[Editor’s note: The identity of the woman who wrote the following is known to me. It is a fascinating snapshot in time. That time being late 2007. Nancy was to be arrested 10 years later and even then she was talking about the possibility of arrest and how they would flee using hidden cash and a private jet.]
By a Former Friend of NXIVM
It was late 2007, and I was traveling in Albany one day with one of my friends and Kristin Keeffe. We made a few stops and continued to drive. During the drive, Kristin explained to us that she was very disappointed that despite all their efforts to uplift humanity, they got bad press everywhere. People called them a cult, when they were not. She went on and on, about how they were attacked from all fronts – and how the world was coming down on them just for doing good to mankind.
I was unaware of the agenda and just went along for the ride. Our next stop was the house of Nancy Salzman. Nancy greeted us and showed us to the living/family room. The furniture was plain in my opinion and didn’t impress me much. Nancy started talking and invited us to see her new “million-dollar kitchen.” When she exclaimed “million-dollar kitchen,” I was quite intrigued and followed her eagerly to the kitchen.
It was a fairly large kitchen, with new or near new stainless-steel, state of the art appliances. The island was very long that ran almost the entire length of the kitchen. The new cupboards had a black finish.
There were stainless steel pots hanging from the ceiling pot rack. They looked like they were Williams Sonoma or something of that caliber. The lighting was superb and the whole kitchen sparkled. The finishing of the cupboards and counters were glossy, reflecting light, adding to the sparkle.
It was grand, but it was not to my liking. I thought there was a little too much black in the kitchen, giving it a somber look. But she liked it and was proud enough to show it off. [Of course, it was not a ‘million dollar kitchen’ remodel but may have cost $100,000.]
After this little showing off session, we came back to the living room and sat down. Nancy and the others started talking again. I was just a silent spectator through all of the day’s events.
Nancy started to say the same thing that Kristin said earlier. She said they were unfairly attacked by the media. During that discussion, Nancy and Kristin did most of the talking. My friend spoke a little and I was silent. I don’t remember if anyone else was there or not. At that discussion, they said, the father of the Bronfman sisters was also against them, calling them a cult. He was using his money to shut them down. And that they had to fight back to survive.
They explained to us about Rick Ross, who at that time had a website to expose NXIVM, whom he called a ‘cult’. He had numerous articles on his website that were damaging to NXIVM and might have discouraged one reading it to ever join NXIVM or its courses.
Thus, Nancy and Kristin portrayed themselves as victims of the world – the press, Bronfman Sr., Rick Ross, and other enemies. Of how a potential student could easily make a mistake in thinking NXIVM is a cult and not a self-help group. Being wrongfully projected as a cult, Nancy explained that they could get into legal trouble if it continued, and that they had to fight it.
Nancy said that if they didn’t win the fight, they might have to flee if arrests seemed imminent. They didn’t know when that day would be and were prepared for that day, whenever that day was. Nancy said that she had $1 million cash stored in her house somewhere. Over time they were planning to keep more in cash (at least $2-$3 million) cash, but didn’t mention where the rest of the cash would be stored.
Nancy added that in an emergency, they would just pick up the cash, board their private jet and flee.
It all seemed fantastic. Although Nancy and Kristin were very sincere in their portrayal of being victims, they failed to move my heart. There was something not right in that story. I couldn’t put my finger on it at that time.
Well of course, if someone had nothing to hide, why would they have to flee? They knew somewhere in the bottom of their hearts that they were doing something wrong and were preparing to flee.