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IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE
FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND
FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA
CASE NO.: 502009CA040800XXXXMBAG
JEFFREY EPSTEIN,
Plaintiff,
VS.
SCOTT ROTHSTEIN, individually,
BRADLEY J. EDWARDS, individually, and
L.M., individually,
Defendant,
NOTICE OF FILING TRANSCRIPT IN SUPPLEMENTAL SUPPORT OF BRADLEY
EDWARDS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Defendant/Counterplaintiff, BRADLEY J. EDWARDS, by and through his undersigned
attorneys, hereby gives notice of the filing of the transcript of the deposition of Scott Rothstein
taken on June 14, 2012. Specific portions of the deposition on which Mr. Edwards' relies in
support of his motion for summary judgment are highlighted.
I HEREBY CERTIFY that a true and correct copy of the foregoing has been furnished by
!)
U.S. Mail to all counsel on the attached list is day of June 2012.
JA
Fl
rida
C RdA
ar No.: 169440
Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, P.A.
21-39 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard
est Palm Beach, Florida 33409
Phone: (561) 686-6300
Fax: (561) 383-9451
Attorneys for Bradley J. Edwards
Edwards adv. Epstein
Case No.: 502009CA040800XXXXMBAG
Notice of Filing Transcript In Supplemental Support of Bradley Edwards' Motion for Summary Judgment
Page 2 of 2
COUNSEL LIST
Bradley J. Edwards, Esquire
Farmer, Jaffe, Weissing, Edwards, Fistos
425 North Andrews Avenue, Suite 2
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Phone: (954) 524-2820
Fax: (954) 524-2822
Jack A. Goldberger, Esquire
Atterbury, Goldberger & Weiss, P.A.
250 Australian Avenue South, Suite 1400
West Palm Beach, FL 33401
Phone: (561) 659-8300
Fax: (561) 835-8691
Marc S. Nurik, Esquire
One E Broward Blvd., Suite 700
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Phone: (954) 745-5849
Fax: (954) 745-3556
Tortja Haddad Coleman, Esquire
Law Offices of Tonja Haddad, P.A.
524 S Andrews Avenue, Suite 200N
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Phone: (954) 467-1223
Fa*: (954) 337-3716
Lilly Ann Sanchez, Esquire
The L-S Law Firm
1441 Brickell Avenue, 15th Floor
Miami, FL 33131
Phone: (305) 503-5503
Fax: (305) 503-6801
Page 1
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE
FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN
AND FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA
GENERAL JURISDICTION DIVISION
JEFFREY EPSTEIN,
Plaintiff,
vs. No. 502009CA040800XXXXMBAG
SCOTT ROTHSTEIN, individually,
and BRADLEY J. EDWARDS,
individually,
Defendants.
500 East Broward Boulevard,
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Thursday, June 14, 2012
9:14 a.m. - 12:37 p.m.
DEPOSITION
Of
SCOTT ROTHSTEIN
(Via Video Conference)
Taken on behalf of the Trustee
pursuant to a notice of taking deposition
FRIEDMAN, LOMBARDI & OLSON
305-37] -6677
5ed93085-0554-447f-bcdd-ca2d8fe941df
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1 APPEARANCES:
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LAW OFFICES OF TONJA HADDAD: P A. by
3 Tonta Haddad, Esq.
Attorney for the Plaintiff.
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ATTERBURY, GOLDBERGER & WEISS, P.A., by
Jack Goldberger, Esq
Attorney for the Plaintiff.
SEARCY DENNEY SCAROLA ET AL, by
Jack Scarola, Esq.
Attorney for the Defendant. Brad Edwards
MARC NURIK, P.A., by
Marc Nurik, Esq.
Attorney for Scott Rothstein.
(Appearing via Video Conference.)
13 U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, by
Laurence LaVecchio, Esq.
Attorney for the Department of Justice.
Page
INDEX
WITNESS DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS
SCOTT ROTHSTEIN
(By Ms. Haddad) 5
(By Mr. Goldberger) 92
(By Mr. Scarola) 121
EXHIBITS
PLAINTIFFS FOR IDENTIFICATION
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2 69
3 72
Page 3
1 Thereupon:
SCOTT ROTHSTEIN,
was called as a witness and, having been duly sworn,
was examined and testified as follows:
THE WITNESS: I do.
MS. HADDAD: Good morning, Scott. How are
7 you?
8 THE WITNESS: Good morning, Tonja. How are
9 you?
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MS. HADDAD: Fine, thank you. It's nice to
see you.
THE WITNESS: Good to see you, too.
MR. SCAROLA: Mr. Rothstein, I don't know
that you and I have met. I'm Jack Scarola, I'm
representing Brad Edwards and1know you know Brad
who's to my immediate left.
THE WITNESS: Hey, Brad, how are you?
