Videotape Deposition of Mike Gula — Blue Flame Medical LLC v. Chain Bridge Bank, N.A. (E.D. Va., Dkt. 132-1)
Summary
Case 1:20-cv-00658, Document 132-1, is Exhibit 1, the transcript of the remote videotape deposition of Mike Gula, taken by Zoom on Tuesday, January 12, 2021, in Blue Flame Medical LLC v. Chain Bridge Bank, N.A. In the pages shown, the witness testifies that Blue Flame Medical LLC was formed with Mr. Thomas in March of the prior year and that Blue Flame Strategies and Red Line Strategies were consulting companies. The questioning covers an email in which Mr. Thomas wrote that the wire should not get "held up by the FBI or something" and a reply from Mr. Bearman advising the witness to be "very clear" with the bank about the incoming orders. It also covers a reply to Maria Cole reading "450 million from the state of California (not a typo)".
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
Cite this document
“Videotape Deposition of Mike Gula — Blue Flame Medical LLC v. Chain Bridge Bank, N.A. (E.D. Va., Dkt. 132-1).”
Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/court-filing-no-1-20-cv-00658-dkt-132-1-e-d-va-9fd40549d1/
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EXHIBIT 1
Mike Gula CONFIDENTIAL 1/12/2021
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1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
2 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
3 (Alexandria Division)
4 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - X
5 BLUE FLAME MEDICAL LLC, :
6 Plaintiff, :
7 v. : Civil Action No.
8 CHAIN BRIDGE BANK, N.A., : 1:20-cv-00658
9 JOHN J. BROUGH and DAVID M. :
10 EVINGER, : CONFIDENTIAL
11 Defendants. :
12 _____________________________ :
13 CHAIN BRIDGE BANK, N.A., :
14 Third-Party Plaintiff, :
15 v. :
16 JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., :
17 Third-Party Defendant. :
18 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - X
19 Remote Deposition
20 Tuesday, January 12, 2021
21 Videotape Deposition via Zoom of MIKE
22 GULA, a witness herein, called for examination by
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1 running in California.
2 Q. Running for the United States Congress?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Did you develop a personal friendship with
5 Mr. Thomas over the last three years?
6 A. Of course.
7 Q. In March of last year, you and Mr. Thomas
8 formed Blue Flame Medical LLC, correct?
9 A. That's correct.
10 Q. Can you give me the background as you
11 remember it as to how that came about?
12 A. John and I wanted to help people. There
13 was a massive need. We had an opportunity to help
14 millions of people and we wanted to help and that's
15 how that business came about.
16 Q. Whose brainchild was this in the first
17 instance? Was it yours or Mr. Thomas' or somebody
18 else's?
19 A. I can't recall who came to one another
20 first. It's like we came together at the same time.
21 Q. When did you first have discussions about
22 forming this enterprise?
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1 paperwork was filed.
2 Q. Did you form Blue Flame Strategies and Red
3 Line Strategies before you formed Blue Flame Medical?
4 A. I believe so, yes.
5 Q. Given that you had those two companies set
6 up, why did you form a new company called Blue Flame
7 Medical?
8 A. Because those other two companies had
9 other business interests that we did not want to --
10 that we just wanted a different entity for it, for
11 Blue Flame Medical.
12 Q. What were the business interests of Blue
13 Flame Strategies and Red Line Strategies?
14 A. From what I can remember, consulting.
15 Q. All right. Are you finished?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. So does consulting refer to both Blue
18 Flame Strategies and Red Line Strategies? That was
19 their business?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Do you know somebody named Matt Littman,
22 L-i-t-t-m-a-n?
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1 Q. What did he say?
2 A. From the conversations with him, he would
3 not have said he could do something unless he said
4 could do it. And any time I asked him what could be
5 supplied, he gave me an honest answer. And I
6 believed him.
7 Q. Can we pull up Defendant's Exhibit 19 from
8 yesterday, please. I thought that was tab 54.
9 A. Okay. I've read the email.
10 Q. Tab 54 is an email exchange on March 25th
11 at Bates BFM 66391. Have you seen this document
12 before?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Did you look at it yesterday?
15 A. No.
16 Q. At the very bottom, there is an email from
17 Mr. Thomas at 1:09 a.m. on the 25th and it says, "So
18 it doesn't get held up by the FBI or something.
