But he kept talking and selling…something.”. Now I gotta go dust off my Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Sweet Honey in the Rock CDs. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Sharon and other members of the Acapella Community didn’t appear on other hit lists of NXIVM PI contractors since Canaprobe. Outside of the Canaprobe shenanigans, NXIVM members made other efforts to reach out to the a cappella circle. Clare Bronfman and Keith Raniere contracted a Canadian private detective agency, Canaprobe, to spy on Deke and other unfortunate members of the cult’s enemy list. Interesting. If this story has a hero, it would be community leader Deke Sharon. The first A Cappella Innovations gathering was unremarkable in that it was like many other a cappella events with judging panels and breakout groups that gave singing groups feedback on their singing and performances and then hosted a concert at the end of the event to showcase the talent on hand. And an “honourable mention” is worse then a bronze medal. Yuri Plyam, Natalia Plyam – and their company, Castle Trading, involved in a California real estate project that Clare and Sara funded, Raniere guided. As I looked up your name I found a lot of things, but there two things in particular that I found interest in. In an ironic aside. To use your money in such a way is disgusting. Frank Parlato’s work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like the New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, The Times of London, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, CBS Inside Edition, among many, many others in all five continents. NXIVM owes many debts to Scientology and the NXIVM group certainly must have understood the power of using covert operatives and spy tactics from watching Scientology use these tools to infiltrate the United States government and entangle their harshest critics. Joseph Bruno, former New York State senator. I read thru that whole fucking thing last week when it first appeared on one of the various nxivm subreddits, and I thought you were awesome. His work helping take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg; “Scarred”  by Sarah Edmonson;  “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. a…COMMUNIST! I don’t understand what the Bronfmans were going to do with any information unearthed by their spying. This sounds like his community, or rather I just KNOW some of these people know him. Thank you. What sort of “down to earth”, supremely “ethical” figure allows this sort of nonsense to be spouted about him by his followers, let alone friends? Michael Freedman, who wrote a story for Forbes magazine entitled “Cult of Personality”. Another one of the main questions of the a cappella community was why NXIVM hadn’t been more up front about their sponsorship and involvement in the event especially considering that it appeared by attempting to collect very sensitive personal information like social security numbers and home addresses that NXIVM was grooming or recruiting members of the a cappella community. Information sources like this thread from 2008 are rare and this one in particular came off to me almost like the bug sealed in a chunk of amber from Jurassic Park. Keith politely accuses him of being biased. Really? Because NXIVM was run by failsons, dilettantes, and a certain scruffy ex-MLM hustler, their attempt to dig up dirt on Deke Sharon backfired miserably. I am really glad we live in the future where the truth of Keith is known. Times Union newspaper: George Hearst, the Publisher; Rex Smith, the Editor; and Jim Odato, a reporter who had written stories about Nxivm. I want you to get me an a cappella group! If there is no good, I start to think of censorship and bias.”. Their incompetence prevented them from getting any actual information. Deke has 19 jobs listed on their profile. Television, Movies, and Broadway - TV (Pitch Battle, Pitch Slapped, The Sing-Off, Straight No Chaser) and film (Pitch Perfect 1, 2 & 3, The Social Network) and Broadway’s first … How many lives were ruined living in fear because they spoke out against obvious EVIL? This first salvo from the a cappella community was vague in areas and not as cutting as some of the commentary to come, but it raised a red flag right in the middle of the festival and based on the chatty and tight-knit aspects of the community it was sure to kick up a conversation. Scientology is important to the story because NXIVM adapted many of the tactics that had been used by Scientology and its spy wing which was initially known as the. NLP is a pseudo’therapy based on pseudoscience. Clare wrote: The world is full of suckers for MLM – just move on to the next one. Big improvement on the clumsy Canaprobe or Juval Aviv. This was remarked on with great surprise and incredulity by Deke and others. Bravo to Mr. Shelton for standing up for himself and his community, knowing their malicious ways of destroying people. The thread, which runs to 14 pages and 204 posts, many of them thousands of words long, is a geyser of material and insight into the inner-workings of the NXIVM cult, which has spectacularly exploded over the last couple of years with leader Keith Raniere and many of his inner circle now sitting in prison or home confinement for long sentences for a range of crimes including sex trafficking and racketeering. Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Gretchen Carlson Show, Dr. Oz and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato scored the first ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest, which many credit Parlato with engineering. I guess Keith should have delivered it to Mark with a bouquet of roses and a kiss on the cheek. Nancy Salzman served in Keith’s stead to head the international conference on bioethics for Mexico. In a conversation where opposing parties would often quote and reply line-by-line to each other, the fact that Mark Vicente’s post, which was over 1600 words, was just left alone like a fishy bag at the airport was remarkable to me and others in discussing the thread when it was dug up and posted on Reddit. It’s a good thing he left, otherwise actual victims of apartheid might get in the way of his “party story”. The link to the Mack meets KR is interesting as he immediately asks her if art is important and then right away is taking away from her the one thing that is probably so important to her, to make her feel small and bad and have to be healed by him. This was a really interesting find. And thank you for all the great feedback! I have to say this puzzles me greatly about Mark Vicente. Our next step was to bring a cappella into corporations (these are corporations in which we have contacts through Nxivm.) Products like Red Bull provide a value for the purpose of earning money for the owners, this is different.”, Although Keith’s post reached nearly 900 words, in essence the rest of his reply dealt with the classifications of cults and the bias of the media towards NXIVM. Yale is famous for the whiffenpoof song which has been recorded by Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee. Spying on the a cappella community. , Ron Miscavige reconstructs an episode that occurred to him in 2013 while he was being stalked by two private investigators who had been hired by his son, the leader of Scientology, David Miscavige. There are photos on this very site. Charles Schumer, U.S. senator from New York. How else will we prevent the inevitable cataclysm of our civilization?! @ Anonymous December 12, 2020 at 5:01 Jeffrey Peterson or one of his pals, explained it in a couple of posts. Or was it just confirmation that these critics were somehow working with Edgar? (If so, that might be better “link” material on his website than a broken patent application on the prestigious and authoritative “FreshPatents.com”). Where can I read Mark Vicente’s post? This is the preface to Keith Raniere’s book from a prominent academic. Lauren and others also attempted to get Deke or other leaders of the community to reply in kind with lists of the “data” they would need to be able to trust Keith and NXIVM. Allison Mack coming in with the DARVO on page 3 and Clare on page 5 with the word-for-word propaganda that they all spouted about Keith is amazing to see.”. His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents. Really stepped up for your community – you were so impressive and good-humoured in your refusal to be taken in. Chet Hardin, a reporter for the Albany Metroland. Yooooo deke!!!! Hi Leo, Deke Sharon here. I will suggest that whoever made these screenshots replace the ones that are blurry with ones that are clear and distinct. That little furball has a harem of attractive d-list actresses following him and tripping all over themselves to empty their pocketbooks into Keith’s bank account? These contractors were replaced or more, supplemented, by slightly more competent ones selected by bigger, more respectable law firms. We are using the “Nxivm friendly” corporations for a cappella. Canaprobe only probed finances. “Add to it the history of the leader (Ponzi scheme, problems with DA in several states) and the organization’s ongoing legal troubles (seemingly incessant – $3 million a year in legal bills?!? from White South Africans, and enjoy claiming ‘martyrs’, those [whites] who they like to believe are as good and liberal as they? trumpet, guitar, flute, violin, muted trumpet, harmonica) with his voice—which he teaches online