EFTA00656451.pdf

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 15TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA CASE NO. 502009CA040800XXXXMBAG JEFFREY EPSTEIN, Plaintiff(s), vs. SCOTT ROTHSTEIN, individually, BRADLEY J. EDWARDS, individually, and III., individually, Defendant(s). VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF JEFFREY EPSTEIN January 25, 2012 9:34 =I. - 10:03 III. SEARCY, DENNEY, SCAROLA, BARNHART & SHIPLEY, PA 2139 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard West Palm Beach Florida 33409 Stenographically Reported By: Tammy Nestor, RPR EFTA00656451 2 APPEARANCES: ON BEHALF OF PLAINTIFF: JACK SCAROLA, ESQUIRE SEARCY, DENNEY, SCAROLA BARNHART & SHIPLEY, PA 2139 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard West Palm Beach, Florida 33409 ON BEHALF OF DEFENDANT: CHRISTOPHER E. KNIGHT, ESQUIRE JOSEPH L. ACKERMAN, JR., ESQUIRE FOWLER WHITE BURNETT, PA Espirito Santo Plaza 1395 Brickell Avenue, 14th Floor Miami, Florida 33131 JACK A. GOLDBERGER, ESQUIRE ATTERBURY, GOLDBERGER & WEISS, PA One Clearlake Centre, Suite 1400 250 Australian Avenue South West Palm Beach, Florida 33401 DARREN K. INDYKE, ESQUIRE 301 East 66th Street, #10B New York, New York 10065 EFTA00656452 INDEX EXAMINATION: PAGE By Mr. Scarola 4 EXHIBITS EXHIBIT DESCRIPTION PAGE 1 Third Amended Complaint in LM v. Epstein 16 EFTA00656453 4 1 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Today's date is 2 January 25, 2012. The time is approximately 3 9:34 III. This is the videotaped deposition of 4 Jeffrey Epstein in the matter of Epstein versus 5 Edwards. 6 This deposition is being conducted at 2139 7 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, West Palm Beach, 8 Florida. 9 The court reporter is Tammy Nestor of 10 Phipps Reporting. The videographer is Chris 11 Kennedy of Legal Video Services, Inc. in 12 association with Phipps Reporting. 13 And will the counsel please announce 14 appearances for the record. 15 MR. SCAROLA: My name is Jack Scarola. 16 III counsel for Brad Edwards. Brad is also 17 present. 18 MR. KNIGHT: Christopher Knight on behalf 19 of Jeffrey Epstein. 20 MR. GOLDBERGER: Jack Goldberger on behalf 21 of Jeffrey Epstein. 22 MR. INDYKE: Darren Indyke on behalf of 23 Jeffrey Epstein. 24 MR. ACKERMAN: Joseph Ackerman on behalf 25 of Jeffrey Epstein. EFTA00656454 5 1 JEFFREY EPSTEIN 2 Was called as a witness and after being duly sworn on oath was 3 examined and testified as follows: 4 EXAMINATION 5 BY MR. SCAROLA: 6 Q Would you please state your full name and 7 your current residence address? 8 A III Jeffrey Edward Epstein. And my 9 residence address is 6100 Red Hook Boulevard in 10 Virgin Islands. 11 Q Do you maintain any other residences 12 presently? 13 A I have vacation homes in New Mexico, Palm 14 Beach, New York, and Paris. 15 Q Would you give us the address of each, 16 please. 17 A Yes. New York is 9 East 71st Street. New 18 Mexico is Zorro Ranch Road. Paris is 22 Avenue 19 Foch, F-O-C-H. And where else? Palm Beach is 358 20 El Brillo Way. 21 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Pardon me, sir. 22 THE WITNESS: Yes. 23 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Excuse me. Do you have 24 your mike on? Thanks. 25 EFTA00656455 6 1 BY MR. SCAROLA: 2 Q Do you now or have you ever had a sexual 3 addiction? 4 MR. KNIGHT: III going to instruct him not 5 to answer the question. That's outside of the 6 area of this abuse of process lawsuit. 7 And just to let you know, he's here to 8 answer all the questions you want relative to 9 the abuse of process. The judge has been pretty 10 clear relative to the discovery regarding any of 11 the prior sexual allegations, et cetera. And 12 just so we don't waste your time or our time, 13 I'll be consistent on that per what the judge 14 has previously discussed regarding discovery. 