In my post. If Clare Bronfman Flees to Fiji, She Must Do It Before Sentencing!, I raised two concepts:
1: That Clare might flee to her private island in Fiji where it will be possible for her to avoid extradition and even have her sentence legally commuted by Fiji judges which would be binding in the US.
2: The consideration at sentencing by the judge of the statements of alleged victims who were not part of the crimes Clare pleaded guilty to seems to be an abridgment of her due process rights. She’ll never get a chance to cross-examine her new accusers. The judge has ruled that alleged victims may simply appear at her sentencing – without even stating their full names – and make any declaration about her alleged crimes without her being able to confront her accusers. All Clare will get is a chance to make her own statement to the judge before he announces her sentence.
The judge apparently is going to consider the alleged victims’ statements as part of his process of determining her sentence.
He has already announced that it will likely be higher than the estimate made by the prosecution at the time of her guilty plea hearing. She pleaded guilty to identity theft and harboring an illegal alien for profit in April 2019.
The original estimate, the prosecution said, of her sentencing guidelines carries a range of 21-27 months. Her subsequent Pre-Sentencing Report and the spate of alleged victims who have come forward to write victim impact statements and intend to speak at her sentencing have caused a re-estimate of her sentencing guidelines – in an upward direction.
The public has not seen the report.
No one, least of all myself, thinks she deserves only two years in prison. I am one of the alleged victims of the ruthless one, although I do not plan to speak at her sentencing.
When we heard the plea deal, all who fought Nxivm groaned, and felt that she ‘bought down’ her sentence in part with her $6 million fine.
Clare Bronfman leaving court with her high priced attorney, Mark Geragos. These two thought they crafted a pretty sweet plea deal but it turns out they were wrong.
Here was the worst woman in Nxivm getting just about the lightest sentence. I wanted to see her charged with some of the additional crimes she clearly committed during her 17-year reign of terror in Nxivm.
But I do object to not charging her with crimes – but sentencing her for them anyways – by taking unchallenged statements of various alleged victims and adding to her sentence, consequently.
I recognize that before Clare pleaded guilty before Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis, he warned her that he was not bound to anything the prosecution estimated and that she could face up to 25 years if she got the max sentence for both of her admitted crimes and he was to decide that they should run consecutively.
The sadistic dunce, with her high powered and expensive attorneys, chose to take it on trust that the judge would adopt the prosecution’s estimated guidelines.
She was wrong.
But let’s be fair.
The prosecution team of l-r Tanya Hajjar, Mark Lesko, and Moira Penza made a deal with Clare Bronfman. They left a few things open to trust –and Clare bought in.
The same prosecution that estimated her sentencing guidelines at 21-27 months, at the time they wanted to encourage her to make a plea deal, later went about calling dozens of alleged victims, urging them to make victim impact statements, which they knew quite well would impact her sentencing.
In other words, the prosecution sandbagged Clare – much like she and Raniere sandbagged others in their business and legal dealings.
I should know. It happened to me. I signed a contract with her. She wired the money to me that was called for in the contract in order to get the work accomplished. But she never signed the contract. I did the work.
Then she asked for the money back based on the fact that there was no contract.
When I refused, since I did the work, and she breached the contract, Clare filed a civil suit against me claiming there was no written contract and sued me for the money back.
OK, fair enough. Let’s litigate it.
But then the vile one filed a criminal complaint against me with the Department of Justice. When Clare went before the grand jury, she told the opposite story that she claimed in the civil case. She perjured herself and testified that there was a written contract between her and me.
Marie White painting of the three liars who worked together to indict me – Attorney Bill Savino, Clare Bronfman, and corrupt former Assistant US Attorney Anthony Bruce.
The reason she did that was without a contract, there could be no criminal fraud. So she lied. [Assistant US Attorney Anthony Bruce knew she was lying and suborned her perjury.]
Clare said there was a written contract when it was necessary to get a criminal charge and said there was no contract because that helped her in her civil suit.
I get why she did that. Her testimony in the grand jury is secret. No one would know until after I was indicted what she said.
The civil suit was public.
The curious dunce probably thought she could get away with claiming one thing about the contract in civil court – under oath – and claiming the exact opposite in the secrecy of the grand jury, also under oath.
Unfortunately for her, the grand jury minutes of her testimony were released to me as part of what is called Brady Material [exculpatory information that prosecutors are required to reveal to defendants] and the little booger was caught.
Her perjury caused the DOJ to drop the Bronfman charges against me.
And funny, today, she was equally sandbagged as I was.
The DOJ offered her a plea deal that suggested she would get 21-27 months. Then they went about assiduously making sure she got sentenced to much more – by corralling dozens of alleged victims and even fighting to ensure they will be able to step forward in court with confidence and anonymity.
The prosecution just won a successful motion whereby the judge ruled the alleged victims [who seem to be anyone the prosecution decides is a victim] can publicly denounce Clare without revealing their identities to the public [though Clare will know their identities] as part of her sentencing hearing.
Without that anonymity, I estimated that instead of dozens of alleged victims coming forward, only a handful would be speaking.
In other words, I would call what the prosecution did to Clare almost as slick as what she did to others for years. She used her superior wealth and power to crush people. Now it’s the feds who have superior power and wealth and they gave her a splendid dose of her own medicine.
Marie White’s depiction of Clare Bronfman
So, yes, while I think that Clare’s due process rights have been abrogated, I have mixed feelings. She certainly deserves to go to prison for many more years than two years and now likely will do more time.
But the concept rankles me. She should have been charged with the various crimes that her alleged victims will claim she did.
For me, due process trumps even an evil princess of darkness like Clare Bronfman getting her comeuppance.
