NXIVM founder Keith Raniere’s evidence-tampering claim is in a motion before U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis , who has delayed ruling on it until the appeal has been ruled on. Meanwhile, the damning evidence of government malfeasance contained in the motion has elicited several retaliatory responses from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), the latest being his alleged impending transfer to another prison facility.
Raniere was convicted of all charges against him in June 2019, in a U.S District Court in New York. The seven counts against him included racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and attempted sex trafficking. The NXIVM founder was then sentenced to 120 years in prison.
Since the sentencing, Raniere has been incarcerated within the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson. Continuing a series of retaliatory moves by the BOP, Raniere is currently housed in the SHU, in “administrative segregation,” for more than 100 days for no apparent reason, he claims.
“This affidavit will describe and document, circumstances, punishments, and retaliation by BOP staff I have been subjected to in recent months.” Raniere said in a court filing by attorney Stacy Scheff in “support of my allegations against the BOP of retaliation and covering up numerous policy violations.”
During the week of October 23, 2022, Raniere alleges that during one visitation call with his attorneys, staff at USP Tucson told him they are recommending him for transfer to another BOP facility because he received too many legal visits. That “I am too much for this institution and my unit team and I need to go to a better equipped facility.”
Ms. Scheff filed a motion to prevent the transfer, writing, “Any transfer to another BOP institution will not only place Mr. Raniere in danger due to his charges and notoriety… Notorious prisoner Whitey Bulger was killed within 12 hours of being transferred to USP Hazelton in West Virginia.”
Raniere wrote in his affidavit, “Because of the high profile nature of my case, and the nature of my crimes of conviction, I believe this transfer will expose me to the likelihood of being assaulted or killed by other prisoners.”
Given the circumstances surrounding the threat of transfer – which only came two weeks after a group of respected professionals retained by Raniere, including attorney Alan Dershowitz and three former FBI examiners, held a press conference in support of the evidence tampering claim – Raniere believes there is reasonable cause to assume this move to remove him from the USP Tucson is the latest in a series of “clear retaliation from prison officials for my unpopular crimes of conviction, and my continued legal efforts to clear my name.”
Raniere’s latest statements were part of a filing by Scheff, who claims that BOP officials are retaliating against her client because he is fighting his convictions. The alleged misconduct claims by attorneys strike at the very core of the evidence underlying some of the most serious criminal convictions entered against Raniere – including for three underlying racketeering acts relating to child pornography, which the prosecution called the “heart” of their case..
Raniere’s evidence-tampering claims are in a separate motion that will not be addressed until a tribunal decides on his appeal, which is before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan. Plain evidence in the tampering case was established by a team of three digital forensic experts led by Richard Kiper, Ph.D., a highly regarded, retired FBI agent who once served as the unit chief of the digital forensic lab at Quantico.
Raniere’s appeal pending at the appellate court alleges serious, intentional, and significant constitutional violations and was filed prior to the discovery and filing of the evidence of FBI malfeasance.
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