As the sentencing of Keith Alan Raniere approaches, this excerpt from Lauren Salzman’s testimony at his trial is interesting. In it, she is asked and answers questions about her decision to cooperate with the feds.
Curiously, while Raniere, and Clare Webb Bronfman and Kathy Russell now have definitive sentencing dates, Lauren – along with her mother, Nancy Salzman, and Allison Mack – has not been scheduled.
This is intriguing because Bronfman and Russell did not agree to cooperate with the feds in helping them convict Raniere while the two Salzmans and Mack did agree to cooperate and provide information. Only Lauren testified, but evidence that was used at the trial was voluntarily provided by Mack.
AUSA Tanya Hajjar is examining Salzman
Tanya Hajjar
Lauren Salzman
Q All right. Ms. Salzman, I’m going to direct your attention to July 24th, 2018, were you arrested on that date?
A Yes, I was.
Q What charges were you arrested for?
A I was arrested for harboring, trafficking, forced labor, wire fraud, and extortion and as part of a racketeering conspiracy.
Q And directing your attention to March 2018, did there come a time where you asked for a meeting with the government?
A I did, yes.
Q Did you later meet with FBI agents and people from the U.S. Attorney’s Office?
A Yes, I did.
Q Were you represented by a lawyer?
A Yes, I was.
Q And at some point after that did you decide to start cooperating with the government?
A I did, yes.
Q When did you first start meeting with the government?
A I believe in March.
Q And in the —
A I don’t recall the date specifically.
Q And in the weeks and months that followed, did you meet with federal agents and prosecutors again?
A I did, yes.
Q And what types of things did you talk about in these meetings?
A All the things that I’ve spoken about here in the last couple of days, the crimes that I participated in and ones that I knew about, some of them that the government was aware of and some additional ones that they weren’t.
Q Did you tell the government about all the crimes that you committed or had knowledge of?
A Yes, I did.
Q And about crimes that other individuals committed?
A Yes, I did.
Q Including the defendant?
A Yes.
Q Did you tell the government about crimes committed by people you cared about?
A Yes, I did.
Q Did you ultimately plead guilty?
A Yes, I did.
Q What crimes did you plead guilty to?
A I pled guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy.
Q Did that involve admitting participation in certain other crimes as well?
A Yes, it did.
Q Where did you plead guilty?
A Here in the Eastern District in this courtroom.
Q Before a judge?
A Before Judge Garaufis.
Q And was that in March of 2019?
A Yes, it was.
Q I may have misspoken, did you start meeting with the government prior to that?
A Yes, I did.
Q In that year, 2019?
A Yes, correct.
Q After you pleaded guilty did you continue to meet with the government?
A Yes, I did.
Q In your indictment was there an enterprise alleged?
A Yes.
Q And did you plead guilty to being part of that enterprise?
A Yes, I did.
Q That enterprise was the defendant’s inner circle?
A Yes.
Q When you pled guilty, did you do so pursuant to a written agreement?
A Yes.
Q Was that a cooperation agreement?
A Yes, it was a cooperation agreement.
HAJJAR: Your Honor, may I show the witness what’s marked for identification as 3500 LS-6.
THE COURT: Yes, you may.
HAJJAR: Thank you, Your Honor.
THE WITNESS: This is my cooperation agreement.
Q And turning to page ten of this agreement, is this your signature?
A Yes, it is.
HAJJAR: Your Honor, the government moves to admit 3500 LS-6.
AGNIFILO: No objection.
THE COURT: All right, Government Exhibit 3500 LS-6 is received in evidence.
(Government’s Exhibit 3500 LS-6 so marked in evidence.)
Q As part of this agreement, Ms. Salzman, did you make certain promises to the government?
A Yes, I did.
Q What were those promises?
A To provide truthful and complete testimony and to assist with any aspects of the investigation that I was able to.
Q What do you hope to get in return?
A A letter saying that I provided truthful testimony and helped in the way that I just described.
Q Did the government agree to do anything else aside from writing that letter in your cooperation agreement?
A No.
Q Do you know the maximum sentence that you face?
A My understanding is it is up to twenty years.
Q On each —
A On two counts.
Q Who decides your sentence?
A Judge Garaufis.
Q Will the government recommend a specific sentence to the judge?
A No.
Q Has the government promised you anything about what your sentence will be in this case?
A No.
Q Do you know if your sentence depends on what happens in this particular trial?
A I was told it does not, it’s not, it’s outcome independent.
Q What’s your understanding of what happens if you fail to tell the truth today?
A That all the agreements that I made are forfeit.
Q What happens to your cooperation agreement?
A It’s forfeit.
Q What does that mean?
A It means that it is — that I won’t get the letter and that all of the things that — all the additional crimes and things that I confessed to and shared with the government, told the government about, I could be prosecuted for in addition to the original crimes that I pled guilty to.
Q Are you hoping the judge will give you a lower sentence because of your cooperation?
A Yes, of course.
Q Do you know when you’ll be sentenced?
A Right now I’m scheduled to be sentenced on September 11th [2019].
Q As you sit here today, do you know what your sentence will be?
A No.
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March 18, 2019 – New York, New York, United States: Lauren Salzman leaves the Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn escorted by her legal team. (Natan Dvir / Polaris Images)
Obviously, Lauren’s sentencing date of September 11, 2019 has come and gone – and now, almost a year after she pled guilty, Lauren is still awaiting sentencing. She was present in Mexico when Raniere was arrested by Mexican Federal Police, with machine guns pointed at her head on March 26, 2018. She went back to the US and was arrested in Clifton Park four months later.
It took her another eight months to make a deal with the feds and choose to save herself if possible from the full penalty of the law for the crimes she committed on behalf of Raniere.
Did she do so wisely? It seems she saved herself. When the time came to sing, she sang fulsomely – admitting to her own crimes while damaging Raniere heavily. During her cross-examination, she wept so copiously and apparently fervently that the judge stopped the cross-examination, a point that the defense is planning to use on appeal.
So what’s next for Lauren? She will one day be sentenced and is hoping for leniency – something perhaps she, at this point, with 20 years time served with the beast, perhaps deserves.