19 Thanks." Right?
20 A. That's what he said.
21 Q. And I -- I discussed with Mr. Thomas
22 yesterday, and I believe he agreed, that although the
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1 formatting of this page doesn't include a subject or
2 a Re line, his subject is the one that's up at the
3 top that says, "Gula make sure the bank knows the
4 wire is coming so it doesn't get held up by the FBI
5 or something. Thanks."
6 Does that make sense to you?
7 A. Complete.
8 Q. What did you understand his reference to
9 being held up by the FBI or something to mean?
10 A. That you need to make sure your bank is
11 very aware of the transaction that's about to happen.
12 Q. Right. What does the FBI have to do with
13 it?
14 A. I don't know.
15 Q. And then you respond, "Got it. From who?
16 California government, correct?" Right?
17 A. True, yes.
18 Q. You were confirming that he was
19 referencing the California transaction?
20 A. That's correct. Because we had a number
21 of transactions that we were working on.
22 Q. And then there's a reply to all by
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1 Mr. Bearman a few hours later. And he says, "Mike, I
2 was the one who warned John about this. I've worked
3 with banks. Odd money moves raise red flags and can
4 hold up transactions."
5 Do you see that?
6 A. I do.
7 Q. Did you regard that as good advice?
8 A. Great advice. I didn't regard it as being
9 anything but from legal counsel communicating that he
10 had experience working with banks.
11 Q. Did you have any experience with the fact
12 that odd money moves could raise red flags?
13 A. I believe that a large transaction would
14 raise any kind of flag, which is why I want to be
15 very clear with the bank that was receiving the
16 money.
17 Q. Mr. Bearman goes on to say, "Be very
18 clear," in all caps, "with the bank that we have
19 gigantic orders coming in from the state of
20 California and we will provide documentation of the
21 order," right?
22 A. Absolutely.
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1 Q. And did you regard that as good advice?
2 A. Not just good advice, but listened to
3 chief legal counsel and made it very clear to Chain
4 Bridge Bank.
5 Q. That you had a gigantic order coming in,
6 right?
7 A. Absolutely.
8 Q. And -- and that you should provide it with
9 documentation of the order, right?
10 A. That I should make Chain Bridge Bank very
11 aware of the transaction.
12 Q. Well, did you -- what did you think of the
13 advice that -- of telling Chain Bridge Bank that we
14 will provide documentation of the order?
15 A. I --
16 Q. Did you regard that as good advice? I'm
17 sorry.
18 A. Chain Bridge Bank? If Chain Bridge Bank
19 asked us for any document, we would have provided it.
20 Q. Would there be any reason not to provide
21 it?
22 A. I was very clear with both David and John
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1 that I would provide any documentation, be happy to
2 provide any documentation and to please ask me as
3 many questions as they wanted.
4 Q. And if -- if a customer failed to provide
5 requested documentation, could that raise a red flag
6 for the banker?
7 MR. WHITE: Objection. Calls for
8 speculation. You can answer if you know.
9 THE WITNESS: I don't know. Chain Bridge
10 Bank had a number of opportunities to ask me any
11 further questions or ask me for any documents that
12 they wanted outside --
13 BY MR. ORSECK:
14 Q. Did Chain Bridge Bank ever -- I'm sorry.
15 I thought you were finished.
16 A. -- outside of my extensive conversations
17 with them.
18 Q. Did Chain Bridge Bank ever ask you for
19 documentation of the order?
20 A. If Chain Bridge Bank did, I absolutely
21 provided it and proactively sent them a document of
22 where we were going to be wiring the money, without
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1 to come to the bank?
2 A. I know I was asked by Chain Bridge to come
3 to the bank.
4 Q. Just the week before, you had opened up
5 bank accounts for Blue Flame Strategies and Red Line
6 Strategies remotely. Why didn't you handle this
7 remotely for Blue Flame Medical?
8 A. I believe I opened up a remote -- I
9 believe I opened it up remotely with Blue Flame
10 Medical.
11 Q. And you have other bank accounts or had
12 other bank accounts at Chain Bridge Bank; is that
13 right?
14 A. Correct.
15 Q. How long of a banking relationship did you
16 have with Chain Bridge Bank at this point?
17 A. I believe over 10 years. I believe I
18 started as soon as the bank was opened.
19 Q. And did you have one account or more than
20 one account at Chain Bridge Bank?
