The Lowdown | The Underground Bunker

NXIVM: Keith Raniere to judge — jury anonymous to public, but not to Vanguard!

Keith Raniere’s attorney Marc Agnifilo filed an interesting objection to Judge Nicholas Garaufis today, asking him to change his mind about the anonymity of the jury that the court will begin selecting on […]

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s father worked for Nxivm: What is it with Dem dads?

[Kirsten Gillibrand and Tulsi Gabbard]

There’s a fun report at Big League Politics today thanks to Frank Parlato, who gave the politics site a document proving that New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s father, attorney Douglas Rutnik, was paid a $100,000 retainer by Nxivm, the group whose leaders are now facing sex slavery charges in a federal […]

Can sandwich maker Jimmy John Liautaud shake off his big game past?

You probably know the backstory: Sandwich maker Jimmy John Liautaud, proprietor of the Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches chain, got a ton of heat when some photos from a 2010 African safari turned up online, showing the Chicago businessman celebrating over the carcasses of a couple of elephants, a rhino, and a […]

A Jehovah’s Witnesses official responds (unofficially) to ‘Bottlegate’

We’re still buzzing over a video that Lloyd Evans posted of Jehovah’s Witnesses Governing Body member Anthony Morris III buying a cartload of expensive hooch. […]

It’s simple: we get to kill exotic animals because we are the superior species

At some point, all of the defensive posturing by trophy hunters that they are conservationists with the best interests of animals in mind really does get old and it’s time they came […]

NXIVM: Kathy Russell argues prosecutors hid evidence of her guilt, so she should go free

[Kathy Russell and Clare Bronfman]

An interesting new document from Nxivm bookkeeper Kathy Russell’s attorney hit the court file today. It’s a memo supporting her motion to dismiss charges against her, and it argues that she was taken advantage of by prosecutors when they asked her to testify to the grand jury last […]

Jehovah’s Witnesses learn that scaring children in Sweden comes with a price

[From the Metro investigation]

What an interesting and odd story coming out of Sweden today. We were alerted to it by a Lloyd Evans tweet, and then spent part of the morning reading translations of articles from the Swedish version of Metro, the free daily […]

Sly Baboon hilariously takes the wheel on safari — oh, wait, it’s dead

Trophy hunters are so tragically misunderstood. No matter how much they explain to people that they are dedicated conservationists, supreme lovers of animals, and not people suffering crippling inadequacy issues, there’s another side to these champions of the natural world that rarely gets the credit it deserves: Their sense of […]

Can you be impartial about allegations of sex slavery? Take the Nxivm juror questionnaire!

[Keith Raniere and the Dalai Lama in Nxivm’s happier days]

Jury selection starts Monday in the Nxivm trial, and the court file now includes a 37-page juror questionnaire that we thought you’d like to see. […]

NXIVM: Lauren Salzman’s guilty plea included admitting to imprisoning a woman for 2 years

[Lauren Salzman and Keith Raniere]

Frank Parlato and the NY Post are reporting that when Nxivm defendant Lauren Salzman entered a guilty plea on March 25, she recited a chilling list of crimes, including keeping a Mexican woman as a slave for two […]

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