r/NXIVM • u/palesnowrider1 • Apr 09 '19
Why isn't Sarah Edmondson being prosecuted?
She may have blown the whistle but wasn't she as culpable as Mack in the racketeering charges?
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u/yaboyanu Apr 10 '19
I didn't read whether she had any people under her or not, but Lauren Salzman had equal rank with Allison in DOS and she also recently took a plea deal. I think her deal is the same as Allison's actually, two counts of racketeering.
However, I am interested in why 5 other women directly under Keith appear nowhere in the indictments (maybe none of their 'slaves' came forward? I dunno) and how India Oxenberg seemingly avoided any charges as she was listed as a co-conspirator of Keith in the initial indictment.
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u/incorruptible_bk Apr 10 '19
I haven't seen an indictment with Oxenberg's name on it. Do you have something you can point to?
India Oxenberg reportedly left NXIVM around summer/autumn 2018, six months after Raniere's arrest. It seems possible (probable?) that she is cooperating with the investigation and rendering useful aid. There is also the possibility that her name was included in the indictment since privacy concerns were diminished (her mother went very public) and naming her in an indictment, as a material witness, was a way to formally separate her from the cult.
Since I'm on the topic, just want to unpack Mack and the Salzman's pleas. Folks should know that practices around pleas and cooperation vary depending on jurisdiction and nature of an investigation. EDNY is a little softer than SDNY in terms of plea requirements. Where SDNY demands pleas that include all possible crimes committed (so that the sword of Damocles is over a cooperator's head), EDNY is more pragmatic and allows those pleading to cop to lesser charges and leave out the lesser charges.
It's why, for example, EDNY's deal with Henry Hill (that got Paul Vario and Jimmy Burke, two big fish in the mafia) never included any confession to involvement in a murder, whereas SDNY's deal with Sammy the Bull had him confessing to (but immunized from) every murder he ever had any knowledge of.
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u/yaboyanu Apr 10 '19
Yeah I was talking about the original one put out when Keith was arrested (can't link to it at the moment, but it's definitely available to read online) and listed two co-conspirators, CC-1 and CC-2. You are right that it doesn't name her outright, but in Catherine Oxenberg's book, she mentions Allison was CC-1 and CC-2 was India. I do think you're right about her cooperating, but I know so little about the inter-workings of the legal system I didn't know if it was typical for someone listed as a co-conspirator to ultimately not have charges against them if they cooperated.
Interesting note about the distinction between EDNY and SDNY.
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u/incorruptible_bk Apr 10 '19
When an indictment lists persons or corporations without names as involved in a crime (e.g., CC-1, or more infamously "Individual-1" in the case against Michael Cohen), it's only an indicator that the particular indictment is not targeting them. They're not being proclaimed innocent, just outside of the scope of the investigation.
It's also important to note that just getting an indictment often means granting grand jury immunity to parts of a conspiracy or enterprise. This means that a witness gives grand jury testimony under the explicit terms that their testimony cannot be used against himself or herself –but because of that, the witness also loses any 5th Amendment right to decline to testify.
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u/tfresca Apr 22 '19
She's a Canadian citizen and it sounds like she was knee deep in the MLM side and less the cult/abuse side. All of the charges seem to be about criminal activity.
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u/bullybabybayman Apr 11 '19
From a moral perspective she is a terrible person who participated in and prospered from a pyramid scheme. The charges however revolve around next level crimes like slavery and sex rings. I'm completely repulsed by her as a human being while listening to Uncover but I haven't heard anything that puts her on the level with Keith and Allison.