Jack, good to see you.
MR. SCAROLA: Thank you.
MR. GOLDBERGER: Also present is another
Jack, Jack Goldberger, andl also represent Jeffrey
Epstein. To my right is Danyn lndyke --
THE WITNESS: Good morning, Jack.
MR. GOLDBERGER: How are you today?
And to my right is Darryn lndyke, who is
Page 4
Mr. Epstein's in-house counsel.
MR. INDYKE: Good morning.
THE WITNESS: Good morning, sir.
MR. NURIK: Good morning, everyone.
5 MR. GOLDBERGER: Hi, Marc, how are you?
MR. NUR1K: Good. You'll be seeing my
7 shoulder most of the day.
MR. GOLDBERGER: Okay.
9 DIRECT EXAMINATION
10 BY MS. HADDAD:
11 Q. Well, Scott, I know you've talked about this
12 probably more than you even care to, but I'd like to
13 start a little bit asking you about the scheme at your
14 firm and how arid when it started and things of that
15 nature just very briefly because] know you've covered
16 it many times.
17 MR. SCAROLA: It has been covered and
18 protocol precludes asking questions that have already
19 been answered and covering areas that have already
20 been covered, so we do object.
21 MR. GOLDBERGER: Your objection is noted.
22 BY MS. HADDAD:
23 Q. When did this first start?
24 A. It started back in '05, '06. The question
25 is a little bit vague for me because it started in a
Page 5
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FRIEDMAN, LOMBARDI & OLSON
305-371-6677
5ed93085-0554-447f-bcdd-ca2d8fe941df
different form than it ended because it started as
2 bridge loans and things of that nature, and then
3 morphed into the Ponzi scheme. But you are looking
4 back into the 2005 time frame for the very beginning.
5 Q. The 2005 time frame, that's when the bridge
6 loans started?
A. I can't be certain exactly what we were
8 doing. I need to see all the documents to tell you
9 what we were doing at what specific point in time.
1 0 Q. What made you decide to start doing this?
1 1 A. I started doing it out of greed and the need
1 2 to support the law firm, which was having significant
1 3 financial trouble at the time.
1 4 Q. And in 2005 had you moved over to 401 yet or
1 5 were you still in the building where Colonial Bank
16 was?
1 7 A. I don't remember.
1 8 Q. Do you recall approximately how many
1 9 attorneys you had working for you when it started?
2 0 A. I do not. Between five and ten, Tonja.
2 1 Q. Was it before you started acquiring
2 2 attorneys like you were acquiring cars and watches?
2 3 MR. SCAROLA: Object to the form of the
2 4 question, vague.
25 THE WITNESS: Yes.
Page
1 BY MS. HADDAD:
2 Q. Well, who were you partners with when it
3 first started?
4 A. Stu Rosenfeldt.
5 Q. Okay. Anyone else?
6 A. Susan Dolin, I believe. It was definitely
7 Stu Rosenfeldt, Michael Pancier, and Susan Dan may
8 have been partners of ours at that time, I'm not
9 certain.
1 0 Q. Because if memory serves me correctly, you
1 1 went from being in the One Financial Plaza Building to
1 2 the building across the street, it was Rothstein,
1 3 Rosenfeldt, Dolin and Pancier; is that correct?
14 A. Yes.
1 5 Q. And it was some time later that you moved
1 6 into the 401 Building, correct?
1 7 A. You are skipping one step. I went from One
1 8 Financial Plaza to Phillips, Eisinger, Koss, Kusnick,
1 9 Rothstein and Rosenfeldt. Then Stu Rosenfeldt and I
2 0 broke off and formed Rothstein Rosenfeldt. And then
2 1 Rothstein, Rosenfeldt, Dolin, Pancier over at the
2 2 Colonial Bank Building. And then we took the space in
2 3 the 401 Building and eventually moved over there and
2 4 that's when the real growth started.
2 5 Q. And when you say, "that's when the real
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growth started," do you mean both the scheme -- do you
mean the scheme and the fin-n or either one or both?
A. Both.
Q. Do you recall approximately when you took
the space in the 401 Building?
A. I do not.
Q. At the time everything imploded, how many
partners did you have at the fin-n, do you recall?
A. Are you saying partners and shareholders?
Because remember, we had both, two designations.
Q. I want to start with just attorneys that
had -- not in your firm name but named as "partner" on
the cards, for example.
A. I'd have to see a list of all the employees.
We had a bunch.
Q. Do you recall about how many attorneys you
had working there?
A. Approximately 70.
Q. In the year before, do you recall how many
you had?
A. I do not.
Q. So how many equity partners did you have or
shareholders? I'm not sure of the word that we are
using.
A. Actual shareholders, equity shareholders
Page 8
were two, me arid Itti Is sso fekfl .
