Where is Nancy Salzman’s sentencing memorandum?
Apparently, Nancy Salzman’s attorneys did file her sentencing memorandum by 5:00 PM on August 30th, thereby meeting the deadline.
However, as of press time, it is nowhere to be found on PACER.
The sentencing memorandum, along with five other NXIVM case-related filings – which could be filings related to any of the six defendants in USA v Raniere et al – are also missing.
The six NXIVM defendants : Top row l-r: Kathy Russell, Keith Raniere, Nancy Salzman. Bottom row: Allison Mack, Lauren Salzman, Clare Bronfman.
There is a gap on PACER from filing 1098 to filing 1102. Salzman’s sentencing memorandum, in which her attorneys argue she should get leniency when she is sentenced on September 8th – and which will be accompanied by letters of support from friends and family members – among the missing.
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Also, oddly enough, the daily calendar for U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis – who be sentencing Nancy on September 8th – currently has nothing scheduled for that day.
Though we have seen no evidence that the sentencing of Nancy Salzman will be postponed, the online calendar of Judge Garuafis remains completely clear for the date of September 8.***
PACER is the federal court system where attorneys can electronically file any documents realted to cases they are working on. Except for documents that are filed “under seal”, any filings on PACER are available to any member of the general public who has a PACER account.
For four days, speculation was rife as to whether her attorneys had filed the sentencing memorandum on a timely basis.
Today, we found proof that they did so.
The following letter appeared on PACER mid-afternoon today – indicating it had been filed earlier today by Salzman’s attorney, Robert Soloway.
“Re: United States v Nancy Salzman 18 Cr. 204 (NGG)
“Together with David Stern, I represent Nancy Salzman in the above-captioned matter. We respectfully request leave to re-file our August 30, 2021 sentence submission to correct formatting errors which occurred without our awareness in the conversion of the document to PDF, and to add one letter to “Exhibit A – Family Letters,” which was left out of our filing by oversight.
“We also correct in the text at page 2 the number of letters in Exhibit A from six to seven. Finally, one typographical error in Footnote 5, in which the word “which” appears twice in a row by mistake, has been corrected.
“In each and every respect, other than as specifically set forth herein, the letter is identical to that filed on August 30, and we respectfully request that the letter being filed this date be substituted in the record for that which was filed by our office on August 30.
“Thank you very much for your attention to this matter.
“Sincerely,
“Robert A. Soloway”
Nancy Salzman was as happy as a Cheshire cat who had eaten a bird when she emerged from her guilty plea on a single charge of racketeering. She is accompanied by her attorneys David Stern ‘l] and Robert Soloway ]r].
Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis granted the attorney’s request today as follows on the docket : “Defendant Nancy Salzman’s [1103] request to re-file her August 30, 2021 sentencing submission is GRANTED. Ordered by Judge on 9/3/2021. (Kelly, Sean)”
Though one legal source familiar with the case said he suspects the original sentencing memorandum was filed under seal, this does not explain why a previous record of it being filed under seal does not exist.
Per the “Guide To Filing Sealed Documents and Motions”, Nancy’s attorneys should have asked permission to file her setencing memorandum under seal. And the judge’s decision to allow them to do so – or not to do so – should have been noted on the public record.
Here is the exact wording from the Guide: “The Court’s order ruling on the Motion for Leave to File Under Seal will not be sealed from public view.”
But there is no record of Judge Garaufis issuing an order granting permission for the sentencing memorandum to be filed under seal.
And since it was filed and will merely be amended via today’s actions, it remains to be seen if the revised version will appear on PACER.
The fact that it was filed suggests that the sentencing will go on as scheduled for Wednesday.
“One of the important reasons for a public filing of the document is that the victims who intend to speak have the right to know what she and her attorneys claim in the sentencing memorandum in case they wish to contradict it,” said FR legal correspondent K.R. Claviger.
If the sentencing memorandum was filed under seal, it is unclear why there is no notice of it on Pacer and why Judge Garaufis did not mention it in his order today.
The court has guidelines on filing under seal.
Sentencing memorandums are not normally filed under seal, though it is common to redact portions of them where health or other sensitive information is revealed to the court.
The prosecution’s sentencing memorandum on Salzman was NOT filed under seal. In it, the prosecution recommended Salzman spend 41 months or more in prison.
Based on their recommendation, unless she has compelling evidence of repentance or new evidence of cooperation with the prosecution, Nancy is like going to be sentenced to prison and may possibly be remanded to custody following sentencing.
Her daughter, Lauren Salzman, got probation from the judge for two racketeering related counts, while mother Nancy, the first to take plea bargain, pleaded guilty to only one crime – racketeering conspiracy.
In their sentencing memorandum for Lauren, the prosecution recommended leniency because she cooperated with the government in convicting Raniere.
Lauren was singled out for praise by the prosecution because she gave evidence of crimes against her “close friends, family members and even her own mother.”
It is not believed that Nancy offered any such cooperation.
What we did learn from the request to refile the sentencing memorandum is that Nancy has seven letters from family members.
Speculation was rife this week when the memorandum was not seen publicly [all other sentencing memorandums on behalf of defendants in the case were filed publicly rather than under seal – and some had a few redaxted sections] that maybe Nancy made a last minute deal with prosecutors to inform on Keith Raniere of other crimes.
Nancy Salzman has aged considerably in recent years and has undergone twin radical mastectomies in addition to the stress of being arrested, convicted and spending three years on house arrest.
Among things she might know about but has not spoken publicly about are:
What happened to Kristin Snyder, who disappeared from a NXIVM class in 2003 and has never been heard from again?
What really happened to Gina Hutchinson, the woman who was found dead with a gunshot wound to her heard, a former girlfriend of Raniere’s?
Where is Pam Cafritz’s body?
Did any public officials or law enforcement officers accept bribes to prosecute NXVM enemies?
Did Raniere order the planting of child porn on John Tighe’s computer or bribe state officials to “find” it there?
What was the true extent of the NXIVM investigation into federal judges and other officials, evidence of which was discovered by the FBI in boxes in her home?
Is there more cash lying around hidden other than then $520,000 in cash found in her home?
Where is the collateral located on the DOS slaves and potentially other compromising information?
What did Raniere do with Camila when she was 15, as corroborated of Camila’s own statements?
To what extent were drugs and sedatives administered to students when they became unruly other than the one instance that Lauren Salzman admitted to giving to one surreptitiously?
What does she know about the smuggling of money from Mexico and who was involved in this illegal operation?
What does she know about the numerous Mexicans who were brought into the U.S. illegally or who stayed here lomg after their visas had expired?
It is interesting that among the Assistant US Attorneys involved in this case is Kevin Trowel whose work seems focused on public corruption, something that has yet to be prosecuted.
According to one source, the investigation into the NXIVM criminal syndicate is not completed and it remains an open case.
