Talk about bad timing.
Keith Alan Raniere, a.k.a. “Vanguard”, a.k.a. Federal Inmate # 57005-177, has been placed in solitary confinement, a.k.a. “the SHU,” Frank Report has learned.
Raniere, now in his third year of a 120-year prison sentence, assigned to USP Tucson, was suddenly removed from his unit and thrown into the Special Housing Unit (SHU) where he is cut off from contact with other inmates, regular phone calls, and email – and has extremely modified visitation, little to no access to the commissary and, most significantly, very reduced contact with his attorneys.
The timing is bad since the deadline for Raniere’s supplemental appellate brief is September 20th – and being confined to the SHU makes it difficult to participate in discussions with his New York City-based lawyers, Marc Fernich and Jeffrey Lichtman, who got permission from the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to file a 5,000-word supplement to Raniere’s original appeal of his conviction.
Raniere was placed in the SHU on July 22nd, just two days after he appeared via video conference from USP Tucson for his restitution hearing in Brooklyn federal court.
In the fiery hearing, Raniere’s attorney Marc Fernich and Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis had a confrontation which saw Fernich complain about Judge Garaufis not permitting an hour delay in the proceedings so that he could attend a friend’s funeral.
Garaufis mockingly had his clerk offer a box of tissues to the complaining attorney, which was followed by Fernich berating the judge, who in turn lashed back at Fernich. What followed was an extraordinary event as the judge and defense attorney Fernich sat staring at each other – Fernich at the defense table and the judge on the bench, in silence for literally 30 minutes.
The impasse ended with Fernich offering a not-so-very-convincing apology.
It is not known if Raniere’s solitary punishment is a result of Fernich’s behavior. It is known that Fernich was not advocating for his client but miffed because of a personal matter.
At the same hearing, the judge demanded that Raniere return the collateral – naked photos and other damaging and personal information – to the DOS women, and Raniere, appearing on the telescreen, disavowed any knowledge of the present whereabouts of the collateral or that he had ever known where they were since he had never seen any collateral.
This might have annoyed the judge and, in turn, prompted the prosecution to encourage the prison to dump the man into the hole.
The reasons for Raniere being in solitary might not be related to any of these matters but the timing is indeed suspicious.
Raniere is now nearing 30 days in solitary and it appears he may be spending yet another 33 days there.
The timing is brilliant if one suspects collusion between the Bureau of Prisons and the prosecution, which are, incidentally, both under the control of the Attorney General.
While Raniere sits alone in his solitary cell, he is prevented from going to the prison law library, from making regular contact with his attorneys, or making contact with agents and friends who could help facilitate the flow of information between him and his attorneys while the calendar ticks on the timeliness of his supplemental appellate brief.
Frank Report has learned that it is not uncommon for prisoners thrown into the SHU to be permitted only sporadic phone calls with their attorneys and while speaking with them, they are handcuffed, with hands behind their back, making it impossible for them to bring notes or take notes.
Raniere retained Fernich to review the trial record and the appellate brief filed by attorney Jennifer Bonjean, to determine whether any significant issues may have been missed and attempt to remedy the omissions.
The trial record alone comprises more than 7,000 pages of transcripts, plus about 1,000 pretrial and sentencing documents. His being in the SHU, while a brand new lawyer works to understand an extremely complicated case and appeal, makes this a due process issue. Raniere will be extremely prejudiced by his confinement.
Raniere is appealing a seven-count jury conviction, including 15-year RICO and RICO conspiracy charges, and the 120-year sentence that was imposed after a six-week Brooklyn federal trial before Judge Garaufis.
In his appeal, Raniere challenged the sufficiency of the evidence as to most of his counts of conviction and raised a number of other arguments. His co-defendant, Clare Bronfman, has also challenged the procedural and substantive reasonableness of her sentence – which was triple the sentencing guidelines. She was handed a sentence of 81 months.
120 years. Ridiculous. There are thousands of cases where someone murdered a person and got less than 30. Raniere didn’t deserve this. He didn’t murder anyone. All his so-called victims were just spoiled little bitches who wanted all the sweet dick they could swallow. Every one of the so-called victims WANTED IT. IN MY OPINION, LET HIM GO. Every one of them rich bitches got what they deserve. Dirty lil piggies. Branding themselves. What a bunch of nasty hoes. They live with lots of cash searching for more. To all you dirty hoes who drank Raniere’s cum and licked his asshole, Fuck u dirty scums. You’re dirty and nasty and deserve it.
