Editor’s note: We have been speaking a lot about the First Amendment and free speech recently and here is an example of free speech that may not be very pleasing to many readers. I have chosen to publish this guest view not because I agree with the opinions of the writer, but because I believe that opposing voices should be heard. In fact, that is the whole purpose of free speech – to tolerate voices that oppose the majority.
The writer, Patrick Backup, argues that Raniere does not deserve a life sentence. He may or may not have a point since in all fairness, sometimes murderers, arsonists, and violent rapists get off with less than life sentences.
The writer also refers to Cami [Camila]. For those who do not know, Keith Alan Raniere sexually exploited Cami, a Mexican girl of 15, who remained in his harem after she reached the age of consent. Raniere took nude photographs of her when she was 15 and most likely began having sex with her at around the same time [or earlier.] It was key evidence in the case and believed by some to be what persuaded Raniere’s five codefendants to take plea deals. Soon after the prosecution revealed the Cami evidence in 2019, the codefendants made motions for separate trials; the motions were denied. Within days, all five codefendants took plea deals.]
By Patrick Backup
I’m not saying Keith is innocent – although I admit to finding some value in his teachings.
My point here is a different one, namely: If all the charges were strong enough to have him convicted, then why did the prosecution, the judge, and the press focus so strongly on the episode with Cami?
In my opinion, they did that mainly to portray Keith as a “child predator” and a pedophile.
Once the jury saw him that way, they’d convict him of anything because people hate pedophiles (or whatever they consider is a pedophile).
I believe we need to pay much more attention to how we label things in our society.
If you want to discredit someone and ruin his life, what’s the easiest way to do so? Label him a pedophile or a racist or whatever.
Once the jury was feeling so sorry for poor Cami (who may not even have been so reluctant about entering a relationship with Keith at the time), it was easy to pin all the other things on Keith.
Again, I’m not saying he’s innocent, and that he deserves to walk out of this free.
The whole thing about collecting collateral in DOS smells of coercion and blackmailing, and he definitely needs to be punished for that, even more so because it is completely against his own proposed ethics.
But again, a life sentence for any of this is not only ridiculous, in my opinion, it is a perversion of justice.
It’s obvious that the judge and the jury were totally and completely biased against Keith from the moment the trial started, especially the judge.
He allowed the prosecution to show the jury pictures and videos of Keith that weren’t even relevant for the evidence, but just meant to humiliate him and show him as a “dirty old guy” that molests little girls
Like these two pictures which were admitted into evidence:
And Judge Garaufis blocked the cross-examination of Lauren Salzman as soon as something might have come up that might have been more favorable to Keith’s case.
Honestly, I’m glad that the justice system in my country doesn’t work the way it does in the US.
Seriously, in America, the judge himself is allowed to decide if something he did constitutes grounds for a mistrial?
Think for a moment about how hypocritical and how flawed that is!!
***
Video of Keith Raniere Justifying Children Having Sex
Did Video Sink Raniere?
Should it have been excluded as evidence?
[…] date, I have not seen any evidence — or heard any witness testimony — to support the allegation of “prosecutorial misconduct” in Keith Raniere’s case. Simply because federal prosecutors took advantage of what the criminal justice system allows them […]
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[…] I’m happy Frank decided to publish my view – Keith Raniere Did Not Get Fair Trial; Does Not Deserve Life Sentence after all, even if it took him a few weeks […]
This was his passive soapbox for justifying his perversions, in my opinion. The good old blame society routine. Note how when talking about age of consent, he states that some states it’s 17, some parts of the world it’s 12, followed not by another comparison, but stating that some parts of the world it’s right.. The little things in the way something is phrased can naturally completely change what someone takes away from a conversation, story, article, ect. Word salad, indeed.
You’re right, he doesn’t deserve a life sentence….he deserves a death sentence..
One thing seems to be true. Raniere has a huge penis. It seems that Allison Mack was fascinated by that satanic member of hellish proportions.
Well, I’m happy Frank decided to publish my view after all, even if it took him a few weeks 🙂 Again, I think if you read what I wrote you will see that I am not idolizing Keith in the way Monte Blu does. I’ll just adress three points from the comments:
1.) Yes, I find quite a few of the ESP teachings very useful, especially those on integration. However, I’ve never done a course (I live in Europe), I only read Keith’s two books and watched his conversations. Funny that Frank never publishes anything about Keith’s teachings, is he afraid people might find value in them?
