US District Judge Eric Komitee has dismissed all civil claims against Brandon Porter in the NXIVM civil lawsuit.
Seventy plaintiffs, all former employees or students of NXIVM, are seeking damages from key NXIVM figures, including Clare and Sara Bronfman, Keith Raniere, and others.
Two women have funded Keith Raniere’s enterprises, Clare (left) and Sara (right) Bronfman. His ethical control of their wealth has led them to spend more than $100 million in enabling the now-defunct NXIVM.
Bronfman Sisters Remain
The lawsuit primarily targets the Bronfman sisters, who alone among the defendants have substantial assets. The lawsuit alleged they spent more than $100 million to enable NXIVM’s racketeering enterprise. Much of the $100 million was spent on litigation against perceived enemies of NXIVM founder Keith Raniere.
Though the Bronfman sisters also sought dismissal of the lawsuit, Judge Komitee did not dismiss all claims against them, and they remain as defendants.
Porter, along with fellow former NXIVM physician Danielle Roberts, also sought to dismiss the claims against them in this Bronfman-driven lawsuit. Only Porter succeeded. Roberts remains involved due to her alleged role in branding women in NXIVM’s secret sorority, DOS, under battery claims.
Two formerly licensed physicians, Brandon Porter and Danielle Roberts, lost their licenses because of allegations arising from their conduct while working on behalf of NXIVM.
Racketeering Claims
All 70 NXIVM plaintiffs asserted RICO claims against Raniere, Clare and Sara Bronfman, Allison Mack, Kathy Russell, and Porter.
The plaintiffs contend Porter conspired with the others to facilitate a racketeering scheme by “conducting unauthorized human experiment[s]” “unscientific” treatments for Tourette’s Syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder, “to bolster NXIVM’s scientific credibility and thereby increase its ability to amass recruits.”
No Prominent Role for Porter
Komitee wrote that unlike the Bronfman sisters, the lawsuit does not allege Porter played a prominent role in NXIVM. The judge determined that the allegations of Porter’s involvement in human experiments were inadequate to hold him in the lawsuit as part of the racketeering claims.
Judge Komitee wrote:
“Without more, Porter’s alleged role in the “human experiments” is insufficient to show that he knew of the curriculum fraud scheme or the scheme to extort unpaid labor or that he participated in the scheme… The plaintiffs’ factual allegations do not support the plausible inference that Porter had such an awareness.”
In the lawsuit, Camila, a longtime NXIVM member, alleged Porter was a beneficiary of her forced labor and human trafficking violations because he got “free babysitting services” from her.
Baby Sitting Is Not Racketeering
Camila alleged Porter “knew or should have known that …Raniere (was) forcing … Camila to perform “menial tasks, commercial sex acts, administrative work.”
Judge Komitee writes, “the mere fact that Camila babysat for Porter’s family does not suggest that Porter knew or should have known that Camila was subjected to force or the threat of force… Accordingly, the forced labor and human trafficking claims against Porter fail.”
Porter’s Medical License Revoked
Porter, a former physician at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, NY, was a devoted follower of Raniere for more than a dozen years.
Brandon Porter, NXIVM president Nancy Salzman and Marc Elliot worked together to find an experimental cure for Tourette’s Syndrome.
On August 20, 2019, the NYS Commissioner of Health, Howard A. Zucker, MD, revoked Porter’s medical license for conducting human research without following the legal protocols outlined in the NYS Public Health Laws. Other breaches included the failure to obtain voluntary informed consent from participants, and the failure to report an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness among participants at the 2016 Vanguard Week celebration to health authorities as required by law.
Vanguard Week was the 10-day celebration of the nativity of NXIVM founder Keith Raniere by NXIVM students.
Gross Negligence and Recklessness
Rounding out the complaints against Porter in the NXIVM civil lawsuit, three plaintiffs — Margot Leviton, Isabella Constantino, and Carysa Cottrell — accused Porter of gross negligence due to his “treatment” of them for OCD and Tourette’s, which, they allege, was “untested, unauthorized, and inherently risky psychotherapy.”
They contend Porter “breached (his) duty by failing to provide a standard of care that a reasonably prudent and careful doctor would provide under similar circumstances,” which caused them “post-traumatic stress disorder,” “physical pain,” and “mental anguish.”
Judge Komitee wrote that “the complaint does not say anything at all about what Porter’s treatments and studies actually entailed him doing, or how his conduct caused those injuries.”
Leviton alleged Porter subjected her to nightly four-hour “‘EM’ [NXIVM’s “Exploration of Meaning”] questioning sessions,” but it does not describe the sessions or how they involved reckless conduct by Porter, or how they led to Leviton’s injuries.”
Isabella Constantino appears on the poster of the film My Tourette’s.
The complaint offers no facts about Porter’s treatment of Constantino or Cottrell, the judge wrote, adding, “The bare allegations that Porter’s methods were ‘untested, unauthorized, and inherently risky’ and ‘lacked scientific basis and informed consent,’ are insufficient, without supporting factual content.”
US District Court Judge Eric Komitee
Judge Komitee dismissed the claims against Porter with prejudice, which means the plaintiffs are barred from bringing another lawsuit on the same claim or cause of action. Porter had represented himself in the lawsuit and filed his motion for dismissal pro-se.
