The leader of the cult NXIVM has lost his latest effort to overturn his conviction on sex trafficking and racketeering.

Keith Raniere was challenging his conviction on the grounds that he did not have sufficient opportunity to review evidence obtained on a seized hard drive. There were images of child pornography and child exploitation on the drive.

Prosecutors had said that the images were from 2005 with a person Raniere had a sexual relationship beginning at age 15. The victim submitted a sworn deposition that she was underage at the time they were taken.

The charges related to these images were added in a new indictment in March 2019 weeks before the trial was to begin on April 29, 2019.

The government wanted to make sure that the defense team had time to review this evidence.

“Given the conflicting statements from Mr. Raniere’s defense team, the Government sought to ensure that he was ready to proceed, after noting numerous times that it would consent to the trial’s adjournment if necessary to allow his defense team time to conduct a forensic examination of the photographs and the photographs’ metadata.”

However, his lawyers said they were still ready to go to trial. Now, they are making the argument that they needed more time to review that evidence. They allege that the FBI falsified the metadata to fit their narrative that the photos were taken when the victim was 15.

The court ruled that he had ample time to challenge this evidence.

“The jury found guilty of the predicate acts at issue so he now attempts to manufacture ‘new evidence’ that he argues would lead to his acquittal to receive a second bite at the apple. These are not extraordinary circumstances where a new trial is necessary to prevent a manifest injustice.”

Raniere is serving a sentence of 120 years in federal prison.