2.) Let’s face it, no matter what parents might think or hope for, 15 years olds are often already sexually active. I am aware that the law forbids them from having sexual relationships with adults, but in this case, Cami chose to stay with Keith long after she had reached the legal age limit. Ok, he manipulated her, that’s why I said it was highly unethical. And yes, it was illegal to seduce her below the age of consent, and he should be held accountable for that, but, technically speaking, pedophilia or child molestation is defined as “sexual interest in a PREPUBESCENT child”, something Cami clearly wasn’t. Again, to make this clear: I am not saying Keith is innocent, I’m just saying the sentence is totally out of proportion to the alleged crimes.
3.) Again, regarding the pictures of Keith that Frank seems to enjoy posting in every second article: What value do they have for the trial? Honestly, I think most people have private fotos of themselves in akward situations that they wish they’d never taken…… I see no motive for using those pictures other than to publicly humiliate Keith.
Just watched the recording of Raniere’s view on having sex with children. I believe he knows very well what he is doing and the moral results of his behaviour. Although not being the most intelligent he isn’t stupid by any stretch of the imagination. The problem lies with his exceptional capacity to twist and distort reality through the use of language to reach ends that have nothing to do with anything sane in our solar system. To someone who doesn’t know him and possesses a respectable degree of intelligence, a tiny red flag would be going up after watching the video, generating more questions. Unfortunately his followers had green and pink flags shooting up everywhere instead…
Well…he is a molester. By the rule of the law. And beyond that he’s a charlatan, con man. The best way not to be labeled a child molester is not to molest. Seems like an easy rule to follow. No? But he did so many other bad things. Keith would have been convicted regardless. And he’s a douchebag loser. The world is better with Keith in jail getting the occasional beating by Mexicans and having shit shoved into his shoes.
Keith Raniere can’t go hunting underage girls in Mexico himself. He has obligations in Saratoga County, where he lives and many of his followers and where he has a home game with the corrupt police and prosecution, where he has never been seriously at risk of being prosecuted for his crimes. Moreover, Raniere does not speak Spanish or any other foreign language. How does he want to reach little girls in Mexico? If his gibberish is a language in its own right, maybe Raniere can patent it, then he’ s bilingual.
While Raniere may be considered the brains or evil genius behind this operation I find it amusing,to the exrtent something so sinister can be amusing,that the most guilty in my opinion are the Bronfman sisters and perhaps the Salzmans and one wonders what the history of their father’s involvement in organized crime,etc. had upon their evil peabrains ? What’s obvious to me is that Raniere was a petty con artist long before the Bronfman sisters came along and made they made him what he became thanks to their bankrolling him and,that without their money he would never have become what he became.
Paradoxical too that the Bronfman sisters attended McGill University where the CIA’s evil Dr. Ewin Cameron did all that brain damage to his human guinea pigs so many years ago.Coincidence I’m sure but nonetheless in retrospect it’s surprising after the fact that a repentant McGill University didn’t go out of its way to instill ethics in its students after that tragedy particulary in regards to emphasizing to students an almost physician’s oath that they learn from McGill University’s and Ewin Cameron’s and the CIA’s mistake and dedicate themselves to never inflicting emortional and physical damage on people they come in contact with and take responsibility to,never inflict emotional damage so deep that the scars won’t ever heal.
On the other hand I find the whole political state of New York to be disgusting and think all NY politicians should feel ashamed but know they are incapable of that.Why is Dr.Brandon Porter not in jail after knowing he forced women to watch snuff films of the most sadistic and bloody nature and why to my knowledge do both the NY Times and NY Post and Albany news media hardly give it any mention if indeed the mention it at all ? ! It’s almost like they are trying to hide the existence of these snuff films and thus possibly let murderers get away with murder ! In fact Frank you don’t even give it the mention that it deserves in my opinion. To me it is proof that snopes.com is wrong and that yes Hillary Clinton is involved with snuff films just by her very association with NXIVM and money received from the Bronfman sisters whose money created Rainiere and funded Dr.Brandon Porter in
Why isn’t Brandon Porter in jail rather than living in a luxurious house owned by the Bronfmans and why isn’t the media or the police not telling us where these snuff films originated from !?Did NXIVM or Brandon Porter buy the snuff films or make them !? I guess you all must realise these were real people women and men who were brutally murdered.Brandon Porter was showing videos of real crime scenes with real murders of the most brutal and sadistic kinds.And yet the media has not even investigated and pressured the police for answers and injsisted Brandon Porter be jailed immediately !?
