Guest View: Did Arizona Mafia capo Dennis Burke break with Marc Agnifilo over Nxivm defense?

(Editor’s Note: The premise of this article, written by an anonymous commenter using the moniker “Betcha It’s Burke” , is that Bronfman attorney Dennis Burke is commenting on the Frank Report using various aliases and referring to Keith Raniere’s attorney Marc Agnifilo as “AgniSTEALo.”  I have no evidence to support this allegation or any to refute it. I am publishing this article because it brings out interesting points about Burke. It seems to have been written by a Jeff Peterson supporter or perhaps by Peterson himself. Peterson is engaged in a legal feud with Burke.]

By Betcha It’s Burke

Hey Dennis Burke, what’s this…a pattern?

First, you act like someone is your friend and/or partner in an endeavor, then when things don’t go the way you wanted, you turn around and stab your former colleagues in the back, with defamatory untrue characterizations or accusations.

Why are you calling Mark Agnifilo by the defamatory name “AgniSTEALO”, implying that Keith Raniere’s lawyer is somehow “stealing” money, just because Agnifilo is still charging billable hours on the case while you’re apparently no longer able to do so, possibly because you’re now under investigation yourself?

In the case of Nxivm, Dennis Burke first worked to defend the cult in the first half of 2018, going so far (per reports of counsel familiar with the Nxivm case) as to contact actual or potential Nxivm witnesses by phone, threatening parties they ought to “do things the Nxivm way…” (apparently), “or else.”

At that time, it seemed like Dennis Burke, who represented Clare Bronfman as one of her attorneys, was a team player on Nxivm band of brute force legal practitioners, among those many legal and non-legal personas sometimes referred to on Frank Report as Clare’s team of “flying monkeys.”

Clare Bronfman’s approach to brute force litigation was described in a memo submitted to Judge Garaufis by assistant prosecuting U.S. Attorney Moira Penza in July of 2018: “Bronfman’s efforts to target and silence critics of Raniere is particularly concerning in light of the broader pattern of harassment, coercion and abusive litigation that is described as one of the means and methods of the conspirators in the superseding indictment.”

Furthermore, it has been frequently stated since Nxivm’s complicated legal defense strategies materialized, in theory at least, that Dennis Burke (who is a former federal prosecutor) helped to mastermind or masterminded himself the complex joint defense agreements between multiple Nxivm attorneys as part of Burke’s effort to thwart the government’s prosecution of the Nxivm enterprise.

But now apparently something has changed between Dennis Burke and at least one of the twenty or more attorneys representing Nxivm defendants. An apparent sign of bad blood between former colleagues has surfaced on Frank Report as several of what are believed to be Dennis Burke’s pseudonym accounts have started to refer to Keith Raniere’s lawyer, Mark Agnifilo, as “AgniSTEALO.”

It has been seen before in Dennis Burke’s history when something happens that is unfavorable Burke (quite possibly caused by Burke’s own errors), Denny the Disgraced prosecutor angrily reacts by deciding he’s going to retaliate by manufacturing the appearance of improprieties. Next step? Burke starts accusing his former friends or colleagues of “stealing.” Sound familiar? Burke took a similar approach when retaliating against his former business colleague, Jeffrey Peterson.

In recent weeks and months, we’ve seen what I suspect are Dennis Burke aliases on the Frank Report website make a shift to referring to Keith Raniere’s attorney, Mark Agnifilo, as “AgniSTEALO.”

Burke apparently has split ways with Agnifilo, probably because Burke may have been conflicted out of his representation of Clare Bronfman, due to Burke himself appearing in the government’s Nxivm prosecution documents for his role in possible misconduct relating to immigration documents improperly obtained for Mariana Fernandez, the mother of one of Vanguard’s children.

It’s a similar retaliatory approach Burke has taken towards his former business partner, technology entrepreneur Jeffrey Peterson.

In his business history, Burke one time held the role of chief of compliance for a business venture with Peterson, yet Burke turned on Peterson after Peterson didn’t join the Mexico branch of Nxivm in 2014. Details are outlined by a lawsuit Peterson filed against Burke in federal court in Massachusetts this past December 14 of 2018, case no. 1:18-cv-12572.

According to Peterson’s lawsuit, Burke launched a retaliatory defamatory campaign after Peterson didn’t join the Mexico branch of Nxivm. Burke’s defamation included untrue accusations that Peterson had supposedly “misappropriated funds.” In fact, in the business venture, Burke himself was in charge of overseeing authorization documents from all of the company investors, and himself voted to authorize funds transfers as a member of the company’s Board of Directors.

When Burke became angry with Peterson, Burke knowingly started a pattern of making untruthful claims such transfers were “unauthorized,” despite the existence of extensive documentation proving Burke himself had authorized such transfers in writing and at recorded company Board meetings. It’s a similar pattern seen with Burke’s suspected pseudonym accounts on Frank Report now starting to refer to Mark Agnifilo by the defamatory name “AgniSTEALO”, implying “theft,” when it’s likely Agnifilo’s is not “stealing.”

So, what’s next?

