NEW YORK – Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say privileged documents in the email account of Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman should no longer be shrouded in secrecy because NXIVM’s own lawyers and a judge have declared the cult-like organization defunct.

On April 4, U.S. Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon denied the prosecution’s request to have access to the documents, ruling that NXIVM was not defunct and could still assert attorney-client and work-product privileges to shield the documents from disclosure. Senior U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis upheld the decision.

But now that lawyers connected to NXIVM say the company is no longer in operation, the U.S. Attorney's office is arguing the prior protections should no longer apply.

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NXIVM leader Keith Raniere, 59, known as "Vanguard," was convicted in June of all racketeering, sex trafficking and forced labor charges following a two-month federal trial in Brooklyn. His five co-defendants, including Bronfman, NXIVM’s director of operations, pleaded to various criminal charges before Raniere, formerly of Halfmoon, went to trial. Raniere faces a possible life sentence in January.

On Nov. 22, Assisant U.S. Attorney Tanya Hajjar asked Garaufis, who presided over the trial, to reconsider his affirmation of Scanlon’s ruling.

The prosecutor said in the months since Scanlon issued her April 4 decision, “attorneys for NXIVM have filed sworn declarations stating that NXIVM is no longer in operation and that they are unable to contact any representative of NXIVM,” according to her court filing.

Hajjar highlighted an Aug. 26 decision by U.S. District Judge Katharine Hayden, who ordered NXIVM to pay more than $1.3 million to Intefor, an investigative firm NXIVM hired in 2004 to dig up dirt on Rick Ross, head of the Cult Education Institute. NXIVM sued Ross the previous year.

In the decision, Hayden stated that “NXIVM is no longer in operation.”

In her motion to Garaufis, Hajjar included paperwork showing that a former NXIVM attorney, Robert Crockett, withdrew as a lawyer for NXIVM earlier this fall along with an associate, Chase Tajim. Neither said they had recent contact with any present NXIVM members.

“The Crockett Firm does not expect to receive any instructions or direction because, as noted by this Court, ‘NXIVM is no longer in operation,’” a sworn statement said.

Garaufis referred Hajjar's motion to Scanlon. On Nov. 26, Scanlon ruled that anyone opposing the government's effort to seek the documents in Bronfman's email may file so by Dec. 11.

In June, following Raniere’s conviction, Boston-based NXIVM attorney Michael Sullivan told the Times Union NXIVM remained "an entity, a legal entity.”

NXIVM president Nancy Salzman, who pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and awaits sentencing, has agreed to forfeit more than $515,000 seized during an FBI raid as well as of NXIVM-linked properties in the Knox Woods townhouse development in Halfmoon neighborhood where Raniere and almost two dozen NXIVM members lived.