21 A. I had all my business and personal
22 accounts with Chain Bridge Bank.
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1 Q. Going back roughly 10 years, right?
2 A. Or longer. As soon as the bank was open,
3 I believe I was a member of the bank.
4 Q. Did you ever go in person to open any of
5 those bank accounts?
6 A. I don't believe so. I may have. It's
7 been over 10 years. I may have -- I may have done
8 that. I had a very close relationship with them.
9 Q. Do you remember Mr. Castagnello? Do you
10 remember meeting with him?
11 A. Not particularly, no.
12 Q. Do you remember sitting down with him in
13 person and giving him your estimate of the monthly
14 dollar amount of wires that would be coming in and
15 going out of the new Blue Flame Medical account?
16 A. I'm very sure I did not actually sit down
17 with him because you were not allowed in the bank at
18 the time due to COVID restrictions.
19 I do remember him handing me a sheet of
20 paper, which I did fill out in the auxiliary room,
21 you would call it, before you get actually physically
22 in the bank.
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1 1461, which is the second page, includes email
2 traffic we've seen earlier today between you and
3 Maria Cole where she says at 12:28, "Please find the
4 verification letter and wiring instructions."
5 Do you see that?
6 A. I do.
7 Q. And then you responded, "Also need email
8 ASAP when the wire hits California." Remember we
9 looked at that earlier?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. And then if you could go to the first
12 page, she emails you at 4:11 p.m. at the bottom.
13 Do you see that?
14 A. At 4:11?
15 Q. At the very bottom.
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. And Maria says, "Hi, Mike. This wire
18 you're waiting for, how much are you expecting and
19 who is the originator," correct?
20 A. Correct.
21 Q. And then she says, "Our wire department
22 would like to know it" -- "know to track it and let
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1 you know. I'm assuming is coming to your new
2 account, Blue Flame Medical," right?
3 A. Correct.
4 Q. And then you respond at 4:12, one minute
5 later, "450 million from the state of California (not
6 a typo) Blue Flame Medical," correct?
7 A. Correct.
8 Q. So by this email, you were telling Maria
9 Cole the size of the wire that she should be
10 expecting, correct?
11 A. That's correct.
12 Q. And why did you write "not a typo" in
13 parens?
14 A. I didn't want there to be any confusion of
15 the size of the wire and they were very clear on the
16 size of the wire.
17 Q. You wanted to be very clear on the size of
18 the wire?
19 A. For them to be aware of the size of the
20 wire.
21 Q. And she responds at 4:21 and says, "Thank
22 you for letting us know. We would like to know how
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1 long you are planning to keep these funds on your
2 account," right?
3 A. She did ask that.
4 Q. And then she says, "With such dollar
5 amount, we need to inform our financial department
6 about these funds and how long they will stay in your
7 account."
8 She emailed you that at 4:21, right?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. And then you ask, "When is the wire cutoff
11 time and what are operational days," correct?
12 A. That's correct.
13 Q. Is it fair to say you were eager to
14 receive the wire?
15 A. Yes, because we needed to order N95s to
16 save lives.
17 Q. Earlier we looked at the 11:19 email --
18 well, it's on this same document. No, I guess it's
19 not on this document. Give me a moment.
20 Yeah, in Exhibit 44, we looked at an 11:00
21 a.m. email from you to Ms. Cole that said, "Also" --
22 it's right here. Forgive me. On the very document
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1 Q. What time did the call occur?
2 A. After 4:12.
3 Q. How do you know?
4 A. Because that's what my Verizon records
5 indicate and I know that's what prompted the call.
6 Q. What prompted the call?
7 A. My email to Ms. Cole.
8 Q. I'm lost. What email prompted the call?
9 A. When I told Maria Cole the size of the
10 wire, that's when the bank president called me.
11 Q. I see. And that -- you're referring to
12 the 4:12 email from you at page 1434 in Exhibit 54,
13 right?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Does your Verizon record tell us how long
16 the call lasted?
17 A. Nineteen minutes.
18 Q. Did you make a recording of the call?
19 A. I really wish I did.
20 Q. Did you tell Mr. Evinger and Mr. Brough
21 that Great Health Companion would be the supplier and
22 that he was a friend of Blue Flame Medical?
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1 A. I told Mr. Evinger and Brough that we
2 had -- we were going to be supplying California with
3 100 million masks with multiple suppliers. I'm sure
4 I said Great Health Companion was one of them.
5 Q. Did you say that Mr. Huang's factory or
6 factories would be retooled to make the masks?