15 MR. SCAROLA: Well, you and I have a very 16 different understanding of what the court's 17 prior rulings have been. But we'll let the 18 court deal with that. 19 BY MR. SCAROLA: 20 Q Do you now or have you ever had a sexual 21 preference for minors? 22 MR. KNIGHT: Same. 23 BY MR. SCAROLA: 24 Q Have you ever acted on a sexual preference 25 for minors? EFTA00656456 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MR. KNIGHT: Same. BY MR. SCAROLA: Q Have you ever informed anyone other than your legal counsel that you have a sexual preference for minors? MR. KNIGHT: Same. BY MR. SCAROLA: Q Have you ever informed anyone other than your legal counsel that you have acted on a sexual preference for minors? MR. KNIGHT: Same. BY MR. SCAROLA: Q Have you ever sought or received evaluation, counseling, or treatment for any form of sexual addiction? MR. KNIGHT: Same. BY MR. SCAROLA: Q Have you ever sought or received evaluation, counseling, or treatment for any sex-related issue? MR. KNIGHT: Same. BY MR. SCAROLA: Q Have you ever retained the services of a consultant to assist in changing your public image following your arrest on sex-related charges? EFTA00656457 8 1 MR. KNIGHT: Same. 2 BY MR. SCAROLA: 3 Q Have you ever discussed with anyone 4 undertaking an effort to change your public image 5 following your arrest for and conviction of a 6 sex-related crime? 7 MR. KNIGHT: Same. 8 BY MR. SCAROLA: 9 Q Have you ever been convicted of a crime? 10 A Yes. 11 Q What was the crime of which you were 12 convicted? 13 A Two counts, one soliciting prostitution, 14 and procuring a minor for prostitution. 15 Q Did you, in fact, commit those acts? 16 MR. GOLDBERGER: I can invoke the Fifth 17 Amendment privilege for you or you can invoke 18 it yourself. I prefer you invoke the 19 privilege. 20 THE WITNESS: III going to invoke my Fifth 21 Amendment right. 22 BY MR. SCAROLA: 23 Q How many times have you solicited for 24 prostitution? 25 A III going invoke my Fifth Amendment right. EFTA00656458 9 1 Q How many times have you solicited a minor 2 for prostitution? 3 A Same answer. 4 Q How many times have you solicited for 5 prostitution in the State of Florida? 6 A Same answer. 7 Q How many times have you solicited a minor 8 for prostitution in the State of Florida? 9 A Same answer. 10 Q How many times have you solicited for 11 prostitution in the Virgin Islands? 12 MR. KNIGHT: Can we stop it here just for 13 a second? Can we go off the record for one 14 minute? 15 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: The time is 9:39. We 16 are going off the record. 17 (Thereupon, a discussion was held off the 18 record.) 19 MR. SCAROLA: I would like you to take it 20 down, please. 21 MR. KNIGHT: Fine. 22 MR. SCAROLA: And we'll go back on the 23 record. Thank you. 24 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Stand by. 25 MR. KNIGHT: ill wondering if you have any EFTA00656459 10 1 intention to ask any questions, and you may be, 2 any questions outside of this clearly harassing 3 area relative to issues that are outside of the 4 four corners of the complaint or whether this 5 is just going to be a continuance of questions 6 of this witness that have no other means of 7 advancing this lawsuit but only have means of 8 doing other things of which I won't -- I don't 9 care to list them here. Do you plan to go into 10 other areas? 11 MR. SCAROLA: I am I am planning on 12 taking a very thorough and comprehensive 13 deposition of Mr. Epstein. 14 MR. KNIGHT: Are you asking -- planning to 15 ask any questions that are not sexual or 16 criminal in nature? 17 MR. SCAROLA: Oh, Ill sure there will be 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 many that you would probably not consider sexual or criminal in nature, but I don't know. MR. KNIGHT: Let's proceed for a little while, see what we can do, because certainly we have taken the time out to come up here, people's schedules have been made, et cetera, people have traveled long distances, but we may have to quit and go to the court. EFTA00656460 11 1 BY MR. SCAROLA: 2 Q Have your ever solicited for prostitution 3 in the Virgin Islands? 