagging them with NXIVM associations.
In response to people calling him a liar, Ben took a lie detector test. The administrator of the test said Ben was telling the truth. There has been no further corroboration of Ben’s story. Today, I think, most people think Ben made it up. However, there is still a cadre of people, who some might call “conspiracy theorists”, who believe it is true – as true as Pizzagate – which, by the way, was also mixed into Ben’s story, as the story was retold. Ben later remembered that James Alefantis was also at the party.
In the present matter, we have a woman who has identified herself to me and given her story. I refer to her as Jane. Her story may or may not be true. It may be true in part. For instance, Jane may have been in Girls By Design, but not intimately involved with Mack. This might be akin to how people say Dr. Ford was not lying completely, she was actually molested at a party – but not by Kavanaugh. Ford named witnesses – none of whom the FBI could get to corroborate her story.
Jane provided two specific details – that have not before been published and that the FBI could try to verify if they think Jane’s story is of any importance to their case:
- That Allison Mack was taken off Girls By Design shortly after it began [because it was doing poorly online] by Keith Raniere to start another online project called “Gone in Saigon” which was about past lives.
- That Allison has a tattoo, and not a brand, on her left inner thigh with a Latin symbol that Keith designed that means “My Belonging”.
Jane has also said she thinks of her life as a slave as a fully consensual, felicitous lifestyle. She has not said she is in danger.
There are some who think Clare Bronfman might be behind Jane’s coming forward – that she is telling her story to make DOS appear to be fully consensual. One commenter wrote, “Clare Bronfman makes a trip to Clifton Park, and less than 48 hours later a NXIVM slave contacts Frank Report to claim that DOS was just a garden-variety BDSM club, and all slaves were simply participating in a perfectly legal, alternative sexual lifestyle. The timing of this is not a coincidence. This is a preview of the defense strategy for the upcoming trial and this slave was instructed by Clare and her attorney to release this information.
“It would seem the DOS slaves may also be afraid of Kreuk. They are letting her know that she’s going to be ‘exposed’ for her alleged ‘BDSM lifestyle’ and also for a supposed affair she had. There is probably evidence that GBD was being used as a NXIVM recruiting tool, but it doesn’t look so bad if it’s just rebranded as a BDSM group.
“The defense must also know that there is evidence that Keith wasn’t fully truthful with the slaves of DOS, which is why the slave is claiming that everything was hunky-dory in DOS except for the way Keith betrayed them. Note that Keith’s alleged betrayal isn’t being portrayed as illegal, just unseemly….”
Some think I should have taken Jane to the DOJ and not published her story. For several reasons, this wasn’t practical. Firstly, I have never spoken to anyone in the DOJ who is investigating or prosecuting this case. Secondly, Jane said she has not seen anything illegal. The closest thing to illegality is that Jane said Raniere “had no age limits.” She added: “He lectured us on ‘the strength of women know no age.’ If a 12-year-old feels desire, it should be just as respected as a 20-year-old. He shamed anyone who questioned the right of a female at any age to have her power.”
Heidi Hutchinson, who met Keith in 1984, commented, “This is precisely how Keith Raniere justified having sex with my then 14-year-old sister starting in (or before) 1984… Gina lived and died for an elaborate lie used by a sadistic pedophile to rape and abuse her and so many others, repeatedly. … I think you see, Jane, how this brutal master harmed and used you, Allison, Kristin, GBD, every young girl recruited by this deception of ’empowerment,’ only to fulfill his ‘selfish’ and ‘immature’ — as you say — and sadistic, power-mongering pleasures….”
In telling her story, Jane exonerates Allison Mack and Kristin Kreuk – saying they did not know about underage sex – although she qualifies it by saying Mack “agreed with the logic” but told Jane that Keith “never fucked anyone under age.”
While Jane’s story is at times critical of Kreuk, overall it supports Kreuk’s Twitter statement that she did not witness anything nefarious in NXIVM. Still, there are some who think it’s outrageous that I published Jane’s story for it maligns and scandalizes Kreuk.
I hardly think an actress who stars in a Canadian taxpayer-funded television show about a fearless lawyer who tackles Big Pharma, Big Law, and corruption – will be afraid of a little blog that merely reports what some woman claims she did when Kreuk was a member of NXIVM. Kreuk isn’t a fragile china doll.
In the end, I chose to publish Jane’s story because, if it is true, it adds to the body of information we have about NXIVM. If it is not true, what’s the difference? If Dr. Ford’s story was untrue – as some say – what’s the difference? Her voice should be heard and by making her story public, it served the interests of justice.
Look at Jane, as we look at Dr. Ford. She might be telling the truth. She might be lying. Brett Kavanaugh or Kristin Kreuk might have been maligned but they’ll live and likely be tougher for the experience.
To date, Kreuk has chosen to remain silent about her role in NXIVM – other than admit she took an intensive and continued to take courses. If Kreuk feels a need to respond, she has a publicist. Any number of publications would be glad to report her comments. She has not chosen to comment here, but some suspect she is commenting anonymously in defense of herself.