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EXHIBIT 26
Case 1:20-cv-00658-LMB-IDD Document 132-26 Filed 05/07/21 Page 1 of 15
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
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(ALEXANDRIA DIVISION)
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_____________________________
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BLUE FLAME MEDICAL LLC )Civil Action No.
Plaintiff )1:20-cv-00658(LMB/IDD)
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)
vs. )
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)
CHAIN BRIDGE BANK, N.A., )
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JOHN J. BROUGH and )
DAVID M. EVINGER )
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Defendants )
_____________________________
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CHAIN BRIDGE BANK, N.A. )
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Third-Party Plaintiffs )
)
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vs. )
)
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JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A. )
Third-Party Defendant )
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______________________________
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Remote Videotaped Deposition of Heather Schoeppe
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January 22, 2021
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9:33 a.m.
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Reported by: Bonnie L. Russo
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Job No. 4398416
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25th, 2020?
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A. Yes.
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Q. And do you recall if that was the
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first phone call you had with Mr. Gula on
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March 25th, 2020?
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A. I don't -- I don't know for sure if
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it was the first one or not.
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Q. Do you recall if that was the first
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call you had with Mr. Gula concerning the
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receipt of a wire transfer from the State of
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California?
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A. Yes. I think that was the --
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MS. FORSTEIN: Object to form.
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THE WITNESS: -- first time I -- I
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was aware of it, the amount of the wire, yeah.
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BY MR. MITCHELL:
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Q. And Mr. Gula told you during that
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call that he was expecting a wire on behalf of
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Blue Flame Medical from the State of
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California, correct?
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A. Correct.
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Q. In the amount of $450 million?
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A. Correct.
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Q. And he asked you to let him know if
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there were any problems with the wire, correct?
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A. I think he just asked to know when
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it was -- when it hit his account.
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Q. Okay. And he wanted to know as soon
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as it had hit the account.
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He expressed that to you, correct?
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A. Correct.
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Q. And, Ms. Schoeppe, if you recall,
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before we took a break we were talking about
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the recording of phone calls at Chain Bridge
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Bank.
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Do you recall that?
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A. Yes.
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Q. And I believe you testified that
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your understanding was that calls would be
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manually recorded concerning outgoing wires; is
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that right?
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A. Uh-huh.
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Q. Did you manually record that phone
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call?
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that that recording was produced by defendants
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bearing Bates No. CBB00002795.
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BY MR. MITCHELL:
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Q. So, Ms. Schoeppe, on that call you
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asked Mr. Gula about the purpose of the wire.
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And he said that the State of California was
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buying 100 million N95 masks, correct?
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A. Correct.
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Q. And Mr. Gula said that Blue Flame
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Medical would be selling those masks to the
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state, correct -- of California. Excuse me.
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A. Yes.
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Q. And that those were going to be
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manufactured in China, correct?
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A. Correct.
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Q. And that Blue Flame Medical would be
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sending the money out in phases to purchase
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those masks, correct?
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A. Yes.
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Q. And Mr. Gula also said that not all
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of the money would be going out and that Blue
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Flame Medical would have its profit as well,
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correct?
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A. Yes.
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Q. And you congratulated him, right?
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A. Uh-huh.
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Q. When you had that call with
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Mr. Gula, did you have any concerns about the
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information that he was providing to you?
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A. Not the information in particular
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but just that, you know -- it was just a very
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shocking transaction to hear about. I've never
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dealt with any kind of transaction like that
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before of that size.
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Q. And Mr. Gula said that he would have
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more information about the exact details of how
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the money would be sent out the next day,
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correct?
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A. Correct.
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Q. And that he would provide that to
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the bank, correct?
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A. Uh-huh.
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Q. Did you ever discuss that with
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Mr. Gula after this call?
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A. No. I didn't inter -- really -- it
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took over -- other people took over at that
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point. Because it really was more than what I
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normally deal with.
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Q. And do you know who took over at
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that point?
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A. I think John and David did.
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Q. Do you know if they discussed that
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with Mr. Gula after this call?
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A. I don't know what they discussed.
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Q. Okay. If we could look back at the
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document that has been shared as Plaintiff's
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Exhibit 12. And I want to direct your
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attention, if you still have that up, to the
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bottom of the second page, which bears Bates
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stamp CBB00000854.
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Do you see the e-mail on the lower
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half of that page that you sent on March 25th
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at 4:22 p.m.?
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A. Yes.
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Q. And this was to Mr. Richardson,
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Mr. Brough and Ms. Williamson, correct?
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Q. Who is Ms. Lincoln?
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A. She's part of the operations team.
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Q. Did you discuss this wire transfer
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or Blue Flame Medical with Ms. Lincoln at any
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point?
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A. No. But she might have been on the
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wires e-mail, in that -- part of that e-mail
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group.
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Q. I got you.
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And then, in response to
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Ms. Lincoln's e-mail, do you see that
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Mr. Brough responds, at 12:11 p.m.: Do not
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contact the client about this wire?
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A. Yes.
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Q. Do you have an understanding as to
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why Mr. Brough wrote that in the e-mail?
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A. I'm not exactly sure why he did.
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But I'm -- I think it's because they were still
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looking into the transaction.
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Q. And did that make it necessary to
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avoid any contact with the client about the
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wire while looking into the transaction?
