Deposition of Mike Gula (Exhibit 110) — Blue Flame v. Chain Bridge

Source document: Deposition of Mike Gula (Exhibit 110) — Blue Flame v. Chain Bridge; document type: Deposition transcript excerpts (5 pages), Confidential.

Full text

EXHIBIT 110
Case 1:20-cv-00658-LMB-IDD     Document 142-11     Filed 05/20/21     Page 1 of 5 PageID#
3465

Mike Gula
CONFIDENTIAL
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
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(Alexandria Division)
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BLUE FLAME MEDICAL LLC,
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Plaintiff,
X
1/12/2021
Page 1 (1)
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V.
Civil Action No.
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CHAIN BRIDGE BANK, N.A.,
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JOHN J. BROUGH and DAVID M.
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EVINGER,
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Defendants.
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CHAIN BRIDGE BANK, N.A.,
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Third-Party Plaintiff,
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V.
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JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.,
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Third-Party Defendant.
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1:20-cv-00658
CONFIDENTIAL
X
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Remote Deposition
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Tuesday, January 12, 2021
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Videotape Deposition via Zoom of MIKE
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GULA, a witness herein, called for examination by
97 Trustpoint. One Alderson.
www. trustpoint. one
800.FOR.DEPO
(800.367.3376)
Case 1:20-cv-00658-LMB-IDD     Document 142-11     Filed 05/20/21     Page 2 of 5 PageID#
3466

Mike Gula
CONFIDENTIAL
1/12/2021
Page 2 (2 - 5)
Page 2
Page 4
1 counsel for Defendant/Third Party Plaintiff in the
1 APPEARANCES (Continued):
2 above entitled matter, pursuant to notice, the
2
3 witness being duly sworn by MARY GRACE CASTLEBERRY, a
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4 Notary Public in and for the District of Columbia,
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5 taken at 10:05 a m. EST, Tuesday, January 12, 2021,
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6 and the proceedings being taken down by Stenotype by
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7 MARY GRACE CASTLEBERRY, RPR, and transcribed under
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8 her direction.
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On behalf of the Defendant/Third-Party Plaintiff
Chain Bridge Bank, N.A.:
GARY A. ORSECK, ESQ.
CAROLYN FORSTEIN, ESQ.
MATTHEW M. MADDEN, ESQ.
Robbins Russell Englert, Orseck,
Untereiner & Sauber
2000 K Street, N.W., 4th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20006
(202) 775-4500
On behalf of the Third-Party Defendant JPMorgan
Chase Bank:
ALAN SCHOENFELD, ESQ.
ALBINAS PRIZGINTAS, ESQ.
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP
1875 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
(212) 663-6981
Page 3
Page 5
1 APPEARANCES:
1 APPEARANCES (Continued):
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On behalf of the Plaintiff Blue Flame Medical
LLC:
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On behalf of the Third-Party Defendant JPMorgan
Chase Bank:
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PETER H. WHITE, ESQ.
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GREGORY KETCHAM-COL WILL, ESQ.
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BILL GUSSMAN, ESQ.
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JASON MITCHELL, ESQ.
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KENIUKABIALA, ESQ.
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Schulte Roth & Zabel
901 15th Street, N.W., Suite 800
Washington, D.C. 20005
(202) 729-7476
and
ETHAN BEARMAN, ESQ.
The Bearman Firm
I 0250 Constellation Boulevard, Suite I 00
Los Angeles, California 90067
(747) 344-1004
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GABRIEL TORRES, ESQ.
JPMorgan Chase
Assistant General Counsel
383 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10179
(212) 270-6000
ALSO PRESENT:
JASON AQUI, Videographer
97 Trustpoint. One Alderson.
www. trustpoint. one
800.FOR.DEPO
(800.367.3376)
Case 1:20-cv-00658-LMB-IDD     Document 142-11     Filed 05/20/21     Page 3 of 5 PageID#
3467

