https://news.yahoo.com/seagram-heiress-clare-bronfman-pleads-guilty-york-sex-214739970.html
At the center of this multi-million-dollar, multi-front legal war are 17 banker’s boxes filled with that information—e-mails, ledgers, and other documents that chronicle the Bronfmans’ financial dealings. They are copies of the records kept by Barbara Bouchey. The originals were given to the Bronfmans’ lawyers soon after she was fired. But Bouchey first had them copied on the advice of a lawyer—racing to the copy store with friends in a van and an S.U.V. filled with documents as Sara Bronfman and her attorney headed to Bouchey’s office to get the boxes. Bouchey had them copied, according to her court statements, not only because she was required by financial regulations to keep duplicates but also because she believed that the Bronfmans were planning to “set me up,” and having access to the documents would be the only way she would be able to defend herself.
Bouchey will not say exactly what is in those boxes that the Bronfmans have fought so hard to retrieve, but it is clear that she believes the setup has already begun. Sitting in the living room of her $1 million house—for sale now, because the legal battle with the Bronfmans has forced her into bankruptcy—she silently hands me a sheet of paper. It is one of several court documents in which Sara and Clare suggest that Bouchey was responsible for their financial losses. It alleges that she “controlled $100 million in assets”—in other words, a good part of what they spent on nxivm’s projects. It also alleges that Bouchey put them into the $26 million real-estate deal with the Plyams and “helped manage it.” Sara and Clare Bronfman appear to be claiming that they are not responsible for what many would consider to be the squandering of their fortune. They were victims—of an unscrupulous financial manager, among the many other people who took advantage of them.
But there are those who believe that the contents of the 17 boxes could prove something very different. In a court filing, Bouchey’s bankruptcy lawyer has said that the boxes “apparently” contain “information that show the Bronfmans engaged in a conspiracy to forge documents,” although he has not been more specific. Former nxivm insiders hope that the boxes will answer a welter of questions about the finances and tax-related issues regarding the vast array of trusts and corporations set up in the names of various group members. In recent letters to the New York State attorney general, Joe O’Hara, nxivm’s former consultant, alleged that nxivm has been involved in a “variety of illegal activities,” including “tax evasion,” “money laundering,” and “immigration violations,” although he did not provide any supporting evidence. He also alleged that two Bronfman foundations misused tax-exempt funds, spending them on non-charitable purposes, including “the purchase of an expensive piano for Mr. Raniere/Vanguard.” Citing checks made out to a woman who cleaned and ran errands for nxivm members, he also alleged that the Bronfmans’ foundations had used funds to pay for the care of Gaelen, the three-year-old boy who has been living in the Halfmoon “compound.” His identity is a mystery. The oft-repeated story is that he was “given” as a weeks-old infant to Barbara Jeske, one of Raniere’s longtime followers, by his grandfather, after the baby’s mother died—either in childbirth or in a car accident. He may have been born in Michigan—where sources say Jeske went to get Gaelen—but even that cannot be corroborated. Today Gaelen lives with Kristin Keeffe, the Bronfmans’ and nxivm’s “legal adviser.” Raised as Raniere’s “heir” and according to Raniere’s child-rearing theories, he is reportedly fed a raw diet, kept away from other children, and tended to by five nannies who each speak to him in a different language—including Russian, Spanish, Hindi, and Chinese. Former nxivm insiders have been so concerned about the child they have phoned child protective services, but to no avail. Bouchey, however, has said that she believes Gaelen is well-cared for, dismissing concerns about his welfare. “I observed Gaelen being happy and outgoing,” she told the Albany Times Union. As to the boxes, she has said in a court filing that they could contain evidence of “questionable, and, in some cases, potentially illegal,” activities. But so far, forbidden by the court from speaking about the Bronfmans’ financial dealings, she has offered no supporting evidence.
Whatever is in those boxes remains to be seen, and the battle could rage for a long time—given that it is being financed with the Bronfmans’ fortune, which is not likely to run out anytime soon. There have been some rough patches. By the beginning of 2009, apparently under pressure from their enormous legal bills—estimated by insiders at more than $1 million a month—the sisters had sold their private jet. But later that year, having already replaced the trustees on their father’s master trust once, they again named a new trustee, believed to be their attorney Robert Crockett, who spearheaded their lawsuits against the Plyams and Barbara Bouchey. These days, some speculate that Sara is tiring of nxivm, noting that she has spent time traveling again, including to the World Cup in South Africa. Clare, however, seems more committed than ever. She not only has joined nxivm’s executive board but also has become, people say, one of Raniere’s top acolytes. The mystery for many today is what the Bronfman sisters were thinking. “Did they know how much of their money was going down the toilet? Did they buy the story it was their dad’s fault?” asks one former nxivm student. But whether or not they fully understood, or cared, what their money was being used for doesn’t really matter, people say, because it does not in the end absolve them of responsibility for the waste of so much money. No one doubts that Sara and Clare genuinely set out to do good when they joined nxivm. But one can only imagine the great good they could have done with $100 million if they hadn’t appeared to need Keith Raniere and nxivm to make them feel important.