Boohoo. Please enlighten us on how a girl groomed at thirteen “wanted” sex with a forty-five year old man.
It’s all those meanie women and the judge’s fault. Raniere should go free because all of those dirty whores just wanted it.
He should’ve taken the plea. He could’ve been out by seventy-seven years old. But like all things Raniere, his megalomania got the best of him, so now he’s likely to die in prison.
Surely this group knows if you piss in to the wind you are going to cause yourself problems? Seems like there maybe trouble ahead for many of them as their punishments are being dealt with on a very thorough level with unlimited resources and reach it appears.
Could also be KR’s genius causing a fuss to get Nancy, the traitor, a long prison sentence too to be fair mind.
Also I am pretty sure no Judges will read this site because they forego such things in life don’t they?
There was not, and never will be, any chance of him being transferred to a Supermax. He’s just not the kind of prisoner they cater to.
I generally agree with that assessment. But I’ve also known several “regular” prisoners who ended up there for no apparent reason (One of those guys served his entire five year sentence there for a Medicaid fraud conviction).
Doesn’t Raniere’s right to confer with his lawyers trump whatever got him put into the SHU?
Hes probably telling the truth about the collateral, his minions did all the work it seems, he probably never did touch it.
Prisoners who are being punished for BOP violations – or, as in Keith’s case, are supposedly being investigated for such violations – lose all sorts of rights. That includes the right to meet as often as they want with their attorneys, to communicate with their friends and family members, to have visitors, etc., etc., etc. Per the 13th Amendment, prisoners are the equivalent of slaves – and, as such, have very few rights.
I actually remember India Oxenberg finding some of what is believed to be collateral when she was asked to pack up Allison Mack’s belongings. It was in her documentary Seduced. She found a bunch of flash drives, pictures, etc. which she decided to hold onto herself. From what I gathered, at that point she was still “in” Nxivm and after Allison’s arrest, it hit her that she needed to get out. she ended up looking at the drives that she had kept about 6 months after she finally left., and did turn them over to the US Attorney. I’m sure it was just a small part of what Keith has. For him to not know where it is, is BS! That collateral was very important to him. His basically wanted DOS to keep growing and growing so that he could not only abuse more women sexually, he wanted women of importance to be recruited so that he could own them and use them for his own agendas. Yeah, he knows exactly where that collateral is.
Maybe Raniere has fudged himself badly enough to end up transferred to the Supermax where El Chapo is incarcerated near Florence, Colorado? That’s the ultimate for prison hell and certainly would keep him miserably isolated and could be heavy duty enough to shove him all of the way over the final edge.
If the BOP is going to transfer Keith to a new prison, it will likely not be the Supermax prison in Florence, CO. Instead, I think they are much more likely to transfer him to a maximum-security prison that has a large Hispanic population and that has a history of inmate-on-inmate violence. I’m thinking Bloody Beaumont might be that place (See: https://www.prisonerresource.com/federal-prisons/usp-beaumont/).
Thanks for your thoughts, and I will look into the Beaumont type of environment (etc.) – as it does look like a viable option for Raniere, if indeed he is to be moved from where he is now. Maybe.
The levels of potential violence from a large proportion of an Hispanic, or largely a Latino, imprisoned population appears to me to be a possibly lethal arrangement for Raniere, in particular. For he has messed with plenty of Mexican people especially, and there could be rage directed personally at him, and the strange, yet powerful decisions for wreaking direct vengeance upon him, and he has contributed to putting himself at considerably more risk now.
So this causes me to think a whole lot of conjoining factors over right now, as though two different sorts of big, metaphoric FISTS might be set up to wring Keith Raniere’s neck. And this could become his grand finale, rather than doing 120 years plus his probationary supervision, so to speak.
Raniere might’ve positioned himself to be in more direct danger via his own dysfunctionalities, and the prison system has the authorization, implicitly, to cut him down to what is, essentially, his own, egoic “size,” as a highly disorganized charlatan, who got by for so many years with a lot of help from his “friends” and fellow fiends, such as Nancy Salzman.