So Frank,,am I wrong or is it wrong of everyone involved in this investigation or cover up as the case may be,not to be as shocked as I am regarding these snuff films that everyone knows about but just.in my opinion,sweeps under the rug ?
Also,I searched for info regarding Jack Levi of Guadalajara,Mexico and one thing I found was a Jack Mevi in Mexico who sang some sort of Jewish or Hebrew music.Is that the same Jack Levi who is the NXIVM Jack Levi of Guadalajara real estate promotion or is there another Jack Levi in Mexico ?
[…] Keith Raniere Did Not Get Fair Trial; Does Not Deserve Life Sentence […]
If the World’s Smartest Man really believed all of that, why didn’t he try to educate the jury with his wisdom? No, he just passed post-it notes to his attorney like a coward. He didn’t come up with evidence in his own defense. And like another poster has written, he’s not being given a “life” sentence, just presumably a lot of years. And he can appeal.
If he had such a problem with the laws that define the age of consent in this country, why did he continue to import virgins from Mexico? Why not just move there, if he felt those laws were more in line with his lifestyle? And why did he have others find these children for him? Why wasn’t he out in the open, walking around Mexico, openly conducting the hunt on his own where everyone would have the opportunity to applaud his choices?
Mr. Backup needs to back up a bit,
First off, Keith Raniere got the best defense money could buy. Not only did he have an ace defense team, but he also didn’t even have to spend any of the 8 million that Pamela Cafritz left him. Oh, by the way, he lied about when he claimed he was broke when first arrested. Clare Bronfman paid for his defense.
The Judge held hearings about a conflict of interest due to Clare Bronfman paying for everyone’s defense, and Keith Raniere said he was happy with his defense team and wanted to keep them.
Second, must think very little of Americans if you think they cannot look at all the evidence produced by the DOJ on ever count and sub-count against Keith Raniere.
You, sir we’re not in the courtroom for six long weeks, you did not see all the piles of evidence produced against this mastermind of a criminal enterprise that got five other defendants arrested. The five other defendants were smart enough to know if they went to trial, the evidence would prove they were guilty, and they would end up serving much longer sentences. In the end, none of them stood by their Vanguard.
Third, Keith Raniere cannot even do his time awaiting sentencing without breaking the rules. Raniere was found with a cell phone. WTF, he has something to hid even now if he cannot talk through his lawyers or over the phones at the MDC. He is still plotting something.
Fourth, Keith Raniere is not going to get a life sentence. He’s just an old fart who will most likely not live out his unnatural life span in prison. At the rate he is going, he might even commit suicide, attempt a prison escape, or come to the end of his life at the hands of his fellow inmates.
Fifth, Keith Raniere ran most of his defense strategy himself. It’s his ego. He cannot help himself. In his mind, he is still the smartest man in the world. He must have gone through 100 post-its, pads in the six weeks for the trail, plus countless pads of paper during the trial.
Sixth, Keith Raniere could have taken the stand in his defense. He was too proud to do that. He did not believe that the DOJ had proven their case. Why, because he will always have a less than average IQ. His ego will always get in the way. He is too blind to see that most people don’t buy his bullshit for too long.
Seventh, In America, Keith Raniere can appeal. He is famous for it. In almost every legal battle he has been in when he does not get his way, he appeals. He knows his rights in this arena. He will most likely lose and will have to do his time.
If he wins an appeal, it only means a new trial.
Poor baster, still no one is going to testify that he’s a good guy. None of his Mexican friends were willing to risk being arrested for coming across the border to defend him. Even his friends are smarter than he is, but they act as if they are still loyal to him. I say it’s total bullshit; they must like the money.
