In response to the article, John Tighe to Be Released from Prison Wednesday, July 8, a reader posed a few questions. They are reasonable ones and I would like to answer them in this post.
The readers questions are in bold. My answers are in regular typeface.
Questions for Frank –
Is that picture of Tighe with his wife weird or is John missing an arm?
John Tighe with his wife.
It does appear that he is missing an arm, but I do not think he lost an arm. I think his arm is behind his back and blends in with the mural behind him giving that illusion. If I find out otherwise, I will let you know.
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You imply Rodger Kirsopp could have been involved with Tighe’s framing but isn’t Kirsopp the one who helped Kristin Keeffe escape from NXIVM?
Yes, New York State Trooper Rodger Kirsopp helped Kristin Keeffe and her son [Raniere’s son] escape Nxivm, even arranging for her to stay at domestic abuse shelters. Sometime shortly after, Keeffe fled from the shelter, concerned that Kirsopp might have flipped to the dark side and was working for Nxivm.
I spoke with Kirsopp, who contacted me first. He was actually looking for Keeffe after she escaped. Oddly, he seemed to want to have her arrested – charged with stealing a Nxivm computer that Clare Bronfman claimed was worth a million dollars – not the value of the computer but the “tech” that was on it.
Kristin Keeffe fled with her son, Keith’s son, from Nxivm in February 2014.
When I picked up Keeffe at a hotel in Florida, she did not have a computer with her. All she had was her child and a single plastic bag of clothes. That’s it.
I told that to Kirsopp. And I suspected him of not trying to help Keeffe but to do the bidding of Clare Bronfman. It turned out that the Albany Times Union uncovered that he had many meetings, much more than normal for a simple computer trespassing case, with Clare Bronfman and her attorneys, who are closely aligned with Albany DA David Soares.
There was a reason why Raniere and Co. were never prosecuted in the Albany area.
One last note, the last time I talked to Kirsopp, after he had been exposed in the Times Union as being possibly co-opted by Nxivm, he seemed eager to distance himself from all Nxivm related matters.
I told him about the imprisonment of Daniella, [this was well before the arrest of Raniere and before it was publicly known] and Kirsopp remarked that it was likely a misdemeanor and that he did not want to get involved with Nxivm any more.
Rodger Kirsopp – he seemed to be after Nxivm at first but somehow he wound up only arresting Nxivm enemies.
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Didn’t Tighe have any friends or family who could get together and give or lend him $100,000 or launch some crowdfunding campaign? While 100k isn’t chump change, it’s not a lot when compared to pleading guilty to child porn, going to prison, and being labeled a child sex offender.
I think if John had people who would have lent him the money, he would have accepted it and fought the charges. He did not. He did not even have enough money to get health insurance. John was poor and for a poor man, justice is hard to come by. $100K may not seem like a lot – but it is when you don’t have it or the friends you know can’t give it to you. And the $100,000 was likely just the downpayment for his defense.
In America, there is justice perhaps for the rich but on the federal level, very rarely for the poor, or even the middle class. At the federal level, it is not even a matter of race. It is a matter solely of money. That’s why I often refer to the Department of Justice as the Department [$tore] of Ju$tice.
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Back in 2013-2014 why didn’t you write about Tighe’s ordeal in your Niagara Falls Reporter or on your blog the way you did about DOS to help raise public awareness about his possible framing by Raniere and Bronfman.
In 2013-04, I did not operate the Frank Report [although I owned the domain name.]. The Niagara Falls Reporter covered local Niagara Falls news and its readers were not interested in an obscure cult in Albany, some 300 miles away.
At the time, I knew I was under investigation but it was not clear to me what exactly the feds were investigating. I knew the Bronfmans were involved. I knew I did not commit any crimes.
Anthony Bruce retired after indicting me. I was his last case at the DOJ and one for which he will become in time notorious. He will be emblematic of the corruption and the unchecked power of prosecutors.
In the first part of 2015, I finally learned what the feds were doing and I retained attorneys to meet with them and show them proof that they were wrong about their criminal theories. The clear and unequivocal evidence of my innocence that I presented did not matter to the feds, led as they were by corrupt US Attorney William Hochul, and his notorious, perjury-suborning AUSA, Anthony “Brucifer” Bruce.
These two had already decided to indict me, regardless of evidence.
***
If you had written about John’s plight before he was convicted, you might have been able to rally people to his side and help raise the 100k needed for his trial.
At the time, I was not focused on John’s case. I was working on my own work. However, writing in a Niagara Falls newspaper, with a readership interested in local affairs, would not likely have raised any money for John or even generated interest.
Even with the interest in Nxivm for the readers of Frank Report, I doubt I could raise much money for Nxivm victims even today. I certainly doubt I could raise $100,000 for just one of those victims.
