Anthony Valenziano

Anthony Valenziano testified for the prosecution on Day 21 about recordings produced in NXIVM's civil litigation against his client, Stephanie Franco. He explained that attorneys sought the recordings to investigate alleged misrepresentations underlying Franco's claims. He identified Exhibit 605 as 57 DVDs, described reviewing and marking them, and explained his participation in collecting them for production to the FBI. The defense objected to the government's renewed offer of the exhibit, and the court called counsel forward without ruling on that offer.

Valenziano also supplied a law-firm recordkeeping foundation for correspondence concerning the recordings. After defense voir dire, the court admitted Exhibits 619, 618, and 617. He linked the correspondence's discussion of 35 recordings to the larger DVD collection and attributed the assurance that they were unedited to NXIVM's counsel. He described missing content Franco had expected and apparent jump cuts, but said an expert review was cost prohibitive. His testimony expressed concerns about completeness rather than a technical finding that editing had occurred.

During voir dire and cross-examination, Valenziano acknowledged that he had not participated in the earlier e-mail exchange and that the correspondence predated his involvement by five years. His knowledge of the earlier production came from reviewing the file. When Marc Agnifilo read language asserting that a tape was lost rather than destroyed, Valenziano explained Kristin Keeffe's role as an NXIVM corporate designee. He also clarified that NXIVM's law firms served successively, not all at once, and said the matters between the parties were resolved amicably.

On redirect, Valenziano described the expense of roughly 15 years of litigation and said NXIVM had used at least 10 law firms. He testified that Ross dismissed claims against Keeffe after she left NXIVM's employ, which he believed occurred around 2014. He also said Franco agreed to pay $1 in settlement, while referring to three settlement components without fully explaining their terms.