In response to the article, John Tighe to Be Released from Prison Wednesday, July 8, a reader posed a few questions. They are reasonable ones and I would like to answer them in this post.
The readers questions are in bold. My answers are in regular typeface.
Questions for Frank –
Is that picture of Tighe with his wife weird or is John missing an arm?

It does appear that he is missing an arm, but I do not think he lost an arm. I think his arm is behind his back and blends in with the mural behind him giving that illusion. If I find out otherwise, I will let you know.
***
You imply Rodger Kirsopp could have been involved with Tighe’s framing but isn’t Kirsopp the one who helped Kristin Keeffe escape from NXIVM?
Yes, New York State Trooper Rodger Kirsopp helped Kristin Keeffe and her son [Raniere’s son] escape Nxivm, even arranging for her to stay at domestic abuse shelters. Sometime shortly after, Keeffe fled from the shelter, concerned that Kirsopp might have flipped to the dark side and was working for Nxivm.
I spoke with Kirsopp, who contacted me first. He was actually looking for Keeffe after she escaped. Oddly, he seemed to want to have her arrested – charged with stealing a Nxivm computer that Clare Bronfman claimed was worth a million dollars – not the value of the computer but the “tech” that was on it.

When I picked up Keeffe at a hotel in Florida, she did not have a computer with her. All she had was her child and a single plastic bag of clothes. That’s it.
I told that to Kirsopp. And I suspected him of not trying to help Keeffe but to do the bidding of Clare Bronfman. It turned out that the Albany Times Union uncovered that he had many meetings, much more than normal for a simple computer trespassing case, with Clare Bronfman and her attorneys, who are closely aligned with Albany DA David Soares.
There was a reason why Raniere and Co. were never prosecuted in the Albany area.
One last note, the last time I talked to Kirsopp, after he had been exposed in the Times Union as being possibly co-opted by Nxivm, he seemed eager to distance himself from all Nxivm related matters.
I told him about the imprisonment of Daniella, [this was well before the arrest of Raniere and before it was publicly known] and Kirsopp remarked that it was likely a misdemeanor and that he did not want to get involved with Nxivm any more.

***
Didn’t Tighe have any friends or family who could get together and give or lend him $100,000 or launch some crowdfunding campaign? While 100k isn’t chump change, it’s not a lot when compared to pleading guilty to child porn, going to prison, and being labeled a child sex offender.
I think if John had people who would have lent him the money, he would have accepted it and fought the charges. He did not. He did not even have enough money to get health insurance. John was poor and for a poor man, justice is hard to come by. $100K may not seem like a lot – but it is when you don’t have it or the friends you know can’t give it to you. And the $100,000 was likely just the downpayment for his defense.
In America, there is justice perhaps for the rich but on the federal level, very rarely for the poor, or even the middle class. At the federal level, it is not even a matter of race. It is a matter solely of money. That’s why I often refer to the Department of Justice as the Department [$tore] of Ju$tice.
***
Back in 2013-2014 why didn’t you write about Tighe’s ordeal in your Niagara Falls Reporter or on your blog the way you did about DOS to help raise public awareness about his possible framing by Raniere and Bronfman.
In 2013-04, I did not operate the Frank Report [although I owned the domain name.]. The Niagara Falls Reporter covered local Niagara Falls news and its readers were not interested in an obscure cult in Albany, some 300 miles away.
At the time, I knew I was under investigation but it was not clear to me what exactly the feds were investigating. I knew the Bronfmans were involved. I knew I did not commit any crimes.

