FOLLOW ME ON
Daily Notifications
Sign up for free emails to receive the feature story every morning in your inbox at tonyortega.substack.com

Categories

Keith Raniere’s attorney begins cross-examination of first Nxivm ‘slave’ witness

[Keith Raniere and his attorney, Marc Agnifilo]

VillageDianne called us again from the overflow room at the Brooklyn courthouse, where she had watched about an hour of Marc Agnifilo’s cross-examination of the government’s first witness in the Nxivm trial.

Continue reading Keith Raniere’s attorney begins cross-examination of first Nxivm ‘slave’ witness

Opening statements in the NXIVM trial: One crystal clear, the other ‘surreal’

[Tanya Hajjar and Marc Agnifilo]

Our correspondent VillageDianne just got out of the Brooklyn courtroom where she heard opening statements in the Nxivm trial, where Keith Raniere is now the sole defendant, facing racketeering and sex trafficking charges. Here’s the rundown she gave us…

Continue reading Opening statements in the NXIVM trial: One crystal clear, the other ‘surreal’

Targets of a Jehovah’s Witnesses inquisition reflect on their purge

[Nestor and Toni Kuilan]

Lloyd Evans has a new video, his interview with Nestor and Toni Kuilan, to talk about their book about their targeting as they left the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization. Here’s Lloyd’s description:

Continue reading Targets of a Jehovah’s Witnesses inquisition reflect on their purge

NXIVM: Judge denies Keith Raniere’s attempt to suppress child porn images

[Judge Nicholas Garaufis and Keith Raniere]

Nxivm leader Keith Raniere may want to rethink this notion about going to trial next week. In another blow to his chances, Judge Nicholas Garaufis has denied his attempt to suppress explicit images of a 15-year-old girl that were found on one of his hard drives after a search of a townhouse in Halfmoon, New York last year.

Continue reading NXIVM: Judge denies Keith Raniere’s attempt to suppress child porn images

Jehovah’s Witnesses: The ‘spiritual divorce’ goons are at the door again

[Larson caught on camera]

Why would strange men be looking for Brandon Fiquett — men he’s never met from a Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation he’s never attended?

Why? Because Watchtower.

For months, Tacoma, Washington Allstate insurance salesman Erik Larson has been coming to Brandon’s home, interrupting his private life, demanding that he attend a “judicial committee.”

Larson and his associate were caught on video both morning and night, seeking a disfellowshipping of Brandon, presumably to release his ex-wife and give her what Jehovah’s Witnesses call a “scriptural divorce.”

That’s right, they have their own kind of divorce and do not recognize a legal divorce unless one of the parties admits to adultery, or is charged using their “two witness rule.”

Advertisement

Because these men did not have an admission of anything from Brandon or his ex-wife, they found his home location, and that he was living with his fiancee and her minor son.

This man Larson finally came to Brandon’s door during dinner one night, and attempted to question him about his sexual life in front of his fiancee’s minor son.

These men have no boundaries.

After that, Brandon received yet another call from Erik Larson informing him that he had been disfellowshipped. All this after Brandon contacted the police and warned Larson to stay away from him and his family.

Intimidating families in the name of Jehovah. With Erik Larson, you’re in good hands.

— Mark O’Donnell

 
——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on Apri1 30, 2019 at 13:30

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

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 such as Jehovah’s Witnesses. 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.)

 

Scientology escaping justice is no reason Nxivm should, Judge rules before trial

[Judge Nicholas Garaufis and Keith Raniere]

Judge Nicholas Garaufis just took a sledgehammer to Nxivm leader Keith Raniere’s final hopes for having some or all of the various charges he’s facing dismissed before next week’s trial starts.

Continue reading Scientology escaping justice is no reason Nxivm should, Judge rules before trial

NXIVM: Keith Raniere poses no threat, his lawyer says, so witnesses should be named fully

[Glenn Marcus and Keith Raniere]

Nxivm leader Keith Raniere, through his attorney Marc Agnifilo, struck back at a motion in limine by prosecutors that sought to set some last-minute ground rules for Raniere’s trial, which is scheduled to begin on May 7.

Continue reading NXIVM: Keith Raniere poses no threat, his lawyer says, so witnesses should be named fully

NXIVM: Prosecutors push back on Keith Raniere’s attempt to suppress explicit images

 
Prosecutors are pushing back hard at Nxivm leader Keith Raniere’s claim that explicit images of a 15-year-old girl found in an FBI search on a hard drive in his possession were from 2005 and too old to include in Raniere’s upcoming trial, scheduled to begin on May 7.

Continue reading NXIVM: Prosecutors push back on Keith Raniere’s attempt to suppress explicit images

Atlantic magazine subjects talk about sudden interest from Jehovah’s Witnesses elders

[Lloyd Evans, Kimmy and Mark O’Donnell]

Ever since they appeared last month in an Atlantic magazine feature about the cover up of child abuse in the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization, Mark and Kimmy O’Donnell say they’ve been subjected to some strange and aggressive tactics by elders of the local congregation in Baltimore.

Continue reading Atlantic magazine subjects talk about sudden interest from Jehovah’s Witnesses elders

‘There are bad men in America’: An ex-JW activist explains his work to a 5-year-old

 
In an airport waiting to fly to the US, ex-JW activist Lloyd Evans shares with his followers the story of how he answered when his nearly 5-year-old daughter asked, “Daddy, what do you do for work?”

Continue reading ‘There are bad men in America’: An ex-JW activist explains his work to a 5-year-old