Joseph Tully Law Firm: Keith Raniere Submits Discovery of Illegal Evidence Tampering Allegedly Conducted by FBI Agents

NEW YORK, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A motion seeking a stay of the appeal for Keith Raniere was filed today by Raniere's attorney Joseph M. Tully. The motion presents three reports from expert witnesses of new evidence of FBI tampering with a hard drive with digital photographs found on it and a camera card. The stay aims to provide time for the filing of a Rule 33 Motion seeking a new trial.

Expert reports from Dr. J. Richard Kiper, Ph.D., PMP, Steven M. Abrams, J.D., M.S, and Wayne B. Norris allege that the government tampered with key evidence that it then offered into evidence against Mr. Raniere during his jury trial. These reports were submitted along with the Stay motion, available at https://www.scribd.com/document/572090982/US-v-Raniere-Motion-to-Stay-Appeal.

Tully said of this motion, "Per the expert report of a former FBI Special Agent, computer images and photographs used to convict Mr. Raniere at jury trial were materially altered when in FBI custody. Specifically, there is evidence that computer data related to digital photographs taken of a nude female were altered so that the year that these photographs were taken was changed. This was used by the government to establish the female as being under the age of eighteen at the time the photographs were taken." 

Some of the key findings alleged in the motion include:

• Two FBI agents "broke protocol and checked the camera and CF card out of Evidence Control twice, for a total of 24 days."
• "The backup folder [on the WD HDD] containing the alleged contraband has all the hallmarks of fraud…" with dates and folder names being "manually altered to look autogenerated in a manner that comported with the government's narrative."
• "While in FBI custody, the CF card was accessed improperly, without authorization, and was altered. It was undoubtedly tampered with, as the thumbnails of a brunette impossibly became thumbnails of a blonde."

Tully continues, "All three experts conclude that the most reasonable explanation for the plethora of anomalies on the WD HDD and the CF card - which all support the government's narrative - is that the government, acting with malfeasance, tampered with the evidence – destroying, constructing, and altering it.

Dr. James Kiper is a former FBI agent who served 20 years in the agency, specializing as a computer forensic examiner. Steven M. Abrams, J.D., M.S is a licensed attorney, a retired State Constable in South Carolina, and an expert in digital forensics, which he has taught to police and military organizations around the world. Wayne B. Norris has served as an expert witness in more than 100 technology-related cases in federal, state, and municipal courts. He currently specializes in digital forensics.

Raniere is currently serving a 120-year sentence in federal prison. The case is 20-3520 -3789 in the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

SOURCE Joseph Tully Law Firm