What an episodic dump truck chockful of fable coming inexorably at life itself and with so much historical impactfulness.
Here I envision what can be called a very loaded slate of symbolism-meeting-flesh, quite directly, possibly one mistake after another, since I view any vengefulness as both self-defeating and futile.
Most of the prisoners who slapped Keith around when he was being held at MDC were Mexicans – and I don’t think that was a coincidence. So, if he gets transferred to a regular prison that has a substantial Mexican population, I suspect that it might not go well for him.
If he actually ended up in a place like Beaumont, he could only survive if he requested – and was approved for – a permanent slot in protective custody. Some prisons have separate SHUs for those inmates and others just include them in the regular SHU.
Notwithstanding my own experience in observing how the BOP interacts with some federal judges and some federal prosecutors, it’s also possible that Keith’s assignment to the SHU at USP Tucson just two days after his restitution hearing was just a coincidence. We’ll just have to see how things play out from here.
KR – Oh no! I noticed it has volleyball.
If he is in the SHU for a reason, like punishment or protection, I fail to see how this would be a due process issue.
It’s not a due process issue. Raniere broke the rules. We don’t know the story. But we know that much. If you had a loved one in prison, you would want them kept safe – which is why the rules are in place. And if you or a loved one worked in a prison, you would understand that they are full of (surprise!) criminals. Some very dangerous ones. And your job is not just to enforce order but to protect them from each other. And to make it out safely each day, yourself.
K.R. Claviger
August 22, 2021 at 10:17 am
Yes – and the reason why he was put in the SHU at Tucson supposedly had to do with one of his harem members communicating with him through another inmate there.
Nicki Clyne knows Ross Ulbricht, a dark web drug dealer who is at USP Tucson
Wikipedia
Ross Ulbricht
[… ]
Trial
On August 21, 2014, Ulbricht was charged with money laundering, conspiracy to commit computer hacking, and conspiracy to traffic narcotics. He was ordered held without bail. On February 4, 2015, Ulbricht was convicted on all counts after a jury trial that had taken place in January 2015. On May 29, 2015, he was sentenced to double life imprisonment plus forty years, without the possibility of parole.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Ulbricht had paid $730,000 in murder-for-hire deals targeting at least five people, allegedly because they threatened to reveal Ulbricht’s Silk Road enterprise. Prosecutors believe no contracted killing actually occurred. Ulbricht was not charged in his trial in New York federal court with any murder-for-hire, but evidence was introduced at trial supporting the allegations. The evidence that Ulbricht had commissioned murders was considered by the judge in sentencing Ulbricht to life, and was a factor in the Second Circuit’s decision to affirm the life sentence. A separate indictment against Ulbricht in federal court in Maryland on a single murder-for-hire charge, alleging that he contracted to kill one of his employees (a former Silk Road moderator), was dismissed with prejudice by prosecutors in July 2018, after his New York conviction and sentence became final.
According to author Nick Bilton writing in Vanity Fair, before the trial, Ulbricht had been offered a plea deal which would have given him a decade-long sentence, but he turned it down, deciding instead to fight the case in court. Bilton wrote, “(Ulbricht) believed that he was smarter than everyone in the room and that he could beat them all.”
[ … ]
Shadow-
Nice news scoop!!!!
I take back 2/3 of all the bad things I’ve said about you.
Re Keith SHU:
Kieth was probably busted “on purpose” because he did not help turn over the collateral. However, I guarantee the guards knew about whatever activity or contraband Kieth was involved with.
Federal prisons have a ton of contraband drugs. The following story is about the partial closure of a federal prison this week. Something the mainstream media including FOX or PBS are not reporting.
It’s shocking!!!
https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/exclusive-atlanta-federal-pen-nearly-vacant-amid-corruption-investigation/VAE6ZXLRMJGFNC2BRHSOBGRFZI/
This is a crazy story!
After placing keith into the SHU, the prison guards returned to keith’s former cell and were shocked to see the words “boner” and “slap my heinie” written on the prison walls.
Seriously, how would you know this !!
