Expert cybercrime analysts for a convicted sex trafficker say evidence for some of the most shocking charges against him was tampered with and placed on storage drives that were said to be in the secure custody of the FBI, according to court documents.
NXIVM sex cult founder Keith Raniere, 64, is serving a 120-year sentence in a federal prison in Tuscon, Arizona. Prosecutors said he recruited women and girls into a sex cult disguised as a self-help organization. He had an ‘inner circle’ of ‘slaves’ and ‘masters’. Some women burned Raniere’s initials on their bodies. Prosecutors allege he held a house servant captive in a room for nearly two years.
One survivor, India Oxenberg, told the FOX News True Crime Podcast she suffered “dehumanizing” treatment, including “repeated molestation and rape” before she and her mother escaped the cult.
The FBI declined to comment when reached by Fox News Digital.
SELF-HELP GROUP NXIVM FOUNDER KEITH RANIERE SENTENCED TO 120 YEARS FOR SEX TRAFFICKING
Keith Raniere, the ex-leader of NXIVM, was convicted in 2019 of seven charges, including racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and attempted sex trafficking. (YouTube)
In addition to the abuse against adult victims, federal prosecutors charged that Raniere was 45 and that a child victim, identified only as “Camila,” was 15 when he took photos of her and sexually assaulted her.
Raniere’s lead attorney, Joseph Tully, told Fox News Digital that the evidence used to convict his client of the “most heinous” charges — child pornography and child exploitation — was “demonstrably” falsified and planted by the FBI.
“If I could just hold a hearing, I could show the world that, as outrageous as it seems, this tampering took place, and it did so while in the custody of the FBI,” he said.
At issue are dozens of photos on a memory card and hard drive that defense experts say have had their time stamps altered, making it appear as if a young woman was under the age of consent at the time they were taken. Between April 2019 and June 2019, additional photos reportedly appeared on the FBI forensic reportaccording to court documents.
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Alan Dershowitzthe prominent constitutional lawyer, is not part of Raniere’s team but consulted with his lawyers after learning of the FBI’s malfeasance allegations.
He told Fox News Digital that if Raniere’s experts are right, it would amount to “a staggering act of government misconduct.” If the allegations turn out to be true, it could affect other cases.
The NXIVM Executive Success Programs sign outside the office at 455 New Karner Road on April 26, 2018 in Albany, NY Keith Raniere, founder of NXIVM, was arrested by the FBI in Mexico in March 2018. (Amy Luke/Getty Images)
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He said the late introduction of charges involving a child tipped the scales in the prosecution’s favor.
“They had what they called a very, very, very weak case against the defendant, very weak. He could have easily won the case, and then at the last minute they ‘discovered’ a photo of a woman, naked, who they claim was underage,” he told Fox News Digital in an interview. “If you now introduce anything into evidence involving an underage female, the case is over.”
Another defendant answered almost immediately a plea dealhe said. Four other co-defendants ultimately also chose to plead.
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But defense experts now say in a series of affidavits filed in federal court last month that the photos were taken when the woman was of legal age and then tampered with to make it appear as if they were taken earlier.
“Why wouldn’t we have a hearing? And this doesn’t just concern Mr. Raniere. It concerns every American,” Dershowitz said. “If you have anyone in prison who is there as a result of government tampering with evidence, it’s the Soviet Union. It’s Iran. It’s China. It’s not the United States of America.”
Clare Bronfman, heiress to Seagram’s liquor empire, arrives for a hearing on charges related to the Albany-based organization NXIVM at the U.S. federal courthouse in Brooklyn, NY, July 25, 2018. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the defense experts’ findings. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, which handled the case, declined to comment. A response is not due in court until January 27.
It’s unclear why the FBI or federal prosecutors would have framed Raniere, but Tully, who wrote a 2018 book about corruption in the criminal justice system, said his client had extremely wealthy enemies and was simply unpopular.
“They wanted to ‘get’ him,” he told Fox News Digital. ‘If the popular kid at school wants to make one of the poorer kids with holes in his shoes the laughing stock of the school, they will. And that kind of human behavior doesn’t change when those kids grow up and get their law. degree and want to become a prosecutor.”
Newsweek first reported the allegations in late December, but Raniere still has not received a hearing nearly a month later.
Actress Allison Mack arrives at the Eastern District Court of the United States on May 4, 2018, following a bail hearing on sex trafficking charges filed against her in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The actress, known for her role in ‘Smallville’, was accused of sex trafficking along with alleged cult leader Keith Raniere. (Jemal Gravin/Getty Images)
“And the government is desperate for a hearing,” Dershowitz said. “They don’t want the public record to show that seven experts, including some who worked for the FBI and use them to convict people, are now saying evidence was tampered with.”
Raniere’s lawyers ask for a new trial. In a lawsuit, they alleged that the “government knowingly used falsified evidence to secure a conviction” based on the conclusions of seven of their experts.
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Raniere billed himself as a wellness guru, and his program attracted prominent women to his orbit, including actress Allison Mack and Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman, both of whom were convicted of lesser charges. Critics called NXIVM a cult that was all about it sex trafficking and abuse.
A central allegation in the racketeering case against Raniere was that he had a sexual relationship with “Camila,” the alleged 15-year-old girl. He was sentenced to 120 years in prison.
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Dr. Richard Kiper, a leading expert and former FBI agent who specialized in cybersecurity and digital evidence, wrote in a 59-page affidavit that while reviewing the case for the defense, he “discovered specific actions taken to manually to amend” and support the plaintiff’s claims.
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“In my 20 years as an FBI agent, I have never observed or alleged that any FBI employee has tampered with evidence, digital or otherwise,” he wrote. “But in this case, I strongly believe that the multiple, deliberate changes to the digital information that I have discovered constitute evidence tampering.”
