Feds fight Nxivm sex cult leader Keith Raniere’s bid at new trial on claims FBI planted child porn on his computer
Federal prosecutors slammed convicted Nxivm sex cult leader Keith Raniere’s bid for a new trial — denouncing his claim that he has “newly discovered evidence” that proves the FBI planted evidence on his computer.
In a response filed Friday in Brooklyn federal court, prosecutors wrote that Raniere’s third attempt at securing a new trial — like his first two — was “entirely without merit,” adding that the motion should be denied as “untimely, unfounded, legally unsupported, and contrary to the evidence adduced at trial.”
When the 62-year-old sicko — who is serving a 120-year sex trafficking sentence — filed for a new trial in May 2022, he claimed he had unearthed evidence showing the government “manufactured child pornography and planted it on a computer hard drive to tie it to him,” according to court papers.
Raniere’s lawyers also said the feds “falsified, fabricated, and manipulated all the key evidence it used” to convict him of child exploitation and child porn.
Prosecutors, in the Friday filing, detailed the evidence the FBI found in Raniere’s Halfmoon, NY, residence — including nude photos of his first sex slave, Camila, who was around 15 years-old at the time.
“As proved at trial, in 2005, Raniere produced and possessed child pornography images of Camila, a child he was sexually abusing,” the court papers state.
Prosecutors also said any further evidentiary hearing was unnecessary.
“Raniere was entitled to a fair trial and he received one,” the filing states. “Raniere’s victims, including Camila, should now have the opportunity to obtain some measure of closure from the finality of Raniere’s conviction and sentence.”
The old pervert was convicted in June 2019 of an avalanche of crimes — including racketeering, sex trafficking and forced labor conspiracy — for running a master-slave group within the Albany-based self-help group Nxivm where women were forced to sleep with him and branded like cattle.
The twisted guru — who billed himself as a Ghandi for the wayward — was defiant until the end, insisting that his legions of accusers were all lying.
Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis ignored the claim, and said Raniere’s crimes were “cruel, perverse and extremely serious.”
Last week, Nancy Salzman, Nxivm’s co-founder, asked to be sprung from federal prison because her breast cancer may have returned.
Garaufis ordered that the 69-year-old be given an MRI in the next 30 days before he made a decision on whether to prematurely end her 42-month long sentence.
Another co-defendant in the case, “Smallville” actress Allison Mack, was released on July 5 from federal lockup after serving less than two years for her role in the group as a “sex master.”
She’d been sentenced in June 2021 to three years in prison after pleading guilty to her role.
But she was released early for good behavior.
