Although the ultimate decision will be made by Judge G. Garaufis, it now looks almost certain that there will be two trials with respect to the charges that are currently pending against some of the defendants in the case of the U.S. v. Raniere Et Al.
That’s because the prosecution has now agreed that Counts Three, Four, Five and Eleven from the second superseding indictment in the case should be “dismissed without prejudice for lack of venue”.
Once again, for the sake of all those Frank Report readers who have not yet totally memorized the second superseding indictment, here’s what those four counts entail – and which of the defendants are involved in those charges:
• Count Three: Sexual Exploitation Of A Child – Jane Doe 2 (Keith Raniere)
• Count Four: Sexual Exploitation Of A Child – Jane Doe 2 (Keith Raniere)
• Count Five: Possession Of Child Pornography (Keith Raniere)
• Count Eleven: Conspiracy To Commit Identity Theft Regarding Jane Doe 7 (Keith Raniere, Clare Bronfman & Others)
As was pointed out in the lengthy Memorandum-of-Law that it filed in response to all of the defendants’ pre-trial motions, the prosecution never asserted that those four counts could be tried in the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) unless the defendants granted a waiver of venue.
Now, since the affected defendants did not grant such a waiver, those four charges will likely be tried in the Northern District of New York (NDNY) after the current case in the EDNY has been fully resolved.
It is not yet clear what the process will be in terms of re-initiating the dismissed counts against Raniere and Bronfman.
But from the wording in the Memorandum-of-Law, it sounds like the process will start anew in the NDNY – most likely with the presentation of the relevant facts to a grand jury that will have the power to indict Raniere and Bronfman for the exact same crimes that are being dismissed in the EDNY.
The question, of course, is whether the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the NDNY will stop with those two defendants – and those four crimes – when it FINALLY gets off its collective ass and get involved in matters involving the NXIVM/ESP sex-slave cult.
For almost 20 years, the NDNY has sat on its hands – and allowed NXIVM/ESP to evolve from a kinky little group with some strange rites and rituals into a criminal enterprise that has been involved in a variety of serious crimes in several countries.
Had the NDNY got involved back in 2005 when it was first provided with hard evidence about many of NXIVM/ESP’s criminal activities, there might not be 150 women walking around today with Keith Raniere’s initials branded on their pussies.
And there might not have been bogus criminal prosecutions brought against Toni Natalie, Joe O’Hara and John Tighe for allegedly accessing the website of the NXIVM/ESP cult by using a former members’ User Name and Password (Barbara Bouchey was charged with the same crime because for some unknown reason, she chose to access the NXIVM/ESP website four months after the New York State Police had seized all of the computers owned by Natalie, O’Hara, and Tighe for doing the same thing).
And there might not have been all the illegal immigration activities that ended up with so many foreign nationals living in the Clifton Park area.
And Raniere may not have raped underage girls.
And on and on…
*****
But now the NDNY has a “second chance” to get it right.
Now headed up by Grant C. Jaquith, who took over as the U.S. Attorney on July 1, 2017, the NDNY can easily make up for his office’s years of inaction with respect to NXIVM/ESP.
And the NDNY need not limit itself to the four counts that have been dropped in the EDNY.
Although Raniere and Bronfman cannot be charged again with Racketeering and Racketeering Conspiracy – at least not with respect to the predicate acts that were used to support those charges in the EDNY – there are plenty of other potential defendants within 25 miles of Jaquith’s office who are definitely candidates for those charges.
And what about all the public officials – like Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares, Albany County Judge Peter A. Lynch, Albany City Judge Holly Trexler, New York State Senior Investigator Rodger Kirsopp, and a whole lot more – who aided and abetted the NXIVM/ESP criminal enterprise over the years.
Let’s see if you can get it right this time, Mr. Jaquith.
We’ll be watching – and we’ll be reporting – every step of the way on what you do and don’t do.
The post Breaking News: TWO TRIALS In The Bronfman-Raniere Case – Northern District to start with child porn and child exploitation! – Investigation may widen!!! appeared first on Artvoice.