Keith Raniere is a liar.
That’s what Chief Judge Barbara MG Lynn of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, wrote in a decision last September.
In 2015, Raniere, represented by Robert Crockett, brought suit against Microsoft and AT&T claiming he invented teleconferencing in 1995 and that Microsoft and AT&T were using his invention without paying him.
Raniere said he was the owner of five patents owned by a defunct company called Global Technologies, Inc. (GTI) and submitted to the court a “contract” which Raniere created himself in 2014, wherein Raniere, claiming he owned GTI, and on behalf of GTI (which had been dissolved 20 years earlier) transferred the company-owned patents to Raniere personally.
Microsoft’s counsel argued the newly-created contract was not evidence that Raniere ever owned GTI and absent proof he owned GTI he had no standing to make the lawsuit in the first place.
Raniere had no proof he ever owned GTI – like stock certificates or department of state filings in his name or any evidence of ownership of GTI.
But Raniere got the court’s permission to issue a subpoena on an attorney in the State of Washington in order to obtain his files that “show, or will show” Raniere owned GTI and therefore could legally transfer company patents to himself.
When the subpoenaed files arrived, they, unfortunately, failed to show Raniere owned GTI.
A motion to dismiss was made by ATT&T and Microsoft.
Raniere opposed it, claiming the files refreshed his memory and he ‘remembered’ that his ex-girlfriend, Toni Natalie owned GTI, and a “side letter” she signed in 1995 showed she held GTI ownership “in trust” for him.
Asked to provide the side letter, Raniere said the side letter was lost.
Raniere then remembered that Natalie signed another contract which transferred her GTI ownership to him in 2000. When asked to provide that contract, Raniere admitted that that contract also, lamentably, was lost.
By this time the judge concluded Raniere’s testimony was “untruthful” and based on his awakened memory, it was obvious that the 2014 contract he submitted to the court where he said he was the owner of GTI was fraudulent, and created solely to deceive the court.
She dismissed the case.
AT&Ts legal fees and costs in defending the lawsuit was $935,300; Microsoft’s legal fees and costs were $202,000. Both companies brought a motion for sanctions against Raniere and a hearing was held on August 15, 2016.
Raniere admitted he lied to the court but argued that his representations to the court were “an immaterial lie on an immaterial matter” which “did not rise to the level or contempt or perjury” but was “zealous pursuit of his good faith claim of ownership” and asked the court to delay ruling on sanctions while he appealed the case.
Judge Lynn didn’t buy it.
She wrote, Raniere’s “conduct throughout this litigation, culminating in his untruthful testimony … demonstrates a pattern of obfuscation and bad faith…. Plaintiff created [a] document that contained false statements of fact regarding his ownership of GTI. … made false and misleading representations to Defendants and the Court that resulted in… significant legal fees incurred in defending this action.… engaged in a pattern of obfuscation, offering inconsistent theories and arguments and promising to produce evidence that never materialized [and] complicated the Court’s examination … by submitting the false … document …. This deplorable conduct constitutes an abuse of the judicial process and warrants an imposition of sanctions.”
Implying she might have had Raniere prosecuted for contempt or perjury, Judge Lynn added, ”An award of fees is the least severe sanction adequate to deter similar conduct by Plaintiff in the future and to preserve the integrity of the Court” and ordered the habitually untruthful Raniere to pay Microsoft and ATT&T their more than $1 million in legal fees and costs.
Clare Bronfman, who quite possibly funded the litigation, and paid the $1 million in sanctions as well, wrote on her blog, “Keith is my teacher and my best friend” and “I hope to transform many injustices existing in the world, including bringing to light the truth regarding Keith Raniere.”
This publication is doing its best to aid Clare Bronfman in bringing to light the truth regarding Keith Raniere with the firm belief that many injustices will indeed be transformed when more light is shone upon him and his behavior.
Judge Lynn brought some light of truth regarding Keith Raniere when she called him a liar.
