Prosecutors Slam NXIVM’S Keith Raniere Appeal for a New Trial – Sex Cult Guru Claims FBI ‘Planted’ Child Porn in His Hard Drive – Victim Camila Confirms Underage Pictures Were Taken by Him

62 year-old Keith Raniere was convicted in 2019 – and later sentenced to 120 years in prison – for his criminal activities as the ‘guru’ of multi-level marketing scam NXIVM and the disturbing secret society DOS, involved in the shocking practice of fire-branding its sex slaves in the groin area.

The saga of NXIVM became a cultural obsession in America, generating a flood of books, podcasts and TV series, like HBO’s ‘The Vow’.

The ‘Vanguard’ has filed an appeal – his third – for a new trial, claiming he has evidence showing the government ‘manufactured child pornography and planted it on a computer hard drive to tie it to him’.

New York Post reported:

“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’.”

Prosecutors detailed the evidence the FBI found in Raniere’s residence — including nude photos of his underage 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.

aa ‘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’.”

Investigative journalist Frank Parlato is widely considered to be the man who took down NXIVM with his hard-boiled and relentless reporting, and has been also covering Raniere’s  claims that the government ‘falsified, fabricated, and manipulated’ nude images of underage Camila – who did not testify at Raniere’s trial – and ‘planted it on a computer hard drive’ to convict him of child exploitation and child pornography – as predicate acts of racketeering.

Parlato wrote on his Frank Report:

“The DOJ’s opposition filing includes Camila’s declaration, stating, ‘I am the subject in each photograph, which were taken in 2005 by Keith Raniere’.”

Camila was 15 and Raniere was 45 in 2005, when, according to the DOJ, Camila was pictured lying naked in bed. Some of the pictures do not show her face but are closeups of her genitals.

“Camila said in her declaration, ‘I recognize my body, and I recall one of the poses he placed me in and where he was with the camera in relation to my body. I recognize the surroundings, and I remember the feelings of shame and confusion, not understanding why he was doing that to me’.”

Raniere’s began his sexual relationship with Camila in 2005 when she was 15 and her whole family relocated from Mexico to upstate New York, to follow the ‘teachings’ of the self-entitled ‘smartest man in the world’.

“‘The [prosecution’s] evidence included text messages referencing the beginning of their sexual relationship, the testimony of Camila’s sister, Daniela, who said Raniere admitted he had a sexual relationship with Camila when she was 16, and medical records suggest Camila began a relationship with Raniere when she was 16’.”

During his trial, Raniere’s lawyers never argued that law enforcement fabricated or planted the child pornography evidence, but maintained that Raniere kept the photos to himself and never shared them with anyone.

“In Camila’s declaration, she states she ‘vividly recalls’ being photographed by Raniere in 2005 and that it was an ‘unforgettably humiliating and degrading experience’.”

US District Court Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis will now determine whether he finds it necessary to hold an evidentiary hearing to evaluate the guru’s arguments, or else if he will immediately grant or reject the new trial request based on the filings.

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