Convicted NXIVM cult chief’s protection accuses FBI of proof tampering

Skilled cybercrime analysts for a convicted intercourse trafficker say proof for a number of the most surprising fees towards him was tampered with and planted on storage drives that had been presupposed to be in safe FBI custody, in accordance with courtroom paperwork.

NXIVM intercourse cult founder Keith Raniere, 64, is serving a 120-year sentence at a federal jail in Tuscon, Arizona. Prosecutors stated he recruited ladies and women right into a intercourse cult disguised as a self-help group. He had an “internal circle” of “slaves” and “masters.” Among the ladies branded Raniere’s initials on their our bodies. Prosecutors allege he held a home servant captive in a room for practically two years.

One survivor, India Oxenberg, instructed the FOX Information True Crime Podcast she endured “dehumanizing” remedy, together with “repeated molestation and rape” earlier than she and her mom escaped the cult.

The FBI declined to remark when reached by Fox Information Digital.

FOUNDER OF SELF-HELP GROUP NXIVM, KEITH RANIERE, SENTENCED TO 120 YEARS FOR SEX TRAFFICKING

Keith Raniere, the ex-leader of NXIVM, was convicted in 2019 of seven counts that included racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, pressured labor conspiracy, intercourse trafficking, intercourse trafficking conspiracy and tried intercourse trafficking.  (YouTube           )

Along with the abuse towards grownup victims, federal prosecutors charged that Raniere was 45 and a baby sufferer, recognized solely as “Camila,” was 15 when he took images of her and sexually abused her. 

Raniere’s lead lawyer, Joseph Tully, instructed Fox Information Digital the proof used to convict his consumer of the “most heinous” fees — little one pornography and little one exploitation — was “provably” doctored and planted by the FBI.

“If I might simply have a listening to, I might simply present the world that, as outrageous because it appears, that this tampering did occur, and it did occur whereas in FBI custody,” he stated. 

At subject are dozens of images on a reminiscence card and arduous drive that protection consultants say had their timestamps altered, allegedly making it appear to be a younger lady was below the age of consent on the time they had been taken. Between April 2019 and June 2019, further images allegedly appeared on the FBI’s forensic report, in accordance with courtroom filings.

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Alan Dershowitz, the outstanding constitutional lawyer, shouldn’t be a part of Raniere’s crew however consulted along with his attorneys after studying of the allegations of FBI malfeasance.

He instructed Fox Information Digital that if Raniere’s consultants are appropriate, it will quantity to “a staggering authorities act of misconduct.” If the allegations show true, it might have an effect on different circumstances.

SEX CULT CONVICT KEITH RANIERE’S FORMER NEIGHBORS ‘TERRIFIED’ AFTER DOCUMENTARY CLAIMS HE POISONED WOMEN IN NY HOME

The NXIVM Government Success Applications signal exterior the workplace at 455 New Karner Highway April 26, 2018, in Albany, N.Y. Keith Raniere, founding father of NXIVM, was arrested by the FBI in Mexico in March 2018.  (Amy Luke/Getty Photos)

SEX CULT MEMBERS DETAIL FORCED KISSES, BRANDING

He stated the late introduction of fees involving a baby tipped the size in favor of the prosecution.

“They’d an alleged very, very, very weak case towards the defendant, very weak. He simply might have received the case, after which, on the final minute, they ‘found’ {a photograph} of a feminine, bare, who they declare was underage,” he instructed Fox Information Digital in an interview. “Now, when you introduce into proof something involving an underage feminine, the case is over.”

One other defendant virtually instantly took a plea deal, he stated. 4 different co-defendants finally selected to plead out, too.

Learn the affidavit of Dr. Kiper:

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However protection consultants, in a sequence of declarations filed in federal courtroom final month, now say the pictures had been taken when the lady was above the age of consent after which tampered with to make it appear to be they’d been carried out earlier.

“Why should not we’ve a listening to? And this does not solely contain Mr. Raniere. It entails each American,” Dershowitz stated. “When you’ve gotten someone in jail, who’s there on account of tampered with authorities proof, it is the Soviet Union. It is Iran. It is China. It isn’t the USA of America.”

NICKI CLYNE DEFENDS NXIVM SEX CULT LEADER KEITH RANIERE, CALLS HIM HER FORMER ‘PARTNER’ FOR ‘OVER A DECADE’

Clare Bronfman, an heiress of the Seagram’s liquor empire, arrives for a listening to on fees associated to the Albany-based group NXIVM at the USA Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, N.Y., July 25, 2018. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)

The FBI didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the protection consultants’ findings. The U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace that dealt with the case declined to remark. A response shouldn’t be due in courtroom till Jan. 27.

It is unclear why the FBI or federal prosecutors would allegedly body Raniere, however Tully, who wrote a 2018 guide about corruption within the prison justice system, stated his consumer had extraordinarily rich enemies and was simply unpopular.

“They wished to ‘get him,'” he instructed Fox Information Digital. “When the favored child in class needs to make one of many poorer youngsters who has holes in his sneakers the laughingstock of the college, they do it. And that kind of human conduct doesn’t change when these youngsters develop up and get their regulation diploma and need to develop into prosecutors.”

Newsweek first reported the allegations in late December, however Raniere has nonetheless not acquired a listening to practically a month later.

Actress Allison Mack arrives at the USA Jap District Courtroom Might 4, 2018, after a bail listening to for intercourse trafficking fees filed towards her within the Brooklyn borough of New York Metropolis. The actress recognized for her function on “Smallville” was charged with intercourse trafficking, together with alleged cult chief Keith Raniere. (Jemal Countess/Getty Photos)

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“And the federal government is determined to not have a listening to,” Dershowitz stated. “They don’t want the general public document to indicate that seven consultants, together with some who labored for the FBI, who they use to get convictions towards individuals, at the moment are saying that this was a tampered piece of proof.”

Raniere’s protection legal professionals are asking for a brand new trial. In a courtroom submitting, they alleged that the “authorities knowingly used doctored proof to safe a conviction” primarily based on the conclusions of seven of their consultants.

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Raniere billed himself as a wellness guru, and his program attracted outstanding ladies to his orbit, together with actress Allison Mack and Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman, each of whom had been convicted of lesser fees. Critics referred to as NXIVM a cult centered on intercourse trafficking and abuse.

A central allegation within the racketeering case towards Raniere was that he had a sexual relationship with “Camila,” the alleged 15-year-old woman. He was sentenced to 120 years in jail.

WATCH: NXIVM cult survivor recounts psychological, bodily abuse

Dr. Richard Kiper, a number one skilled and former FBI agent who specialised in cybersecurity and digital proof, wrote in a 59-page affidavit that whereas reviewing the case for the protection, he “found particular actions that had been taken to manually alter the proof” and help the prosecution’s allegations.

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“In my 20 years serving as an FBI agent, I’ve by no means noticed or claimed that an FBI worker tampered with proof, digital or in any other case,” he wrote. “However on this case, I strongly consider the a number of, intentional alterations to the digital data I’ve found represent proof manipulation.”