Times Union Urges US Attorney NDNY to Take Action Against Nxivm

In Featured, News, NXIVM

On May 11, during the first week of the trial of Keith Alan Raniere, the Albany Times Union, the newspaper that did so much to report the misdeeds of the scoundrel, published an editorial that deserves to be read by all readers of Frank Report – and, I might add, by, hopefully, the US Attorney for the Northern District of New York.

His name is Grant C. Jaquith. He has been with the US Attorney’s office since 1989, when Raniere was just getting started with his Consumer Buyline crimes in the Albany area.

Raniere started Nxivm in 1998 – also in the Albany area.

Jaquith became Chief of the Criminal Division from 2006-2010, which is when Raniere’s Nxivm crime organization was nearing its heyday in the Albany area.

Jaquith rose to First Assistant U.S. Attorney in 2010 and remained in that position until 2017. During this time period, Raniere was at his peak of criminality, creating DOS, [in the Albany area] and having gotten most of his enemies indicted – including Joe O’Hara, John Tighe, Toni Natalie and myself.

Jaquith became acting-US Attorney in July 2017, one month after I broke the story that Raniere was branding and blackmailing women.

He became US Attorney on January 5, 2018, two and half months before Raniere was arrested.

Jaquith is a career prosecutor.  He might become famous too if he takes on the Nxivm case and finishes the business the US Attorney for the Eastern District of NY [EDNY] has begun.

There are hundreds of crimes committed by Raniere and his confederates, such as Emiliano Salinas, Sara Bronfman, Clare Bronfman, and other headline names – in the Northern District – that have not been charged.

Which leads us back to the editorial in the Times Union.  A lot of people in law enforcement and the public have wondered why the NDNY never touched Raniere despite 95 percent of the alleged crimes being committed in their district.

Why did the EDNY have to do the work of taking down this cult, headquartered in Albany – smack in the center of the NDNY?

The TU’s editorial is germane, on point and important.

Editorial: The odd case of NXIVM – Times Union

Here are some excerpts:

… As sordid testimony unfolded last week in a Brooklyn courtroom about a supposed self-help group based in Colonie, you might have wondered why the trial isn’t happening here, and why it didn’t occur years ago, when questions about NXIVM came to light.

Good question. Why NXIVM founder Keith Raniere is only now being tried in the federal Eastern District of New York, which includes Brooklyn, and not the Northern District, which covers the Capital Region, is a lingering mystery. Officials here didn’t merely drop the ball; they never even picked it up.

Times Union reporter James Odato broke many stories about crimes that Keith Raniere and Nxivm were engaged in, but law enforcement in the Albany area did nothing in response to those revelations.

That something was seriously wrong at NXIVM was apparent at least as early as 2012, when a Times Union series exposed Mr. Raniere’s alleged abuse of young girls and claims that NXIVM was, as one expert put it, an “extreme cult,” using relentless litigation funded by Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman and other tactics to intimidate and punish critics….

At all levels, federal, state and local, the government for years seems to have shrugged off NXIVM defectors whose stories were told by this newspaper and others. What response did we see from federal prosecutors in the Northern District, or from the FBI, the New York attorney general, district attorney offices in Albany and Saratoga counties, the New York State Police and the Internal Revenue Service?

Even after a blog [Frank Report] in Western New York reported that doctors had branded women with Mr. Raniere’s initials as part of a “master-slave” club and had done unsanctioned brain activity experiments, the state Department of Health was slow to respond…

Regardless of the outcome in Brooklyn, the criminal justice system here should pursue those matters. U.S. Attorney Grant Jaquith, in particular, has a chance to do what his predecessors failed to do: assure the victims of these alleged crimes that the system works for all, regardless of wealth, celebrity, or whatever it was that for too long tipped the scales of justice the wrong way.

***

It could not have been said better.

This kind of public pressure, by the leading publication in the Northern District – the Albany Times Union – may not go unnoticed – by the US Attorney. He almost certainly has read it.

His office must be experiencing a degree of embarrassment and chagrin over the fact that the big boys [and girls] in Brooklyn had to do the hard work that the little fellas in the Northern District were just not big enough or smart or tough enough to handle.

But now that the EDNY has smashed Nxivm down to size, the Northern District might be able to step up to the plate and finish the business of bringing justice to the many victims of Nxivm and its criminal leader Keith Raniere – and his confederates – even some of those who they perhaps once considered too big to touch – like Salinas and Sara and Clare Bronfman.

They should not get away with their crimes just because they are rich, powerful and famous.

While Lauren Salzman [l] got indicted [and pleaded guilty, a much larger criminal Emiliano Salinas, son of the top crime boss in Mexico – got away scot-free – at least for now. Will the NDNY get up the gumption to prosecute him for his many crimes in the Albany area?
Sara Bronfman funded the monster and signed off on destroying his enemies by hook and mostly by crook. Will she get to hide out in France untouched by US justice?

