Did Salzman’s Attorneys Miss the Filing Deadline – or Misfile Her Sentencing Memorandum?

Earlier today, I posted a story about Nancy Salzman’s impending sentencing and mentioned that today was the deadline for her attorneys to file their Sentencing Memorandum – a document that would contain their recommendations with regard to the sentence that U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis will impose at her September 8^th sentencing hearing.

When I mentioned today’s deadline, I forgot that in granting Nancy’s attorneys’ request for an extension to September 1^st for the filing of the Sentencing Memorandum, Judge Garaufis had noted in his Order that the request was “GRANTED in part, with a modification as described on the Docket”.

And when I went back to look at what sort of modification Judge Garaufis had placed on the Docket – which was a separate PACER filing from his Order regarding the requested extension – I realized that today is NOT the deadline for the filing.

Nope…the deadline for Nancy’s Sentencing Memorandum was 5:00 PM on August 30, 2021!

Yep – and since there was no such filing on PACER as of 4:30 PM today – and no record of a Motion to File Under Seal having been submitted and approved prior to the August 30^th deadline – it’s beginning to look like Nancy’s attorneys either missed the deadline or submitted their filing under seal without permission.

Either way, this does not bode well for Nancy’s future.

Unless PACER is having some sort of major technical issue (which is extremely unlikely) – or unless Judge Garaufis grants some sort of extraordinary relief and allows the untimely filed or misfiled Sentencing Memorandum to become part of the trial record  (which is also unlikely) – Nancy may be sentenced without the court considering whatever arguments her attorneys may have made on her behalf and/or whatever letters-of-support were filed by her family members and friends.

Given how much emphasis Judge Garaufis placed on information that was contained in the Sentencing Memoranda that were filed by the attorneys representing Allison Mack and Lauren Salzman when he sentenced both of them, it would appear that Nancy may be missing out on a chance to convince Judge Garaufis that she deserves leniency.

If that’s the case, then Nancy will have to rely entirely on whatever statement she chooses to make at her September 8^th sentencing if she hopes to avoid going to prison.

If nothing else, that would be a great test of Nancy’s self-proclaimed expertise with regard to Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and hypnosis.

Maybe someone should warn Judge Garaufis not to look into Nancy’s eyes – and not to let her touch him – at the sentencing hearing.

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Federal Prosecutors Were Very Explicit About Nancy’s Crimes

In their Sentencing Memorandum, the federal prosecutors were very explicit about the criminal activities that Nancy admitted she committed.

Here are some excerpts from that document:

RE: Identity Theft and Unlawful Surveillance

• She “participated in the unlawful surveillance and investigation of perceived critics and enemies of Raniere and Nxivm. The targets of these efforts included high-ranking politicians, reporters who had published articles critical of Raniere or Nxivm, Nxivm’s own lawyers, legal adversaries and their families, an accountant (James Loperfido) who worked for an attorney who had previously done work for Nxivm, and Edgar Bronfman Sr., the father of Clare Bronfman.”

• She “helped Nxivm retain private firms, including Interfor and Canaprobe, in order to investigate perceived enemies of Nxivm and Raniere. Between approximately 2007 and 2009, Canaprobe sent the results of purported ‘bank sweeps’ for bank account and balance information belonging to Nxivm’s adversaries.”

• She was found to have in her possession “a large box containing purported private banking information of many individuals perceived to be Nxivm enemies, including Edgar Bronfman, Joseph O’Hara, Rick Ross, and others.”

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RE: Obstruction of Justice

• She “conspired to obstruct justice by altering videotapes that were to be produced in discovery in a federal lawsuit in New Jersey…(and) agreed to alter the videotapes to remove certain segments from them without having the videotapes appear altered.”

• The videotapes in question were altered “to remove content, including segments in which Nancy Salzman made unsubstantiated health claims about Nxivm’s curriculum.”

• “These altered videotapes were then produced in discovery by Nxivm’s attorneys with the false claim that they were provided in “unedited fashion.”

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RE: Nature and Circumstances of the Offenses

In this section of their Sentencing Memorandum, the federal prosecutors went into much more detail regarding Nancy’s involvement with the NXIVM/ESP criminal enterprise.

Here are some more excerpts from that document:

• “For well over a decade, Nancy Salzman was a loyal and integral member of the criminal enterprise led by her co-defendant Keith Raniere. She was the President of Nxivm and second-in-command to Raniere until her arrest and, in that role, the defendant exalted Raniere’s teachings and ideology and demanded absolute commitment and deference to Raniere.”

• She “…instructed Nxivm members that anyone who challenged Raniere or Nxivm, including family members and friends, were “suppressives” and must be avoided.”

• She “…told Nxivm members that they had committed ‘ethical breaches’ which they needed to remedy, often in ways that benefitted the defendant or Raniere. Nxivm members were told that they were in ‘breach’ for, among other things, supposed lack of work ethic, failing to lose weight, exhibiting ‘pride’, ‘playing the victim’, or causing negative publicity for Nxivm or Raniere. Many of the Nxivm teachings promulgated by Nancy Salzman disparaged or humiliated women and blamed victims of abuse…Some of these teachings also questioned the age of consent and suggested children as young as 12 years old were capable of consenting to sex.”

• She “…promoted Raniere’s ‘poisonous and predatory falsehoods to an unsuspecting audience’ including the notion that ‘girls could be ready for sex as soon as they are physically capable to conceive, that women enjoy the out-of-control experience that comes from being raped, and that some women are only able to climax during such horrific events…”

• She “…also encouraged Nxivm members to take expensive Nxivm courses, and incur debt in order to do so. She developed a purportedly therapeutic technique called ‘Explorations of Meaning’ (EM) which was sometimes used as a means of manipulation and control…[and] encouraged Nxivm members to take expensive ‘EMs’ to address their purported ‘issues’, generating a significant amount of money.”

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RE: Victim Impact Statements

The federal prosecutors also reminded Judge Garaufis that the victim impact statements they had submitted “…detail the destructive impact of Nancy Salzman’s crimes. These statements reflect that victims suffered, both personally and financially, as a result of the defendant’s actions. Victims describe being manipulated by the defendant, isolated from their family members, saddled with debt as a result of Nxivm and ESP courses, and psychologically abused.”

And therein lies the biggest potential problem for Nancy with regard to the Sentencing Memorandum that her attorneys were supposed to file on her behalf.

If that document is not made part of the record – and is, therefore, not taken into consideration by Judge Garaufis – then there will not be any kind words from family members and friends to offset what’s contained in the victim impact statements.

And if Judge Garaufis imposes a sentence that takes into consideration what’s in those victim impact statements without any positive words on Nancy’s behalf, then Nancy may be headed off to prison for several years.

K.R. Claviger