By Former NXIVM,Omar Rosales, Esq.:
I think the entire motion to seal and shield the potential guarantors on Keith Raniere’s bond is ridiculous. There is no precedent for a guarantor on a bond to remain anonymous, close the bond hearing, or shield the guarantors from scrutiny.
Keith has painted himself into a corner. Because if you claim to have zero assets,
1) how do explain $8 Million in your bank account and
2) how does it harm you if you post a bond then jump bail and skip town? It doesn’t, because it is not your money.
It appears Clare is trying to set up strawmen to post the bond for Keith. If their identities are revealed, there are enough of us to investigate and follow the money trail.
I think the big factor will be Keith’s behavior prior to his arrest. Fleeing to Mexico. Living it up in a $10,000 a week villa with his girlfriends, changing his electronic trail so as not to be tracked.
If anything, the motion will bring more readers to the Frank Report. I really hope the NY Post covers it. That will bring more traffic and visibility. Plus, it brings more attention to the sham case against Frank. So, hopefully the added community outcry will help to convince the US Attorneys Office to drop Frank’s case….
I particularly like the Gov’t response on Raniere’s motion to close the courtroom. It is quite funny. I like that last line at the end:
“Even if the Court were to credit these claims, they do not provide a sufficient basis for the Court to make specific findings that there is a ‘substantial probability of prejudice to a compelling interest’ of any party; the defendant alleges only generalized fears of negative media attention, including in a blog critical of Nxivm, whose author publicly admits to writing ‘fictional stories’ to make the defendant ‘look ridiculous, Def. Mot at 6 n.6. 1.”
Hahahaha! I don’t think VanGrifter needs any further help to look ridiculous. He and his flying monkeys are doing fine all on their own.
I totally agree. No reason for Judge to grant it or grant bail….
In the end, I think Keith painted himself into a corner – since he claimed zero assets. And now these mysterious benefactors (Clare and Sara) want to post his bail. What incentive does Keith have to comply with the bail conditions if none of the money is his?
None. He can walk and it won’t hurt him at all.
And even with electronic monitoring. He can cut the ankle monitor, step on a boat. Head to Canada, take a private jet. There are so many ways to engineer an escape.
Fake fire. Fake heart attack, escape at hospital.
So, I think Judge will deny.
My prediction: Trial next year. Raniere guilty on nearly all counts. Will spend life in SuperMax. And he’s kind of creepy. Put him in front of a jury. Forget about it.
If I were his attorney, I would never let him testify. Because now he’s been labeled as a David Koresh-like messianic figure. And we know what happened at Waco. But stupid Keith is so ego driven, he will want to testify and he’ll get dusted by the AUSAs.
My two cents…
Speaking of ridiculous, this is a writer’s embellishment of what I can well imagine Keith Raniere telling his lawyers:
“Frank Parlato never gets that information. That identity of the guarantors for my bail bond is perfect for him; it’ll make him a big blogger and I’m gonna run him out of the internet – and let me tell you why: Frank Parlato ruined one of Vanguard’s most valuable secret organizations. For three years, I was branding women – giving a-cappella singing lessons, the Source acting lessons, Jness women’s lessons, the Knife Media – to lure them in. I spent millions of Bronfman dollars, I was gonna make a thousand women branded. And let me be even more frank, just to show you that I’m not a hard-hearted man, and that it’s not all about blackmail and enslavement: the women were beautiful; they were young; they were skinny. They were the best pieces of ass I’ve ever had, and I’ve had ’em all over Clifton Park. And then Frank Parlato comes along with his olive oil voice and guinea writing style and breaks up the cult. The Jane Does threw it all away just to make me look ridiculous! And a Vanguard, especially one who’s heading up a sex-slaver cult, can’t afford to be made to look ridiculous!
Frank Parlato 
Frank Parlato 
Guest View 
Janine Morrison 
J.J. O'Hara 
K.R. Claviger 
Richard Luthmann 
Nicki Clyne 
Marie White 
Paul Serran
Way to get sh*t done Omar!
New York Post : Another Seagram’s heiress sued in Nxivm ‘sex cult’ case.
https://nypost.com/2018/09/04/another-seagrams-heiress-sued-in-nxivm-sex-cult-case/
Always appreciate your input, Omar, and hoping you are bang on in your assessment.
No problem! This thing is a puzzle and we’re putting the pieces together bit by bit.
Don’t be confused, the one and simple reason Keith Reniere wants to seal and shield its potential guarantors, it’s because all the money he and his team ESP/NEXIVM has launder has come from abroad, especially from Mexican Politicians as Mr. Salinas family. They don’t have the support to legitimize its “ethical” origin.
Right on Target!
I am not an attorney but I have also believed Keith is running things behind the scenes and they won’t be able to prevent smartypants from testifying. Maybe instead of an ankle bracelet he would agree to a chip being implanted of course without anaesthetic to ‘feel the pain’.
Just realized I spoke your name wrong, OMAR (not OSCAR). So sorry, blame SIRI.
No problem! I’m here to help how ever I can. To answer your question…
Once a person dies, the power of attorney evaporates because a dead person cannot enter into a contract. At that point, the Estate takes over.