Besides, at the time, I did not know if John was innocent. He was charged not with a Nxivm crime but possessing child porn. While I was under investigation, it was hardly a matter I wanted to wade into. I still, naively, expected the Department of Justice to act with justice and drop the investigation of me. It was only later – after I was indicted – that I found out that Clare Bronfman had started the investigation of me and apparently greased a few wheels.
It was then that I did some probing into Tighe and came to conclude he was likely innocent. By that time, however, he had already pled guilty.
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You said you sent him some money, but obviously not enough for him to pay his attorney to go to trial so why not use the power of YOUR press and YOUR blog back in 2013/2014?
I sent him a few hundred dollars, on a couple of occasions, before he was charged. I was in no position to give him $100,000. I was paying my own attorneys. I barely knew John.
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The Times Union had already exposed Raniere’s sexual crimes, Politico and The Nation had written about NXIVM using the legal system to silence its critics, and although you hadn’t been criminally indicted yet, you knew you were under investigation by the Feds thanks to Clare and knew about NXIVM’s having a hit list since they had paid you to go after specific people like Ross, Natalie, and O’Hara.
Yes, that is true. But the timing was not right. Nothing was done after the Times Union exposed many of Raniere’s crimes. It was a story that came and went and no charges were filed against him. As for The Nation and [you say[ Politico stories about Nxivm silencing media and critics, they wrote one story and became silent themselves.
When I started writing about Nxivm and its leaders on Frank Report, I was the only one writing about them. That went on for more than three years, until the New York Times, using me and my blog as a source, wrote about the branding and blackmailing of DOS.
John was indicted long before that.
He was indicted along with Joe O’Hara, Toni Natalie, and Barbara Bouchey for computer trespassing. Then John was indicted for possessing child porn on computers that were in the possession of law enforcement for months.
Then I was indicted on unrelated on trumped-up charges.
Keith Raniere was at the top of his game. He had gotten all his main enemies indicted by January 2016.
Then I went to work on taking him down. I think I helped take him down and also opened the door for the reexamination of Tighe’s case.
John Tighe was very likely falsely arrested and some of the criminals who conspired to plant child porn on his computer
***
If Tighe was framed, do you think he can file a civil suit against Raniere, and the Bronfmans and anyone else who might have been involved?
Yes, he may be able to do that, if he can get exonerated. That won’t be easy since the justice system in America, though it often puts innocent people in prison, very rarely admits a mistake. He would have to prove his innocence – and then commence a lawsuit. It would take years. And it certainly doesn’t help that Rodger Kirsopp and his pals at the New York State Police destroyed the computer they claimed had child porn on it.
***
Keeffe was still around then, wouldn’t she know or have been involved in the framing?
Keeffe was quietly distancing herself from Keith Raniere for several years before she fled. She says she did not know if Tighe was framed. Nxivm computer hackers, such as Ben Myers, might know. But unless there is pressure put to bear on him, it is unlikely he will talk. It might land him in prison.
***
Or what about Karen Unterreiner, who you said was a computer programmer, dealt with NXIVM’s IT, had an IT consulting business, and groomed underage teens like Camilla for Raniere.
I have spoken to Karen and she had little to nothing to do with Nxivm computer work in the last few years of Nxivm. She spent most of her time being one of the better and kinder hearted teachers [Proctors] of Intensives. People I spoke to who took her classes really felt she cared about them and in many ways, Karen represented the good side of Nxivm.
I also do not now believe that Karen groomed Camila for Keith. Karen looked after Camila at various times but Camila kept it a secret from everyone [as her texts show] that she was having a sexual relationship with Keith. Karen, who I have come to know, is the last person I would expect to groom anyone underage for Raniere.
I believe her when she says she did not know about the underage girls. She knew Raniere had other women, but not underage girls, That grooming came mainly from Pamela Cafritz.
Personally, I would not believe that Karen would participate in planting child porn on anyone’s computer. She was a victim of Raniere and was fooled by him the longest. She met him when she was 17. She actually thought he was a good and great man. She now knows better.
Karen Unterreiner
If anyone was behind the planting of child porn on Tighe’s computer it was Raniere, possibly aided by Clare Bronfman and perhaps by some corrupt and compromised individuals in law enforcement who might have been willing to enjoy a handsome profit for a small little task, which might have been as simple as turning on a computer. Clicking on a link. Or even allowing a Nxivm member to come in and substitute a computer.
It is odd that New York State Troopers destroyed all of John’s computers rather than just the one they claimed had child porn on it. It’s also strange that they claim they had in their possession as one of John’s computers a Mac computer. John claims he never owned a Mac computer.
If evidence was destroyed, it is also possible that evidence was fabricated. The Nxivm trial showed that Nxivm did plant viruses on enemies’ computers. At the time, John was the biggest enemy or threat to Nxvim.