4 A Same answer. 5 Q That is that the -- you are invoking your 6 Fifth Amendment -- 7 A Yes. 8 Q -- right? 9 A Yes, Mr. Scarola. 10 Q Have you ever solicited for prostitution 11 in New York? 12 A Same answer. 13 Q Have you ever solicited for prostitution 14 in new Mexico? 15 A Same answer. 16 Q Have you ever solicited for prostitution 17 in Paris? 18 A Same answer. 19 Q Have you ever solicited for prostitution 20 anywhere at any time? 21 A Same answer. 22 Q Have you ever solicited a minor for 23 prostitution anywhere at any time? 24 A Same answer. 25 Q Who is the prostitute that you solicited EFTA00656461 12 1 for prostitution with respect to the claim on which 2 you were convicted? 3 A Same answer. 4 Q Who is the minor that you solicited for 5 prostitution with respect to the claim on which you 6 pled guilty? 7 A Same answer. 8 Q Did you, in fact, plead guilty to 9 soliciting for prostitution? 10 MR. KNIGHT: Asked and answered. 11 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. 12 BY MR. SCAROLA: 13 Q Did you, in fact, plead guilty to 14 soliciting a minor for prostitution? 15 A No. 16 Q Where was it that you solicited for 17 prostitution in the manner in the matter in which 18 you pled guilty? 19 A Same answer. 20 Q When was it that you solicited for 21 prostitution in the matter in which you pled guilty? 22 A Same answer. 23 Q Have you ever discussed your sex-related 24 arrest or conviction with any reporter or news media 25 representative? EFTA00656462 13 1 MR. KNIGHT: III going to instruct you not 2 to answer the question. 3 MR. SCAROLA: And what is the basis of 4 that instruction? 5 MR. KNIGHT: What is the basis? 6 MR. SCAROLA: Yes. 7 MR. KNIGHT: What does it have to do with 8 this lawsuit? It's for no other reason other 9 than to harass him. There are plenty of areas 10 you can go into which are reasonable. We are 11 here. 12 MR. SCAROLA: So the objection is 13 relevancy, is that correct? 14 MR. KNIGHT: No, it goes beyond relevancy. 15 MR. SCAROLA: Well, what is it then? 16 MR. KNIGHT: Well, it is harassing. It is 17 used -- it is being used to intimidate the 18 witness. It is being used for various 19 different reasons. And I believe it is 20 improper. 21 BY MR. SCAROLA: 22 Q Have you ever discussed your sex-related 23 activities with minors in the State of Florida with 24 any reporter or news media representative? 25 MR. KNIGHT: Same instruction. We are EFTA00656463 14 1 going to take a quick break if we can go off 2 the record. 3 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: The time is 9:30 4 9:40. We are going off the record. 5 (Thereupon, a recess was taken at 6 9:43 III.) 7 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: The time is 9:50 III. 8 We are back on the record. 9 MR. KNIGHT: As I mentioned earlier, we 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 same time, there are other issues we want to put 18 on the record. 19 I will allow you to ask more questions, but 20 if it's going to stay on this line, we may have 21 to adjourn. 22 MR. GOLDBERGER: Okay. This is Jack 23 Goldberger. A couple issues. First, as to the 24 questions that, Mr. Scarola, you asked 25 concerning conversations that Mr. Epstein may are here to answer questions relevant to the lawsuit that is at issue. Relative to your question earlier and the instruction not to answer, I do believe it was appropriate, but III going to have Mr. Goldberger address what be believes the -- is the -- our client is entitled to, but at the EFTA00656464 15 1 or may not have had with, I believe you couched 2 it as news reporters or news media, he would be 3 invoking Fifth Amendment privileges as to those 4 questions in addition to the objection raised 5 by Mr. Knight. 6 MR. KNIGHT: III withdrawing the 7 instruction. 8 MR. GOLDBERGER: Okay. All right. Anyhow 9 he's invoking Fifth Amendment privileges as to 10 that line of questioning. 