Judge Nicholas Garaufis granted Keith Raniere’s defense an additional 30 days to respond to the government’s motion to dismiss his Rule 33 motion.
Raniere’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, informed the judge that he could not consult with Raniere due to a lockdown at USP Tucson, where Raniere is serving a 120-year sentence.
Raniere has until October 30 to submit his response to the government on his Rule 33 motion for a new trial.
Attorney Joseph Tully was responsible for much of the Rule 33 motion, and he appeared on Rumble with Dustin Faulker to update the public on the motion and his view of the case.
Some of the conversation is edited for clarity and brevity.
Tully: The extent of the tampering here is so deep and runs from top to bottom from start to finish.
The government’s theory at trial was that Keith Raniere took photos of a 15-year-old with a camera, then downloaded the images from his camera to [computer and then to] a hard drive and kept those images. The FBI later accidentally discovered these images a long time after evidence processing.
Camera to camera card to computer to hard drive.
The funny thing is that the first two evidence items collected in the raid of his study were these two devices: the camera, with a camera card, and the hard drive—literally evidence items one and two.
Then, if you look at the evidence logs, the camera card that came from the camera was checked out by FBI agents in the lead-up to the trial. FBI agents aren’t supposed to look at digital evidence. That happens through CART.
What are FBI agents doing checking out this camera card when they have no authorization to examine it? Why are they being checked out for days at a time?
Then, the [hard drive] backup looks like it’s an automatic backup. The experts found that although it seems like an automatic backup, somebody manually typed all the subfolders to look like the result of an automatic backup.
The experts determined those were manually entered.
Normally speaking, we have files within different folders. There’s metadata. There’s one big block of photos. At some point, it looks like the computer changed to Daylight Savings Time automatically.
If you look at the block, some files were changed by one hour, which would comport with daylight savings time, but other files were not changed. Then, files within that same block were changed by two hours.
If Daylight Savings Time kicked in on these photos, it would have changed them all by one hour. You have some that were not changed, some changed by one hour, and some changed by two hours.
What is going on here?
There’s metadata where one photo we could prove was put into Adobe Photoshop and altered. But then somebody went back in the metadata and changed it to look like it was not altered.
We have evidence it was loaded into this program; it was altered, but then somebody changed that to make it look like it never went into that program and was never altered.
And if you look at the files downloaded to the hard drive, if you look at the thumbnail images, for instance, photos 93, 94, 96, and 97, there is one woman on the hard drive. But they’re a different woman on the camera card.
So, these files should be identical if downloaded from the camera card to [another computer and then to] the hard drive. And yet, they have different thumbnails.
We’re working with top-rated forensic analysts. The goal is to get to the truth. These are scientifically provable claims that we’re trying to establish in court.
Faulkner
So, it’s photos? Did they get some fake lady and make pictures? And then say this is a 15-year-old girl and put it into his software, cameras, and computers?
Tully
He was romantically involved and had a relationship with a female. For some women, you can’t tell what age they are. They could be 16, they could be 25, they could be 32, they could be a teen, you don’t know. So, looking at the photo, you can’t tell off the bat, ‘Hey, come on. This is a minor.’
She was somebody he had a consensual relationship with, and the FBI found naked photos of her on the hard drive. So, the metadata that the government used to prove this case says these photos were taken in 2005, which meant she would have been 15.
However, the metadata has been altered. So again, if this were a genuine photo taken when she was 15, you wouldn’t have these anomalies in the metadata.
The person [FBI FE Flatley], who initially analyzed that camera card, had testified in a previous case in 2016 that the FBI does not rely on metadata to establish a date of when a photo is taken because metadata can be easily manipulated.
Flatley
The government said these child pornography charges were at the heart of their RICO charges against Keith Raniere.
But, during the first five and a half weeks of the trial, they did not call the person [Flatley] who analyzed the camera card as a witness.
Now get this: winding down the trial, on the last three days of evidence, the guy who initially looked at the camera card [Flatley] was given an assignment in Ghana, Africa. They have somebody else [FBI FA Booth], a new expert, look at the camera card, and he finds more photos there.
So, the first guy’s extraction is completely different from the second guy’s extraction [from the camera card], which should not have been different. And then the second person [Booth] comes into court. He testifies under oath that metadata is very hard to change, and there’s nothing unusual in the evidence collection or chain of evidence after he testified that he received the camera card in an unsealed bag, very clearly a break in the chain of custody.