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MS. FORSTEIN: Object to form.
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Calls for speculation.
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BY MR. MITCHELL:
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Q. You may answer, if you can.
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A. Okay. What was the question again?
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I'm sorry.
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Q. Let me rephrase it.
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Did the fact that Mr. Brough and
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others were still looking into the transaction
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make it necessary to avoid any contact with the
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client about this wire?
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MS. FORSTEIN: Object to form.
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THE WITNESS: I think that basically
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there was nothing to reach out on yet. I think
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they just wanted us to wait until we had more
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information.
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BY MR. MITCHELL:
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Q. As we've discussed earlier today,
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Mr. Gula told you that he wished to be
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contacted as soon as the wire was received,
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correct?
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A. Correct.
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Q. And you indicated that you would do
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that, correct?
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A. I -- I said that. But obviously we
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have to do our jobs at the bank and do our due
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diligence before we can, you know, reach out to
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a client on something.
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So just because they asked us to do
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that, we still have to do our jobs before we
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can do that.
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Q. Is there a reason that Mr. Gula
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couldn't have been told, "The wire is received,
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but we have to look into it"?
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A. I'm not sure that he wasn't or --
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you know, I don't -- really don't -- I wasn't
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asked to do that.
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Q. You were directed not to contact
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him, correct?
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A. More so -- I mean yes, that's what
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this e-mail says. But basically we're still
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doing the due diligence. And so wait to talk
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to the customer until we have more information
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to give him.
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22.
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And for the record, this document,
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Plaintiff's Exhibit 25, bears Bates No.
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CBB00000741 through 743.
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(Deposition Exhibit 25 was marked
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for identification.)
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BY MR. MITCHELL:
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Q. Ms. Schoeppe, please let me know
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when you have that document in front of you.
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A. I have it.
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Q. Okay. And I'd like to direct your
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attention to the second page of the document,
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which is an e-mail from you. The header
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information's on the first page. You sent it
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at 12:18 p.m. to Mr. Brough and others.
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And you wrote: John, I think the
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confirmation e-mail notifying him we received
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it had already gone out because Mike gula
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called and let us know he couldn't open the
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confirmation e-mail.
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Do you see that?
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A. Yes.
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Q. Do you recall sending this e-mail to
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Mr. Brough?
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A. Yeah. I think so.
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Q. And why were you sending it to
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Mr. Brough?
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A. To let -- letting him know that the
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client's been notified that the wire's been
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received.
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Q. And why were you notifying
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Mr. Brough of that fact?
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A. Because the -- the client had asked
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to be notified. And I'm just letting him know
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that -- that it went -- that he has been
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notified.
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Q. In the e-mail directly below,
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Mr. Brough also said not to contacted the
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client about the wire, correct?
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A. Oh, sorry. Yes. Uh-huh.
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Q. So do you think you were sending
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this e-mail because the client had asked to be
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notified or because Mr. Brough had directed not
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to let the client know about the wire -- or
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excuse me -- to not contact the client about
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the wire?
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A. It looks like it was because we were
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told not to contact him. So I was just letting
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him know that the customer had already been
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contacted or is aware that the wire's been
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received.
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Q. And you understood the -- from your
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e-mail that Mr. Gula had said that he couldn't
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open the confirmation e-mail that he had
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received, correct?
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A. Correct.
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Q. Do you know if anybody explained to
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Mr. Gula that the wire had been received?
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A. I don't know.
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Q. Do you know if anybody talked to
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Mr. Gula about the fact that he couldn't open
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the confirmation e-mail?
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Well, strike that. Never mind.
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Do you know who spoke with Mr. Gula
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about the fact that he couldn't open the
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confirmation e-mail?
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that.
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Q. Okay. And you sent this e-mail
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about nine minutes after Mr. Claburn had
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deactivated those features of the accounts that
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we just looked at, right?
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A. I --
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Q. And --
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A. Yeah. I don't -- if -- I don't -- I
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didn't pay attention to the time of that one.
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Q. Okay. That's fine.
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Turning to the first page of
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Plaintiff's Exhibit 28, at the bottom of the --
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at the bottom of that page, Mr. Brough
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responds: TY. Continue to hold him off,
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correct?
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A. Yes.
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Q. At this point in time at 1:27 p.m.,
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do you know why Mr. Brough wanted you to
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continue to hold off any efforts by Mr. Gula to
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contact the bank?
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A. Because I guess they were still
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looking into the transaction. And based on the
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e-mail from -- that Maria said about wiring
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money out, it looks like he wanted to wire
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money out. And so we couldn't do that until we
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had more information.
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Q. And Ms. Cole responds to that e-mail
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at 1:34 p.m.: He just tried my cell phone. I
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didn't answered.
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And then Mr. Brough responds: That
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was the right thing to do. We will let you
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know when we have resolution, correct?
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A. Correct.
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Q. Do you know what resolution
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Mr. Brough was referring to in his e-mail?
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A. I'm assuming that he meant until --
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so we would know how to proceed -- until he
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knows -- until he would be able to tell us how
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to proceed.
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Q. Do you have any greater understand
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-- well, strike that.
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Did you have any discussions with
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anyone around this time in terms of what
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resolution the bank was waiting for?
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