Sorry for the delay Anonymous @ 5:38. I should not assume everyone gets my lame jokes and references. This is a reference to what was found written in children’s magnets on a fridge in Kathy Russell’s apartment, which was used by keith for threesomes. He also wrote:
Gag
69
Feed me
Hard on
I Suck Big Hard Dick
Facial
XXX
Zoom Penis
Ox Boner
Emote
Jzm
Tight Pussy
Hmmmm. Comments not posting.
Happens to me all the time.
Maybe he’ll Epstein himself whilst in the SHU. (Fingers crossed). But that’s too easy of an out.
I think that Mark Fernich’s outburst in the courtroom may have been orchestrated to provoke Judge Garufis because the judge’s demeanor will likely be a central part of the supplemental appeal that will be filed on Keith’s behalf. I’ll be surprised if the offering of the tissues isn’t mentioned in the new filing.
As for Keith being tossed into the SHU, I’ll simply repeat what I predicted immediately after the restitution hearing: don’t be surprised if Keith ends up being transferred to a different prison. Denying that he knew anything about the collateral was stupid – and Keith is already paying the consequences for it. The SHU is simply the first step in the process of refreshing Keith’s memory about the collateral – and encouraging him to be helpful in getting it back to the DOS slaves. After the supplemental brief gets filed, I would expect Keith to get a little “diesel therapy” – and if that doesn’t work, then he’ll likely be headed to a new prison.
I was wondering if he is illegally communicating with his harem??
Yes – and the reason why he was put in the SHU at Tucson supposedly had to do with one of his harem members communicating with him through another inmate there. But even if that happened, it would not take 60 days of investigating to reach that conclusion – which is why I think his current stint in the SHU is to help refresh his memory about the collateral.
K. R. C.
I knew it was Keith’s own fault.
I am not going to debate if it is a longer punishment because of the court outburst, etc.
If it involves more than one inmate (both of whom are sex offenders) breaking prison rules with a woman on the outside who was also involved in one inmate’s sexual crimes – uh, hell yes it could take a long time to sort out.
You’re talking about visitors. Multiple inmates. Cult members on the outside, security issues. Maybe payment exchanged hands and who knows what all.
Plus, it’s a prison full of prisoners. Who knows what else is going on? It’s not Nxivm – where everyone drops everything to prioritize Keith!
They will get to him when they get to him. They’ve got a prison to run. And they’re probably pissed off that Keith got there fairly recently and he’s already causing trouble. And it sounds like the kind of trouble that can get prison employees in hot water.
Follow the rules vanguard. This is no longer your pedophile kingdom where protocols and laws are only for other people.
I wonder if any harem members visited him???
“one of his harem members communicating”
Gee. I wonder which one? I wonder which one is the most vocal on social media, sometimes remarking about an incarcerated inmate she spoke with and how “sadsy” the situation is?
Old Nic does it again!!!
Its almost as if her subconscious is actively seeking to keep the old pervert well and truly hoisted with her v. timely petards.
Great analysis. You are right. They were out to provoke the judge and the judge is showing them who is in power.
This is a great lesson to learn. I like how the judge behaves and his strategies for obtaining respect.
Diesel therapy is claimed to be a punishment in which prisoners are transferred from one prison to another for days or weeks at a time, sometimes ending up in the wrong destinations, only to be sent on again. It is described as a method used by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to wear down disruptive or uncooperative prisoners and make them more willing to cooperate.
That’s correct – and if you think the BOP wouldn’t use diesel therapy to help jog Keith’s memory about the collateral, then you’re simply uninformed and/or naive.
It is not necessarily important what I believe, it is just that I have formulated it carefully, because I myself cannot check everything that circulates as information or speculation.
I’m just sharing what a number of former federal inmates and guards have told me goes on with diesel therapy – and what I’ve observed first-hand what happens when inmates piss off federal judges. As one of the variants of Ian Fleming’s catchphrase goes, “Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern”.
Thank you, KR Claviger, for your insight
I’m very interested in this, would you recommend some links or sources?
To everyone:
Re Diesel Therapy:
The following link is to a 1 page article which will explain Diesel Therapy.
