Keith Raniere made a last-minute pro se filing. Though he did not intend it, it contained a lot of treasure. One might call it a Golconda of the bizarre and eccentric. Stuff that would make a short pudgy man go cross-eyed. Stuff that would make one wonder – Hey, what was he thinking?’
In this post, we look at nuggets from the world’s smartest man’s first pro se filing. He waited three years after his conviction to file it. Thirty minutes before the doors closed for all time. He managed to file his ‘newly discovered’ evidence for his pro se Rule 33 motion – and ask for a new trial.
I wanted to be part of it, I admit. I wanted to be part of closing the doors of the sepulcher. I wanted to say what he did to Camila. If this had been about Rhiannon, I would have said it too. Or Gina. Poor Gina or Kristin Snyder. And the others. But at least I got to say, “Keith Raniere raped Camila when she was 15.” And put it in the filing.
And that’s “historical” – – to use one of his favorite words. His critic called him a rapist in his motion for a new trial.
Of course, I am interested in the evidence of possible FBI tampering. I am still looking at that evidence.
But this post is about Camila.
The first nugget comes from Nicki Clyne in the form of a declaration.
Keith told her to carry the ball.
Affidavit of Nicole Clyne
1. I am Nicole Clyne.
2. The attached emails in Attachment A are true and accurate copies of email exchanges I had with Camila between the period of February 26 and March 8, 2019.
3. I have redacted certain information to protect Camila’s privacy as well as my own. I can make the unredacted copies available as needed.
4. In these emails, as well as during a phone call I had with her in March 2019, Camila expressed gratitude and a desire to be in touch, and spoke positively about Mr. Raniere and her involvement in NXIVM.
5. In her “Cover Letter,” Camila describes the experience she’s gained working with Rainbow Cultural Garden and how it aligns with her life goals.
6. I have photographs of the DOS first line, including Camila, where the area of her appendectomy scar is clearly showing, and the scar is not visible. I have similar photos where the scar is visible, which means that its visibility is dependent on the lighting and angle of the photograph. They are true and accurate depictions of Camila. I can make these available as needed.
Before we get to the emails – #6?
Nice going, Keith. You sure carried that ball. Only you got branded on the pubis. Then you heaved an illegal seduction assignment and got thrown for a 120-year loss. Now, you can’t pick yourself up because you haven’t got a scar to stand on.
So, Nicki has photographs of the DOS first line, including Camila? Graphic photos of Camila, and Allison, Lauren, Nicki, Monica, Rosa Laura, and Daniela. How do they feel about sharing these?
That sure is going to get people on Raniere’s team. I saw one of those redacted photos. Camila was smiling, but it made me sad. She lost so much. She wanted kids. She wanted a husband. She wanted a career in educating children. Instead, she was an old man’s slave, taking naked group pictures with seven women forced to smile.
Scars?
At Raniere’s trial, the government introduced medical records of Camila’s appendectomy. She was 16 on January 7, 2007, which is when she had the appendectomy. Her sister, Daniela, testified it was a prominent, visible scar.
FBI Special Agent Michael Weniger identified the alleged child porn photos. The girl in the pictures did not have a scar. The lack of a scar suggested Raniere took the pictures of Camila before January 2007.
What was Weniger’s authority for identifying Camila? After all, he had never met her. He testified he saw many nudes of Camila taken over the years. He saw more photos in this case than some porn addicts in a lifetime.
But the hard evidence was the EXIF dates of the photos. It showed Raniere’s camera took the photos on November 2, 2005 and November 24, 2005. Camila was 15 then.
Nicki has photos of Camila at 26. Some have scars, and some don’t. It proves little.
An invisible scar, by itself, proves nothing. If Raniere wants to exonerate himself, he must prove the EXIF data is wrong or that he did not take the photos.
Or that the girl in the photos is not Camila. In fact, that is exactly what Raniere is offering next.
For this, he presents Eduardo Asunsolo’s declaration.
Asunsolo Declaration
Eduardo Asunsolo
I first met Marianna sometime around 2007.
I recall meeting her at the corporate retreat of NXIVM, referred to as “V-week.” She was trying to pursue a career in tennis.
I first met Camila sometime around 2011 or 2012, I mistook Camila for her older sister, Marianna. I recall meeting her at a residence in Clifton Park where she was taking care of a child.
I said to her, “Hey, so how’s tennis going?”
I remember the interaction because Camila got very upset about the fact that I had confused her with her sister Marianna.
I also know of several instances where other people in the NXIVM community confused Marianna and Camila, as well as Camila and her other sister, Daniela.
It’s true. Sometimes sisters are hard to tell apart. And what Raniere is figuring is that FBI SA Michael Weniger was in no position to tell Camila from Daniela or Mariana.
FBI Special Agent Michael Weniger.