Mike Gula
CONFIDENTIAL
1/12/2021
Page 53 (206 - 209)
Page 206
1 said, "Coming in. Are you there? Need to verify in
2 person," right?
3
A. Yeah. I don't know what "need to verify
4 in person" means. This was under caution. I don't
5 know if that was autopopulated from him since --
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Q. Okay. You wrote the subject line and
7 you're not sure about the rest?
A. That's correct.
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Q. And did you go into Chain Bridge Bank that
10 afternoon?
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A. I went to Chain Bridge Bank that
12 afternoon.
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Q. Do you know what time you arrived?
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A. Sometime after 2: 16.
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Q. What happened when you got there?
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A. I met with David and John outside the
1 7 bank. I asked them what happened. I said, you knew
18 this wire was coming. You were comfortable with the
19 wire. You had no problem yesterday. What changed?
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They wouldn't specifically tell me in any
21 detail other than I believe they wouldn't be
22 receiving the transaction and they wanted to close
Page 207
1 Blue Flame Medical. I repeatedly asked why very
2 politely, almost embarrassingly, because we
3 specifically had a conversation the day before of the
4 size, why and what we were doing and they had no
5 problem with it. And they just said, I believe, just
6 'cause. They wouldn't give me an explanation.
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I then asked, well, I have other accounts.
8 Are those okay? They said, yes, those are --
9 accounts are okay and kept those accounts open, which
10 confused me even more.
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Q. Do you remember anything else that you
12 said or they said during that meeting?
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A. No, they would not -- they were not very
14 forthcoming given the extent of the conversation that
15 I had with them the day before.
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Q. How long did the meeting last?
A. Anywhere from five to 15 minutes.
Q. Was anyone other than the three of you in
19 attendance at the meeting?
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A. No.
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Q. Did you ask -- did they tell you that
22 California's bank had requested return of the wire?
Page 208
No.
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A.
Q. Did you ask where the money was at that
3 point?
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A. No, I didn't because they sent -- they
5 told me in the email it was sent back. I didn't ask
6 where it was. I just know it wasn't in my account
7 where it was.
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Q. The email, which is Defendant's 55, says,
9 "We received official notice from the sending bank to
10 return the wire."
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Did anybody ever tell you that, by the
12 time of your meeting, they had returned the wire?
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A. No. I just know it was in my account and
14 by the time I showed up, it was not in my account.
15 And I know it was in my account because it was a
16 rather large number next to other small numbers in
1 7 retrospect.
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Q. Did you ask them to -- not to return the
19 money to California or its bank?
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A. They didn't ask. They just took it.
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Q. Did you ask them during the meeting not to
22 do that?
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A.
Page 209
They didn't ask to take money out of my
2 account. They just took money out of my account
3 without asking.
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Q. I'm going to try it again. Did you say to
5 them, don't send the money back?
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A. I didn't have the opportunity because they
7 had already stolen the money out of my account.
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Q. Do you know when the money was sent back
9 to JPMorgan Chase?
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A. No, I don't. I just know it was in there
11 along with my other account money, and then it
12 wasn't.
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Q. Did you make any notes of this meeting?
A. No, I don't -- I did not make any physical
15 notes.
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Q. After the meeting, did you have any
1 7 conversations with Mr. Thomas or Mr. Bearman or
18 anybody else associated with Blue Flame?
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A. Yes.
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Q. What conversations did you have?
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A. I apologized to them for trusting that
22 Chain Bridge Bank was going to honor what they said,
97 Trustpoint. One Alderson.
www. trustpoint. one
800.FOR.DEPO
(800.367.3376)
Case 1:20-cv-00658-LMB-IDD     Document 142-11     Filed 05/20/21     Page 4 of 5 PageID#
3468

Mike Gula
CONFIDENTIAL
1/12/2021
Page 54 (210 - 213)
Page 210
1 that they could accept the wire and using Chain
2 Bridge Bank. Had I known Chain Bridge Bank would
3 steal our money, I wouldn't have used Chain Bridge
4 Bank. I said I have no idea why they did what they
5 did given I told them the day before.
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Q. Was it a conference call that you had with
7 Mr. Thomas and Mr. Bearman?
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A. It more than likely was a conference call
9 at the same time.
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Q. Do you remember saying anything else to
11 them besides apologizing to them for trusting Chain
12 Bridge Bank?
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A. I believe I remember telling them I truly
14 don't understand their problem given they kept my
15 other accounts open. So I couldn't have been that
16 bad of a guy and I personally couldn't have been
17 anything bad if they kept my other accounts open or
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Page 212
MR. WHITE: Sometimes it takes a couple of
2 tries. That's what he was telling me.
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THE WITNESS: This is Number 59; is that
4 correct?
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MR. ORSECK: Fifty-nine, yes.
MR. WHITE: Right, right.
THE WITNESS: Do I have the right
8 document, Lindsay Angerholzer, Friday, March 27th?
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MR. ORSECK: Right.
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THE WITNESS: I'm opening it. One second.
MR. WHITE: I believe he has another copy
12 of the same document on the computer you can probably
13 see him holding.
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THE WITNESS: I can download it now.
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MR. WHITE: Okay. It is the exhibit.
16 BY MR. ORSECK:
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Q. Do you have it?
18 they would have just kicked me out of the bank, which 18
A I do. I'm reading it on another computer
19 they did not do. So if they had a problem with me,
20 they would have canceled everything else.
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Q. Did -- and you said that on the call with
22 them?
19 because mine was not downloading.
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Okay. I've read the document.
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Q. On the first page of Exhibit 59, there are
22 a couple of emails. The bottom one is from Lindsay
Page 211
Page 213
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A. Probably, yes, because I was truly
2 confused. I would --
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Q. Do you have any specific -- I'm sorry. Go
4 ahead.
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A. I would have been less confused had Chain
6 Bridge just said everything's canceled, we don't like
7 you, you're gone. But no, they kept all my other
8 businesses, my personal account open for business. I
9 was very confused, especially since I had a long
10 conversation with them the day before.
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Q. Do you have any specific recollection of
12 anything either of them said to you on that call?
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A. No.
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MR. ORSECK: Can we pull up tab 129,
15 please? And this will be Exhibit 59. It begins with
16 Bates 67 -- 627.
1 7
(Defendant's Exhibit No. 59 was
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20 again.
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marked for identification.)
MR. WHITE: It looks like a long file
MR. ORSECK: This document is two pages
22 long, so --
1 Angerholzer on Friday, March 27th at 10:25 a.m. to
2 you. Who is Lindsay Angerholzer?
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A. She's a political colleague that I know in
4 Washington.
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Q. Had you attempted to establish some
6 relationship with her relating to Blue Flame Medical?
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A. She reached out to me to be a part of it.
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Q. This email at the, bottom, I think,
9 consists of questions to her -- numbered questions --
10 questions from her that are numbered and then your
11 responses under each individual question; is that
12 correct?
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A. Correct.
Q. The first question asks, "Can you walk me
15 through your relationship with Henry again and how
16 you know him?" That's Henry Huang?
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A. Correct.
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Q. "This will come up and I'll have to
19 explain." And then I believe your answer is, "My
20 business partner grew up with Henry and his best
21 friend. Henry is a Chinese American."
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Have I approximately read that correctly?
97 Trustpoint. One Alderson.
www. trustpoint. one
800.FOR.DEPO
(800.367.3376)
Case 1:20-cv-00658-LMB-IDD     Document 142-11     Filed 05/20/21     Page 5 of 5 PageID#
3469

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