I hope Keith gets plowed hard in his cell this year during Vanguard week.
Ridiculous lack of depth. Not to comprehend (or to at least try to understand) the damages which happen through sexual assault, sexual abuse, just shows ignorance and a big, big BLANK of human awareness. Whether one is an adult or not, if a person is assaulted, if a person endures a sexual assault especially, the one who did that assaulting has qualified himself or herself to be charged for it and if possible, to be stopped from being able to re-offend.
To consciously decide to sexually use a child, someone who is not ready, is not mature enough to make much, if any choice about what is being done, is worse than “beneath contempt.” The victim, if still alive, has been assaulted into a life sentence of unsought damage, self-blame, loss of trust, depression, sometimes self-harm and sometimes, suicide. Please at least try to face with some realism.
Another thing. Almost anyone on earth can put together a few pretty words and ideas. This is often how predators operate, too. Reel someone in through “niceness,” pretend to be helpful, pleasant and then go in for the “kill.” You can get the same pretty words elsewhere, instead of from a vulture like Reñero, who gathered all of his purloined words and ideas from other sources anyhow. If the exterior turns out to be rot, so too is the core. Find someone to “follow”, if follow you must, but Raniere is no one to follow. He has spent decades proving it.
He just used a massive pile of deliberately deceptive actions and words to get what he really wanted. Now he is going to pay for what he was really after, for what he used his banal euphemisms to conceal, for as long as he lives. He himself has obliterated his false value. He never had anything else as a selling point. He is in prison thanks to his genuine baseness, valuelessness and for harming others in a variety of ways. All for his own very distorted benefit.
All of the presented idealism was only a disguise in the first place, for his malintent.
Once you pay enough attention to start to understand the entirety of the big picture of Keith Raniere and the group who decided that he was their supreme example, you can see the false intent behind the self-help movement. All of its moving parts included. At least try to understand how he and his crowd harmed others, even if you do not understand what those damages are.
Wondering where Cami was looking for the new virgin to mend her very serious breach with Keith? The one who would be a worthy vessel for him to shape and mold? So pure she hadn’t ever even seen a penis!
How about the “fuck toy”? What demographic of females could Virgin Camilla appeal to for her Vanguard for that honoured position?
Frank’s decision to publish this piece of trash is akin to Frank publishing ShadowState’s nonsense.
I guess it’s a slow day on FrankReport.
You call this journalism, Frank?
Firstly, the judge did not block Lauren’s testimony the moment something favorable for Keith came up.
The judge warned Agnifilo to stop badgering the witness and to stop asking the same questions over and over, which had already been asked and answered.
The judge simply blocked Agnifilo from badgering the witness with questions which were designed to badger her, not to reveal any earth shattering information helpful to Keith.
The ‘intent’ of the questions is the real issue, you ignorant asshole.
That’s why the appellate court will uphold Keith’s conviction and why Claviger is a fucken IDIOT for suggesting otherwise in his many, pathetic posts here.
Claviger’s appellate knowledge is akin to a shit-stained piece of paper. He’s clueless. If Claviger picked next year’s Superbowl winner, I’d bet big on the opposing team.
The photos?
The photos introduced by the prosecutor were NOT designed to make Keith to look like a dirty old man, you dumb fuck.
In fact, Keith ALREADY WAS a ‘dirty old man’ who bedded girls under the proper age.
Thus, the prosecutor didn’t need to ‘make him look like one’. He ALREADY was one.
Life in prison?
Keith is an ongoing danger to society because IF he were released from prison in a few years, he’d go right back to coercing and blackmailing women for his own pleasure.
He can’t stop.
Why? …Because a Zebra can’t change his stripes.
Keith only knows one way to live.
He can’t stop manipulating others because it’s not part of his personality to have mercy or empathy towards other human beings.
Keith’s brain is short circuited. The wiring is faulty and there’s no repair shop to fix that shit.
Therefore, putting Keith away for LIFE is the most fair decision possible, as it protects society from future harm,
Keith will spend the rest of his life in prison and he’ll likely get his ass kicked over and over.
They say conjugal (fuck) visits aren’t possible in lockup. However, Keith may begin to experience postprandial coitus with Bubba at some point.
