A commenter, AI, asked: Frank, have you ever been asked to appear on Sarah’s podcast ‘A Little Bit Culty?’ If not, would you accept the offer to appear on her show?”
I replied:
No. I wasn’t asked. I would likely appear if asked. Sarah did, at my request, appear through teleconference on an otherwise in-person round table discussion with the NXIVM five, Susan Dones and Karen Unterreiner, which I moderated. The purpose was to try to persuade the NXIVM 5 to leave Keith Raniere, and to listen to the NXIVM 5’s arguments about FBI tampering. I may publish that interview in time. So far, one of the five decided to leave. Sarah decidedly played bad cop with the NXIVM 5.
Suneel Chakravorty, Frank Parlato, Karen Unterreiner and Susan Dones in Brooklyn.
Marc Elliot, Susan Dones and Karen Unterreiner
Marc Elliot, Eduardo Asunsolo, Suneel Chakravorty, Frank Parlato, Karen Unterreiner and Susan Dones.
The purpose of the meeting was to get both sides to discuss Keith Raniere and the alleged FBI tampering.
The NXIVM 5 [actually NXIVM 4 – since Michele Hatchette was not there] was not interested in hearing about Raniere’s bad deeds. They wanted to talk about tampering.
Susan Dones and Karen Unterriener were not terribly interested in the allegations of FBI tampering. They wanted to show Raniere supporters that their man was not the most ethical being on the planet.
All the people in the conversation knew each other.
In a subsequent post, we will get into the points Dones and Unterreiner made about Raniere.
For this post, I will only relate points made by Suneel on the alleged FBI tampering.
Points Made By Suneel
Suneel does not have Camila’s pictures. He never had them. Only the feds have them. Suneel has the FBI reports with the metadata.
Based on these FBI reports, some metadata seems to be altered in the Cami photos and the other 145 photos in the same folder called ‘Studies.’
Based on the contradictory metadata, no one should be too quick to conclude the photos were not tampered with.
The question is, if the metadata was altered (as it appears), who altered it? Was it Keith? One of the women who disliked him? The FBI? No one at all?
You might ask if Suneel tampered with the metadata to free his Vanguard.
It doesn’t make sense, since the forensic experts Suneel retained – like retired FBI agent J Richard Kiper – got the FBI reports directly from Raniere’s lawyers, who got them directly from the DOJ.
Dr. Kiper and other retained experts concluded FBI tampering based on reports they got from the DOJ.
They did not get the reports from Suneel.
One point that was raised but did not get much support from the NXIVM 4 is that two things can be true — Keith took pictures of Cami when she was 15, but the FBI did not find them where they said they did – on a hard drive taken from his library at 8 Hale – 11 months after they seized it.
When the FBI found the Cami photos, none of the codefendants had taken a plea deal. After they found the Cami photos, all five codefendants made plea deals — most of them stating it was the Cami discovery that prompted the plea deal.
Yes, Keith abused Cami when she was 15. Everyone but Suneel knows that. But where did those 22 photos come from?
Were they on the hard drive for 9 years? Or did they make a more recent appearance?
How come all the camera card files last modified dates were altered while in FBI custody?
There is plenty of suspicious evidence surrounding the FBI’s handling of evidence. Like passing around digital evidence in unsealed bags and taking the wrong photographs of the hard drive where the Cami photos were found.
Evidence Item #2 – a photo of the wrong hard drive. Eleven months later, 22 photos of Camila were found on the hard drive. But the card #2 is placed on the wrong hard drive.
The FBI moved some items around to make it appear that the hard drive, pictured as evidence item #2, is not evidence item #37. But #2 and #37 are the same device – a LaCie hard drive. The Western Digital hard drive appears in the photo of evidence item #2.
FBI forensic examiner Booth misled the jury about the reliability of Exif data.
Then you have conflicting metadata. Photos with metadata taken before the camera was manufactured. Daylight savings springing forward instead of falling back on metadata.
Strange mix-up of thumbnails, where Angel is on Daniela’s files on the camera card and Daniela is on the same file [with same metadata] on the hard drive.
There are two different FTK reports for the camera card, with the second having more than 30 new photo files – all showing a connection with Raniere’s camera.
A file where Adobe Photoshop is used, but where the Exif data date and the last modified date are exactly the same – an impossibility, since the camera does not have Adobe Photoshop.
The DOJ’s refusal to turn over a clone of the camera card – though required to do so. The camera card was used to prove that Raniere’s camera took the photos.
It’s not one thing, but 30 or more suspicious things together that give credence to the argument.
My Conclusions About Suneel’s Arguments
I do not know if the FBI tampered with evidence. I do not know if we will ever know.
Suneel’s failure, which may be why he can’t get traction on the tampering argument, is that he can’t accept Raniere abused Camila.
Suneel wants his Vanguard to be 100 percent innocent.
Of course, I don’t know if the FBI did anything wrong. I am hopeful they did not. The possibility exists that the FBI tampered with evidence and Raniere abused Camila. They are not mutually exclusive.
But I spent three hours interviewing Dr. Kiper, and it is my opinion that he is not a liar or lying for the money. He was persuasive in his arguments. I plan to publish that interview.
One of the NXIVM 5 left Raniere recently. There was some effort placed into showing her the truth about the Vanguard.
Suneel, on the other hand, and the others, are not ready to hear the truth. I think Suneel will be ready soon, for he is fundamentally a good guy.
He believes in the FBI tampering, and I think he may fear that if he even accepts for a minute that Raniere might have abused Camila, he will not tell the story of the alleged FBI tampering.
He might get so revolted by Raniere’s true conduct that he would drop the matter.
He has put his whole credibility on the line for this alleged tampering. He can’t look at Raniere with discernment, or else he may think the whole tampering cause might shatter to pieces.
However, I am betting on Suneel. That his innate honesty will overtake his need to protect the sanctity of Raniere in his mind, and prompt him to see that both could be true. His Vanguard is more or less the scum of the earth, and maybe, just maybe, the FBI cheated to make sure they got this scum.
But of course they can’t do that. Suneel knows that. If the FBI cheated, they have to be held accountable even more so than the Vanguard. Suneel understands that. What he does not understand is his Vanguard. No, not at all.
