Left to right: US Attorney William Hochul, Keith Raniere (Forbes cover story), Clare Bronfman
As a newspaper editor and publisher I have always insisted on transparency of government, and the transparency of private individuals dealing with government.
I have reported on these matters whenever I could with the depth that I could.
The Buffalo News reported on Sunday, November, 8, 2015 that the local US attorney’s office has targeted me for an investigation to determine whether to charge me with one or more felonies, or decline to prosecute after reviewing exonerating evidence, or alternately make an offer to me to avoid prosecution by taking a plea deal.
I will never take a plea deal to something I did not do.
As a result of the U.S. Attorney’s actions I have become a news story.
There has often been a blurring of lines between journalists reporting the news and journalists making the news since at least the Spanish-American War when publisher William Randolph Hearst famously cabled his illustrator in Cuba in 1895, “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”
In this case, my war with the U.S. Attorney is not something I started but the story of my possible indictment is one I feel is important to write about.
I intend to be as transparent in writing what happens during this ongoing process as I demand others to be when I cover their stories.
Behind this federal investigation into my business affairs by the US Attorney’s office, the FBI and the IRS – is a startling array off private forces.
Before readers can understand and judge the merits of the federal investigation and what may result in charges against me – it will be helpful to introduce individuals who are also at the root of the investigation and who the US Attorney relies on.
Aside from the possible hidden hand of politics, the first instigators of the investigation are the multi-millionaire heiress, Clare Bronfman and her guru leader Keith Raniere.
The other instigator is Shmuel Shmueli of Israel.
Claire Bronfman, an heiress to the billion dollar Seagram fortune, and her cult leader, Raniere are famous, or notorious. They are known and have been accused of paying/bribing for indictments of their enemies, as evidence will show.
The other figure, Shmueli, is obscure but equally interesting.
These are the people who had a obvious hand in prompting the federal investigation that US Attorney Hochul is actively pursuing.
This writing should help readers understand their motivations.
It has also been suggested that one of the hidden forces behind this nearly four-year-old investigation is politically driven because of my relentless criticism of Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster and Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Niagara Falls Reporter.
The question of politics has been raised by many who looked closely and have observed the clearly nonexistent evidence of wrongdoing on my part.
Is this investigation by the US Attorney retaliation against me by Mayor Dyster and his political allies, Governor Cuomo and Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, who is the wife of the US Attorney?
I have sent a letter to the local US Attorney, William B. Hochul Jr., outlining my concerns that politics may be behind this investigation and asked him to recuse himself and his entire office to avoid any appearance of political motivation or bias in the investigation in the interest of justice.
As of deadline Hochul has not responded.
In any event, in the coming weeks, I promise you a gripping tale – the report from the inside of a federal criminal white-collar investigation written by the target himself as it is ongoing.
We will follow the actions of my attorneys, the government’s attorneys, the FBI and IRS agents involved in the investigation, witnesses and other parties and importantly the actions of the instigators of the investigation, Shmueli, and Bronfman and her guru leader, Keith Raniere.
Normally, going public with information runs counter to all legal advice, but I publish and edit newspapers so – at the risk of my personal liability – I am going to reveal it all just as I would any other subject of an investigative report.
In print, space is limited. I will tell the essential story and back up the story online with the supporting documents to verify what the reader is told.
Come aboard then, and see what I, an American, a man with faults, vagaries and defects, but an American who claims to be innocent, faces when the federal government launches on investigation into his affairs.
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