NXIVM Lies About Lies #2 – Keith raped a child

NXIVM’s Eduardo Asunsolo has produced a series of short videos for Make Justice Blind [MJB].

It is based on lies. Not believing lies.

The series is called “Lies About NXIVM People Think Are True.”

This FR series examines Eduardo’s series.

Eduardo is concerned about lies. He wants people to know the truth.

Eduardo says people believe lies about NXIVM and Raniere.

So are Raniere and NXIVM misunderstood? Most people think of him as the scum of the earth and NXIVM as a cult.

But Eduardo sees another dimension to Raniere and NXIVM than what is known to the public. It is a dimension as vast as Raniere and timeless as his infinite intelligence.

It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of the public’s cult fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of Keith Raniere. It is an area we call the Dead-Enders’ Zone.

One of the lies Eduardo wants to debunk concerns Keith raping a child.

#2 – Keith raped a child

#FBI tampered with evidence in Raniere's case and salacious headlines and lies are used to hide it #NVIXM
Part 2 Lies About #nxivm that people think are true pic.twitter.com/1s30ZcNhMu

— Make Justice Blind (@MakeJustBlind) January 27, 2023

Transcript of the video:

Lies about NXIVM that people think are true.

Lie #2: Keith raped a child.

Truth: Not only is there no accusation of rape against Keith, but there is no sex involved in the totality of the charges against him. What people refer to as child porn are pictures of Camila, a woman who is now in her 30s, who was a former partner of Keith for about ten years. What determines that those pictures are child porn is the date when they were taken. Now we know that those dates were manufactured by the FBI.

FR investigation:

Let’s parse this a bit.

EDUARDO: Not only is there no accusation of rape against Keith, but there is no sex involved in the totality of the charges against him.

FR: Eduardo refers to the criminal charges for which Raniere was convicted and sentenced to 120 years. He mistakes the word accusation for an allegation. But let us skip that for now.

The crimes of conviction were sex trafficking and attempted sex trafficking. Those charges came with the allegation/accusation that there was sex or attempted sex involved. Granted, they were adults. But Eduardo said there was no sex in the totality of the charges.

In addition, there was his conviction of racketeering, and the jury found it “proven” Raniere sexually exploited Camila, then 15, by photographing her nude and possessing the photos, which is child porn.

So whether it is true or not, taking explicit photos of a teen and keeping them has a sexual aspect.

At his sentencing, Camila not only affirmed he did these foul deeds of photographing her when she was 15, but also grooming her when she was 13, and having sex with her when she was 15.

Though those are not allegations, they are accusations.

EDUARDO:  What people refer to as child porn are pictures of Camila, a woman who is now in her 30s, who was a former partner of Keith for about ten years.

FR: Eduardo skirts perilously close to lie by omission. Camila is in her 30s now. But the allegation is she was 15 – in 2005. Eduardo uses the number 10 years – which would make Camila 18.

Let’s hear what Raniere’s lawyer said about it at his sentencing hearing. Raniere was sitting right next to attorney Marc Agnifilo and before Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis.

THE COURT: You haven’t answered my question about Camila. Let’s cut to the chase here. You don’t start having an affair with a 15-year-old girl when you’re a 45-year-old man, plus total control, financial control, control over her visa, control over her father, who is still writing letters in support of the defendant today. I have one in my file here. When is that appropriate? I’m just curious.

AGNIFILO: As your Honor knows, he wasn’t charged with or convicted of having sex with Camila. He was charged and convicted of the [explicit] photographs [of Camila when she was 15.] And if your Honor remembers my trial defense, I didn’t really dispute the photographs all that much.

The way I disputed them [the child porn] is they were never shown to anybody and the jury shouldn’t consider them as either child pornography or as a racketeering predicate because they were photographs that were taken and then for the rest of time they just stayed on a device, they never got sent anywhere, never got shown anywhere.

So, that’s how I dealt with the photographs at the trial. I didn’t say anything one way or another about them. I didn’t say at the trial anything one way or another about Camila at 15 years old.

[Ed. Note: Agnifilo seems to admit Raniere took the photos and kept them.]

THE COURT: You were talking about intent, I’m just wondering how that works into your theory of intent here.

AGNIFILO: I absolutely admit that Camila is in a different category than other people in the case. There is no question, there is no question. And there is no doubt, and I never said anything to the contrary, and I don’t say that now.

THE COURT: Go on.

AGNIFILO: What I think your Honor can glean from all this, and I don’t know if it cuts for or against him but I’ll say it because it’s the truth. He’s in a 13-year relationship with her, 12-year relationship with her. I don’t if know that makes it better or worse, but those are the facts.

[Agnifilo admits Keith, who is 30 years older than Camila, was in a sexual relationship with her when she was under age. He is arguing this is not standard statutory rape, sexual exploitation or possession of child porn, because he considered Camila one of his harem.]

But he did say this, with Raniere at his side, without protest from his client: “I’ll say it because it’s the truth. He’s in a 13-year relationship with her, 12-year relationship with her. I don’t know if that makes it better or worse, but those are the facts.”

Raniere’s lawyer wants us to know, because it is the truth, that Raniere had sex with Camila when she was 15, just as Camila said.

Eduardo, who is interested in debunking the lies others believe about Raniere, says Raniere was in a 10 year relationship – conveniently making her above the age of consent when they started.

Eduardo: What determines that those pictures are child porn is the date when they were taken. Now we know that those dates were manufactured by the FBI.

FR: Who are “we” that “knows” the dates were manufactured by the FBI? Raniere merely alleges it in a Rule 33 motion, which has yet to be proven. It may be true, but we have yet to have an evidentiary hearing on the matter.

The lie Eduardo wants to debunk is that Raniere raped a child.

There have been other accusations. For instance, Rhiannon wanted to testify at Raniere’s trial. Judge Garaufis denied her request, though the prosecution wanted her to testify.

Rhiannon claims she was 13 when Raniere raped her repeatedly when he was 30.

Above is her statement to the Albany Times Union published in 2012.

In addition, there are two women named Gina. One is deceased. But Gina M. said Raniere raped her when she was 15, when he was 24.

Gina Hutchinson, according to her sister, Heidi, said Raniere raped her when she was 15, also when Raniere was 24.

Four separate women, all accusing Raniere of statutory rape over three decades.

See The Albany Times Union’s In Raniere’s Shadows for a nice peek at what Eduardo might wish to investigate.

Yes, Raniere is accused of raping children. Not just one, but four accusations.

If I were Eduardo, I would also look into the girls from Chihuahua and his bizarre quest for a virgin successor.

It’s good that Eduardo wants to debunk the lies we all believe about Keith Raniere and NXIVM, but what if they are not lies?

Frank Parlato