Some tidbits from the morning session of the trial. Reporter Ayla Ferrone from WTEN has been posting updates.
o Tanya Hajjar, the Assistant US Attorney, gave the opening statement for the prosecution. She emphasized Keith Raniere is a predator and conman who used his followers for his own benefit.
o Mark Agnifilio gave an opening statement for the defense and claimed Raniere was only interested in making people's lives more meaningful and encouraged the jury to look at things through Keith's eyes. Sheesh. To be expected. He also claimed NXIVM was all about BBQs and volleyball and members enjoyed themselves. [too bad the BBQs were branding his slaves]. His bottom line is that jurors need to consider whether Raniere had the intent to commit crimes. Sound like a familiar defense? I guess Agnifilio wants people to believe Keith was innocent while all these crimes circulated around him.
o One juror was excused and replaced by an alternate this morning due to a hardship. That leaves five alternates remaining.
o The prosecution discussed a Mexican family that followed Raniere to Albany. And brought their three daughters. All of which had sex with Raniere. One of which he started raping when she was 15 and he took pictures. Another sister was the one locked up in a room in one of his houses for almost two years as punishment for offending Keith.Evidently at least these two sisters will be testifying for the prosecution.
o The prosecution's first witness will be Sylvie Lloyd and notMark Vincente as expected. Parlato reported on her and her husband Jon Fox last August. She's English and was a reputed lover of Clare Bronfman. She and Fox were another arranged marriage by Raniere so Lloyd could stay in the US and be part of NXIVM. (Raniere also arranged a lesbian marriage between Allison Mack and Canadian actress Nicki Clyne so Nicki could stay in America.
o Here are some further details about the morning proceedings.
o There are some other tawdry details from the New York Post coverage of today.
Updates from the afternoon session should be forthcoming. I'll try and keep up. Sylvie Lloyd's testimony for the prosecution should be enlightning.
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Thank you for the updates. What I wonder is why on earth NXIVM is still functioning as an organization.