In the first part of 2015, I finally learned what the feds were doing and I retained attorneys to meet with them and show them proof that they were wrong about their criminal theories. The clear and unequivocal evidence of my innocence that I presented did not matter to the feds, led as they were by corrupt US Attorney William Hochul, and his notorious, perjury-suborning AUSA, Anthony “Brucifer” Bruce.
These two had already decided to indict me, regardless of evidence.
***
If you had written about John’s plight before he was convicted, you might have been able to rally people to his side and help raise the 100k needed for his trial.
At the time, I was not focused on John’s case. I was working on my own work. However, writing in a Niagara Falls newspaper, with a readership interested in local affairs, would not likely have raised any money for John or even generated interest.
Even with the interest in Nxivm for the readers of Frank Report, I doubt I could raise much money for Nxivm victims even today. I certainly doubt I could raise $100,000 for just one of those victims.
Besides, at the time, I did not know if John was innocent. He was charged not with a Nxivm crime but possessing child porn. While I was under investigation, it was hardly a matter I wanted to wade into. I still, naively, expected the Department of Justice to act with justice and drop the investigation of me. It was only later – after I was indicted – that I found out that Clare Bronfman had started the investigation of me and apparently greased a few wheels.
It was then that I did some probing into Tighe and came to conclude he was likely innocent. By that time, however, he had already pled guilty.
***
You said you sent him some money, but obviously not enough for him to pay his attorney to go to trial so why not use the power of YOUR press and YOUR blog back in 2013/2014?
I sent him a few hundred dollars, on a couple of occasions, before he was charged. I was in no position to give him $100,000. I was paying my own attorneys. I barely knew John.
***
The Times Union had already exposed Raniere’s sexual crimes, Politico and The Nation had written about NXIVM using the legal system to silence its critics, and although you hadn’t been criminally indicted yet, you knew you were under investigation by the Feds thanks to Clare and knew about NXIVM’s having a hit list since they had paid you to go after specific people like Ross, Natalie, and O’Hara.
Yes, that is true. But the timing was not right. Nothing was done after the Times Union exposed many of Raniere’s crimes. It was a story that came and went and no charges were filed against him. As for The Nation and [you say[ Politico stories about Nxivm silencing media and critics, they wrote one story and became silent themselves.
When I started writing about Nxivm and its leaders on Frank Report, I was the only one writing about them. That went on for more than three years, until the New York Times, using me and my blog as a source, wrote about the branding and blackmailing of DOS.
John was indicted long before that.
He was indicted along with Joe O’Hara, Toni Natalie, and Barbara Bouchey for computer trespassing. Then John was indicted for possessing child porn on computers that were in the possession of law enforcement for months.
Then I was indicted on unrelated on trumped-up charges.
Keith Raniere was at the top of his game. He had gotten all his main enemies indicted by January 2016.
Then I went to work on taking him down. I think I helped take him down and also opened the door for the reexamination of Tighe’s case.

***
If Tighe was framed, do you think he can file a civil suit against Raniere, and the Bronfmans and anyone else who might have been involved?
Yes, he may be able to do that, if he can get exonerated. That won’t be easy since the justice system in America, though it often puts innocent people in prison, very rarely admits a mistake. He would have to prove his innocence – and then commence a lawsuit. It would take years. And it certainly doesn’t help that Rodger Kirsopp and his pals at the New York State Police destroyed the computer they claimed had child porn on it.
***
Keeffe was still around then, wouldn’t she know or have been involved in the framing?
Keeffe was quietly distancing herself from Keith Raniere for several years before she fled. She says she did not know if Tighe was framed. Nxivm computer hackers, such as Ben Myers, might know. But unless there is pressure put to bear on him, it is unlikely he will talk. It might land him in prison.
***
Or what about Karen Unterreiner, who you said was a computer programmer, dealt with NXIVM’s IT, had an IT consulting business, and groomed underage teens like Camilla for Raniere.
I have spoken to Karen and she had little to nothing to do with Nxivm computer work in the last few years of Nxivm. She spent most of her time being one of the better and kinder hearted teachers [Proctors] of Intensives. People I spoke to who took her classes really felt she cared about them and in many ways, Karen represented the good side of Nxivm.
I also do not now believe that Karen groomed Camila for Keith. Karen looked after Camila at various times but Camila kept it a secret from everyone [as her texts show] that she was having a sexual relationship with Keith. Karen, who I have come to know, is the last person I would expect to groom anyone underage for Raniere.
I believe her when she says she did not know about the underage girls. She knew Raniere had other women, but not underage girls, That grooming came mainly from Pamela Cafritz.
Personally, I would not believe that Karen would participate in planting child porn on anyone’s computer. She was a victim of Raniere and was fooled by him the longest. She met him when she was 17. She actually thought he was a good and great man. She now knows better.

If anyone was behind the planting of child porn on Tighe’s computer it was Raniere, possibly aided by Clare Bronfman and perhaps by some corrupt and compromised individuals in law enforcement who might have been willing to enjoy a handsome profit for a small little task, which might have been as simple as turning on a computer. Clicking on a link. Or even allowing a Nxivm member to come in and substitute a computer.
It is odd that New York State Troopers destroyed all of John’s computers rather than just the one they claimed had child porn on it. It’s also strange that they claim they had in their possession as one of John’s computers a Mac computer. John claims he never owned a Mac computer.
If evidence was destroyed, it is also possible that evidence was fabricated. The Nxivm trial showed that Nxivm did plant viruses on enemies’ computers. At the time, John was the biggest enemy or threat to Nxvim.

Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
Frank — Are you retracting what you have written previously about Karen Unterreiner?
Previously you wrote, ” Karen Unterreiner has been with Keith Raniere since he was in his 20’s. She has brought him scores of women and helped him have sex with underage girls. ” Now you are saying, “Karen, who I have come to know, is the last person I would expect to groom anyone underage for Raniere.”
In 2018 you published an article titled, “Karen Unterreiner, Another Evil Woman, Should Not be Forgotten!
From the civil suit. “Thereafter, he and members of his Inner Circle, including Defendants Nancy Salzman, Lauren Salzman and Karen Unterreiner began a campaign of extreme isolation, harassment and other abuse that lasted years, culminating in her confinement to a room with virtually no human contact for nearly two years, during which her pleas to be let out were either rejected or ignored.”
What did Karen Unterreiner think about the 2012 Times Union pedophile revelations?
She was named in John Tighe’s criminal lawsuit.
In all her years as an inner circle member, there is ZERO chance she did not know about financial crimes.
What do you say, Frank?
I think Karen is a nice woman. I do not know what she has done in accounting but I think Kathy Russell was the main bookkeeper. She was charged Karen was not charged.
Ask her, Frank…
I think Karen can play the part of a nice woman very well. I do not know whether she is truly nice underneath it all. I would never have gotten intimately involved with Keith if she hadn’t come after me to talk me back into a friendship with him and helped “reframe” my reaction to discovering some things about his character. At that time, I had stopped interacting with him completely; she pulled me back in. I will not dispute that she was also a victim of his, but she knew he was not a good and great man. She knew it when he went after me. She’s brilliant and probably quite capable of lying and putting on a good mask as well as Raniere did if not better. I doubt she would do anything actively to harm you, Frank, but I do think she may lie and use you for her own ends – like the way you are defending and excusing her now.
How was she a victim of Raniere’s, because all women are victims of men? LOL
So much for equal rights, equal rights come with equal responsibilities, sister. LOL
I forget who, but somebody’s wife is a victim of a man (husband). I believe my BFF on the Frank Report.
******
Don’t mess with Texas!!!!
Don’t be dumb, L isn’t saying all women are victims of men. She’s warning Frank that she may not be so forthcoming under the circumstances.
Frank neither defended or excused her, he simply described an attribute and said he didn’t know the answer to the question. LOL
Incredibly observant, Scott!!!!!
Nobody’s getting anything past you!!!!
Agree with “L” and I’m far from alone in sharing her opinion.
I’ve said this before, I know Karen was driving Keith to rendezvous with young girls at the Latham Circle Mall and back to their pad, all the while promoting Keith’s genius and, later, running CBI while Keith porked them playing video games in the warehouse.
Karen was there for the rigged up IQ test fiasco. I think she, mostly took it and Keith berated her, all of them, over it.
She was always a bit zombie-like in her devotion with others around, once tucked me into a bedroom where the incubus attacked me.
And as L says, Karen helped Keith justify his rapes and other criminal activities in recruiting and indoctrinating more girls. Karen ran the IT Dept. She doesn’t miss a lot. I just don’t know why she ever tolerated it if she is so “nice.”
She had next to no self-esteem, I guess, and we know Keith likely broke and beat her down as did his future ‘wives’ beat her out of 1st position,
Karen is definitely a “fixer” type in her own quiet, stay out of the limelight way. I wish her well and wish someday she’ll tell what was going on with her and why she never questioned but enabled Keith’s affairs she knew of.
How much did Karen make in NXIVM? Any collateral collected on her all those years?
Gina told me once Keith negated Karen so much she was like a ghost servant or slave (can’t recall wording).
Heidi, I agree with you 100%.
I believe Frank has a blind spot on this one.
Karen is quiet and innocuous, and just so happens to be the smartest member of NXIVM.
Interesting dichotomy…
Almost all men and women scam artists are “nice.” LOL
That’s how they lure you in. LOL
I’m not saying all “nice” people are scam artists, I’m saying don’t let your guard down just because they are “nice.” LOL
In fact, be even more careful with how you interact with “nice” people. LOL
Frank didn’t answer the Times Union pedo or Tighe’s lawsuit issues. LOL
We don’t know whether Unterreiner read, or if she did read, believed what was in the Times Union articles, and I wouldn’t believe her answer. LOL
How was she “named” in Tighe’s criminal lawsuit, what was her alleged role? LOL
I wouldn’t believe her answer about knowing about financial crimes, either. LOL
You don’t ask criminals for information that would make them look guilty, because criminals, by definition, lie – you find other evidence for that. LOL
Frank, there’s a principle in psychology called “repression” that holds that attributes or desires one consciously, most vehemently denies take on an enormous life of their own in one’s subconscious mind.
I know you won’t publish this comment unless I ask you not to — for you NEVER listen to anything without a dick — but I think for YOUR OWN general health and well-being you should look into it in terms of your relationships to women and, Kristin Keeffe, in particular.
I would NEVER take psychological or relationship advice f[redacted]
I just checked to be sure, my d!ck has no ears. LOL
It will be interesting to find out whether Tighe’s website was erased or just taken out of public view. We should be able to find that out after he is released. LOL