The Nxivm trial resumed Wednesday after a holiday break. Our Dianne Lipson was on the scene and has this incredible report…
We are in cross-examination of James Loperfido, who had created multiple companies for Nxivm, conducted by Mark Agnifilo.
It came out in cross that Loperfido only met Keith twice, both times in meetings about investing in metal (gold). Agnifilo asked if Kathy Russell was a meticulous and honest bookkeeper. Loperfido replied, meticulous, yes, but she wasn’t honest. And Kathy couldn’t make a decision without talking to Keith first. Had Loperfido heard of Richard Mays? He had not. (O’Hara has said that Mays, a friend of the Clintons, was a contact that he, O’Hara, procured for Nxivm.) Loperfido said in direct that the intensives he took were useful and enjoyable, so Agnifilo asked him about this. Loperfido found that the intensives dealt with your place in the universe and how you related to people, and helped to put things in perspective. There was the idea of consistency and integrity, and the need to gather data before jumping to conclusions. “How you deal with things like my being on the stand right now.” There was daily pressure to take more courses, but no, no one “forced him.”
Agnifilo: You weren’t fired because you didn’t take more courses? Loperfido: “I don’t know why I was fired, to this day.” Loperfido admitted there was nothing wrong with creating companies for tax purposes.
Regarding the loan from Nxivm to O’Hara, Agnifilo asked did O’Hara say he had collateral for the loan? Objection, sustained. Were there conversations on whether O’Hara had committed fraud? Objection. Sustained. Agnifilo asked the witness if he was ever paid in full the money O’Hara owed him, after O’Hara’s bankruptcy? Objection. Sustained.
The next topic was the film that Loperfido had shown on V-Week, that he had felt was one-sided on the issue of whether the US government has the legal right to collect taxes. The film was “America: Freedom to Fascism” by conspiracy-obsessed filmmaker Aaron Russo. Agnifilo made much of the fact that Loperfido had procured and shown this movie, had arranged the whole thing, shown the film, and only then did he object to what he felt was the film’s viewpoint. But Loperfido said he often got movies for films in the park in his community. Kathy Russell had asked for that movie and he got it. He had never heard of Aaron Russo before that.
In re-direct, Lesko asked only a few questions. Loperfido was not involved in the large loss of money (the commodities trades which lost the Bronfman sister’s tens of millions of dollars). Loperifido was only involved in handling the tax consequences.
There was discussion regarding evidence in the next witness’s testimony. The defense said that the evidence, downloads of chats between Camilla and Keith, were hearsay, and that Camilla was not present to cross-examine. But the prosecution said the chats provided context for future witness Nicole’s experience. (Nicole was the DOS slave who was blindfolded and taken to a shack, where a sexual act that she did not want was performed on her.)
The next witness was FBI Special Agent Maegen Rees. Prosecutor Hajjar and Agent Rees presented evidence developed by Rees, culled from hundreds of pages of downloaded WhatsApp chats. These chats were between ‘Unknown Caller’ and Camilla. ‘Unknown Caller’ was established to be Keith. Camilla asked Keith if he wanted to have babies with her. He told her they already discussed that. On a chat from Sept 4, 2014, Keith said “I am so proud to have been your husband for 8.75 years. Cami was born March 1, 1990, and the agent did the math. Same thing for a chat where here Cami says that she and Keith have been together for 30 “full moons.” Doing the math made the start of their relationship September 2005.
The excerpts of the chats were read in court by Hajjar and Rees. Like they were reading a play, Rees read Cami’s part, and Hajjar read Keith’s part.
There were many chats about a man designated as R, who Camila had had intimate interaction with. R was Robbie Chiappone. (Lauren Salzman testified that Robbie was spied on by members of NXIVM.) I am presenting some paraphrases of excerpts:
Keith: You need to be desirous of me. You don’t crave me sexually. You need to more aggressive than you ever were with R.
Cami: I was insane to choose Robbie.
K: Why did you use his full name?
Keith: See yourself being type of person who disgusts you. See our child saying “Please Mommy, don’t” as you spread your legs.
