Part #1: What to Expect From Judge Garaufis at Raniere’s Restitution Hearing Today

Judge Garuafis

The restitution hearing of Keith Alan Raniere is scheduled for today, Tuesday, July 20 at 2 P.M. at the Theodore Roosevelt United States Courthouse at 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York City – the same building where Raniere was tried and convicted.

A restitution hearing is conducted in order for the judge to hear evidence concerning the US DOJ’s monetary recommendations for alleged victims of the convicted defendant.  The hearing is open to the public.

Raniere will attend via video conferencing from the United States Penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona where he now resides. Ironically Raniere sued AT&T and Microsoft in 2016 claiming he invented the technology for video conferencing. His arrest in 2017 ended the litigation.

Raniere’s alleged victims are not required to attend and will not likely attend. The judge may not make a final ruling today and instead reserve his decision until a later date.

Most of the alleged victims will be identified by their first names only in court, or by their assigned Jane Doe numbers.

In the United States, many of the most impressive buildings are federal courthouses. It may or may not be a good sign when a nation’s courthouses are bigger than its schools or galleries.  The Brooklyn courthouse is 15 stories high and includes 750,000 square feet of space – and houses 16 judges and 9 magistrates. That’s 30,000 square feet per judge or magistrate.  There are 16 courtrooms and 9 Magistrate courtrooms.

Vaccination apartheid in effect today.

All attendees of the restitution hearing, including counsel for the parties, media representatives, and members of the public, must show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination and provide the court with their name and contact information for contact tracing purposes in order to enter the courtroom.  All attendees must remain masked throughout the proceedings unless instructed to remove them in order to speak.

The requirement of the mask is in contravention to CDC protocol since all attendees of the hearing are likely to have been vaccinated and based on the latest albeit hazy and oft-changing guidance actually do not need masks.

For those who have not joined the cult of vaccination, a live-stream of the proceedings will be available in an adjacent courtroom, with strict capacity limitations and enforcement of social distancing and masking protocols.  Attendees who cannot provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination may view the live-stream from the adjacent room.

Frank Report’s correspondent has been fully vaccinated and carries his card with him with pride at all times.

Don’t Expect Exact Quotes in Federal Proceedings

Unlike many state and local courts, the federal judicial system adheres to strict 19th century protocol, not permitting reporters to bring in anything invented in the 20th century or later to help them in their work.  They are permitted to bring in a notebook and pen or pencil.

No recording devices or cameras are permitted – even though those items would make the free press a lot freer by allowing reporters – who are not usually stenographers – able to report more accurately on the proceedings – including more direct and accurate quotes.

Judge Would Not Grant One Hour Adjournment

As a signal, perhaps, of how the judge feels about Raniere, his attorney Mark Fernich [pronounced Furnish] asked for an adjournment of one hour  – from 2 PM to 3 PM – because his friend and “mentor,”  attorney Joel Winograd, died last week (Winograd’s funeral is scheduled today at 11:45 AM today)

Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis denied the request. The hearing will proceed as scheduled.

Mark Fernich told Newsweek: “Personal autonomy and individual choice, however unorthodox, are essential values. To the extent Keith’s prosecution infringed those values, I hope to help vindicate them. Government shouldn’t be in the business of policing morality.”

What Happens?

The hearing may be largely perfunctory. Judge Garaufis has already revealed his thinking in a May 2021 memorandum and order, although in that memorandum he stated he was willing to consider additional evidence. In the memorandum, which we will review below, he gives his criteria for who should be qualified as a victim.

In our next post, we will discuss who is likely to get what…

 

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Frank Parlato

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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.” He also appeared in "Branded and Brainwashed: Inside NXIVM, and was 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 premieres on May 22, 2022.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

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

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