11 As to the total line of questioning where 12 you are asking Mr. Epstein about sex-related 13 issues, as you know, your client, Mr. Edwards, 14 has filed a lawsuit in federal court where he is 15 seeking to overturn the non-prosecution 16 agreement that Mr. Epstein is a party to. 17 I believe that you are asking these 18 questions in an effort to further Mr. Edwards' 19 attempts to set aside that non-prosecution 20 agreement, and I think it serves no purpose 21 other than to assist your client in that 22 lawsuit. And I just think it's totally outside 23 the realm of the discovery that is allowed in 24 this case. And III simply not going to allow my 25 client to answer those questions given the fact EFTA00656465 16 1 that your client has filed an action to set 2 aside the non-prosecution agreement that 3 Mr. Epstein is a party to. 4 MR. SCAROLA: Would you please mark this 5 as Exhibit No. 1 to this deposition. 6 MR. KNIGHT: As soon as you get the 7 sticker on it, I'll look at that one. 8 (Thereupon, Deposition Exhibit No. 1 was 9 marked for identification.) 10 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Is someone's phone by a 11 microphone or in their pocket? 12 MR. GOLDBERGER: I am. 13 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: If you can put it to 14 the side, please. 15 MR. GOLDBERGER: III all the way over 16 here. 17 MR. KNIGHT: Mine is off. 18 MR. GOLDBERGER: I'll shut it off. 19 MR. KNIGHT: Okay. Thank you. 20 BY MR. SCAROLA: 21 Q You have been handed a copy of what's been 22 marked as Exhibit No. 1 to this deposition. It is a 23 copy of Plaintiff's Third Amended Complaint in a 24 case styled LM versus Jeffrey Epstein. 25 Have you seen this document before? EFTA00656466 17 1 A Not to the best of my recollection, no. 2 Q Do you recall having been sued by Bradley 3 Edwards on behalf of an individual who was 4 identified by the initials LM? 5 A Yes, sir. 6 Q And is this one of the cases that you 7 contend was abusively prosecuted by Bradley Edwards? 8 A III not sure if this is the exact 9 complaint. 10 Q Well, is this the case? 11 A I don't know. 12 Q Which case is it that you contend Bradley 13 Edwards abusively prosecuted against you? 14 A It was the LM case. I don't know if this 15 is the specific case. 16 Q Well, I want you to assume that there was 17 only one LM case that was filed by Bradley Edwards 18 against you. 19 A That's correct. 20 Q Do you have any recollection that is at 21 odds with that assumption? 22 A Yes, I do. 23 Q You have a recollection that there was, in 24 fact, a federal court case as well as a state court 25 case, correct? EFTA00656467 1 A Correct. 2 Q All right. Now, is it your 3 A I believe that's 4 Q Is it your contention 5 MR. KNIGHT: Finish your answer. Did you 6 finish your answer? 7 THE WITNESS: That's all right. 8 BY MR. SCAROLA: 9 Q Is it your contention that Bradley 10 MR. KNIGHT: And any time you want to 11 finish your answer, please do so. 12 THE WITNESS: Sure. 13 BY MR. SCAROLA: 14 Q Is it your contention that Bradley Edwards 15 abusively prosecuted the state court case on behalf 16 of LM? 17 A I don't know. Sorry. 18 Q Is it your contention that Bradley Edwards 19 abusively prosecuted the federal court case on 20 behalf of LM? 21 MR. KNIGHT: Objection, asks for legal 22 conclusions. Obviously there were lawsuits 23 that were raised in this case. 24 MR. SCAROLA: You don't need to make a 25 speaking objection -- EFTA00656468 19 1 MR. KNIGHT: Okay. 2 MR. SCAROLA: -- that's intended to coach 3 the witness, Mr. Knight. 4 MR. KNIGHT: III going to object. 5 MR. SCAROLA: So if you say you are 6 objecting on the basis that it calls for a 7 legal conclusion, that's fine. And now I would 8 like the witness's answer unless you are 9 instructing him not to answer. 10 MR. KNIGHT: III not instructing him not 11 to answer. 12 BY MR. SCAROLA: 13 Q Okay. Then would you please answer the 14 question? 