Keith’s future is now as dim as a moonless night.
And I’m fucken loving it. 🙂
The initial nxivm classes, I heard, were beneficial.
But that does not mean Raniere and others didn’t engage in a racketeering enterprise down the road.
There is evidence of the misuse of collateral, coercion, infliction of distress, sex with minors, false imprisonment, brainwashing and more.
Raniere always had the opportunity to put on rebuttal witnesses and take the stand himself.
I figure every man and woman on that jury was asking themselves one question: “If that were my daughter…..”
The practices engaged in hurt and damaged a lot of people.
Guilty.
To begin with, Raniere isn’t getting a life sentence. He just happens to unfortunately be relatively advanced in age, for someone facing such a long sentence for their crimes.
The prosecution faced the real-world problem of making a complex human trafficking case to a jury made up of people off the street. Highlighting Cami’s case in particular, gave them a good way to exemplify the many others Raniere abused and exploited as well; if they’d put dozens of such people on the stand instead, you might be complaining that the prosecution was piling it on.
And Raniere gets to appeal the judge’s decision to a higher court. You really don’t understand the US system, do you?
Facts: Mr. Backup has obviously never had a daughter. To answer your first question, Cami was a defenseless child that was sexually exploited. How you’d you label a pedophile in your non-American society? Keith humiliated his own self by being a sexual deviant. Thank goodness he was smart enough to document it all for the whole world to read and study for many years to come. A life sentence isn’t a perversion of justice. It’s justice at its finest.
Bullshit. He deserves to have his balls stomped repeatedly for life.
By someone wearing six-inch stilettos
Hark(or read) the Herald….the return of the infamous alliteration Patrick Packup!!!!!
Everyone,
Please note Mr. Pat Backup wasted his time writing this article.
I did not waste my time reading it.
One look at the title and author’s name made me realize I would rather drink bleach than read this article.
*****
I commend Frank Parlato for allowing free speech even though it most likely makes him and everyone else nauseous.
Unfortunately I remember Mr. Backup’s last article. I did not subject myself to another of Mr. Backups articles.
Wow
Consent of a child absolves one of rape as it’s not rape but consensual sex. 15 vs 50. Guess in your country children and adults have equal intellectual ability and are equally responsible for their conduct. Does your country have parental relationships or is each person equal under the law? A ridiculous notion. Children need protected from pediphilles rapist. And each adult is responsible for their action. Guess a novel American concept!
Thanks for the comic relief…funnier than anything Shadowstate has published.
What I would personally be interested in hearing is what “value” you found in “his” teachings.
Is one of “his” teachings that when reality is knocking on the door you hide in a closet?
Your thorough analysis of the U.S. legal system does not mention even once that Raniere, like any felon found guilty in a Federal District Court, has the right to appeal the verdict. Raniere can file a claim under 28 U.S.C. 2255 (if he has not already done so), claiming ineffective assistance of counsel. Raniere can claim, as some have contended, that Judge Garaufis wrongfully halted the defense’s questioning of Lauren Salzman.
An imaginative appellate attorney can even contend that Raniere was denied his right to be tried in front of a jury of his peers, i.e. that there was not a single pedophile or con man on the jury.
No matter what happens though, Raniere will not be released from prison while his inevitable appeal is taking its course, having (a) proven himself to be a bona fide flight risk and (b) contending that he owns nothing.
My biggest complaint with “our” justice system is that Raniere/Bronfman/Mack came oh so very close to facing no justice at all, which might have been the case if they had not pissed off Frank Parlato.
AMEN to that
And to that AMEN
Yes, AMEN to that.
To all the previous 11 commenters:
Let’s not give Patrick Pack Up, any more of our time! His position is so preposterous that makes him very likely to be an evolved troll at best. I don.t like it when very intelligent and very educated people are teased for someone’s aberrant amusement!
“Why did the prosecution, the judge, and the press focus so strongly on the episode with Cami?”
Because it was the most serious crime he was known to have committed.
Any other questions?
You lost me at “I admit to finding some value in his teachings.”
He raped little girls, amigo. Good to know where you stand on that human rights issue. Wow.
Whoever published this article is a fucking ediot.