Other Media Outlets Miss The Point: The Hammer Is Coming Down On All The Defendants

Several media outlets recently ran stories about one of the prosecution’s most recent filings in the case of the U.S. v. Raniere – a 71-page Memorandum Of Law that was filed in response to the various pre-trial motions that have been filed by the defendants.

See these articles:

• https://nypost.com/2018/12/19/nxivm-members-werent-having-sex-with-cult-leader-forfunfeds/?utm_source=maropost&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nypevening&utm_content=20181219&tpcc=evening_update&mpweb=755-7508341-719035016

• https://radaronline.com/exclusives/2018/12/nxivm-sex-cult-swapped-sex-for-favors-government-insists/

• https://windsorstar.com/news/crime/nxivm-members-swapped-sex-for-favours-from-cult-leader-keith-raniere-u-s-government-claims-in-court-doc/wcm/dfc13d5c-3815-4a89-a286-13c145a3d095

But in publishing their stories, each of these media outlets focused on one rather insignificant sentence that was set forth in the prosecution’s Memorandum Of Law: “The government has alleged and expects to prove at trial that members of DOS expected to receive and did receive things ‘of value’ for engaging in sexual activity with Raniere”. 

Now, understandably, this government’s 71-page filing is more than a little obtuse – and probably way more effective than most over-the-counter insomnia medications.

But just picking out the one sentence that talks about “sexual activity” is also not responsible journalism. At least not according to the standards of the Frank Report.

So, what we have here is one boring filing that is much more complicated than what the New York Post, Radar, and the Windsor Star have reported.

So, let’s try to figure out exactly what this filing by the prosecution is all about.

To begin with, the essence of this filing is that the prosecution has completely and utterly destroyed the defendants’ proposed dismissal of the charges pending against them.

Seriously… At this point, the chances of any charges being dismissed against any of the defendants are about the same as the New York Giants’ chance of winning this season’s Super Bowl (For those who don’t follow football, the Giants have already been eliminated from this season’s playoffs – which means they have no chance of being in the Super Bowl).

Yeah, all that great strategy that Vanwimp has been discussing with his attorneys in their three-days-per-week meetings of late – yeah, not so much. Seriously – what else did you expect from an RPI grad with a 2.26 GPA who flunked his written DMV test?

Perhaps the most important parts of the prosecution’s Memorandum Of Law is contained in the first two paragraphs:

The seven-count superseding indictment in this case (the “Indictment”) arises out of the defendants’ participation in a criminal racketeering enterprise (the “Enterprise”) led by defendant Keith Raniere.  As the government will prove at trial, Raniere and his “inner circle,” including the defendants, agreed to conduct the affairs of the Enterprise through a pattern of racketeering acts intended to provide financial and personal benefits to themselves and other members of the Enterprise.

For these crimes, the Indictment charges all of the defendants with racketeering conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) (Count One); and charges various of the defendants with participation in a forced labor conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1594(b) (Count Two); wire fraud conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349 (Count Three); sex trafficking offenses, in violation of various provisions of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1591, 1594 (Counts Four, Five, Six); and conspiracy to commit identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028(f) (Count Seven).   

What that tells the current defendants – Clare Bronfman, Keith Raniere, Allison Mack, Lauren Salzman, Nancy Salzman, and Kathy Russell – is that you’re each facing 20 years in federal prison.

Yep, that’s 7,305 days – counting leap years  – in prison. Or 175,320 hours – or, for those readers that are really OCD, 10,519,200 seconds.

Damn, that’s a long time!

The other most important parts of the prosecution’s Memorandum Of Law are probably in:

• Footnote #20 in which the prosecution states: “In any event, the government expects that this issue will be rendered moot when the government presents a superseding indictment to the grand jury in this case.  The government anticipates that current Racketeering Act Seven will be revised in the superseding indictment to name one or more Jane Does in place of ‘lower level DOS members,’ and will allege the New York States law extortion of each Jane Doe as a separate predicate act”; and    

• The government’s response to Raniere’s request that he be allowed to obtain testimony via closed-circuit television from witnesses located in Mexico.

We’ll have more on those topics in future posts.

Until then, Viva Executive Success!