Guest View: Raniere Appeal Will Take Years to Decide, Meantime His Followers Should Move on

Keith Raniere

This is in response to  Bangkok: Keith Raniere May Be Free by 2023 – Here’s Why

By Erasend

Let us assume that the “failure of the judge to allow Lauren Salzman to be cross-examined” is true on its very face. (It most definitely is not, but for sake of this silly little mental exercise, let’s say it is).

Lauren Salzman leaves the courthouse in Brooklyn.

All this means is it increases the likelihood of Keith’s case being heard by the actual judges of the 2nd Circuit. That is it.

Practically every defendant convicted claims innocence and attempts appeals. Most never make it past the clerks to even reach the eyes of a judge. The very tiny fraction that do then get quickly dismissed by the judge. Of that fraction that remain, they then get a chance to be added to the schedule to be heard before the judges.

Which is why you know these couch lawyers are full of shit. Most of their theories assume how TV depicts these things are true. That speedy fair trials occur. That everyone involved is interested only in justice. That the justice system is even about justice. That things like appeals are a process that at most takes months, but rarely years. It might not even be 2023 before Keith’s case is even heard by 2nd Circuit, must less a decision is made. Yeah, it can take that long.

The right to a speedy trial has always been relative and only applies to the initial conviction, it does not apply to the appeals process. That has no timetable. It can go as fast or as slow as the clerks and judges involved want it to go. The judges could decide to hear the case tomorrow… and then proceed to not made a judgment until the year 2025 if they so chose to.

Which ironically takes us back to Keith’s biggest mistake he ever made – branding his harem. If not for that, he would not be in jail. And now because of that, there will be no rush to get him out of jail. No judge wants to be known as the one that freed the harem brander. After all, they still dream of sitting on the Supreme Court (unlikely for them but that’s why it’s called a dream). It’s not to say they will not do it if Raniere’s lawyers make a good case, it just means they have no motivation to hurry the process along so Keith’s appeal will go through the slow grind of the justice system at the same multi-year-long pace as everyone else’s.

As for odds of the feds not retrying if the case is entirely overturned… again branded his harem. The sexual sensationalism of the case almost guarantees that they would seriously consider doing it, if only because some ambitious prosecutor  could make his bones on the case for higher office or better paydays at a prestigious law firm. The one that got Keith convicted the first time moved on to a multi-million dollar a year position for example.

AUSA Moria Kim Penza, who led the prosecution against Keith Raniere, went from Assistant US Attorney to partner in a high end law firm following the conviction of Raniere, probably quadrupling her income.

So, yeah, it’s a literal coin flip on a retrial. Truly depends on why the case was tossed and the ambition of whoever is assigned the case after.

Notice I don’t bother to get into the merits. It takes more than that the quick summary provided by Keith’s buddy to get a successful appeal. What happened before, during and after is taken into account, the circumstances, would that Salzman testimony changed or impacted the case results and a slew of other questions that there is no point in getting into the weeds on because again – it is years away before it matters.

Branding his harem…the “gift” that keeps on biting Raniere in the ass. Oh, the irony.

Ultimately, this multi-year process is why I keep saying his followers need to direct their energy elsewhere and anything they say or do is pointless and silly.

Anything is better than this “Waiting on Godot” place they are currently in. Their efforts to twist everything into a defense of Keith are well and truly wasted – and prevent them from moving on. If they truly care about the flaws of the justice system, they shouldn’t bother with websites that defend DOS and Keith.

The Nxivm 5, L-R Suneel Chakravorty, Nicki Clyne, Eduardo Asunsolo, Michele Hatchette and Marc Elliot steadfastly defend Keith Raniere. Should they move on…?

Instead, they should focus their energy on innocent people who do not have access to Keith’s resources and help them get free, regardless if their case seems applicable to Keith’s or not. Even better than getting further ensnared in the quagmire of the justice system, they should simply move on away from it all. Find a new career in a new state, a new significant other and settle down in whatever version of happy they seek to find. The only thing preventing them from effectively “disappearing” is their desire to be seen and heard.

What happens now is well beyond their ability to have any impact. Their attempts to create websites, to use social media, etc. to “defend” Keith is literally an exercise in futility. The judges are not looking at that. It’s not on their radar and never will be. Even if the appellate judges hear the case, it will be on the minutiae of the trial process itself and the details of the case as presented during the trial. Anything beyond that will be ignored unless it’s true, genuine new evidence which is not the direction Keith’s lawyers are going in (They’re looking for malfeasances on the part of the prosecutor and the judge and failing that, the incompetence of Keith’s defense attorney).

So, to ALL of Keith’s followers, I say – move on. Use your energy anywhere else. Watching grass grow is literally more productive than what doing now for your Raniere. What happens next, happens without you and even without Keith. It’s in the purview of the lawyers and the slow grind of the justice system.