Keith accuses Cami of defiance and pride. Cami says she feels like she is under attack.
Keith: What have you done today in the name of love for me?
Cami: I’ve not eaten.
Keith: What would be the next right thing for me to do?
Keith: You will make love to me to my satisfaction and pleasure.
There is a push for Cami to lose weight. Keith says, “The extra weight hurts my heart physically when I am with you.” Keith wanted her to weigh 100 lbs. Cami asked for help with her bulimia, but Keith said she should lose the weight first. Again, she is prideful, and he threatens cutting off communication with her.
Back to Robbie, in chats from November 2017.
Keith: He needs to feel like a rapist, that he disgusts you.
Keith: Tell me what he did each of the few times [with Robbie] right now.
Keith tells Cami she has disgraced him in the worst and deepest sense, and she has to move out.
Cami: I feel like I’m at your mercy.
Keith: You either fix, leave, or we’re done.
Cami: I’ll fix it. I’ll treat him like a rapist.
Cami: This is scary and suffocating.
Keith asserts that he was the one who was really damaged here.
Cami must ask permission to cut her hair, text her parents, or “shave the kitty.”
In December 2014 chat excerpts, Cami talked of her depression. ‘You have taken all my life. You have branded me for life. I feel hopeless and worthless. I feel dead inside.’
In a November 2014 chat, Keith wants a vow of absolute obedience.
Keith: Take the vow and love me or move out.
Cami: You are heartless.
Keith: Heartless is your behavior, not fixing what you did. You are cruel.
Cami: I closed off my world, I have no friends because of you. Please don’t abandon me.
Keith: You damaged me. Cut the victim stuff.
Later, Cami vows to do everything Keith says.
In December, Cami has mixed feelings. She never wanted Keith to be her “parent” and she feels unsafe.
Keith: Your belief of unsafety is the real problem. Please me. Earn me.
Cami seems more in touch with her feelings, more down-to-earth, then any of the previous Nxivm witnesses. She is able to state what she feels without second-guessing herself.
Cami wants to continue working as a nanny in Rainbow Garden. She doesn’t want Keith to take away her access to G (Gaelen, Keith’s secret son.)
Cami: You are abusing your power. I was more there for him [Gaelen] than you ever were.
Cami: I feel like a prisoner. This is your kingdom.
But later Cami says: I am now yours. What do you want me to do.
In the chats, Cami is able to clearly push back and state her feelings about the things Keith wants from her. She even says, ‘You want me to enjoy being abused. It’s not going to happen.’ But very much in the manner of an abused spouse, in the end she capitulates to what he wants.
October 22, 2016, Cami tells Keith she almost called a domestic abuse hotline, but she hung up before they answered.
Keith wants Cami to find another slave for him, someone who has character.
Cami: I don’t like the whole domination thing.
Keith wants the slave to pass tests of loyalty.
Keith says, “I suspect I’m a pretty sellable guy.”
Cami: I feel blackmailed.
Later Cami says she feels like she is a ‘thing’ to him and it scares her.
Cami: I never wanted you to correct me. It angers me. It angers me that you do not uphold what you claim, that you would step aside if I wanted someone else. It angers me that you made me believe in fairy tales. It angers me that it’s all a lie. I’m angry that you are taking away my life. I’m angry that I contemplated suicide many times.
Keith: If I really did start with you when you were too young, I lose all my authority on which our relationship is based. If you had dropped your pride I could have rehabilitated you.
Keith wants to know more about Robbie. Why did she like him?
Cami: Physical attraction.
Keith: It was false, unfortunately. Was he circumcised?
Cami: Yes.
Keith: What underwear were you wearing?
Keith wants her to finish her vow, ‘Giving yourself totally like no other woman living.’
Cami vows to be his forever, and to always have his back. But that’s not good enough for Keith, he wants her to obey him totally.
Cami: You are pushing me too much.
Finally she agrees.
Cami: I vow to be yours, to obey and trust you absolutely, to have you as my master in all things.
Keith: I cannot trust you. I need extreme collateral and different types of punishment for bad behavior.
Cami: What now? Just take the vow.
