By Dianne Lipson
Today, the prosecution called FBI Special Agent Megan Rees. It was an extraordinary show.
Tanya Hajjar essentially played Keith Raniere and Rees played Cami, the DOS slave Raniere sexually exploited since she was 15.
It was almost like a stage play, at times, with FBI Agent Rees reading Cami’s texts and emails and Hajjar reading Raniere’s. [Cami is unavailable to testify. She is in Guadalajara Mexico, sadly, still a member of Nxivm]
Rees and Hajjar really put their feelings into it. There are hundreds of pages of chats on What’s App between Cami and Keith. Keith appears on these chats as “unknown caller”.
I will paraphrase some of the more piquant moments.
In a September 4, 2014 text, Keith writes to Cami, “I am so proud to have been your husband for 8.75 years.” [She would have been 15 in early 2006]
There was another September email from Camilla where she says “the full moon is tomorrow that will make it 34 full moons that we’ve been together.”
FBI agent Rees calculated that this meant they have been together since 2005 [when Cami was 15].
[In New York State the age of consent is 17].
Apparently, at one time, there was some romantic interaction between Camilla and Robbie Chiappone [the son of Esther Chiappone Carlson, a longtime follower of Raniere].
This drove Keith crazy with jealousy.
Keith [to Cami]: Do I deserve this from my partner? You’re not giving me what I deserve.
Keith is smarting and deeply upset about Cami’s affair with Robbie.
Keith: You need to be desirous of me. You need to sexually be more aggressive than you ever were.
Meantime, poor Keith is going crazy about Cami and Robbie. He wants Cami to tell Robbie she finds him disgusting.
Cami: I was insane to choose Robbie.
Keith is speaking of wanting Cami to not find Robbie attractive. Keith speaks of a hypothetical child, their baby. He says to Cami, so that she doesn’t ever touch him again, “I want you, Cami, [when you think of Robbie] to see our child crying out to stop you, ‘please, mommy don’t do it’, as you spread your legs. You should see our child saying, ‘please, please, mommy, don’t spread your legs.”
On and on it goes, tiny Keith so jealous, so small.
He accuses her of defiance. Cami says she feels she’s under attack.
Keith wants to know what she has done today, “in the name of love for me.”
He wants her to satisfy him. He is threatening to push her away if she doesn’t do what he wants which is to lose weight to get down to 100 pounds.
He says, “The extra weight hurts my heart physically when I am with you.”
He’s talking about Cami collateralizing her word. He wants her to lose five pounds a week.
She asks for help with her bulimia. He says “lose the weight first.”
There is a reference to the Victory Way condo [where refrigerator magnets spelled out obscene messages]. Keith tells her she needs to leave the condo if she doesn’t do what he says. And the doing what he says appears to be about Robbie.
Camilla: I’m crying.
Keith: You need to move out.
She wants to stay [She has nowhere to go and is in the country illegally.]
Keith: If you’re cooperative, cooperative enough.
Cami: I guess that’s it. I guess that’s it then goodbye,
Keith: Do something Camilla.
Cami: I don’t know what to do. I have disgraced you.
Keith: In the worst, deepest sense. Move out. You must leave there immediately and not come back. You either fix it [with Robbie] or leave and we’re done.
Keith wants to know exactly what Robbie did to her sexually.
Keith: Tell me what he did each of the five times right now.
Keith wants her to treat Robbie just as if he was a rapist and not like she had consented to their dalliance.
Cami: Okay, I’ll treat him like a rapist.
He demands her obedience. Camilla says this all feels scary and suffocating.
There’s a theme running through the chats. Camilla knows he is abusive. She’s expressing that, but each time it comes to actually breaking things off, she pulls back.
But Keith says he’s the victim. He is always the victim. He tells Cami that it’s “her pride” and he is the one “who was damaged.”
Cami says he’s asking her to do something she’s not comfortable doing.
Keith: You wanted to be my slave.
Cami complains she has to ask permission for everything, to text her family, to cut her hair. She says she hates asking for permission.
But she does ask for permission to “shave the kitty.”
“Whatever I take off I will save it for you,” she says.
Cami talks about depression.
Cami: You’ve taken away all of my life; you’ve branded me. I feel helpless and worthless. I feel dead inside.
Keith: You need to be happy whenever you are with me.
Then he threatens her to turn her out on the streets.
Keith: Take the vow and love me – or move out.
Cami: You’re heartless.
Keith: You’re heartless in your behavior in not fixing what you did.
Cami: You’re being cruel. I closed off my world. I have no friends because of you. Don’t abandon me.
Keith: If I don’t get what I want, I want you out.
Keith: You damaged me, cut out the victim stuff, Cami.
Cami: I will go peacefully. I never thought you were going to do this.
Finally, after getting verbally beaten up by Keith, she finally says “I will do whatever you say…. I have to do whatever you say. I don’t know why I’m scared.
Keith: You’re scared because you’re serious. You must be responsive to me at all times.
Cami: I don’t want to be that type of woman.
Keith: Do you want dignity, integrity and love?
There are many references to Camilla’s sisters in the texts and references to children.
[Cami babysat Galen – Keith’s secret son – and cared about him.]
Keith in referencing kicking her out, also says she will not be allowed to see Galen ever again.
Cami: Please don’t take Galen away. I was more with Galen than you ever were. You’re abusing your power. I feel like a prisoner. This is your kingdom. You forgot to mention that you would unleash your fear if I ever want to leave.
Keith says she’s playing the victim. And tells her she’s a monster. She has to prove she’s not a monster. She must look at it from his side.
There are references to domestic abuse. Cami almost called the domestic hotline. She called in and hung up before they answered. She told Keith about it. She said it was anonymous.
“I never connected with them,” she tells him.
Keith said she should find a slave [for him to fuck].
They discuss what he wants the slave to be like.
Keith: I want somebody to have character. They would have to prove their obedience or have to pass tests of loyalty.
Cami: I don’t like the whole domination thing.
At one point, Keith says, in relation to her looking for a sex slave for him.
“I suspect I’m a pretty sellable, a sellable guy.”
Then Keith asks Cami for more nude photos.
There’s somebody named Jim [Del Negro?] that Cami also had some kind of romantic interaction with.
Keith wants her to write a letter to Jim. And the draft of this letter goes back and forth between Cami and Keith. The draft says things like, “regarding our sexual contact, I felt forced. I felt forced to let you touch me. I only took off my bra so you wouldn’t hurt yourself not because I wanted it.”
Keith is trying to get Cami to make Jim feel like a rapist.
Though Keith accuses Cami of “being the abuser”, Cami says “I feel like you will hunt me down.”
She says she needs to satisfy him lovingly.
Keith: I earned my power by using it justly…. You give me nothing.
There is another email where she’s finally, really expressing herself.
[Remember all of this is being read by Agent Rees [as Cami] and Tanya Hajjar [As Keith].
Cami: I never wanted you to correct me; it angers me. It angers me that you do not uphold what you claim. It angers me that you said you would step aside if I want someone else. It angers me that you made me believe in fairy tales. It angers me that it’s all a lie. It angers me because of you I had to blame you and angers me because you abused me for having you blame me. It angers me because you took away my love. It angers me that you took away my life. It angers me that I contemplated suicide many times.”
Keith: If I really did start with you too young, I lose all authority over you upon which our relationship is based. If you had dropped your pride, I could have rehabilitated you. To get rid of your pride you must think of me as infallible in this area…. You need pain and humiliation. To get rid of your pride you must see me as infallible in this area.
And that’s where the morning ended.