and via "Singing Instruments" seminars —teaching summer camp for young vocalists, and adjudicating choral festivals around the world. Vicente’s defense is notable for referencing his childhood in apartheid South Africa and from his experience there creating an analogy to the control and censorship of information in an apartheid regime and the control and censorship of information about NXIVM. It was my entre into the idea that yes, Mark Vicente grew up in apartheid-era South Africa, and will tell you so whether it’s relevant to the subject or not. His story about Edgar Bronfman paying you to go after them is just one more example of the cultic craziness. Raniere had tried to stage some a cappella concerts. Juval Aviv, who owned a private investigation firm called Interfor. I read thru that whole fucking thing last week when it first appeared on one of the various nxivm subreddits, and I thought you were awesome. He is known for his ability to replicate a variety of instruments (e.g. It features a blurred off-kilter face of a wide-eyed child. Mack’s post was classic NXIVM in its self-importance and new age doublespeak. Ever since 2015, the articles published by Frank Parlato on the Frank Report have exposed major scandals and uncovered disturbing criminal enterprises such as the sex-slavery, branding cult of NXIVM. Here’s a gem from that board by mwhitehouse » Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:49 pm: For starters, Keith’s credentials that Clare listed (most of which are posted also at http://www.keithraniere.com) just aren’t, well, credentials. Their fraud was to claim they could access offshore bank accounts and, of course, it was just a scam. Do you think Keith needs to recruit college students? Nice article Mr. Helmar, really engrossing. Has anyone in the history of the planet (besides Keith here) thought that Acapella could be used as a tool for humanitarianism? In the UK, Europe and the US, these ‘radical’ white voices can get away with false claims of ‘leadership’ of a struggle that was never theirs, because, curiously White people in the UK, EU and the US consider themselves to be a world apart [A cut above?] And you, Deke Sharon, for being critical of Raniere. Mack’s post is a master class in DARVO, or “Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender”, the typical “offensive is the best defense” strategy of cults like NXIVM. Thank you for that! The group was founded by so-called "Vanguard" Keith Raniere. , among many other machinations, to intimidate and harass “suppressives” or heretics is a tactic that is shared by many high control groups like Scientology and NXIVM. This frame of viewing Mack’s screed was spelled out to other subreddit frequenters by Reddit user HehTheUrr “Jesus, I’m only 5 pages in and this is a rollercoaster ride. for the first time and it does not compute. My mother is a white Irish woman, very conservative, with small ‘c’ and a long-standing ANC member, a supporter of Zuma, most especially for his xenophobic immigration policies. These people seem to know when usually young people are most vulnerable. I grew up in Apartheid-era SA – ’60s to ’70s. So that means about $30,000 for your report. A few posts later on page 3 Allison Mack responded, being the first of the prominent NXIVM members to enter the fray. The presence of Sharon, a director and composer of a cappella music, on the NXIVM enemies list belongs in the roll call of the strangest and most random NXIVM factoids. In the original 2008 thread, Daniela responded to Amy’s mention of being contacted by a NXIVM member under what Amy thought were false pretenses, and Daniela gave a confusing and seemingly self-contradictory account of why she emailed Amy. Keith was defended by Seagram’s liquor heiress Clare Bronfman on page 5 of the thread as “one of the top 3 problem solvers in the world” and “in the Guinness Book under highest IQ, 1989”. It doesn’t matter what Mack says 10C name is derived from, I’m going to continue to associate it with the original because it fits so well with the glowing blue substance. Or faked them, as the case may be. He told me how much he invested and how much he made before and after. […], “I will say as emphatically as I can online: None of this was to recruit people for Nxivm. He is noted as one of the 3 top problem solvers in the world …. The presence of Sharon, a director and composer of a cappella music, on the NXIVM enemies list belongs in the roll call of the strangest and most random NXIVM factoids. Yooooo deke!!!! Please write more. I am also really interested in isolating the factors that kept people from being seduced by Nxivm in addition to focusing on people who did get sucked into Keith’s orbit. “I had no idea a vast and tight knit