Deposition of Scott Rothstein re - Trustee Services
Deposition of Scott Rothstein re - Trustee Services Deposition of Scott Rothstein re - Trustee Services
1 Morocco or including what happened after he went to Page 116 2 Morocco? 3 MR. SALIM: Before or after. 4 MR. KAPLAN: We object to things that 5 happened after he came back from Morocco, but we have 6 no objection to him saying whatever he talked about 7 before he went to Morocco. 8 MR. SALIM: Here is my concern. He's 9 accusing him of stuff that's bad, showing illegal 10 conduct, etcetera. I don't care about your universe 11 of people, I only care about my client. 12 MR. KAPLAN: No, no, I don't -- and I 13 appreciate that. And I care about any ongoing law 14 enforcement investigations that we may have. That's 15 my concern. So, I certainly have no objection to 16 anything that took place before he went to Morocco. 17 You can ask him about it, then let's parse it that 18 way and we'll see what else. 19 BY MR. SALIM: 20 Q. Fine, pre Morocco. 21 A. The only illegal activity that I discussed 22 with Mr. Tonacchio was taking cash for the purpose of 23 avoiding taxes, the potential for laundering money if 24 he had large amounts of cash that needed to be moved, 25 and the potential to have to pay members of organized
1 crime or associates of organized crime to assist us Page 117 2 with problems in getting things pushed through in our 3 developments in Brooklyn. 4 Q. Okay. Any other aspects of -- 5 A. One of the very first things -- hold on, I'm 6 not done. 7 One of the very first conversations I ever 8 had with Mr. Tonacchio when we were discussing me 9 investing millions of dollars in developments in 10 Brooklyn, was the fact that I was well aware that 11 Brooklyn was an extremely union dominated, corrupt 12 area and I wanted to know if we were going to have 13 problems, if I was going to be exposing all this money 14 to potential loss. 15 Q. So just that -- 16 A. He assured me that he had the right 17 connections to make sure that nothing happened. 18 Q. And just so we are clear, you and 19 Mr. Tonacchio never actually undertook any actual 20 development work in Brooklyn, did you? 21 A. Actually undertook? You are going to have 22 to define "undertook." I invested in projects in 23 Brooklyn but I was not involved in the actual 24 development of a project. Mr. Tonacchio handled that. 25 Q. All right. We know you bought 12H, which
- Page 65 and 66: 1 determine whether or not a specif
- Page 67 and 68: 1 Morse and the Levys. Was there an
- Page 69 and 70: 1 A. You know, I don't recall speci
- Page 71 and 72: 1 Q. If you'd look at Document 0022
- Page 73 and 74: 1 A. Yes. Page 73 2 Q. That's an e-
- Page 75 and 76: 1 and it says an hour or less. Page
- Page 77 and 78: 1 Q. So when you generally refer to
- Page 79 and 80: 1 A. Yes, sir. Page 79 2 Q. So acco
- Page 81 and 82: 1 it says, "It was great getting to
- Page 83 and 84: 1 THE WITNESS: I don't. I don't hav
- Page 85 and 86: 1 e-mail, no, sir. Page 85 2 Q. Loo
- Page 87 and 88: 1 then when I finally did have the
- Page 89 and 90: 1 construction loan or something of
- Page 91 and 92: 1 A. I do. Page 91 2 Q. About the m
- Page 93 and 94: 1 couldn't decipher what was being
- Page 95 and 96: 1 A. I do. Page 95 2 Q. George who?
- Page 97 and 98: 1 BY MR. GAY: Page 97 2 Q. A few mo
- Page 99 and 100: 1 MR. PHILLIPS: Same. Page 99 2 THE
- Page 101 and 102: 1 were sitting around in a group, l
- Page 103 and 104: 1 time between myself and these peo
- Page 105 and 106: 1 Q. Did you, in fact, invest money
- Page 107 and 108: 1 A. Specifically, no. Sounds like
- Page 109 and 110: 1 illegal activity that I did with
- Page 111 and 112: 1 other business deals. More than t
- Page 113 and 114: 1 MR. SALIM: Because he's a liar, p
- Page 115: 1 that were associated with organiz
- Page 119 and 120: 1 A. Both ones that I was an invest
- Page 121 and 122: 1 are saying? Page 121 2 A. It's no
- Page 123 and 124: 1 was a distinction between a "sett
- Page 125 and 126: 1 BY MR. SALIM: Page 125 2 Q. If yo
- Page 127 and 128: 1 note was usurious? Page 127 2 A.
- Page 129 and 130: 1 deals or structured settlement de
- Page 131 and 132: 1 been owed money from RRA? Page 13
- Page 133 and 134: 1 A. Yes, sir. Page 133 2 Q. All ri
- Page 135 and 136: 1 MR. GAY: Objection to form. Page
- Page 137 and 138: 1 Q. And did you have an opinion as
- Page 139 and 140: 1 clients and what was going on on
- Page 141 and 142: 1 broken down? Page 141 2 A. That i
- Page 143 and 144: 1 on these "settlement deals"? Page
- Page 145 and 146: 1 yes, sir. Page 145 2 MR. SALIM: A
- Page 147 and 148: 1 "loan." Page 147 2 I think you ca
- Page 149 and 150: 1 asking? I mean, just generally as
- Page 151 and 152: 1 husband/wife privilege. You are n
- Page 153 and 154: 1 Q. It could be a mistake, could b
- Page 155 and 156: 1 uncle, or any other person that t
- Page 157 and 158: 1 Q. What do you mean by that, Scot
- Page 159 and 160: 1 A. Yes. Page 159 2 MR. GAY: Objec
- Page 161 and 162: 1 Q. With respect to the Picou deal
- Page 163 and 164: 1 BY MR. PHILLIPS: Page 163 2 Q. Di
- Page 165 and 166: 1 him, use it as he needed to for d
1 crime or associates <strong>of</strong> organized crime to assist us<br />
Page 117<br />
2 with problems in getting things pushed through in our<br />
3 developments in Brooklyn.<br />
4 Q. Okay. Any other aspects <strong>of</strong> --<br />
5 A. One <strong>of</strong> the very first things -- hold on, I'm<br />
6 not done.<br />
7 One <strong>of</strong> the very first conversations I ever<br />
8 had with Mr. Tonacchio when we we<strong>re</strong> discussing me<br />
9 investing millions <strong>of</strong> dollars in developments in<br />
10 Brooklyn, was the fact that I was well awa<strong>re</strong> that<br />
11 Brooklyn was an ext<strong>re</strong>mely union dominated, corrupt<br />
12 a<strong>re</strong>a and I wanted to know if we we<strong>re</strong> going to have<br />
13 problems, if I was going to be exposing all this money<br />
14 to potential loss.<br />
15 Q. So just that --<br />
16 A. He assu<strong>re</strong>d me that he had the right<br />
17 connections to make su<strong>re</strong> that nothing happened.<br />
18 Q. And just so we a<strong>re</strong> clear, you and<br />
19 Mr. Tonacchio never actually undertook any actual<br />
20 development work in Brooklyn, did you?<br />
21 A. Actually undertook? You a<strong>re</strong> going to have<br />
22 to define "undertook." I invested in projects in<br />
23 Brooklyn but I was not involved in the actual<br />
24 development <strong>of</strong> a project. Mr. Tonacchio handled that.<br />
25 Q. All right. We know you bought 12H, which
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