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2019/08/15/the-federal-prisoner-transit-system-aka-diesel-therapy-is-hell
It’s an excellent article!
thanks nice guy. the article was very interesting
Mexican Lady-
I’m glad you liked it.
Diesel therapy can actually be worse than being put in the SHU (isolation).
It’s a great way to get someone to cooperate or behave.
So “diesel therapy” in this case was a decision of the judge or whose if not? Who manages that “great way to get someone to cooperate or behave”? I don’t picture the judge assuming that “credit”?
I don’t think any formal orders – written or unwritten – were given by the judge, by the prosecutors, or by the FBI. In this sort of situation, the institution has long ago adopted procedures for dealing with recalcitrant prisoners – and the people involved don’t need to be told what to do.
I agree with this and that’s precisely the point I was trying to make:
K.R. Claviger
August 26, 2021 at 5:57 am
I don’t think any formal orders – written or unwritten – were given by the judge, by the prosecutors, or by the FBI. In this sort of situation, the institution has long ago adopted procedures for dealing with recalcitrant prisoners – and the people involved don’t need to be told what to do.
I don’t know…Personally, I have no idea where many of my own old digital photographs, files, etc. are at. I have so many hard drives, CDs, memory cards, dead computers…and I moved to so many various places over the years…Never mind if I had other people handling it, I’d be even more clueless. I think there is a good chance Keith really has no idea where the collateral is…especially the stuff that was digital-only. And right now he is also not supposed to contact his former or current harem remembers, right? So he can’t ask them what they did with it either.
I’ll have to go back and read exactly what Keith said to the judge when he was asked about the collateral. But I think that in addition to saying he didn’t know where it was, he also indicated – at least to some degree – that he didn’t know what the judge was talking about.
Regardless of what he said – or didn’t say – to the judge, if Keith directed all of his still loyal followers to turn over any collateral they have – or have access to – they’d do that. And that is the main point here.
Although Nicki is very careful when asked about Keith and the collateral – She usually says “Keith never possessed any of the collateral” – the FBI and the federal prosecutors are not interested in playing word games. Nor is Judge Garaufis.
So, if Keith wants to stay in his little safe and secure haven in Tucson – and not spend long stretches in the SHU there – he would be well advised to take an active role in getting the collateral returned ASAP.
Assuming it has not been destroyed.
Random old files are not the same as blackmail. One does not lose track of blackmail. Especially when going after enemies, coercion and keeping people in place motivate you.
Keith saved the kiddie porn “from way back then” he told Camilla. This was his precious binder of Vulvas. He kept the oldest of harem photos.
It is so deeply part of Keith’s psyche it led to his demise and ensured his lengthy orison sentence.
It’s all part of Keith’s pathology.
Keith did not move around a lot. And he was way too paranoid to misplace old computers.
You make good points for a normal human. And normal situations. Keith isn’t. And this wasn’t.
Frank – Won’t KAR’s lawyers just ask for an extension due to not being given enough access to their troublesome client?
I think Keith was likely put in the hole because of his lawyer disrespecting the judge and also Suneel telling the judge he is being watched.
Both the lawyer and Suneel were likely acting based on Keith’s request so Keith deserves to be in the hole. Keith thinks nobody sees through his machinations. We all see it now. Keith, you deserve to be in the hole. Get a clue. You lost your power, pretty boy.
Maybe that’s why Suneel’s Twitter now limits discussion of nxivm. Suneel took it too far and got Keith in trouble. Suneel, you should apologize to your master, Keith. It was obvious that threatening judges would have harsh effects.
There was an old man who lived in a SHU….
He had a harem that he used to do…
Haha, great poem Snorlax and Pyriel!
Why do they send him there exactly? I don’t get it.
His lawyer and his mentee (Suneel) threatened the judge. Keith also denied help to victims by returning the collateral.
The judge is showing him who has power now. You do not threaten federal judges. Not returning the collateral was the icing on the cake. But it likely also got him in trouble
Ok, thank you.
As much fun as it is to speculate about the reason Raniere is in solitary, it’s all just that. Speculation.
Here’s mine: Raniere has been in solitary before, for contraband, smuggled cell phones. Plus the guy has obvious problems with authority.
As for his appeal, what possible new information can he have for his lawyers? What contribution can he make? They have the trial transcript. And we all know the value of his “brilliant insights”, his original trial strategy bought him 120 years.
