February 03, 2025
FBI Faked Evidence
Timothy Birdnow
Alan Dershowitz writes about a major scandal where the FBI created fake evidence to convict people.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/jan/29/fbi-photo-tampering-scandal-raises-alarming-questi/
Here is the op-ed by Dershowitz:
What happens when the government doesn’t just bend the rules but breaks them entirely?
This question lies at the heart of a high-profile prosecution that began as a #MeToo case involving adult accusers but took a dramatic and troubling turn. Just nine weeks before trial — and 11 months after the seizure of evidence — a Canon camera and an external hard drive were suddenly "accidentally discovered” to contain evidence of alleged child pornography. This late "discovery” not only added new charges but also pressured several co-defendants into pleading guilty.
However, according to experts, the evidence wasn’t discovered; it was invented. Seven experts, including four former FBI forensic examiners, concluded in a joint report submitted to the court: "Photos were planted and staged … with timestamps and folder names manipulated, apparently to simulate a 2005 timeframe. This conclusion is critical because the government depended entirely on these photos’ timestamps and folder names being authentic to argue that 22 of the photos were … illegal, based on the subject’s age being fifteen in 2005. This tampering … involved the manipulation of hundreds of files and time stamps.”
What makes this case even more alarming is how the judge and prosecution have shielded the alleged misconduct from proper scrutiny. Requests to access withheld evidence have been denied, and the defense has been prevented from obtaining records essential to understanding the full scope of the misconduct. It has also been denied an evidentiary hearing at which the evidence can be tested by cross-examination. If the justice system cannot hold the government accountable in such a case with such extensive proof of malfeasance, what hope is there for fairness in cases where the misconduct is less obvious?
Even those who served within the FBI are raising alarms. Dr. James Richard Kiper, a retired FBI agent whose work contributed to the FBI Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2016, personally reached out to FBI Director Christopher Wray about the misconduct in this case. In his email, he warned:
"After my 20 years of faithful service to the FBI … I was extremely disappointed — actually, outraged — at how the FBI handled the digital evidence in this case. You should feel the same way. The difference is that you can do something about it before it becomes the biggest FBI evidence scandal since the FBI Laboratory trace evidence fiasco in the 1990s.”
This is not a partisan case. The defendant, Keith Raniere, is not a political figure, yet the systemic failures in his case echo many of the concerns raised in today’s national debate over FBI and Justice Department reform. This case offers a stark reminder that unchecked power and unaccountable institutions pose a threat to every American.
As a nation, we must separate personal opinions about individual defendants from the principles of justice. If the government can fabricate evidence against someone like Raniere, who will hold it accountable when it turns that power against the rest of us?
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What we seek at this time is an evidentiary hearing at which we can present our evidence, subject to cross-examination, so the judge and the public can determine, based on facts, whether our serious allegations are true. There is no reason for the government to oppose such an inquiry, yet they did so from the beginning of the case and continue to do so now.
The time has come, indeed it is long past, for the government to end the cover-up of what experienced experts regard as a major scandal.
If they did nothing wrong, they should have nothing to hide. If they are refusing to let the truth come out, the public has the right to conclude that they do apparently have something to hide. The public has the right to know what they are afraid will come out at a hearing.
Sunlight is a good disinfectant, and blocking the sun will make the infection — if there is one, as the experts have concluded — fester. So, it’s in the interest of all Americans for there to be a hearing on this important issue.
• Alan Dershowitz is a consultant to the attorneys of Keith Raniere on constitutional issues.
Alan Dershowitz writes about a major scandal where the FBI created fake evidence to convict people.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/jan/29/fbi-photo-tampering-scandal-raises-alarming-questi/
Here is the op-ed by Dershowitz:
What happens when the government doesn’t just bend the rules but breaks them entirely?
This question lies at the heart of a high-profile prosecution that began as a #MeToo case involving adult accusers but took a dramatic and troubling turn. Just nine weeks before trial — and 11 months after the seizure of evidence — a Canon camera and an external hard drive were suddenly "accidentally discovered” to contain evidence of alleged child pornography. This late "discovery” not only added new charges but also pressured several co-defendants into pleading guilty.
However, according to experts, the evidence wasn’t discovered; it was invented. Seven experts, including four former FBI forensic examiners, concluded in a joint report submitted to the court: "Photos were planted and staged … with timestamps and folder names manipulated, apparently to simulate a 2005 timeframe. This conclusion is critical because the government depended entirely on these photos’ timestamps and folder names being authentic to argue that 22 of the photos were … illegal, based on the subject’s age being fifteen in 2005. This tampering … involved the manipulation of hundreds of files and time stamps.”
What makes this case even more alarming is how the judge and prosecution have shielded the alleged misconduct from proper scrutiny. Requests to access withheld evidence have been denied, and the defense has been prevented from obtaining records essential to understanding the full scope of the misconduct. It has also been denied an evidentiary hearing at which the evidence can be tested by cross-examination. If the justice system cannot hold the government accountable in such a case with such extensive proof of malfeasance, what hope is there for fairness in cases where the misconduct is less obvious?
Even those who served within the FBI are raising alarms. Dr. James Richard Kiper, a retired FBI agent whose work contributed to the FBI Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2016, personally reached out to FBI Director Christopher Wray about the misconduct in this case. In his email, he warned:
"After my 20 years of faithful service to the FBI … I was extremely disappointed — actually, outraged — at how the FBI handled the digital evidence in this case. You should feel the same way. The difference is that you can do something about it before it becomes the biggest FBI evidence scandal since the FBI Laboratory trace evidence fiasco in the 1990s.”
This is not a partisan case. The defendant, Keith Raniere, is not a political figure, yet the systemic failures in his case echo many of the concerns raised in today’s national debate over FBI and Justice Department reform. This case offers a stark reminder that unchecked power and unaccountable institutions pose a threat to every American.
As a nation, we must separate personal opinions about individual defendants from the principles of justice. If the government can fabricate evidence against someone like Raniere, who will hold it accountable when it turns that power against the rest of us?
Advertisement
What we seek at this time is an evidentiary hearing at which we can present our evidence, subject to cross-examination, so the judge and the public can determine, based on facts, whether our serious allegations are true. There is no reason for the government to oppose such an inquiry, yet they did so from the beginning of the case and continue to do so now.
The time has come, indeed it is long past, for the government to end the cover-up of what experienced experts regard as a major scandal.
If they did nothing wrong, they should have nothing to hide. If they are refusing to let the truth come out, the public has the right to conclude that they do apparently have something to hide. The public has the right to know what they are afraid will come out at a hearing.
Sunlight is a good disinfectant, and blocking the sun will make the infection — if there is one, as the experts have concluded — fester. So, it’s in the interest of all Americans for there to be a hearing on this important issue.
• Alan Dershowitz is a consultant to the attorneys of Keith Raniere on constitutional issues.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
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