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Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

Anyone read “Don’t Call It A Cult” by Sara Berman. The book is always better. Disturbing 😒

Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

Anything about his former, aging, spiritual wives and heavy-metal poisoning? Was it some kind of an experiment or environmentally induced? Has Nancy Salzman been tested for heavy metals? Heck, he could get a whole new case🤭

Jane Smith
Jane Smith
2 years ago

Yes, I do feel sorry for those still in the group. I think they are wasting their energy on this. Sometimes in life, you cut your losses and move on. They are falling into the same trap KR did when he wasted years and lots of money repeatedly suing others. They are like dogs with bones and ultimately cause a lot of pointless trouble for others and do themselves no good at all. KR could easily have just let people go who wanted to leave and sued no one but he didn’t. These remainers are similar. Why pursue a lost cause? Even if they still believe in it all, why not just carry on without KR in private cutting whatever bits of their bodies up that they want to do in private?

Retired appellate counsel
Retired appellate counsel
2 years ago

The national average success rate for criminal appeals is right at 5%. Because facts win appeals rather than creative arguments, that 5% is true for seasoned appellate attorneys and newbies alike. When we say facts win, those typically are the facts of the offense, not facts about what happened in court although what happened in court can lead to reversals. Here, the facts underlying the conviction were proved – sex trafficking of children, conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit forced labor. Was there something left unsaid in Lauren’s testimony that would have come out on cross-exam that might have led to an acquittal of these charges? I don’t see how, especially when an experienced trial attorney like Agnifilo hammers the persuasive evidence/testimony up front and leaves minor points for later. KAR isn’t leaving prison in this lifetime.

Pandora'sJF
Pandora'sJF
2 years ago

Yes, they would need to list important exculpatory information they expected Lauren to provide that would radically change the case.

Nutjob
Nutjob
2 years ago

That picture of the NXIVM 5 is very underrated.

Pandora'sJF
Pandora'sJF
2 years ago

Erasend,
Thanks for your article and while I consider what you suggest to be good advice, it’s naive.

The Dos 8 will likely continue doing what they have always done which is demonstrate their self-obsession whether it is posting selfies, submitting articles about themselves, or just declaring that they are fundamentally good people.

The idea of actually doing something for someone outside of their group could not come up for them any more than it could come up for Keith. When not celebrating his own birthday, his own intelligence, his own musical talents or martial arts abilities, he will be found admiring his own notoriety or uniqueness. Others only exist for the admiration they can give.

The seed doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Jane Smith
Jane Smith
2 years ago
Reply to  Pandora'sJF

Good point. I always find all this self-help stuff really selfish actually. If people have spare time, clean the house more or do the shopping for your neighbour, or wash the feet of the poor, or spend more time with your children. Do good rather than get your mind into knots over totally pointless mental stuff that gets you nowhere and, in the case of Nxivm, seems to make people feel worse about their choices not better.

shadowstate1958
2 years ago

To demonstrate the insidious actions of prosecutors in the ongoing George Floyd case in Minneapolis prosecutors are asking the jurors to ignore autopsy findings.

Prosecutors Ask Jurors To Dismiss George Floyd Autopsy Findings
Toxicology report on Floyd’s blood found 4 times the lethal level of fentanyl in his system
https://www.infowars.com/posts/prosecutors-ask-jurors-to-dismiss-george-floyd-autopsy-findings/

Face facts.
Sometimes prosecutors lie and cheat.
George Floyd was playing Russian Roulette with fentanyl.

About the Author

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist.

His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents.

His work to expose and take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg, “Scarred” by Sarah Edmonson, “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. La Secta Que Sedujo al Poder en México” by Juan Alberto Vasquez.

Parlato has been prominently featured on HBO’s docuseries “The Vow” and was the lead investigator and coordinating producer for Investigation Discovery’s “The Lost Women of NXIVM.” Parlato was also credited in the Starz docuseries "Seduced" for saving 'slave' women from being branded and escaping the sex-slave cult known as DOS.

Additionally, Parlato’s coverage of the group OneTaste, starting in 2018, helped spark an FBI investigation, which led to indictments of two of its leaders in 2023.

Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Beyond the Headlines with Gretchen Carlson, Dr. Oz, American Greed, Dateline NBC, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato conducted the first-ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest. This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded.

Parlato is a consulting producer and appears in TNT's The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which premiered on May 22, 2022. Most recently, he consulted and appeared on Tubi's "Branded and Brainwashed: Inside NXIVM," which aired January, 2023.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

Contact Frank with tips or for help.
Phone / Text: (305) 783-7083
Email: frankreport76@gmail.com

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