15 A III sorry. Would you repeat it? 16 Q Yes, sir. Is it your contention that 17 Bradley Edwards abusively prosecuted the federal 18 court action on behalf of LM? 19 A Yes, sir. 20 Q How? 21 A Bradley Edwards filed a 234-count federal 22 complaint in conjunction with his partner Scott 23 Rothstein to enable his partners at RRA to defraud 24 south Florida investors of millions of dollars. 25 His partner Scott Rothstein and his partner EFTA00656469 20 1 Mr. Adler have -- excuse me, Mr. Rothstein has now in 2 deposition admitted that they needed to file a complaint to 3 show investors that there was real action, in 4 Mr. Rothstein's words, going on in federal court. The 5 investors had not been able to find a filed complaint and 6 had complained to Mr. Rothstein that there was no filed 7 complaints two days, excuse me, before Mr. Edwards filed 8 the federal complaint for 234. 9 Q Were you ever served with that complaint? 10 A Not to the best of my recollection. 11 Q So one contention is that Mr. Edwards 12 abusively prosecuted a federal court action on 13 behalf of LM with which you were never served, 14 correct? 15 A I had -- I was notified that the case was, 16 in fact, filed. 17 Q But you were never served with the case, 18 correct? 19 A I was notified that the case was filed. 20 Q But you were never served with the case, 21 correct? 22 A Not to the best of my recollection. 23 Q Okay. What damage did you incur as a 24 consequence of the filing of a complaint with which 25 you were never served? EFTA00656470 21 1 A I incurred many legal -- much legal fees, 2 many legal fees, in fact, to try to figure out 3 why -- what was going on and, in fact, getting 4 prepared to defend the case though I had not yet 5 been served. 6 Q Were the allegations in the federal 7 complaint on behalf of LM any different than the 8 allegations in the state court case on behalf of LM? 9 A I don't recall. 10 Q Did you, in fact, engage in any sexual 11 conduct with LM? 12 A III sorry, but III sure -- the jury is 13 going to recognize this is simply meant to harass 14 me, and I'll have to take the Fifth Amendment since 15 your client, Mr. Edwards, is trying to overturn my 16 prosecution agreement. 17 Q How many times did you engage in sexual 18 conduct with LM? 19 A §§§ going to have to invoke my Fifth 20 Amendment right again, sir. 21 Q Do you know who LM is? 22 A Again §§§ going to assert my right. 23 MR. KNIGHT: We are going to go off the 24 record and take another break. 25 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: The time is 9:58. We EFTA00656471 22 1 are going off the record. 2 (Thereupon, a recess was taken at 3 9:58 III.) 4 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: The time is 10:00. We 5 are on the record. 6 MR. KNIGHT: Okay. We have asked on 7 several occasions that you ask questions that 8 are relevant to the lawsuit at bar. There have 9 been some questions that were getting to it. 10 You are back into the sexual stuff which we 11 feel is inappropriate, and also relative to the 12 issues that were raised by Mr. Goldberger. 13 As such, we are going to recess and ask 14 further direction from the court on what is 15 allowable and what is not allowable in this 16 deposition. 17 MR. SCAROLA: So you are terminating the 18 deposition at this time? 19 MR. KNIGHT: We are recessing the 20 deposition to get direction from the court. 21 MR. SCAROLA: Until when? 22 MR. KNIGHT: We will find out what the 23 court says. 24 MR. SCAROLA: When? Are you contacting 25 the judge right now? EFTA00656472 23 1 MR. KNIGHT: I am not. We are going to 2 file an appropriate motion and we are going to 3 take it to the judge and see what he does. 4 Thank you. 5 MR. SCAROLA: So that the record is clear, 6 it is my intention to ask very specific 7 questions about every factual allegation 8 included in every claim brought by Mr. Edwards 9 on behalf of every victim in every case in 10 which it is alleged that Mr. Edwards has 11 abusively prosecuted that claim. 