Now, if Pam died intestate (I actually met Pam – very quiet, demure, shy) the funds would go back up to her parents (since Pam had no children). Intestate means without a will. If her parents were deceased, Pam’s Estate would then go to Pam’s siblings. If they were dead, then the children of the siblings.
Now, it was strange because when he was in Mexico, Keith signed a letter renouncing his Executorship and claim over the Estate. But unless Pam had a will and named Keith as a beneficiary, Keith did not have a claim to begin with. So any of Pam’s relatives who are beneficiaries can file an Estate proceeding to distribute the remainder of Pam’s assets and sue Keith for conversion (fancy word for theft).
If Keith was taking money from Pam’s accounts (and was not named in the will), then that’s just theft. He has no claim to any of the money in her account.
Rather, Keith was using the account to mask his income and spending. That’s tax fraud and wire fraud, in addition to identity theft.
And the FBI doesn’t need a warrant to get those bank records. All they have to do is ask. Because the bank records belong to the bank, not the depositor.
Finally, under the Patriot Act, this is what banks will look for to flag suspicious accounts that may be linked to human smuggling:
https://verafin.com/2016/04/thousands-of-human-trafficking-arrests-in-the-u-s-plus-recent-money-flow-to-human-smuggling-hubs/
Omar, as I recall the story Pam’s father, William Cafritz a wealthy Washington DC real estate developer, passed away in 2013 or 2014.
Pam’s mother, Buffy Cafritz, is still alive and a noted DC socialite.
Here is William Cafritz’s grave marker from findagrave and it lists Pamela as his daughter.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/159693033/william-n-cafritz#view-photo=137074299
Don’t you think, though, once they all found out about Pam’s cancer, they had her sign a will naming Keith? She would have done so willingly. If so, I don’t know the probate process in NY, but there should be some kind of court record, one would think. Can we find out? If KR ultimately was the beneficiary of $8 million, and withheld that information from authorities, there is even more reason for the Judge to deny bail.
Xactly OCD. Not only that, Keith didn’t pay Estate taxes. So, by not probating Pam’s will, Keith committed Tax fraud… in addition to perjury by not listing his assets.
So, once again, he painted himself into a corner.
I imagine this will happen a lot during the trial. By the end, jury will be fed up. And VanGrifter will get convinced on nearly all counts.
Convicted… spell checker…
Or, Pam’s estate could have been much smaller, and Clare (or someone) was funneling money into the account attached to the debit card. I would be surprised if Pam was worth $8M – as I recall, she had a $25K monthly allowance, which KR and his other “wives” probably happily ate up on a regular basis. So she might not have been able to put money away. Someone should examine deposits to this account. You have to declare gifts over a certain amount to the IRS. I forget the threshold, but certainly $8M breaks it.
Love the “Godfather” schtick at the end. Personally, I am kind of hoping vanguard is set free so he can finish what he started….leading the Bronfman girls to a life of (relative) poverty. Hopefully he will end up on a beach in Fiji being tormented by sand flies, dreaming about the glory days of trysting with B minus actresses but condemned to a life with the lovely Clare.
Good to meet you, Oscar and thanks for sharing your thoughts.
That’s a very astute observation of the paradox that the “renunciate” with “zero assets” has $8 mil in a bank account —thanks to his conveniently deceased closest pawn, Pam Cafritz, I might add. …Didn’t they want to cryongencally freeze her corpse or something freaky?
(As an attorney, Omar, can you tell us if a frozen person can grant permission through power of attorney to distribute funds? Or be prosecuted for tax evasion, etc. — not to imply any motive or foul play on the part of any NXIAN.)
…Agree that the whole “escape to Fiji via Mexico scheme” will keep Keith behind bars for time immortal. Good call!
Omar:
This case reminds me of the current news story about the corrupt Malaysian businessman Jho Low has used laundered money to pay legal bills and to make bail.
Malaysian fugitive Jho Low might have paid Chris Christie and a Trump lawyer with laundered funds
US justice department investigates whether Low paid for legal services by laundering money he allegedly embezzled via two associates
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2161944/malaysian-fugitive-jho-low-might-have-paid-chris-christie
How much of the money used to pay NXIVM’s massive legal bills comes from laundered money?
Much of NXIVM’s business activity concerned laundering money.
Hey Shadow,
Agreed. With over 100 shell corporations, I don’t think they even know what money was being used where.
The IRS investigations take time. But when those charges get added on…GAME OVER.
There are murderers walking around free in our country. But God forbid you try to screw over the IRS and then thumb your nose at the Government.
The government always wants its pound of flesh.
In this case the government will have to work for it because NXIVM kept triple sets of books.
No one knows where the money came from and where it went.
Karen Unterreiner seems to always be mentioned as the one who juggled all the sets of books. As the resident computer maven, she wasn’t really front and center and flashy, but in knowing what was happening behind the scenes… I wonder if she has not been indicted yet because she has flipped? Time and trials will tell.
My money is on Karen having flipped. She has had zero presence anywhere, that we know of. Hiding?
The evidence is just so overwhelming.
When you have emails, voice mail, physical evidence, eyewitnesses, $500k cash at home, $8M in a bank account in the name of a dead woman, hard drives, text messages, gift cards being sent through US Mail, 100+ shell corporations.
There is no explanation other than what was alleged by the FBI. That ESP NXIVM was a racketeering enterprise. Through and through.