There’s a fun new letter in the Nxivm case file to Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis from Keith Raniere’s lead attorneys asking the judge to look past the odd situation involving Raniere’s lawyer Teny Geragos.
Raniere’s co-defendant, Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman, is being represented by Teny’s father, famous defense attorney Mark Geragos. After prosecutors pointed out the potential problem with that arrangement, Teny responded in a letter to the court today.
“Counsel has made it clear to both Raniere and the government that she is aware and takes seriously her ethical duties to her client — including the duties of confidentiality and loyalty,” says the letter from Teny and attorney Marc Agnifilo. “These duties have not and will not be impaired by her ‘close family relationship.’ We do not believe there is a conflict.”
The judge has had numerous concerns about conflicts of interest in this case which might arise from the defendants being represented by attorneys all paid out of a defense fund set up by Bronfman (a fund which is reportedly running low on funds). So the judge has been holding a series of what are called “Curcio hearings” with each of the defendants. In those hearings, the judge quizzed the defendants about how they hired their attorneys and whether they are aware of the potential conflicts.
For Raniere, Judge Garaufis has appointed New York attorney Avraham Moskowitz as “Curcio counsel” to help decide what to do about the potential conflicts.
In the letter, Teny Geragos and Agnifilo offer to go through a Curcio hearing on March 18 and have notified Moskowitz of the government’s concerns.
We’d love to hear from the lawyers in our community — what are your thoughts about Geragos and his daughter representing co-defendants in this case? Can it be done without conflict?
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Posted by Tony Ortega on March 7, 2019 at 17:00
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Tony Ortega is a journalist who was formerly the editor of The Village Voice. He’s written about Scientology since 1995, and in May 2015 released a book about Scientology’s harassment of Paulette Cooper titled ‘The Unbreakable Miss Lovely,’ and more recently a compilation of his stories, ‘Battlefield Scientology.’ He continues to monitor breaking developments in the Scientology world, as well as other subjects at The Underground Bunker. You can reach him by sending him a message at tonyo94 AT gmail.com (Drop him a line if you’d like to get an e-mail whenever a new story is posted.)