7 A. I'm unsure of that specific point.
8 Q. Was that your understanding on March 25th?
9 A. My understanding was that Henry was going
10 to be able to supply 100 million masks for this order
11 if needed.
12 Q. Forgive me, but I feel like you're evading
13 my question. And I know I'm going to get an
14 objection from that. But I'm asking you something
15 specific and I'm hoping, so that we can get through
16 this, you can say yes, I remember that or no, I don't
17 remember that or something else.
18 So my question is, was it your
19 understanding on the 25th that Mr. Huang would be
20 retooling his factory or factories in order to make
21 the masks that you intended to supply to California?
22 A. That's a very odd word choice that I may
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1 (Recess.)
2 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: We are now back on the
3 record. The time is 3:27 p.m.
4 BY MR. ORSECK:
5 Q. Mr. Gula, did Mr. Brough and Mr. Evinger
6 tell you what the purpose of their call at 4:12 p.m.
7 was?
8 A. They just wanted to know more about the
9 transaction and the wire.
10 Q. What did you tell them?
11 A. I told them that we had just received an
12 opportunity to provide 100 million masks for the
13 state of California, that we had a new business, that
14 we were going to be providing PPE all around the
15 world and we had an incredible opportunity to help a
16 lot of people and that we wanted to continue to bank
17 with Chain Bridge Bank.
18 And I wanted to be open and transparent
19 with them on any aspect and answer any questions that
20 they may have because I had such a long, comfortable,
21 great relationship both personally and professionally
22 with them. And we just went through this new
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1 opportunity and business in my life.
2 They started the phone call with you're
3 covered by the Bank Secrecy Act. I didn't really
4 know what that meant. But I think it was them saying
5 that what I expressed to them would be held
6 confidential.
7 Q. Do you remember anything else that they
8 said to you on the call?
9 A. Oh, yeah. They did ask how long money
10 would be in the account and I said for the
11 foreseeable future. They told me that they could
12 protect the money by, quote, "spreading it out." I
13 didn't really understand what that meant, but I was
14 very comfortable with what they were telling me.
15 They welcomed the transaction. And at no
16 point was there a hesitation, a brain cell hitting
17 another brain cell that we should not wire 450-plus
18 million dollars to Chain Bridge Bank. They gave me
19 no indication, whether it was by tone or words, that
20 they were not comfortable receiving a wire of this
21 size.
22 Q. Do you recall them saying anything else at
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1 all?
2 A. I remember them saying congratulations,
3 that they would be in touch and that they were happy
4 for me because they knew John. They knew everything
5 I've been through. I've been with them since the
6 beginning and they were -- I took it as excitement
7 that they would be instantly banking. We chose
8 specifically to bank with Chain Bridge Bank and not
9 go somewhere else.
10 Q. Do you recall them saying anything else?
11 A. No. They honestly didn't do -- or from my
12 recollection -- a lot of talking. I did the majority
13 of the speaking and kept telling them repeatedly, ask
14 me whatever you want. I want you very comfortable
15 and this is what we will be doing.
16 Q. You said they knew John. You mean John
17 Thomas?
18 A. John Graham. They knew John Graham.
19 Q. I see. I see. Did they know John Thomas?
20 A. I don't believe they knew John Thomas, no.
21 Q. Did they tell you what prompted their call
22 at 4:19 or 4 -- you said it was 4:12? 4:12, right?
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1 A. It was after the email with Maria.
2 Q. Oh, yeah. Does your -- does your phone or
3 your Verizon record tell you the time at which that
4 call began?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Do you know that off the top of your head?
7 A. No, but I could find it in two seconds.
8 Q. You can find it while you're sitting
9 there?
10 MR. WHITE: He's not going to be looking
11 away from the deposition. We could try to find it at
12 a break if that's helpful, but --
13 MR. ORSECK: Okay.
14 MR. WHITE: -- not while we're on the
15 record.
16 MR. ORSECK: All right. That's fine.
17 Carolyn, can we pull up tab 256, which is
18 going to be Exhibit 55?
19 (Defendant's Exhibit No. 55 was
20 marked for identification.)
21 BY MR. ORSECK:
22 Q. This is an email string running from BFM
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1 Exhibit 55 which we introduced a few minutes ago.
