The deadline was October 20, 2021 for filing a 5,000-word supplemental brief for the appeal of his conviction to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
As of 3:00 PM (EDT) on October 21st, there is nothing on the docket for Keith Alan Raniere.
Of course, the inmate formerly known as Vanguard has been in the Special Housing Unit, better known as the SHU, a medieval torture process employed by US prisons where prisoners are kept in a small cage for 23 hours per day. That left him pretty much out of contact with the world, let alone the calendar.
Marie White’s sketch of Keith Raniere as VanDouche.
Raniere went into the SHU on July 22nd, and tomorrow it will be three months that he has been lodged in the tiny cage. I am told that for some of the time he has been in the SHU, he’s had a roommate, of one stripe or another.
His meals are served in the cage, and I am informed he has no access to the commissary. He does have access to a toilet and concrete bed which are his to use inside the tiny cell.
An example of a meal Keith Raniere likely gets for his delight and satisfaction. It is not surprising that he’s lost weight in the last three months. Though not as restrictive as the diets some of the women of DOS went on, it might be less tasty. Being on the prison diet, some observers note, with its lack of nutrients, often causes dental problems such as the loss of teeth. Fortunately for him, the prison system will provide him with dentures.
He has limited access to showers [I am told he gets but one per week] but gets an hour out of the cell on most days to exercise and 30 minutes of phone time per month.
Other than that, he merely sits or sleeps or dreams, perhaps of being the Vanguard again.
I am told that his hair has grown long and grey and he has lost some weight.
Keith Raniere resides behind the fences at USP Tucson, a maximum-security prison especially managed to house sex offenders.
The timing is curious concerning his movement from his cell block into the SHU. He was sent there just at about the time he was granted leave to file a supplemental brief for his appeal by the Second Circuit.
In the SHU, a prisoner is severely limited as to contact with attorneys.
Raniere reportedly was sent to the SHU, however, not to prevent him from working on his own defense but, instead, because he committed an alleged infraction of prison rules that required investigation. Normally, a determination is made at the end of the investigation as to whether the inmate did, in fact, commit an infraction. But that may not have happened in this case.
Prior to his incarceration, Nicki Clyne served Raniere as one of his first line slaves.
Reportedly, his infraction had to do with someone from his cell block having contact on a phone call with Nicki Clyne that was alleged to be improper. A source from the Raniere camp tells me that the investigation was completed about 30 days ago and it is unclear if wrongdoing or not was uncovered.
Raniere remains in the SHU.
Another theory is that at the restitution hearing, where Raniere appeared via teleconference on July 20th, either through his appearance or through the theatrics of his attorney, Marc Fernich, created a desire on the part of officials with the Bureau of Prisons, which is under the control of the Department of Justice, to lay it on the lad. Raniere’s speculated offense to the DOJ and Judge Garaufis was that he claimed to know nothing about the whereabouts of the collateral.
Does Marc Fernich still represent Keith Raniere?
In fact, after the government suggested that the judge should require Raniere to return or destroy the collateral, Raniere told the judge, “I have never handled the collateral, do not know anything about it, do not have it.”
It is not impossible, according to some observers of the doings of prisons and their interrelatedness to judges and prosecutors, that Raniere was placed in the SHU for his uncannily interesting response concerning collateral – to wit – he barely knew anything about it.
This is interesting when you consider he created the concept of having blackmail-worthy material as part of the master-slave sorority he devised called DOS.
As a side note, I believe I have finally learned where most, if not all, of the collateral of some 100 plus DOS women went and, if it has not been destroyed, who has it currently. In a post I intend to publish today or tomorrow, I will reveal what happened to the collateral after the Frank Report broke the story of DOS in June 2017.
To ease the minds of any women who provided collateral, I do not believe that it is in any imminent danger of being released. It is my hope that the DOJ will take steps to recover it from the party who was last known to have it or to confirm she has destroyed it. By the way, do not jump to conclusions as to who has or had possession of it or where it was stored.
US District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis
Another potential reason why Raniere might be in the SHU is the flare-up that occurred between Judge Garaufis and Raniere’s attorney, Marc Fernich, during the July 20th hearing. There was an astounding scene where the two glared at each other – and I mean this literally – for 30 minutes – as court onlookers watched in astonishment. The SHU assignment might be fallout from that very unpleasant scene. I plan to give a more detailed description of that amazing scene in an upcoming post.
In the meantime, it appears Raniere has missed the deadline for filing his supplemental appeal brief – and is living a kind of living death in the SHU.
I understand that he can receive visitors bi-weekly on Saturdays but that they can only speak to him through a glass barrier. I also understand that all his conversations may be and probably are recorded. All of his phone calls are also subject to recording.
Raniere apparently is permitted to have some prearranged meetings with attorneys on the phone and in person. It is not known if these are secretly monitored, though they are not supposed to be.
It is also unclear whether his counsel of record, Marc Fernich and Jeffrey Lichtman, still represent Raniere. I am told they have not traveled to Tucson where Raniere is held.
It would seem that if they are still representing Raniere, they would have met the deadline obligations or at least informed the appellate court that they would not. On the other hand, I have not seen a notice of withdrawal either.
It is possible that the attorneys filed the brief, albeit improperly, under seal, like Nancy Salzman did with her sentencing memorandum, but that seems unlikely.
If Raniere’s attorneys, if he still has attorneys, missed the filing deadline, under normal circumstances it would mean he loses his opportunity to file the supplemental appeal.
However, the fact of his being in the SHU the entire time he has been seeking to file it might be a mitigating factor. When he is finally released from the SHU, if he is ever released, he might be able to prevail on a motion permitting him to file the supplemental brief even though he missed the deadline.
On the other hand, it may have dawned on the Vanguard that he may not require a supplemental brief insofar as he might feel that his former attorney Jennifer Bonjean’s appeal on his behalf is sufficient.
As for his Rule 33 motion, we are awaiting word from the Raniere camp as to when – or even if – the motion will be filed. As Frank Report readers know, Raniere is claiming that the FBI tampered with evidence of child porn. The deadline for the Rule 33, which is a motion for a new trial based on evidence discovered after a trial, is June 2022.
Viva Executive Success!