a cappella community existed.” Nice Guy. [One doesn’t hear as much about Sisulu, for e.g.] You were on their list of bad guys. I love the Frank Report. For many reasons Nxivm is not good for many people it: is too intellectual; requires too much time and effort; is too expensive; has bad PR; has an objectionable delivery system; is too hard or too restrictive to get into (yes, we reject entry to various categories of people.) View Deke Sharon’s profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. The thread, simply titled “A Cappella Innovations” was made by an anonymous poster with the screen name “Innovations Participants” who described themselves in their opening post as “a member of a collegiate a cappella group”. A really interesting piece. As I told everyone once the forum discussion [was] over, ‘if I disappear or turn up dead, you know why.’” he told me via email. NLP is Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a technique used by Raniere, Nancy Salzman and other NXIVM gangsters to manipulate people. His work helping take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg; “Scarred”  by Sarah Edmonson;  “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. Johnson and White were convicted and sent to Canadian federal prison in 2014 for falsifying bank records for other clients. With its seemingly unlimited resources and connections to the entertainment and business worlds through actor devotees like Smallville’s Allison Mack and Kristin Kreuk and Battlestar Gallactica’s Nicki Clyne, and, on the business side, the heiress sisters Sara and Clare Bronfman, the group was able to gather together many prominent a cappella groups and coaches for their summit. They paid about a million to Canaprobe for the list of some 30 enemies above. Born in San Francisco, California, Deke Sharon has been performing professionally since the age of 8, and as a child toured North America and shared the stage in operas with the likes of Pavarotti. The RARB/CASA thread was recently unearthed and came to my attention on Reddit in the r/NXIVMcase subreddit and was initially remarked upon by posters because of filmmaker Mark Vicente’s batshit crazy defense of Keith in the thread. How boring their lives must have been — even back in 2008. Get… me… an… a cappella group! Thank you, Leo. Great story and analysis. Keith writes like I did in college when I needed to fill pages and I hadn’t researched the topic. Deke’s final words which ended the thread summed up the problems with NXIVM and their approach. Clare wrote: Canaprobe and its subcontractors and the Bronfman sisters were also involved in a lengthy civil lawsuit which was eventually dismissed where the Bronfmans attempted to claw back the money they paid Canaprobe for its fraudulent work. If I recall, Raniere had some interest in a capella – somehow it either tied into his time at RPI, or at least was connected to RPI. Deke Sharon closed out the thread by once again reinforcing his points about his intuitive and factual basis for having suspicions about NXIVM’s entrance into the a cappella community and said in essence that he would no longer attend future versions of A Cappella Innovations although he allowed that others may want to take advantage of the free festivals in the future. Here are some facts about Keith Raniere: I liked this line “Information sources like this thread from 2008 are rare and this one, in particular, came off to me almost like the bug sealed in a chunk of amber from Jurassic Park. It seemed just as incongruent to me as it did to Deke Sharon that NXIVM would sic private investigators on an a cappella enthusiast with no other ties to NXIVM. By whom is he so “noted”? I’m working on some more stories in this vein for the Frank Report so stay tuned. But I’m absolutely bewildered by the silliness of Keith Raniere’s [self-]importance and the understatements being made about NXIVM’s mission–at least, what I understand of it from http://www.nxivm.com . She and her sister deserve the karma they’re getting and then some. Because NXIVM was run by failsons, dilettantes, and a certain scruffy ex-MLM hustler, their attempt to dig up dirt on Deke Sharon backfired miserably. These are also greatly put together thoughts. that’s a shallow puddle of self-esteem. Deke Sharon-Wikipedia He is the half-brother of Clare Bronfman, who as a 39-year-old was charged in 2018 in a NXIVM sex-trafficking case. The a cappella community existed after a dozen or more, supplemented, by slightly more ones... And KR are unreal almost impossible to reconstruct it a method to inspire humanity and primary. Piggies stuffing their snouts with Bronfman pie, let go so easy action against you, they. 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