Today described Parlato as "shaaady" and "a scary regressive idiot who can't put a sentence together." Back in 2012, Alan Bedenko (aka Buffalopundit) a lawyer who blogs about western NY, called Parlato a "lunatic" and "a sick and twistedly virulent homophobe." Last month Phil Fairbanks in a asked if Frank Parlato was a crusading reporter or a fraudster. Over the years, he has been called a , and a , while the US Govt. believes he's .

Whether Frank Parlato is a criminal will be decided in a few months when Parlato will be tried on 18 counts of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering, and corrupt interference with the administration of the IRS. Of course Parlato claims he is innocent and this is a "fake indictment," but it's not as if this is the only time Parlato or his family have run afoul of the law or his practices have been called into question.

In 1998, the Parlatos were as part of its campaign against waste, fraud and abuse with regards to their low income housing escapades. In 2006, Parlato was arrested as a result of building code violations. In 1993, board members of his saying, "Some of the things he was doing could get us into legal trouble." According to the Buffalo News, throughout his ownership of One Niagara, Parlato only paid enough of the building's back property taxes to keep it off the city's foreclosure list. Shortly after a worker at One Niagara was killed, Parlato reportedly sold his share of the building, which had

While we will have to wait until May / June for the verdict on Parlato's criminality, let's look at the other charges that he's a racist, a misogynist, a liar, an idiot, and/or a hypocrite? If he is any, some, or all of these things, can his Frank Report really be one of the "internet’s best destinations" or "the internet’s finest examples" of "true" or "real" journalism, as he proclaims?

My background: Was involved in the Clifton Park, NY-based NXIVM community for 16 years. Left for good in 2017. I am female aged 25-35.

Why this post: While I have not sought any public attention about my past, I have also found it healing/therapeutic to speak about my Nxivm experience with others, including strangers.

What I can tell you: Happy to answer some questions for curious outsiders. I will not be revealing any identifying information nor will I respond to requests to go on record for any journalists.

How I was involved: My parents were involved and introduced me to the teachings. At some point I believed in most of Keith Raniere's principles and tried (unsuccessfully) to recruit a few friends. I was not invited to DOS. I did not participate in any sexual relations with Keith. I did speak with him, knew his inner circle, cooked food for him, worked for Nancy Salzman and others, and generally made my livelihood off the Nxivm community for 10+ years.

Ask away :)

Last Friday, Team USA successfully dismissed Keith Raniere's motion to claim to a 10% share of the firm First Principles Inc., the holder of several copyrights and patents. All other claims having been forfeited, the U.S. government is apparently now the owner of Executive Success Programs and its intellectual property.

Now that this is the case, and assuming First Principles Inc is not sold off, what NXIVM materials do you want to see and why?

Two media reports ( and ) state that Clare Bronfman's sentencing will be moved to February 14, 2020. This is on the grounds that she received a more robust Pre-Sentencing Report was delivered than had been anticipated for her.

This is where things get interesting.

A Pre-Sentencing Report is prepared to assess the suitable sentencing for a convict. In it, a Probation Officer is tasked to deal with a convict's character and record as well as to interview victims. Notably, this can include acts not alleged in the indictment or plea.

indicates that several victims of NXIVM came forward, including those who did not testify at trial, during the Pre-Sentence Investigation. The USAO is requesting the judge allow them to give victim impact statements at the NXIVM defendants' sentencings (not just Bronfman's) under terms similar to victims who spoke at trial, where they will be referred to either by first name, nickname or Jane/John Doe.

The only defendant who objected is Keith Raniere, which necessitated the filing and request for an order by Judge Garaufus.

(Raniere's sentencing date has also not been moved yet and appears to still be set for January 17).

This may get interesting because the USAO's filing specifically cites cases involving victims of child pornography.

I take this as a hint that while the specific child pornography count against Raniere was forced off the indictment on procedural grounds, it came up in the Pre-Sentence Investigation and may be brought up at sentencing.

It would be easy for people to think there are two Frank Parlatos.

The first is the crusading investigative reporter, the man who helped uncover the truth about the so-called sex cult Nxivm and one of the subjects of a new network documentary Sunday night.

The second is the Niagara Falls businessman accused of fraud and cheating the IRS and set to stand trial in May. . .

Like the old indictment, and alleges that he orchestrated a scheme that involved shell companies and bank accounts.

Prosecutors also say Parlato cheated the Internal Revenue Service and are demanding he forfeit $4 million.

The charges against Parlato are the result of a five-year FBI investigation into his business dealings in Niagara Falls and his ownership of One Niagara, the downtown office and retail center that many still remember as the Occidental Chemical building.

There is no mention in the documentary of Parlato's criminal prosecution.

TL;DR: The Feds are still interested in NXIVM's corporate records, including those to their lawyers. It is possible there are unsavory bits about NXIVM's campaigns against dissidents and critics waiting to come to light.

Of interest: on Nov. 22, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District to revisit an earlier ruling that gave certain privileges (work product and attorney-client) to the NXIVM Corporation / ESP's communications.

When records are seized by the Feds and there may be privileged materials involved, there's usually a dedicated team ("Filter" or "Taint" team) that sifts through them. The team is usually forced out of working for either the prosecution or defense; it is then tasked with walling off what might be privileged and inadmissible away from what is admissible as evidence.

The US Attorney is petitioning to undo the designation of certain records as "privileged" on the grounds that NXIVM is defunct and, as such, there are no longer privileges that apply. In doing so, the U.S. Attorney's Office cites the declarations of NXIVM's own lawyers in the case of Interfor (the firm retained as part of NXIVM's "fair game" campaign against Rick Ross and others, which ended up suing to try to get paid its fee).

Here is the passage of interest:

[Attorney for NXIVM] Mr. Crockett also appended a declaration from his associate, Chase T. Tajima, Esq., which stated that “on August 26 and 30, 2019, I attempted to contact the Crockett Firm’s long-time contacts as Nxivm and First Principles, Inc., as well as Ms. Salzman, asking for guidance, direction, and instructions on how to respond to this Court’s August 26, 2019 Order. On August 30, 2019, one Nxivm contact informed me that she was no longer involved with Nxivm nor any of the decision making and would not be providing any guidance, direction, or instructions on how to respond to the Order. I have never heard back from Ms. Salzman.”

If NXIVM Corp.'s privilege claims are in fact voided, then the Feds may have a whole new line of attack. This could potentially open up records of how NXIVM harassed and stalked dissidents and critics, and also detail the way that NXIVM used politically-connected lawyers to cozy up with upstate law enforcement (including local District Attorneys, Feds in the Northern District of New York) both for offensive and defensive purposes.

Is anyone else really annoyed by Sarah? I just finished the Uncovered podcast and I couldn't even tolerate listening to this person past the midway point. I hate how they constantly say all these members were intelligent people just because they are educated. Clearly they're all lacking in common sense to a very high extreme, Sarah being one of these people. She mentions red flags but takes no action to ever leave? A person of even average intelligence would nope the fuck out of there the second they were told to get naked and blindfolded. I'm curious as to whether you guys did or didn't have any sympathy for this woman.