The Mexican newspaper Vanguardia MX, published out of Saltillo, Coahuila, claims Keith Alan Raniere, the now-jailed leader of the Nxivm cult, is now infected with the coronavirus.
Vanguardia cited no source for the story – and it is possible they may have misunderstood recent developments in the Raniere case.
Of course, you would think that with a newspaper name like Vanguardia, they would have the inside story on all things relating to Raniere whose followers referred to him by his self-given title, Vanguard.
Yet, in reading the story, the newspaper offers no further evidence than their mere assertion that he does have it.
The English translation [the story is published in Spanish] is “Keith Raniere, founder of the NXIVM sex sect, tests positive for coronavirus.”
Here is the English translation of the story:
Subheadline:
Raniere, whose sect was involved in human trafficking, tested positive for COVID-19, but will receive treatment at the Albany, NY prison where he is being held.
Story
Keith Raniere, NXIVM creator of the cult , dedicated to sex trafficking, tested positive to the COVID-19, but is receiving treatment for the disease behind bars.
Raniere, 59, has not been considered a high-risk patient for the virus, since, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only prisoners should be considered at risk, and patients in general, who are over 65 years old.
The decision to remove him from the danger list negates the possibility that he will post a bond that allows him to cope with the disease outside of prison. His defense last week requested that Raniere’s medical records be released to verify his health, local New York outlet CBS6 Albany reported.
Raniere requested a new trial earlier this month, considering that the current process was riddled with irregularities. So far his request has not been accepted, although judge Nicholas Garaufis decided to postpone the sentence, which was originally scheduled for April 16, until May 21.
The man is being held at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center , awaiting sentencing for the crimes of which he has been charged. Raniere faced charges of extortion, money laundering, criminal association, wire fraud, identity theft , sex trafficking, and forced labor.
These illicit activities would have been carried out with the facade of a self-improvement group to which millionaire heirs and celebrities from the world of entertainment were linked, such as Allison Mack, actress of the television series Smallville.
***
In analyzing the story, it is apparent that the subheadline, at least, is wrong. Raniere is not being held in an Albany prison.
It is, however, possible that Raniere has coronavirus disease and we do not know it, but there is not any sourced-report to substantiate that. His lawyers recently asked Raniere’s judge for his medical records – and to be able to speak with Raniere by telephone since all attorney visits [and all visits to his prison, the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn] have been suspended because of fears of contagion.
The judge granted the request for both his medical records and a phone call.
The fact that it is nearly impossible to even speak with their client on the phone absent a court order suggests that the prison is on lockdown and because of that calls are hard to make, with everyone assigned to their cells with what might be described as forced social distancing.
While his attorneys may or may not have received his medical records yet, the prosecution informed the court that the only reason Raniere had been considered at “high risk” if he got the disease is because of his age – which is 59.
Formerly the CDC had listed people of his age range to be at “high risk” should they contract the disease. The CDC later shifted its guidelines upward to people age 65 or older. Based on this report by the prosecution, there appear to be no underlying medical conditions that Raniere has which would make him more likely to suffer complications or death if he were to get coronavirus.
Meantime, the Vanguard is likely suffering intensely. Lockdown typically involves being confined in a small cell [with or without a cell mate] for 23 [or more] hours per day with one hour out to move about in another confined area. There is nothing to do all day long. Books are scarce. Television is unavailable. Meals are served to prisoners who must eat in their cells so they avoid social interaction.
This is not entirely dissimilar to what Raniere himself required Daniella, a young Mexican woman, to do for some 700 days, after she kissed a man, and refused to admit her “crime” against Raniere.
Raniere, with the help of Daniella’s father and others, required her to remain in her room, in virtual solitary confinement, until she healed her “ethical breach.”
Her family brought her meals which they placed outside the door so she would see no human being.
Vanguard has now been in custody since March 26, 2018, which means he has been confined for two years and almost one week.
We will try to update readers on Vanguard’s purportedly precarious health in the future – and hope he remains well of course.
But we should not be so quick to dismiss his health concerns.
As readers know, during his long tenure as a free man, he often told his numerous girlfriends that he was ill. He told at least two women he had cancer and was hospitalized. Those claims appear to have been total fabrications.
He told several women he had a heart condition that might kill him at any time, the condition largely caused by other women doing things that hurt him so. Those claims also appear to have been total fabrications.
He also told numerous women that if they cheated on him, it could cause him death – and, even though several of those women did, in fact, cheat on him, he somehow lived.
In his text messages to Cami, which were embarrassingly read in court at length, her cheating on him with a young man named Robbie – and her failure to properly atone for it – caused him to bleed profusely from orifices, he said, suggesting a possibly fatal condition because of her infidelity.
Raniere’s attorneys’ recent, embarrassing quest for his medical records on the theory that he had underlying medical conditions that could remove the Vanguard forever from our visage should he contract coronavirus disease turned out to be more of the same, it appears: That our Vanguard is not only not ill, but in excellent health and is merely going back to his old, old tricks of feigning illness for sympathy or gain.
The difference between the old days and the present ones is that Raniere’s claims are now subject to verification by medical people and, hence, the Vanguard who cried wolf was exposed as a bit of a fraud once again.