Q. And evei one else was just a partner for
title purpoW
A. There were shareholders for title u oses
01.01...._-tnerlialiti5.
1 Q. If someone was called a shareholder for
title purposes then, did they get to receive any of
the funds? Were they shareholders receiving money or
s 9 they were not considered shareholders in that sense?
i 10 MR. SCAROLA: Objection to the form of the
' 11 question.
12 THE WITNESS: What kind of funds are you
13 talking about?
14 BY MS. HADDAD:
15 Q. In general from the firm. When you say
1 6 equity shareholders, I understand that's you and Stu.
17 What I'm saying is, if you had someone else that was
1 8 named as a shareholder, why did you call them a
1 9 shareholder as opposed to a partner?
20 A. It was a title oflprestige and achievement.
21 Q. So it was basically an ego thing, it had
22 nothing really to do with the finances or hierarchy of
23 the firm?
24 A. They_got paid more_generally, but it did not
25 1.2.2y_e_nyIlijngIo. 1 ja.....with distributions.
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FRIEDMAN, LOMBARDI & OLSON
305-371-6677
5ed93085-0554-447f-bcdd-ca2d8fe941df
Q. When you were hiring and bringing in all
2 these new attorneys, did everyone come in as a
3 partner?
1 A. No.
5 Q. How did you decide who came in as a partner
6 and who came in as an associate?
7 A. Depended upon their level of expertise,
8 practice, book of business. It was a decision Stuart
9 and made together on a case-by-case basis.
1 0 Q. So you and Stu where the -- were in charge
11 of hiring?
12 A. Stuart and 1 tried to consult on every
13 hiring decision, yes.
14 Q. Did you guys also decide salaries?
15 A. 1 generally decided the salary and then let
16 Stu know what] was going to do. And he would say if
17 he thought it was okay or if he thought it was too
18 much or too little, but 1 generally had free reign in
19 that regard.
2 0 Q. Did someone's book of business directly
21 correlate to the salary that you would offer?
22 A. That is a very broad question because it
23 depends upon what other needs we had for that
24 individual.
25 Q. What do you mean by "what other needs"?
Page
A. Well, I'll give you a good example. My
2 lawyer, Mr. Nurik, his salary was directly related to
3 the fact that he was a great lawyer and had a solid
4 book of business.
5 Q. Yes.
6 A. David Boden, on the other hand, was, as I
7 previously testified, l don't know if you've had a
8 chance to read the testimony, but David Boden was not
9 only the general counsel to the law firm but he was
1 0 also -- acted as my consigliere in a significant
11 number of illegal operations and he was compensated
12 significantly for that, if that helps you understand
13 the difference.
14 Q. It does.
15 So, for example, when you were hiring former
16 judges, let's use that as an example, Pedro and Julio,
17 clearly they don't have a book of business coming in
18 because they haven't had clients, but they may carry
19 some sort of prestige or give some legitimacy, if you
20 will, to the firm. How would you decide the salary
2 1 for someone like that?
22 A. Stu and I would discuss it. It was more a
23 market issue than anything else, how much are judges
24 coming off the bench getting, how much business do we
25 think they can generate.
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Q. Would you need to look at someone's book of
business if they were coming in just solely to be a
rainmaker for the firm prior to hiring them?
A. I discussed it with them. There were not
many people that I recall that 1 actually looked at
their numbers. Once David Boden was working for me
had him check people's numbers, but I rarely looked. I
took most people's words for what they were
generating.
Q. My recollection is, you were always looking
to bring in more people, to hire more people, some of
us were somehow able to resist you while others were
not. How would you decide who ou were lookin at to
bring into your firm?
A. We were trying to develoate
side of the law finn, we were try_i_p_g_t2leystos_mi
talent, real practice groups. I mean, Brad is a
perfect
You know, it was our hope that, you know 1_____j__2s2v_as_g2k)_g
to be one of the people to actually in s
rescue the firm because he had a practice groupb_al
could generate substantial income. You know, on the
le_gitimate side that's what we were trying to do, we
were trying to find the best and the brightest.
Q. 0122.WLtLEp_e_c_f_toj_12L-in_gill_Esople that
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aPIMUNIAMPIAMISIS.
you thought could bring a book of business, you just
said Brad for exam le that he had a legjtimats
_a-Lc:fiee group with a good book of business. How did
you know that?
A. Everyone in the tort world that I had spoke
yoke extremelyjijalysirad no_only_peopIe 1
already had working for me but other people that knea..
him. He wa_s_ysi_y_-_-cm_y_e_ghighly recommended to
us.
Q-
A.
Like who, for example?
We wanted him in there. We were trying to
develop a significant tort group and we thought that
he'd be a great part of it.
Q. Who besides Russ told you that about Brad?
A. It would have been other people in the tort
group. I don't want to guess, Tonja, as to which
other people told me, but it was -- well more than