Emails purportedly sent by former legal liaison contain allegations of criminal acts by leader

A close lieutenant of NXIVM founder Keith Raniere has broken with his Colonie-based life-coaching enterprise and fled with her young son from his inner circle, according to court papers filed as part of a federal lawsuit.

“I have completely left NXIVM and New York,” says an email message said to have been sent by Kristin M. Keeffe; the email was quoted in court papers filed by New Jersey attorney Peter Skolnik, the lawyer for Rick Ross, leader of an organization called the Cult Education Institute. Ross has been sued by NXIVM, which denies that it is a cult, for publicizing portions of its training program.

That email and others alleged to have been sent by Keeffe and quoted in the court filing include numerous untested allegations, and refer to Keeffe’s turning over to the authorities “evidence of massive criminal conduct” by Raniere as well as NXIVM President Nancy Salzman and Clare Bronfman, who oversees its operations.

The email allegedly written by Keeffe, formerly the legal liaison for NXIVM, was sent to Skolnik. Ross has countersued Raniere, Salzman and Keeffe for invasion of privacy.

Skolnik filed a petition on April 26 in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., to dismiss Keeffe from the countersuit. In the petition, Skolnik inserted parts of recent electronic communications he said he has had with Keeffe since her disappearance from Saratoga County at some point in the past few months.

In turn, Robert Crockett, Keeffe’s lawyer in the Ross case, filed “an emergency request” to the court on April 27 seeking to seal Skolnik’s petition. The court has not yet acted on the request. Crockett also represents NXIVM and has represented some of its top leaders, including Bronfman, in other litigation.

In his letter, Crockett told the court Keeffe is in hiding as the result of a custody dispute with Raniere involving her son, Gaelyn.