The Frank Report

Some days, it’s just not worth getting out of bed.

And if you’re Keith Raniere, some days it’s just not worth getting out of your prison bunk at MDC.

Yesterday was one of those days…

First, came the news that Nancy Salzman, his original partner-in-crime in the NXIVM/ESP criminal enterprise, was going to plead guilty – and, in all likelihood, end up being one of the prosecution’s prime witnesses against him and his remaining co-defendants in the case of the U.S. v. Raniere Et Al.

Next, came a filing by the prosecution that exposes more of the evidence that it plans to introduce at his trial.

The new details were set forth in a Memorandum-of-Law that the prosecution filed yesterday in support of its pending motion to admit “certain racketeering evidence” in the case.

Before we get into the details, let me explain the legal context of this situation.

As readers of the Frank Report may recall, the First Count in the superseding indictment in this case – which, by the way, applies to all the defendants – is for “Racketeering Conspiracy”.

Commonly referred to as a “RICO charge”, the First Count involves various “predicate acts” that the prosecution alleges were undertaken as a part of a Racketeering Enterprise.

Well, simply put, it means that the prosecution can introduce evidence of other “crimes and bad acts” that the defendants did even if those activities are not part of the charges pending against them in this case.

Normally, such evidence would be barred as being prejudicial to the defendants in a criminal case. But, unfortunately for Raniere and his remaining co-defendants, it’s totally admissible in cases involving a RICO charge.

So, what are some of these “crimes and bad acts” that the prosecution wants to tell the jury about?

Here are some of the ones listed in yesterday’s filing...

• The defendants’ use of political strategists and lobbyists to illegally gain political influence – and to use that influence to have their perceived enemies indicted for crimes they did not commit or on the basis of false or misleading information (This was done to Frank Parlato, Joe O’Hara, Toni Natalie, Barbara Bouchey and John Tighe – and, quite possibly, several others).

• The recruitment and grooming of sexual partners for Raniere, both within and outside of DOS;

• Clare Bronfman’s “longstanding intimate relationship with Raniere”;

• The facilitation of Raniere’s sexual relationships with two underage victims: i.e., a 15-year-old girl who was employed by Nancy Salzman and who, ten years later, became one of Raniere’s first-line “slaves” in DOS – and a child whose sexual relationship with Raniere was known to, and facilitated by, members of the Racketeering Enterprise (The prosecution expects to introduce, among other sources of evidence, dated images of the victim, constituting child pornography, that were created and possessed by Raniere – and electronic communications between the victim and Raniere reflecting their sexual relationship and indicating that it began when she was 15-years old);