He’s getting due process. His legal team is free to act, well paid and has access to all relevant materials. Raniere is a convict subject to prison discipline, not a martyr to injustice. Let’s not forget that he’s a convicted felon.
Ok, I don’t want to polemize, it’s just that I don’t enjoy the suffering of others even if they’re felons and when I think in life in prison and the way people lose every right I find it frightful… Is like within prison there is an alternative reality even harder to understand, as Epstein case attests with his inexplicable death in his watched cell.
https://youtu.be/qqhyIIZt87A
XD Now I get it!
Finally, a quiet place where Raniere can meditate and solve the problems of the world.
For the 60 days in the SHU, Keith Raniere will definitely be credited days for good behavior toward his prison time, right?
Unfortunately, just a bad joke.
I see what you did there.
I might be wrong but the judge probably has no control over sending him to solitary so it is probably some other reason but still surprising as I had suspected KR would have been on best behaviour in jail. As for the funeral issue, the attorney should just have sucked it up or sent another attorney. It is surely rule no. 1 of appearing in court – you do not get cross with the judge.
I think the judge does have control and does have that kind of power . It was a mistake for Keith not to think judges had that type of power . He sent his minions to threaten the judge and also cross him.
The judge is showing who is who
R Kelly Trial: The R&B singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, has been the subject of accusations over the past decades, including keeping women in an abusive “cult” and child pornography.
https://es-us.noticias.yahoo.com/juicio-r-kelly-cronolog%C3%ADa-acusaciones-180007869.html
Maybe he’s hoping this will delay things for him and his team of lawyers.
Raniere loves to delay things. Look at how long the Ross case dragged on?
It’s part of his torture through litigation game.
He got away with it for decades, so why not now?
Keep everyone involved as long as possible and eat up as much as Clare Bronfman money as possible.
Raniere is great at spending other people’s money. Clare is willing to spread her checkbook open for him any time he needs. Now more than ever. It gives her a feeling of importance and upholding “the mission”
That was my 3rd guess.
This was orchestrated on purpose by Keith to serve a calculated purpose of saying he is being “unfairly treated”.
But I still think it is mostly because he’s being a d×ck or is scared.
100% it is vanguard’s own fault.
Frank Parlato, the Keith Raniere sympathizer. It’s all click-bait people.
Can’t even get it right in prison. He was a f*ck up in the free world and so the trend continues
You forgot:
For his own protection
Being a d×ck
2 much more likely reasons for solitary
Keith’s always broken the rules in lock up.
Cell phones much? Maybe he’s still texting his front-line slaves demanding vulva pix.
It is highly unlikely it is any of the other reasons. The case against vanguard is solid. Keith has little to contribute to his lawyers. The defense are probably stoked.
I bet Keith asked for solitary because he’s such a f×cking cowardly punchable wuss.
Maybe the staff were simply sick of listening to word salad.
Frank
This is Grapevine – who cares about this “idiot”. ? Let him die in jail- the victims matter- but are they ever mentioned ? NO- the suspects ONLY matter on this blog- we are the victims left behind. What the heck?
Kris was the one that Keith & Nancy killed – and an article about how this bastard is in solitary confinement comes up? Are you kidding me right now? Seriously? Really?
This is a game about the suspects – there is NO caring about the “victims families”. It is all about what the suspects are doing and the crap that they have done to others.
Kris is NEVER mentioned on this blog- only your “sick monster” as Kim calls him- and “prefect”- how disgusting is this ?
One day – the Victims will rise to the top- we don’t give a cuss about Vanguard and his witches or anything else.
Kris is always thought of and honored – wish other people could see that. When will that happen? Ever ?
Grapevine
He could’ve got tossed into solitary because even if he doesn’t know where the collateral is — hard to believe — he has control over his minions who do to release it. He knows it. They know it. And everyone knows it. So, him giving his BS spiel of ignorance just pissed people off and they requited him with this result.
Prior to this incident, Ranieres definition of Thirty Days In The Hole meant spending some mandatory time with Claire so as to keep the money flowing.
I wonder if you are being sarcastic or, if that’s how Keith really viewed Clare.
Both