2 This is the email chain between you and Mr. Brough
3 and Mr. Evinger. It begins at BFM 74101.
4 A. Yes, I have it open.
5 Q. On the second page of this at 74102,
6 there's an email at, I think it's 1:34 p.m. that
7 actually starts on the bottom of 74101, from you to
8 Brough and Evinger and it says, "Can someone call me
9 ASAP, please," and it gives a phone number.
10 Do you see that?
11 A. I do.
12 MR. WHITE: I don't, Counsel. Can you
13 tell me what page that is again?
14 MR. ORSECK: Yeah. The header of the
15 email is at the very bottom of the first page, 74101,
16 and then it carries on over to 74102.
17 MR. WHITE: Now I'm with you. Thank you.
18 BY MR. ORSECK:
19 Q. Why were you asking for someone to call
20 you ASAP?
21 A. Because my account -- my accounts were
22 frozen and I was unable to open any account.
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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 --
6 Q. Okay. You wrote the subject line and
7 you're not sure about the rest?
8 A. That's correct.
9 Q. And did you go into Chain Bridge Bank that
10 afternoon?
11 A. I went to Chain Bridge Bank that
12 afternoon.
13 Q. Do you know what time you arrived?
14 A. Sometime after 2:16.
15 Q. What happened when you got there?
16 A. I met with David and John outside the
17 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?
20 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
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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.
7 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.
11 Q. Do you remember anything else that you
12 said or they said during that meeting?
13 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.
16 Q. How long did the meeting last?
17 A. Anywhere from five to 15 minutes.
18 Q. Was anyone other than the three of you in
19 attendance at the meeting?
20 A. No.
21 Q. Did you ask -- did they tell you that
22 California's bank had requested return of the wire?
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1 A. No.
2 Q. Did you ask where the money was at that
3 point?
4 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.
8 Q. The email, which is Defendant's 55, says,
9 "We received official notice from the sending bank to
10 return the wire."
11 Did anybody ever tell you that, by the
12 time of your meeting, they had returned the wire?
13 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
17 retrospect.
18 Q. Did you ask them to -- not to return the
19 money to California or its bank?
20 A. They didn't ask. They just took it.
21 Q. Did you ask them during the meeting not to
22 do that?
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1 A. They didn't ask to take money out of my
2 account. They just took money out of my account
3 without asking.
4 Q. I'm going to try it again. Did you say to
5 them, don't send the money back?
6 A. I didn't have the opportunity because they
7 had already stolen the money out of my account.
8 Q. Do you know when the money was sent back
9 to JPMorgan Chase?
10 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.
13 Q. Did you make any notes of this meeting?
14 A. No, I don't -- I did not make any physical
15 notes.
16 Q. After the meeting, did you have any
17 conversations with Mr. Thomas or Mr. Bearman or
18 anybody else associated with Blue Flame?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. What conversations did you have?
21 A. I apologized to them for trusting that
22 Chain Bridge Bank was going to honor what they said,
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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.
6 Q. Was it a conference call that you had with
7 Mr. Thomas and Mr. Bearman?
8 A. It more than likely was a conference call
9 at the same time.
10 Q. Do you remember saying anything else to
11 them besides apologizing to them for trusting Chain
12 Bridge Bank?
13 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
18 they would have just kicked me out of the bank, which
19 they did not do. So if they had a problem with me,
20 they would have canceled everything else.
21 Q. Did -- and you said that on the call with
22 them?
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1 yet?
2 A. Well, no, there's a difference. I
3 received an email saying the wire had been received
4 but had not credited my account. There was a time
5 lapse. So "nothing yet" meant in the specific Blue
6 Flame Medical account at Chain Bridge Bank. There's
7 a difference between an incoming wire confirmation
8 and actually hitting our account.
9 Q. Right.
10 A. And I saw --
11 Q. Sorry. We looked earlier at an exhibit
12 that was Exhibit 57 that showed that you got
13 notification of the wire at 11:59 a.m. And this is
14 8:02 a.m. the same day. So am I right that the wire
15 hadn't arrived at the bank yet?
16 A. I'd received an incoming wire email and
17 then I saw it credit my account.
18 Q. Sure. But the incoming wire email didn't
19 come until four hours later than this text message
20 where you say, "Nothing yet," correct?
21 A. That could have been California time
22 because California would not have sent a wire at 5:00
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