Stephanie Franco

Stephanie Franco appeared in testimony about ESP course materials and civil litigation that underlay the government's videotape-alteration allegation. Rick Alan Ross testified that she decided to discontinue ESP after discussing her concerns with him. Her binder, containing course materials and handwritten notes, reached Ross through her brother Jeffrey. Ross gave the materials to John Hochman and Paul Martin, whose critical reports he published online, prompting NXIVM's lawsuit. The court admitted the course materials as Government Exhibit 620. On cross-examination, Ross said he learned of the confidentiality issue after being served and described language in fine print on a credit-card slip. He acknowledged that neither doctor had taken NXIVM courses and that their reports were not peer-reviewed.

Franco's civil attorney, Anthony Valenziano, explained that her attorneys sought recordings to investigate alleged misrepresentations supporting her consumer-fraud counterclaims. He identified 57 DVDs produced in that litigation and later supplied to the FBI. He said her litigation lasted fourteen and a half years and was expensive for her family. Production correspondence admitted at trial included NXIVM counsel's representation that 35 recordings were unedited. Valenziano described missing expected content and apparent jump cuts, but said an expert assessment was cost prohibitive. In closing, prosecutor Moira Penza argued that Raniere conspired to alter recordings for Franco's case. Defense counsel Marc Agnifilo challenged whether the altered tapes were those produced in discovery and whether Raniere knew of their intended litigation use.