12 I want to know about the connection between 13 Mr. Epstein and each one of those alleged 14 victims. I want to know about every individual 15 who had information concerning the events that 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 are alleged in those complaints, every individual who was in a position to have possibly had information about the events alleged in those complaints. I want to ask this witness about every person whose deposition was taken and scheduled to be taken, the relationship of those persons to Mr. Epstein, knowledge that those persons may have with respect to Mr. Epstein's activities with minors, other crimes committed by EFTA00656473 24 1 Mr. Epstein as part of an ongoing and continuous 2 course of conduct supportive of claims for 3 punitive damages against Mr. Epstein and 4 supportive of RICO claims against him. 5 And had this deposition been permitted to 6 continue, we would have covered each of those 7 areas and substantially more. 8 MR. KNIGHT: Thank you. 9 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: The time is 10:03. We 10 are going off the record. 11 (Thereupon, the deposition was adjourned at 12 10:03 III.) 13 - - - 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 EFTA00656474 25 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER STATE OF FLORIDA COUNTY OF BROWARD I, TAMMY NESTOR, Registered Professional Reporter, do hereby certify that I was authorized to and did stenographically report the foregoing deposition of JEFFREY EPSTEIN, that a review of the transcript was requested, and that the transcript is a true record of my stenographic notes I further certify that I am not a relative, employee, attorney, or counsel of any of the parties, nor am I a relative or employee of any of the parties' attorneys or counsel connected with the action, nor am I financially interested in the action. Dated this 25th day of January 2012. TAMMY NESTOR, RPR EFTA00656475 26 CERTIFICATE OF OATH STATE OF FLORIDA COUNTY OF BROWARD I, the undersigned authority, certify that JEFFREY EPSTEIN personally appeared before me and was duly sworn. Witness my hand and official seal this 25th day of January 2012. Tammy Nestor, Court Reporter Notary Public, State of Florida Commission No.: EE 133933 Commission Exp. Date: 10/23/2015 EFTA00656476 27 January 25, 2012 FOWLER WHITE BURNETT, PA 1395 Brickell Avenue, 14th Floor Miami, Florida 33131 ATTN: CHRISTOPHER E. KNIGHT, ESQUIRE Re: Epstein v Edwards Case No. 502009CA040800XXXXMBAG Please take notice that on the January 25, 2012, you gave your deposition in the above cause. At that time you did not waive your signature. The transcript is now available for your review. Please call (888)811-3408 or email to schedule and appointment between the hours of 9:00 §§§. and 4:00 III., Monday through Friday, for you to have access on your computer to a read-only version of the transcript. If you are a party in this action and your attorney has ordered a copy of this transcript, you may wish to read their copy of the transcript. In that event, please execute the Errata Sheet, which can be found at the back of the transcript and return it to us for distribution to all parties. If you do not read and sign the deposition within thirty (30) days, the original, which has already been forwarded to the ordering attorney, may be filed with the Clerk of the Court. If you wish to waive your signature now, please sign your name in the blank at the bottom of this letter and return it to us. Very truly yours, TAMMY NESTOR, RPR Phipps Reporting, Inc. 1615 Forum Place, Suite 500 West Palm Beach, Florida 33401 I do hereby waive my signature. JEFFREY EPSTEIN EFTA00656477 28 1 ERRATA SHEET 2 DO NOT WRITE ON TRANSCRIPT ENTER CHANGES ON THIS PAGE 3 In Re: Epstein v Edwards 4 Case No. 502009CA040800XXXXMBAG JEFFREY EPSTEIN 5 January 25, 2012 6 7 PAGE LINE CHANGE REASON 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have read the foregoing document and that the facts stated in it 22 are true. 23 24 DATE JEFFREY EPSTEIN 25 EFTA00656478