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13 commentsOn Times Union Urges US Attorney NDNY to Take Action Against Nxivm

  • Clare Bronfman strikes me as being an incredibly sinister individual, and knowing criminal. She shouldn’t be allowed to buy her way out of the consequences of her actions. To allow her to go and chill out on her private island, surrounded by flunkies, is the worst possible outcome in my opinion. She should go to jail, because she knowingly broke the law on many occasions.

    • paul this is how nys rolls you pay to play shes just another player they tap

      we dont get to vote we get our votes shredded….when 250,000 folks were purged off the rolls latitia james was our public advocate….now she is NYS AG <===rewarded for inept inadequacy ooo and REBNY darlin to boot

  • Year after year the government authorities in New York state, Albany County, Saratoga County, the State
    Attorney General, the State Department of Health and even the NDNY of the Department of Justice have punted the ball away on NXIVM.

    Now that the Clinton Crime Family, the de facto bosses of the New York State Democratic party, have been implicated in NXIVM with illegal campaign contributions from Clare Bronfman and rumors of BJ Bill himself lobbying the DOJ on behalf of Emiliano Salinas, does anyone expect the State of New York to turn over a new leaf-

    Does a Leopard change its spots-

    The Clintons want to establish a political dynasty in New York with Chelsea herself one day becoming US Senator.

    It sure would be nice for Chelsea to have covert access to Mexican money funneled through the generous hands of a compliant NXIVM cult working as an adjunct to the Democratic party.

  • I hope the DA can be shamed into taking action. The publicity surrounding the present trial may do the trick. The upcoming HBO expose could help. The sex scandal aspect that the trial is highlighting, the abuse of women, gives the whole business a currency (and to be honest a prurient shock value) that can bring national attention, and just might force NDNY to prosecute.

    • It’s not going to happen with a small town rag and an obscure TV show. EVERYBODY who has experience with NXIVM should be pounding on the doors of the DA, FBI, DOJ, local and national media, etc., as well as starting a website, or better yet, putting it here, that collects all of the documentation for all to see. Otherwise, NXIVM will be just one more disaster that goes under-prosecuted.

  • Albany County Defense Attorney With Big Ears

    Most local defense attorneys consider Grant Jaquith to be a bureaucrat rather than a law enforcement leader. Thus far, he’s been content to focus most of his office’s resources on drug cases and the occasional public integrity case.

    I’m not sure that Grant has the fortitude (AKA the balls) to take on a very weakened Nxivm, let alone take on some of the local law enforcement officials who turned a blind eye to the cult’s illegal activities. And as for those local law enforcement officials who actually aided and abetted the Nxivm cult – I’m talking about you, Andrew Vale; and you, David Soares; and you, Karen Heggen; and you, Rodger Kirsopp – forget about it. Just ain’t going to happen.

    • Until the so-called investigators are investigated and prosecuted, then there will be no actual justice

  • This TU article is quite self-serving. Instead of including information that would demonstrate teamwork and help people get more information so they can learn more and speak out, the TU decided to shine the light only on themselves:

    1. NXIVM is not an “odd case,” it is typical of many cases. Just go to the New York Post and read the outlandish stories that scroll across the top every day.
    2. Something was seriously wrong LONG before the TU story in 2012, the 2003 Forbes article, the NXIVM Nine in 2009, etc. But TU wanted to only toot their own horn.
    3. They mentioned “… this newspaper and othes….” but failed to name the others.
    4. Then they mentioned “…a blog in Western New York….” which is obviously THIS website, but didn’t help lead others to the tremendous amount of information available.
    5. Then they mentioned “…an actress….” without naming her or how she went public, which was Edmondson and the New York Times.
    6. It is true NXIVM only got significant attention, including on this website, only AFTER Edmondson showed her scar on the NYT, because most people couldn’t care less if it’s not about a celebrity and/or there’s not a picture/video.
    7. Instead of putting the pressure on the NDNY and stating the charges were SHIFTED to the them from the EDNY, they instead chose to use the legal term and stating the charges were DROPPED.

    Other than that, great article.

  • Interesting article. This checks out and should be very big but not a whimper on any mainstream news.

    Keep up the good work.

  • It’s a sign of the times:

    The ineffectiveness of the Times Union to motivate local politicians and bureaucratic officials, as well the general public, to take action against NXIVM is a sign of the times.

    It took the New York Times and its multimedia arm pushing the sensationalized branding story to motivate the federal government to take action.

    If the Nytimes never published the branding story Keith Raniere would still be “ensconced” in upstate New York……

    …….. and we would all still be debating the conspiracies and corruption allowing Raniere to go on unfettered…..

    • It’s rather like the bad old days of Tammany Hall, and the million dollar staircase in the Albany statehouse – or Teapot Dome on the national scene. We’re sort of reverting to the 19th century, but a lot of people have been pining for the supposed “good old days” apparently without having learned the lessons of history, so beware what you wish for….

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