Did he know the difference between the sisters?
So, let’s go back to the emails. Nicki says that Camila spoke well of Raniere in February 2019. So what? She changed her mind by October 2020 when she called him a pedophile who stole her life.
Camila and Nicki had not seen each other in more than a year. Raniere was in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC). He was awaiting trial.
Camila wanted help with her CV. She wanted to go to the University of Padua in Italy.
The email exchange between Camila and Nicki was just five days after the FBI found child porn pictures of Camila on Raniere’s hard drive.
Camila was in Mexico. She expressed sadness that her CV had virtually nothing on it. She had spent her life in the service of Keith Raniere – starting when she was 13.
This girl had only one year of junior high. The scoundrel did not even let her go to high school.
She was 29. But her life had flitted by under his domineering control. Now he was in custody, and Camila was neglected.
Nicki too, was struggling. Once a promising actress with a rising career, now she was working in a cafe. Nicki is a good writer. Camila wanted some help with her CV.
Camila wanted to leave her hand-to-mouth and lonely life in Mexico under the indifferent care of a NXIVM proctor and go to Italy.
She never got there.
Crazy cheap Clare Bronfman could have easily helped Camila, but she allowed the deadliest threat to her and Raniere’s freedom to languish and suffer and live hand-to-mouth.
Camila-Nicki Emails
Camila and Nicki had this last email exchange.
Feb 26, 2019, at 9:58 PM,
Camila wrote:
NICKI!!!!!!!! Hello!!!
Ma sistah! How I miss you!!!
I am so sorry for everything that is going on. I hope you are holding up okay. It might sound weird, but thank you for staying strong. It gives me strength to know that you are still there. Please know that I am still here… always.
And thank you for agreeing to help me with this! I was very excited to hear that you said yes!
It is a first draft. It might be a little disorganized and with lots of errors but give it a look
Love, love, LOVE….
Cami
I have attached my CV since they are asking me for one. It is so sad, I am trying to flower it up somehow. Let me know if you have any ideas
Cami writes,” I am not mentioning Keith, not sure if it’s a good idea. And if it is, not sure how to portray it.”
February 26, 2019, 10:19
Nicki Clyne wrote:
OOOOOOH MYYYYYY GAAAAAWD!!! It’s so, so, so nice to hear from you. I’m really happy to be in touch, and I totally know the feeling of relief and gratitude in knowing others are staying strong. You can always count on me. 100%. I am so excited you wanted my help! You couldn’t have asked for a better thing for me to help with either. It’s what I was bred to do, haha.
When I first landed in Brooklyn, I sent out over 70 personalized cover letters and resumes. Sadly, I only got a few interviews and no jobs, but I think that had more to do with my google search results than my writing skills 🙁 Sigh.
Anyway, when is this due? I’m a little fried right now and work at 6am tomorrow (I’m managing a vegan cafe in brooklyn, go figure!), but I can get to it right after work….
Sending you big hugs and kisses!!! Talk soon!
***
The two go back forth for several days. You can read their thread here.
Finally, Keth included in his pro se Rule 33 some of the transcripts of a podcast. From Moira Penza’s appearance on November 22, 2021.
Anthony Ames:
I was at the metadata days. That’s what I call them. I was at three days of the trial where you guys just talked about metadata in there.
Moira Penza:
I’m sorry!
Anthony Ames:
My head was just trying to sustain and to keep myself up. But I guess you guys obviously had to do it. That’s where I think certain people are trying to find an inconsistency. To your point, he kept the photos in a library. What are they talking about?
Sarah:
Are they grasping at straws?
Moira Penza:
This is true. Grasping at straws. Absolutely.
Sarah:
It was actually a shifter strategy, which is a strategy that Keith taught us, that when you’re trying to like, deflect and you point at something over here and make a fuss about something as a way to like get away from the content. And the content is he took photos of women’s vaginas. Let’s just remember that. Right.
Moira Penza:
It was just so well proven in so many different ways. Right? Think about just the photos. They were situated among all of these other photographs of women we know he was having sex with, who we knew, we had testimony that he had gotten that camera at that specific point in time and that he was on a picture taking binge. Right?
We had another woman whose photos, two women testified at trial that their photos were taken at that exact timeframe. And that we had their photos in the same collection as the child pornography. We showed that the victim that her appendix scar, which she received her appendix surgery, which she had when she was 16, that there was no scar visible in the photos. And so, this is the kind of thing that I’m talking about, that now that I’ve read a lot about, when you argue with people who have these sorts of mindsets, there is no point.
Anthony Ames:
Right.
Moira Penza:
It’s like talking to people who believe that 911 was an inside job or believe conspiracy theories about JFK’s assassination, you’re never going to be able to refute every little point that they try to make, and no one should really be trying to do so.
