Irving H. Picard v. Saul B. Katz et al
Filing
173
DECLARATION of DANA M. SESHENS in Support re: 164 Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Motion,,,,,,,,,. Document filed by Charles 15 Associates, Charles 15 LLC, Charles Sterling LLC, Charles Sterling Sub LLC, College Place Enterprises LLC, Coney Island Baseball Holding Company LLC, Estate of Leonard Schreier, FFB Aviation LLC, FS Company LLC, Fred Wilpon Family Trust, Arthur Friedman, Ruth Friedman, Iris J. Katz and Saul B. Katz Family Foundation, Inc., Judy and Fred Wilpon Family Foundation, Inc., Amy Beth Katz, David Katz, Dayle Katz, Gregory Katz, Howard Katz, Iris Katz, 157 J.E.S. LLC, Air Sterling LLC, BAS Aircraft LLC, Jason Bacher, Bon Mick Family Partners LP, Bon-Mick, Inc., Brooklyn Baseball Company LLC, C.D.S. Corp., Michael Katz, Saul B. Katz, Todd Katz, Katz 2002 Descendants' Trust, Heather Katz Knopf, Natalie Katz O'Brien, Mets II LLC, Mets Limited Partnership, Mets One LLC, Mets Partners, Inc., Minor 1 (REDACTED), Minor 2 (REDACTED), L. Thomas Osterman, Phyllis Rebell Osterman, Realty Associates Madoff II, Red Valley Partners, Robbinsville Park LLC, Ruskin Garden Apartments LLC, Saul B. Katz Family Trust, Michael Schreier, Deyva Schreier Arthur, See Holdco LLC, See Holdings I, See Holdings II, Sterling 10 LLC, Sterling 15C LLC, Sterling 20 LLC, Sterling Acquisitions LLC, Sterling American Advisors II LP, Sterling American Property III LP, Sterling American Property IV LP, Sterling American Property V LP, Sterling Brunswick Corporation, Sterling Brunswick Seven LLC, Sterling Dist Properties LLC, Sterling Equities, Sterling Equities Associates, Sterling Equities Investors, Sterling Heritage LLC, Sterling Internal V LLC, Sterling Jet II Ltd., Sterling Jet Ltd., Sterling Mets Associates, Sterling Mets Associates II, Sterling Mets LP, Sterling Pathogenesis Company, Sterling Third Associates, Sterling Thirty Venture LLC, Sterling Tracing LLC, Sterling Twenty Five LLC, Sterling VC IV LLC, Sterling VC V LLC, Edward M. Tepper, Elise C. Tepper, Jacqueline G. Tepper, Marvin B. Tepper, Valley Harbor Associates, Kimberly Wachtler, Philip Wachtler, Bruce N. Wilpon, Daniel Wilpon, Debra Wilpon, Fred Wilpon, Jeffrey Wilpon, Jessica Wilpon, Judith Wilpon, Richard Wilpon, Scott Wilpon, Valerie Wilpon, Wilpon 2002 Descendants' Trust, Robin Wilpon Wachtler. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit E, # 6 Exhibit F, # 7 Exhibit G)(Seshens, Dana)
EXHIBIT G
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C O N F I D E N T I A L
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UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
11-CV-03605(JSR)(HBP)
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IRVING H. PICARD, Trustee for
the Liquidation of Bernard L.
Madoff Investment Securities LLC,
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v.
BRUCE G. DUBINSKY
SAUL B. KATZ, et al.,
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Plaintiff,
Videotaped
Deposition of:
Defendants.
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TRANSCRIPT of testimony as taken by and before
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NANCY MAHONEY, Certified Court Reporter, Registered
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Professional Reporter, and Notary Public of the
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States of New York and New Jersey, at the offices of
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Davis Polk & Wardwell, 450 Lexington Avenue
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New York, New York on January 11, 2012, commencing
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at 9:27 a.m.
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PICARD v. KATZ, et al.
CONFIDENTIAL
BRUCE G. DUBINSKY 1/11/12
42
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of the split-strike strategy in about '92 after the
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Avellino & Bienes customers reinvested their money.
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Q.
