NXIVM sex-cult leader Keith Raniere has a new supporter. Amanda Knox, who was convicted of murder in Italy in 2007 but was infamously exonerated, has signed a petition along with several other members to help Raniere. The petition demands Brooklyn federal prosecutors to answer certain questions including if they tampered with evidences and threatened witnesses in the sex cult leader's high-profile case.
Raniere was found guilty in 2019 of sex trafficking, racketeering and conspiracy for his leading role in operating a cult called DOS through NXIVM. Knox, aka "Foxy Knoxy" signing the petition is being projected by Raniere's supporters as a "brave move" and an "important initiative".
New Supporter
Knox, along with several other Raniere loyalists, has signed a petition demanding the sex-cult leader's prosecutors answer a set of questions. His petition, which has been framed as an affidavit, demands that prosecutors answer if they tampered with evidence, suborned perjury, threatened witnesses and more in his sex-trafficking case. The petition was signed on Friday.
NXIVM members also plan to launch a podcast, hold a $35,000 Innocence Challenge" and gather signatures on a petition that was already signed by supporters such as Knox in a bid to hold prosecutors and judges accountable. "I was contacted by some former members of NXIVM who claim that Mr. Raniere has been wrongfully convicted, and that the story being told in the media is wrong," Knox told the Times Union.
Knox is being seen as an important personality to have joined the so-called movement as her own conviction was overturned just over a decade back. She was an American exchange student targeted by Italian authorities for the murder of her roommate in a case that attracted international attention.
Knox also wrote that she signed the petition because "violation of these practices would constitute prosecutorial misconduct, regardless of Mr. Raniere's guilt or innocence."
Will it Help?
Raniere was found guilty in 2019 of sex trafficking, racketeering and conspiracy for his leading role in operating a cult called DOS through NXIVM. Women in DOS were treated as "slaves" and branded with Raniere's initials near their genitals. He's awaiting sentencing at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Knox's signature on the petition might further hype the high-profile case. Her signature was included among the "initial group of brave journalists and advocates who have agreed to support this important initiative," Raniere's supporters posted on their website. Much like Knox, a few other high-profile names who have reportedly been subject to unfair trail and conviction too have signed the petition. Among them are Valentino Dixon, a Buffalo man who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, and Diana Davison, who runs the Lighthouse Project, a Canadian nonprofit offering free assistance to the wrongfully accused.
