Soares Hopes Swoon: Longtime NXIVM Ally Loses Primary for DA; Write-In Campaign Begins

The odds are longtime pro-Nxivm district attorney P. David Soares will not be the Albany County District Attorney next year.

He still hangs to a slight thread of hope. After losing the Democratic primary to Lee Kindlon, Soares launched a write-in campaign, making the general election a three-way race.

Almost from the start of his tenure, Soares chose to target NXIVM’s enemies rather than investigate them.

Joe O’Hara was one of Soares’ first targets.

Albany County District Attorney David Soares.

In 2007, Soares met with Clare Bronfman and other NXIVM reps, then brought a grand larceny charge against the former NXIVM consultant.

A judge dismissed the charges for lack of evidence.

Joseph O'Hara

Joseph Jake O’Hara

Years later, Soares used his office to help NXIVM pursue computer trespass charges against O’Hara, John Tighe, and Toni Natalie despite the computer server in question being located in Saratoga County, not Albany County, where Soares had jurisdiction.

Soares based the computer trespass charges on the three NXIVM enemies for allegedly accessing NXIVM’s password-protected website.

Soares’ assistant David Rossi contacted N.Y. State Police Senior Investigator Rodger Kirsopp to let him know that Soares was willing to have a Special District Attorney appointed to investigate O’Hara, Tighe and Natalie, citing a prior relationship with Clare Bronfman.

Despite knowing the server in question was located in Saratoga County, Kirsopp re-opened the investigation after Saratoga County DA and N.Y. State AG had both declined to bring charges against them.

Soares also brought in his former Chief ADA, Mike McDermott, now an attorney for NXIVM, along with other attorneys, Steve Coffey and Pam Nichols, to assist in the case.

Special DA Bruce Lennard was appointed to oversee the criminal charges against O’Hara, Tighe and Natalie but was replaced by Holly Trexler, another former member of Soares staff, when he failed to bring any charges against them.   Thereafter, Kirsopp met with NXIVM’s attorneys over 40 times during the course of his investigation.

On October 23, 2013, the NY State Police conducted early morning raids on the homes of O’Hara, Tighe and Natalie, seizing their computers and NXIVM-related materials.

At the same time, NXIVM pursued a civil lawsuit against O’Hara, Tighe and Natalie.

A judge dismissed the civil suit when he discovered Bronfman lied about the date she found the alleged trespass to keep it within the statute of limitations.

It was easy enough for the judge to determine the lie since Bronfman had alleged in her criminal complaint against the three defendants that she found out about it one year earlier.

The criminal charges coordinated by Soares, NXIVM’s attorneys, and Kirsopp, were also dismissed.

Citing his stance on criminal justice policies, Soares framed his write-in campaign as a fight against “party bosses.”