Trials & Truths

I recently wrote about the latest motion that was filed by Stacy Estes Scheff, who represents Keith Raniere in his quixotic quest to force the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to allow him to communicate with – and meet with – several former members of NXIVM.

Via that motion, Scheff requested permission from U.S. District Court Judge Raner C. Collins to file a Second Amended Complaint in the action (In order to correct a variety of errors and omissions, Scheff filed her First Amended Complaint one day after she filed the original Complaint).

In reviewing Scheff’s latest motion, I suggested that it was destined to fail because Raniere had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies regarding the matter in question via the BOP’s Administrative Remedy Program before Scheff filed the lawsuit.

Per the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA) – which was actually enacted in 1996 – Congress imposed several new requirements and restrictions regarding “civil actions” that are brought by (or on behalf of) prisoners who are incarcerated in federal prisons (Note: The term “civil actions” does not include habeas corpus proceedings – or other post-conviction proceedings that are undertaken to challenge a criminal conviction or the related sentencing).

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The Response from the Defendants

On September 23^rd, Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Denise Ann Faulk filed her “Response” to Scheff’s latest motion.

And to put it mildly, Faulk basically mopped the floor with Scheff and her motion.

As Faulk noted, the request to file a Second Amended Complaint was nothing more than an attempt by Scheff to cover Raniere’s failure to exhaust his administrative remedies “in part by expanding the temporal scope of the complaint to include instances of retaliation for which [Raniere] has exhausted administrative remedies.”

Translated into normal, everyday English, what Faulk is saying is that the only reason Scheff asked to file a Second Amended Complaint is to try and cover up the fact that Raniere had not exhausted his administrative remedies about the issues that formed the basis for the lawsuit that was filed on May 5, 2022.

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Raniere’s Administrative Appeals

Faulk then went on to provide previously unknown details about Raniere’s various attempts to utilize the Administrative Remedy Program to address what he believes to be the unfair treatment he has received – and the denial of his various constitutional rights that has taken place – since he was moved to USP Tucson back in January 2021.

As it turns out, Raniere has filed five administrative remedy appeals since he first arrived at USP Tucson:

• The first two appeals concerned the disciplinary sanctions that were imposed on him for having another inmate contact Nicki Clyne on his behalf (Clyne had already been removed from Raniere’s list of approved contacts for prior misconduct): a BP-10 that he filed with the BOP’s Western Regional Office on February 25, 2022 – and a BP-11 that he filed with the BOP’s Office of General Counsel on June 30, 2022.

• The next three appeals concerned, respectively, the removal of Marc Elliot from his list of approved visitors; the continuing removal of Suneel Chakravorty from his list of approved contacts; and the “scrubbing” of his list of approved contacts.

Needless to say, filing administrative appeals several months AFTER you’ve filed a lawsuit does not qualify as having exhausted your administrative remedies BEFORE you file the lawsuit.

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Golden Nuggets Buried in the Paperwork

For the most part, the response that was filed by AUSA Faulk was pretty straightforward – and primarily focused on the fact that Raniere had not exhausted the administrative remedies that were available to him concerning the issues that led to the filing of the lawsuit on May 5, 2022.

But buried in the attachments to the response are some “golden nuggets” that we would likely never know about except for this filing.

Here are some of them…

• We now have a complete list of every “legal call” that Raniere had during the period from June 13, 2022 and September 21, 2022 – 17.5 hours in all;

• We now have a complete list of every “legal visit” that Raniere has had during the period from July 29, 2022 through September 14, 2022;

• We now know that Raniere is still being held in the SHU at USP Tucson while prison officials seek to determine if it will be safe to return him “into general population or other suitable housing”;

• We now know that Nicki Clyne was listed as a contact person for several inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) while Raniere was housed there; and

Check out Nicki Clyne and her Instagram video HERE

• We now know that during an interview on July 22, 2021, Raniere admitted to a BOP staff person that Nicki Clyne passed messages between him and Clare Bronfman – and (surprise, surprise) that Clare Bronfman is still paying all his legal bills.

Oh, and two other things we learned are that Raniere has the handwriting skills of an 8-year-old – and that he’s a chronic whiner.

Definitely not the “world’s smartest inmate”

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A Transfer May Be on the Horizon

Given his numerous violations of standard procedures at USP Tucson – and given his ongoing filing of baseless lawsuits and moronic motions that take time and effort to respond to – I would not be surprised if Raniere finds himself being transferred to another prison sometime in the near future.

Just like he never appreciated what a charmed and carefree life he had before he decided to create DOS and bring his entire NXIVM kingdom down, Raniere apparently has no sense whatsoever of just how lucky he is to be incarcerated at USP Tucson.

Should he get moved to a regular maximum-security prison that does not cater to inmates who have been convicted of sex-related offenses, his time in prison may be much shorter than 120 years.