Multiple sources tell Frank Report that Clare Bronfman filed a criminal complaint against Sarah Edmondson for “theft, fraud and mischief” with the Vancouver Police Department.
No arrests have been made.
Miss Bronfman’s complaint is on behalf of Executive Success Programs Inc. [ESP], a cult-like group that is headquartered near Albany, New York. Miss Bronfman, 38, is Vice President of Operations for ESP – and, in that capacity, she oversees and manages all of the company’s litigation.
ESP was founded by Keith Raniere, who prefers to be called “Vanguard” by his followers. The company operates as a multi-level marketing company that sells high intensity, high demand, life coaching and behavioral modification seminars known as Intensives. ESP’s Intensives cost from $2,100 to $10,000; students are encouraged to take several Intensives per year.
In her complaint, Miss Bronfman alleges more than 125 students in Vancouver left ESP because of Miss Edmondson’s “mischievous and fraudulent” activities.
Miss Edmondson, 40, in addition to being a popular Vancouver actress and voice talent, was an independent contractor who provided training in Vancouver for students of ESP. She recently stopped teaching ESP Intensives – and the storefront on Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver where she taught was then closed.
The exodus of Vancouver students coincides with revelations, first reported on Frank Report on June 5, of a secret women’s group called DOS [Dominant Over Submissive] whose membership is comprised of ESP students.
Reportedly more than 400 students left ESP during the last few months, thereby causing the company to close its training centers in Los Angeles and San Francisco in addition to the one in Vancouver.
DOS is one of several multi-level marketing companies founded by Mr. Raniere.
Clare Bronfman, daughter of the late billionaire, Edgar Bronfman Sr, and one of the heirs of the Seagram Liquor fortune, funds DOS operations and describes Mr. Raniere as her “mentor’”
According to former members, DOS members are subjected to 24-hour/7-days-a-week monitoring of diet, sleep, travel, hygiene, exercise, study and sex life by a coach whom they call “Master” (DOS students are called “slaves”). Members pledge to keep DOS practices a secret.
To ensure secrecy, DOS women are required to upload “collateral” to a cloud account that is controlled by Miss Bronfman (She also heads the Raniere-group’s IT department).
Collateral consists of graphic nude photographs and videos of DOS women, as well as confessions to criminal, adulterous, or scandalous activities – and, in some cases, the assignment of assets to the Raniere-controlled organization.
When sufficient collateral is held, a DOS “slave” is branded with a white-hot cauterizing iron with Mr. Raniere’s initials on her pubic region. Women are told that their collateral will be released to the general public if they ever reveal the existence of DOS or its practices.
What sparked the criminal complaint was that Miss Edmondson was reportedly disgusted by DOS practices of blackmail and human branding. When she left, other students bolted from the company.
Vancouver Police are expected to investigate the matter thoroughly before making any arrests and are likely to interview students who left ESP and DOS women who have been branded to determine if they felt coerced by Miss Bronfman and others into giving collateral.
Miss Bronfman and Mr. Raniere are said to be “angry” that Miss Edmondson left ESP and “eager” to see her handcuffed and imprisoned.
The Albany Times Union reported that students who left ESP in the past say that the company employs “private investigators to bully and urge the government to pursue charges against those they believe have crossed them…
“Sometimes, rather than filing a civil suit, [ESP] has chosen other tactics to silence its critics. The movement and its devotees have hired political figures or high-profile lawyers to push its agenda, sometimes attempting to spur a criminal investigation.
“Many of those services have been paid for by Clare Bronfman.”
Miss Bronfman’s late father described Mr. Raniere’s organizations as a ‘cult’ in an interview with Forbes Magazine.