Brooklyn, NY– The US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, through Assistant US Attorney Tanya Hajjar, filed a memorandum of law in opposition to Keith Raniere’s Rule 33 motion for a new trial in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Raniere’s Rule 33 motion claims the government “falsified, fabricated, and manipulated” 22 nude images of Camila to make it appear she was 15, then “planted it on a computer hard drive” to falsely convict him of child exploitation, and child pornography – as predicate acts of racketeering.
Camila, 33, did not testify at Raniere’s 2019 trial.
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.
According to the DOJ, Camila was shown the 22 photographs, which depict her lying naked in bed. Some of them 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.”
During the 2019 trial, the DOJ alleged the FBI found the child pornography images on a Western Digital Hard Drive seized at Raniere’s executive library in Half Moon, New York.
AT Raniere’s trial, the DOJ called FBI Senior Forensic Examiner Brian Booth, who testified that the metadata showed that the digital images were created in 2005 with a Canon camera and stored on a Lexar camera card.
Canon Camera
EOS 20D….
Later, someone transferred the images to a Dell computer, which the FBI did not find.
Later, someone backed up the images on a Western Digital hard drive, where the FBI found them.
FBI Forensic Examiner Trainee Virginia Donnelly’s photograph of the hard drive.
Camera to camera card to computer to hard drive is how the child porn images….
Raniere’s Rule 33 motion relies on a report by retired FBI special agent and forensic examiner J. Richard Kiper Phd.
Kiper claims the child porn photographs and other nude photos of adult women the FBI found on the hard drive have “all the hallmarks of fraud” because anomalies in the metadata show they were not part of a “legitimate automated backup” to the hard drive, and all the anomalies “happen to align with the government’s narrative.”
Among the anomalies is that the child porn and other files have a “created” date of 2003 – one year before Canon manufactured the camera that took the photos.
One photo on the hard drive has an Adobe Photoshop filter, but the same creation date and last modified date, which is impossible because the camera does not have Photoshop.
In addition, there were anomalies on the camera card found inside the camera, including “impossibly” swapped thumbnail photos of an adult blonde [Angel] and adult brunette [Daniela] on the same file on the hard drive and some 30 plus new images found on a second FBI forensic report on the camera card which were not on the first FBI report.
Lexar camera card
In its opposition papers, the DOJ submitted a declaration by FBI Senior Computer Scientist David Loveall II, who, while admitting the metadata had anomalies, including a “creation date” before Canon manufactured the camera, argued there were other plausible explanations which Kiper “repeatedly ignores … in favor of allegations of tampering.”
Loveall claimed that digital forensic tools that recovered deleted files can “routinely produce results like those observed here.”
Loveall claims the new files on the second report result from different configurations and setting options.
At trial, the government presented evidence that Raniere began a sexual relationship with Camila in 2005 when she was 15.
The 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 did not argue that law enforcement fabricated or planted child pornography evidence.
Instead, they argued Raniere kept the photos to himself and never shared them with anyone.
Before Raniere’s sentencing in 2020, Raniere claimed the hard drive “backup [was] never . . . backed up. It’s… so outlandish, so tampered with this disk, this drive, you know?”
In Camila’s declaration, she states she “vividly recall[s]” being photographed by Raniere in 2005 and that it was an “unforgettably humiliating and degrading experience.”
Raniere’s post-conviction defense team will likely reply to the DOJ’s filings.
Ultimately US District Court Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis will determine whether he wishes to hold an evidentiary hearing or grant or reject a new trial based on the filings.