Keith: I experience you as callous, defiant, disrespectful and hateful.
Back to Robbie:
Keith: Do you like his fluid more than mine?
Cami: Right now, neither.
Keith: I need to know you want to tell me all.
Cami does not want to answer these questions, but Keith keeps pushing. Finally she tells him that she liked R’s fluid better. It had a better flavor. Keith wants to know if R is longer than him when hard. Cami mentions that Keith hasn’t been at his ‘fullest’ in a long time. Keith tells Cami that he knows that R’s penis is smaller. Keith says that he, Keith, is 7.5 inches long, whereas R is only 6.75 inches.
Cami: How do you know that?
Keith: Guys know these things about each other.
Keith: Because of your passion you grossly exaggerated the experience. How will you fix this?
Cami: I don’t care who’s better, bigger, or harder.
Keith pushes her to finish her vow formally, with collateral. On 8/12/15, he tells her he was very moved by her collateral. Her collateral is to resign from Rainbow Gardens. She tells Loreta Garza in her resignation letter, “It’s not safe for me to be around children.” If she breaches her vow, she pledges all assets and properties, and repossession of any items in future, up to the value of 1 million dollars. Lines on the ‘vow’ for witnesses to sign, are not filled out.
Next Agent Rees and Ms. Hajjar read from some communications between Keith and Cami that have already been made public (without Cami’s name), in this document describing why the government did not grant Keith bail.
Keith: Would you accept a brand?
Cami: Like a cow?
Cami: You want to burn me?
Keith: You don’t want to burn for me?
There are many exchanges where Cami begs Keith not to send her to Mexico. She has no life there.
He also explains that sex with more than one woman provides ‘multiple pheromones which prevent habituation.’
Keith wants Cami to find him another slave, a virgin like Cami was before she ruined everything because another man’s ‘DNA touched you’.
Keith: Find a pure vessel for us.
Keith explains she must be more than just a virgin. She must have never had oral sex. He wonders if such a girl would be interested in him.
Cami: Any of those girls (potential candidates) would be lucky to have you.
At this point Cami has changed her tone with Keith, she uses many endearments, and often addresses him as ‘my love.’ She compliments him. Perhaps it’s because she is an emotionally beaten-down slave. Or perhaps she has figured out how not to have Keith lash out at her.
Cami: I want to be with you even with no family [children of her own]. I choose you over everything. I choose a life of despair for you. I choose you.
Keith bemoans that he may not have time or energy to devote years to this potential slave, like he devoted to Cami when she was pure.
Keith: I don’t know if I can give her the life force I gave you.
Keith: It would take a rare one to transcend social norms (because of the age difference.)
Keith wants things to move faster. Cami is not finding anybody, in person or even online. Cami continues to express her fears and her despair (very rational feelings, considering.)
Keith: If you were humble, it would help. I am helping you, showing you how to be better.
Cami: I feel abandoned. I want you. I want support and love. I get only criticism. I keep getting rejected. I am so scared.
It’s December 2015 and Keith is still bringing up Robbie: Do you want to have treated R with more care than you treated me?
Cami: I felt like I wanted a social life, a family, friends. I felt an urgency to live.
Cami: I feel shame all the time. I feel hopeless. I feel like my life is not mine to do as I please.
Keith: The greatest joy is to consider others.
Cami tells Keith she will get him a successor (a virgin like she was.)
Keith worries: What young virgin would want me?
Cami: You are handsome, sexy, strong, loving, and talented. You know for a fact they all want you.
Keith continues to push her to ‘find a successor’.
Cami: I love you. I miss you so much. I’m so sad about us. I’m having a rough time. I did not expect this when I thought of the program. I’ll do anything. I’ll eat shit.
Keith: Find a successor.
Hajjar goes back to read a few emails from Cami from 2011, including one where she expresses frustration, and wants to reevaluate their relationship. She wants a real partnership, but everything is on his terms. Keith writes back that she is very wrong, and puts a sad face emoji.
Cross will start tomorrow. Then expert witness Dr. Dawn Hughes. Then Nicole, no last name.
End of Day 17
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 6, 2019 at 05:30
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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.)