So, you know, the guy who would not support the government’s narrative is not called a witness. And then, in the last three days of evidence in the trial, they get that guy assigned to Africa. A new guy gets brought in, and the camera card he produces has additional files that match the hard drive.
So, “Hey, look! Look at the connection between the camera card and the hard drive. Many, many files are the same.” And then again, he testifies that that metadata was hard to change for photos. So again, from top to bottom, I see some huge structural defects in the evidence chain and in the evidence of the devices that were put into trial before the jury.
Faulkner
You have the FBI tampering with evidence, lying on the stand, breaking protocols, and breaking established policies that prevent evidence from being used that shouldn’t be used. And then you convict the guy and get rid of him. Why do you think they went after him? What made them want to take this guy out?
Tully
He was just largely unpopular. And there was a very big movement brewing at the time, the #metoo movement, and they were out to get somebody and make headlines…
They started with Keith Raniere, who had been demonized and unpopular. And now they’re using it against anybody they view as a political enemy. And it’s completely detrimental to our nation.
What’s even more surprising for most people is if you get accused of a crime or get falsely convicted of a crime, what will be an absolute shock to you is how much people do not care.
No one cares if you’re innocent or guilty. It is the hardest thing I have to explain to my clients because somebody good, who’s never been caught up in the system, who’s falsely accused, can’t get their head around the concept of ‘why don’t we just show the judge the proof? Why don’t we just show the prosecutor the proof of what happened, and they’ll dismiss, and we’ll walk out of court, and everything will be fine.’ You can’t do that because prosecutors want to win.
I am doing my best to bring these anomalies into court. I’ve filed multiple motions. The government shows up, and they fight tooth and nail opposing it.
I hope and pray that the judge looks at the evidence, but in my experience, if you’re accused of a crime, you have a very small chance of a judge granting a motion, whether you’re innocent or not.
It’s like being in an alligator pit. You could be the zookeeper to the alligators. You could feed them every day. And you would think, ‘well I feed them, if I go swimming or if I fall in, they they’d be nice to me.’
No, they’re alligators.
If you’re in their pit, it doesn’t matter. They’re going to eat you alive. And that’s a perfect analogy for the vast majority of cases. If you are falsely accused of a crime, you won’t find a lot of sympathy. You won’t find a lot of people caring. If you win your case, prove your innocence by some miracle, and you can get out of it, then everybody will be on your side.
But until then, look to fight tooth and nail to establish the truth in court.
Faulkner
We can’t trust our agencies anymore. It’s bad because you have good law enforcement. But then you have the leadership that has weaponized these things against us. Is there any end in sight for it? Is there hope in the justice system?
Tully
The leadership in law enforcement is compromised. Prosecutors should not pursue anybody because they don’t like them; don’t pursue anybody for political agendas.
We have to start rooting out this corruption. And right now, we don’t have any movement. So, if we have any hope for our future, rather than defund the police, we need to believe in law enforcement. We need to support law enforcement. But we need reform.
Faulkner
Absolutely. So, you guys got a documentary that reveals all of these things that have happened with your case called Con Job. Is that out yet?
Tully
That is a documentary that is being worked on right now. There has been a trailer that’s been released.
And everybody who has looked at these allegations against Keith Raniere and who has looked at this tampering all walk away with the same conclusions. So, the documentary will trace what happened and list all the anomalies in the metadata and the trial.
A whole lot is going on here. And it all points toward government malfeasance, the government, witnesses in the case against Keith Raniere, that the evidence was tampered with. Whether you like Keith Raniere or not is not the issue.
The issue is due process has to be for everybody, whether they’re the greatest person in the world or the most reviled. Even the devil in America should be entitled to a fair trial. And yet, we’re not getting that.
In America, should the devil have due process?
It’s very slanted toward the prosecution, and if you, God forbid you get accused, it’ll be jaw-dropping what you will see.
I would look up Con Job on YouTube. The trailer will be there.
I’m a defense attorney. I hope you never have to contact me. If you do, if you happen to get entangled in the government’s web that is getting wider and wider and wider every day, then we’re here for you.
Keith Raniere deserves a fair trial. Based on the evidence we’ve seen I do not believe he got one.
Don’t write off Keith Raniere because you’ve heard bad things about him in the media. Keep the focus on due process for every single US citizen. If we all do that and adhere to the truth as our goal, we will conclude that the FBI manipulated the evidence. And Keith Raniere was wrongly convicted, and this must be reversed.
Faulkner
It’s mind-blowing what you guys have uncovered here. I would have never expected this. It’s time for real justice reform. And this is where it starts.