What's the connection between
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Avellino & Bienes and the reinvestment of the money
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and the changing of the strategy?
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A.
The connection, as I've
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investigated -- and I can't, again, testify to
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someone why they did this because I'm not -- I can't
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jump into Mr. Madoff's head or anybody else there --
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there were -- there was an SEC investigation of
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Avellino & Bienes that culminated in the -- well,
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Avellino & Bienes was sanctioned by the SEC, fined
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for acting as an unregistered investment advisor --
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or investment firm.
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they had collected from their individual clients --
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they were an accounting firm originally -- was all
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returned to those clients and then those clients
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individually set up individual accounts back with
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BLMIS.
And, therefore, the money that
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So now you had a situation where
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prior to that the Avellino & Bienes, up until a
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point in time, had about six to eight accounts
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operating.
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flooded in.
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I've investigated, then the strategy became somewhat
Now BLMIS had 4,500 accounts that
And from what I understand and what
BENDISH REPORTING, INC.
877.404.2193
PICARD v. KATZ, et al.
CONFIDENTIAL
BRUCE G. DUBINSKY 1/11/12
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of a scaleable strategy where you would take the
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split-strike and the options, the OEX options, wrap
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those around basket of stocks from the S&P 100, and
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then once you do that, it's fairly easy to replicate
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that across a wide range of accounts.
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tailored specifically to you or if somebody else
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came in.
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It's not
So that's my understanding of what
happened and the extent of it.
I can't tell you,
you know, why they did that.
Q.
So one thing I'm -- I think you said
this, but I think I'm not following it.
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There were six or eight accounts of
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Avellino & Bienes and they turned into so many
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accounts at BLMIS.
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there?
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A.
What -- what was the change
Well, originally those accounts
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were -- so if I were a customer of Avellino &
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Bienes, I gave my money to Avellino & Bienes, they
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said to -- they would have said to me or --
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Q.
A.
I see.
-- okay, they were invested that way
and pooled, kind of like a feeder fund.
Q.
Okay?
Got it.
So each investor in Avellino & Bienes
BENDISH REPORTING, INC.
877.404.2193
PICARD v. KATZ, et al.
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we're talking about.
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place.
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systems into separate systems in House 17, so the
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resources were available, the opportunity.
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were people that had a low level of education and
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professional training that were being utilized to
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continue the scheme.
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There were computer systems in
There were then expansions of those computer
Q.
There
You mean the employees?
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A.
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House 17.
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together, those factors contributed to the length of
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this.
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The employees, the employees of
So I think when you kind of roll all that
Q.
What in this particular case -- you
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may have already said it in this recitation, but
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specifically what do you regard as the opportunity
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that was available to BLMIS or Mr. Madoff?
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A.
Well, if I'm already -- give you an
example.
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If I'm already selling cars, I'm
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already in the business.
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fraud selling cars that I bought on the black market
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and throw them into my lot, makes it easy to do,
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doesn't it?
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If I want to now start a
So when you have that kind of
opportunity -- it's much harder if I want to go out
BENDISH REPORTING, INC.
877.404.2193
PICARD v. KATZ, et al.
CONFIDENTIAL
BRUCE G. DUBINSKY 1/11/12
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and put a storefront up to sell cars and I've never
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done it before.
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So, you know, when you have that kind
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of opportunity and you have the inside track on how
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to run a business already, how to do it, you can
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make things happen.
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Q.
And the resources would be, I think
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you just said, the computer systems and the other
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facilities in place for House 5 which was
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legitimate?
A.
Well, it's a good point.
I haven't
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concluded House 5 was legitimate.
As I detail in
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the report, I say there was some legitimate trading
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that I saw and I -- and I went through that.
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The fact that House 5 was falsifying
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FOCUS reports and pumping up their revenues, so I'm
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not opining that House 5 in any way was legitimate.
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Having said that, again, the analogy
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to the car dealer, you've got somebody over here
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trading stocks and bonds and acting as a market
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maker, they have the prop trading.
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easier to facilitate pulling something like this
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off, in my opinion.
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Q.
That makes it
I think -- and at any point you're
welcome to read your report, but I think then you go
BENDISH REPORTING, INC.
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