Is Dennis Burke now going to accuse Agnifilo of a “fraudulent scheme,” (as he did with Peterson) call him on the phone and explain “how it [supposedly] works” in criminal law … (Burke’s words) … “anything can be portrayed as a scheme if prosecutors want it to be … anything can be prosecuted if prosecutors want it to be” … “criminal law is different than civil” … “prosecutors can indict anyone when they’re told to by someone with credibility [implicitly pointing to himself]” … “all you need are connections with prosecutors, circumstantial evidence is permitted” … “prosecutors can indict a ham sandwich, [improperly, with vague allegations, if they want to]”, these are the Dennis Burke doctrines, fully compatible with Nxivm tactics and procedures.

Obtain what you want through force, by causing fear…cause fear by threatening to improperly accuse people of a crime or threatening to somehow participate in a process that will result in improperly bringing criminal charges against someone, a.k.a. blackmail and extortion.

Hey Dennis, are you going to make the claim that essentially the entire amount billed by Agnifilo was “theft,” even though detailed written agreements and documentation exist regarding such transfers of funds, with hopes to cause an FBI investigation against Agnifilo? Isn’t that how you roll, Mr. “use law enforcement as a weapon against your enemies?”

Starting to sound familiar, again?

And sadly, some of what Dennis Burke claims about the improper indictment of innocent parties, has proven to be true more than once, particularly as to persons who have been subjected to Nxivm’s brute force legal tactics.

Burke, as a licensed attorney who was formerly employed as a state and federal prosecutor, knows well that blackmail and extortion are criminal violations under state and federal laws. Maybe that’s part of the reason why he got along so well with Nxivm personalities such as Clare Bronfman.

Burke has a record of threatening, defaming, and harassing his colleagues going back years. The use of such scorched-earth tactics by Burke is evident from his behavior against ATF agent John Dodson and others in the Fast and Furious scandal, and Burke’s conduct towards Burke’s former business partner, Jeffrey Peterson, as evidenced by Peterson’s lawsuit against Burke, and others.

A bit of good news here, considering Dennis Burke’s mounting legal problems, is that Burke’s conduct towards Agnifilo by the suspected using of the name “AgniSTEALO” may not rise to the level of blackmail and extortion, as in certain of Burke’s other conduct.

In the case of Agnifilo, it looks like simple defamation, at least so far.

By the way, Burke arrogantly tells his friends in Arizona that he isn’t afraid to defame people, and that he doesn’t care about lawsuits. Seems like Burke isn’t afraid of much, recently.

Why not?

Has Dennis Burke been emboldened? And if so, by what, or who?

Hopefully, if Burke feels the need to cover his tracks as it relates to the joint defense agreements between Nxivm attorneys, parties won’t suffer a similar fate as former Border Patrol officer Brian Terry; agent Terry lost his life when someone, or some group, tried to cover their tracks as it related to Burke’s Obama-era “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal, in which weapons were trafficked to Mexican cartels by agencies of the United States government while Burke was United States Attorney for Arizona.

As it relates to the Fast and Furious arms trafficking scandal, Agent Terry’s family believes their son was murdered as part of a cover-up. Brian Terry’s brother, Kent Terry, asked President Trump to open an investigation against Burke and others in connection with the murder.

Hey Dennis, did you and the Mexico guys really arrange the murder of people to cover your tracks, arrange to have a “fall guy” prosecuted in Tucson, Arizona? If that’s true — and I’m not saying it is — but if it is, that’s beyond messed up. Who else are you going to try to murder, to cover your tracks?

As President Trump’s administration has pointed out, there is no statute of limitations for the crimes committed against Brian Terry and others in connection with the Fast and Furious scandal. Apparent “show trials” recently held in Tucson, Arizona, may only go so far as to create the appearance that the complicated questions raised by Fast and Furious have been fully resolved.

Important questions still remain. Who exactly was involved in the Brian Terry cover-up, and how might any such parties connect to Dennis Burke? And if Dennis Burke is still working for such interests, today, how might such interests connect back to the Nxivm case?

The families involved, and the American people, deserve answers to these questions.

In the meantime, it is curious to see Burke attacking Keith Raniere’s attorney Mark Agnifilo, who is a former Burke colleague, by calling him “AgniSTEALO.” As has been described here, Retaliating against former colleagues by making false accusations of “theft” or other improprieties is similar retaliatory conduct seen from Burke throughout Burke’s scandalous history, well published in DOJ investigative documents and the national media.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/us/politics/dennis-k-burke-criticized-for-fast-and-furious-leak.html

Dennis Burke’s retaliatory tactics against his former co-workers were well documented in a 21-page report issued by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published in May of 2013. The report described how when confronted, Burke refused to cooperate with DOJ investigators: “Burke [told] the OIG investigative counsel that he was at the airport preparing to board a flight and would be on vacation the following week, but that he would meet with the OIG for an interview when he returned. However, Burke resigned as U.S. Attorney on August 29, 2011, and declined the OIG’s subsequent requests for an interview.”

https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2013/s1305.pdf

Frank Parlato