Frank Parlato

Frank Parlato Jr. (born April 25, 1955) is an American publisher and a known felon. He publishes the ''Frank Report'', ''Artvoice'' and the ''Niagara Falls Reporter''. Parlato is widely credited for bringing attention to the NXIVM cult when he published the article "Branded Slaves and Master Raniere" on June 5, 2017.

NXIVM

In 2007, Parlato was hired to work for NXIVM as a publicist. He was fired the following year, and went on to blog about NXIVM on his own website, the Frank Report. In 2019 he received wide media coverage for his efforts to bring down the NXIVM cult.

In 2015 Parlato was federally indicted on 19 counts, including fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. In 2018, prosecutors dropped the portion of the charges against him that related to defrauding Seagram's heirs. However, as of July 2022 and with no plea deal reached, the trial is set for Sept. 13, 2022.

''The Buffalo News'', noting the changes in the US DOJ WDNY superseding indictment, reported that Seagram's heir Clare Bronfman went from the accuser in Parlato's case to the accused when she was arrested in 2018, noting also that Parlato broke major stories that led to her arrest.

The Frank Report began publishing blogs and stories on Nov. 30, 2015 – 10 days after Parlato was indicted. One of his first blogs on The Frank Report detailed Parlato's indictment, some of which were “fueled by Clare Bronfman & NXIVM’s legal team” after he left the cult. A common tactic NXIVM used was to go after defectors with an onslaught of civil & criminal charges, often smearing and bankrupting their targets which Frank was originally hired to be a part of.

Parlato denies the allegations, saying he is innocent of any crimes. He refused a plea deal by prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. His lawyers state that Parlato rejected the deal on the grounds that he is not guilty. Parlato plead to a deal on August 5, 2022.

In 2019, Parlato was the lead investigator and consulting producer of the two-hour Investigation Discovery documentary ''The Lost Women of NXIVM''.

He appeared in five episodes of HBO's docuseries ''The Vow'': "Building Character", "Class 1 Data", "Blame & Responsibility", "The Wound" and "The Fall". Parlato also appeared in episode four of '' Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult''.

In both docuseries, Parlato is credited with helping women who the cult called "slaves" escape and ending the practice of human branding within the cult subgroup called DOS.

In the Starz TV docuseries ''Seduced, Inside the NXIVM Cult'', India Oxenberg credits Parlato for preventing "slaves" from being branded and required to have sex with NXIVM leader Keith Raniere. In the final episode of ''Seduced'', "Exposed", Oxenberg said, "As soon as the rank Reportposts started coming up, there were a ton of questions and a lot of chatter. My slaves left immediately after that. And none of them had to complete the seduction assignment or be branded. That was a huge relief."

Her mother, Catherine Oxenberg, who first revealed the existence of DOS to Parlato, confirmed that Parlato's stories prompted women to leave the group. In ''Seduced'', she says that as a result of seeing Parlato's blog, "A lot of DOS slaves started to defect."

Catherine Oxenberg told Gretchen Carlson, on the Lifetime special ''Beyond the Headlines: Escaping the NXIVM Cult'' about Parlato's work to expose the group that branded and blackmailed women and whose leaders were convicted of racketeering, sex trafficking, state law extortion, and sexual exploitation of a minor:

Several former leaders of DOS blame Parlato for destroying their sorority and the NXIVM community, blaming him for writing "distorted and highly-biased" stories based on the "skewed narrative" of a few whistleblowers, including Sarah Edmondson. Parlato's stories "effectively ended DOS. Everything ceased."

Actor Sam Rosenthal played Parlato in the A&E TV drama ''Escaping the NXIVM Cult: A Mother's Fight to Save Her Daughter'' in what was a fictionalized presentation based on the true story of Parlato's efforts to take down a vicious cult leader.

Other reporting

Prior to his investigative work on NXIVM, Parlato, through his publication the ''Niagara Falls Reporter'', reported extensively on the no-bid contract that the Maid of the Mist Steamboat Company enjoyed while running boat cruises on the American and Canadian sides of the falls. He reported that the Niagara Parks Commission circumvented efforts by Ripley's Entertainment and Alcatraz Media from bidding on the boat tour concession while secretly approving a 25-year renewal of the Maid of the Mist Steamboat Company's license, while cutting its payment to the parks commission. In a series of articles, Parlato revealed that on the New York side, Maid of the Mist Steamboat Co. was operating rent free, and that the company tried to trademark the name 'Maid of the Mist' despite its use in tours and ferries since 1846.At one time, Parlato owned the One Niagra Building and took issue with having to pay taxes while the Seneca Nation, a sovereign tribe, did not. He accused Senecas of "sucking the life out of Niagra Falls". Parlato sold the building and moved on while the Seneca remained.

The stories were "hard-hitting and effected change". The Ontario Parliament ordered the Maid of the Mist lease canceled and the boat tour put out to tender. The result was a winning bid by Hornblower Tours that was $300 million higher than the Maid would have paid had its lease not been canceled.

Responding to critics who said he and his ''Niagara Falls Reporter'' publication had an unconventional style, Parlato told the Buffalo News, “We don’t follow anybody’s rules; we follow our own rules.”

Legal issue

Frank Parlato was summoned to appear in court for a bail violation and other offenses in November of 2021. Frank was ordered to undergo an anger management evaluation due to an incident involving a woman in Florida that initially led to a warrant being issued against him. The court was made aware of the incident because of an anonymous letter sent to Judge Arcara. A condition of his bail was to notify the Court of any contact with law enforcement personnel but he neglected to do so. Parlato's lawyers and federal prosecutors had told Arcara that they were nearing a possible plea agreement in the fraud and obstruction case. This is quite different from Parlato's original claims that he would never accept a plea deal. Parlato pleaded guilty in the Western District of New York to one charge: failure to file an IRS form 8300. In 2010 he failed to file a form 8300, when he accepted a cash payment of $19,000. This is far different than two prior superseding indictments; the first included 19 charges with the victims being Clare and Sara Bronfman. The government then dropped those charges; Clare and Sara Bronfman were not victims of Parlato, and Clare Bronfman is currently in prison. The second superseding indictment has 18 new charges and a former business partner was named as the victim. Reager protested, and insisted Parlato never cheated him. Reager is since deceased and these claims can not be verified. Those 18 charges were also dropped by the government and Reager is no longer a victim. After 9 years of being under indictment, the final superseding indictment has one charge. The judge asked who the victim was, and the prosecution clarified that the only victim was the IRS. All other charges were dropped. Nearly $1 million was seized by the government in 2015, when Clare and Sara Bronfman made the initial complaint against Parlato. He plead guilty in federal court on Friday August, 5th 2022. When asked about his plea outside the Western District Courthouse by a reporter, Parlato made it a point to state that he had been very successful in his case with the government, going so far as to say his defense got the Federal Government to agree not to ask for more than 24 months while he retained the right to argue for no time at all. At one point, Parlato had called the case a "ham sandwich indictment" claiming that he would never take a deal because he never did anything wrong. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for December 22, 2022.

References

External links

The Frank Report

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parlato, Frank Jr.
1955 births
Living people
People from Buffalo, New York
American newspaper people