Videotape Deposition of Mike Gula — Blue Flame Medical LLC v. Chain Bridge Bank, N.A. (E.D. Va., Dkt. 150-13)
Summary
This is Exhibit 97 in Document 150-13 of Case 1:20-cv-00658, excerpts of the remote videotape deposition via Zoom of Mike Gula, taken Tuesday, January 12, 2021, in Blue Flame Medical LLC v. Chain Bridge Bank. The witness testifies that Blue Flame Medical neither sold nor delivered masks, and cannot recall who in Florida the discussions about buying masks were with. The witness recalls going to Chain Bridge Bank in mid-March, filling out a sheet of paper on expected wires, and later a meeting at which bank staff would not explain why they closed the Blue Flame Medical account.
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“Videotape Deposition of Mike Gula — Blue Flame Medical LLC v. Chain Bridge Bank, N.A. (E.D. Va., Dkt. 150-13).”
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Case 1:20-cv-00658-LMB-IDD Document 150-13 Filed 05/20/21 Page 1 of 18
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EXHIBIT 97
Mike Gula CONFIDENTIAL 1/12/2021
Case 1:20-cv-00658-LMB-IDD Document 150-13 Filed 05/20/21 Page 2 of 18 Page 1
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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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Mike Gula CONFIDENTIAL 1/12/2021
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1 Q. Do you know what became of those masks?
2 A. No.
3 Q. Did Blue Flame Medical sell those masks to
4 anybody?
5 A. No.
6 Q. Did Blue Flame Medical deliver those masks
7 to anybody?
8 A. No.
9 Q. In March of 2020, Mr. Gula, were you
10 negotiating a transaction with private or public
11 people in the state of Florida to purchase some or
12 all of those masks?
13 A. Was I or Blue Flame Medical?
14 Q. You in particular.
15 A. I recall having conversations with people
16 in Florida about PPE.
17 Q. Who did you have those discussions with?
18 A. I cannot recall. That was a long time
19 ago.
20 Q. You can't recall from March 2020 your
21 attempts to sell 100 million masks to somebody in
22 Florida?
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1 A. I cannot recall the specific person,
2 that's correct.
3 Q. All right. Well, then if you don't
4 remember the name, can you tell me whether they were
5 state or governmental entities versus private
6 entities, one or the other?
7 A. I talked with a number of people who said
8 they spoke on behalf of a number of organizations and
9 states.
10 Q. I'm speaking about Florida in particular.
11 Can you remember who you spoke to in Florida even if
12 you don't remember the name?
13 A. No, I don't recall speaking with somebody
14 specifically from Florida. I may have. I -- I do
15 not remember the name.
16 Q. Did you speak to any hospitals in Florida
17 about potentially purchasing some or all of the 100
18 million masks from Long Beach?
19 A. I may have.
20 Q. Can you remember any hospitals or
21 representatives of hospitals you spoke with in
22 Florida?
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1 A. No.
2 Q. Did any such discussions, if they happened
3 at all, go anywhere?
4 A. Go anywhere as in what?
5 Q. After the initial discussions, did they
6 progress forward toward a final transaction?
7 A. Not that I remember.
8 Q. Did you consider, in March of 2020, that a
9 deal between Blue Flame Medical and any entity in
10 Florida for the purchase of N95 masks was imminent?
11 A. I'm sorry, can you please say that one
12 more time?
13 Q. Did you personally consider in March of
14 2020 that a deal between Blue Flame Medical and any
15 entity in Florida for the purchase of N95 masks was
16 imminent?
17 A. Yes, I believed lots of deals were
18 imminent.
19 Q. I'm asking about deals in Florida. Did
20 you believe in March 2020 that you were about to
21 close a deal with any Florida entity for the purchase
22 of the masks held at Long Beach?
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Mike Gula CONFIDENTIAL 1/12/2021
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1 A. I believe I did.
2 Q. What's the basis for that recollection?
3 A. You refreshed my memory.
4 Q. Okay. Well, having refreshed your memory,
5 who are we talking about in Florida?
6 A. I would have to see my past communications
7 with Florida or anybody you might be referencing in
8 Florida. There were a number of people that I'm sure
9 I was talking to in March in Florida.
10 Q. I haven't seen any such documents so I
11 can't show them to you. Do you think that there were
12 deal documents prepared between Blue Flame and any
13 entity in the state of Florida?
14 A. That's a question and answer by chief
15 legal counsel.
16 Q. I'm asking if you know. I can ask the
17 chief legal counsel another time.
18 A. I don't know.
19 Q. Did you tell Mr. Thomas that a deal that
20 you were working on to sell N95 masks to entities in
21 the state of Florida was about to be completed?
22 A. I was keeping John apprised as fast as
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Mike Gula CONFIDENTIAL 1/12/2021
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1 possible of opportunities to help.
2 Q. Of course. But my question is a little
3 different. Did you tell Mr. Thomas that you were
4 about to close a deal with some entity in the state
5 of Florida to purchase some of the masks from Long
6 Beach?
7 A. I could have. I don't remember
8 specifically.
9 Q. Okay. And in any event, you can't
10 remember who the party was who you may have been
11 speaking with; am I right?
12 A. Fair.
13 Q. Can you remember the number of masks that
14 you were talking about selling to somebody in
15 Florida?
16 A. Tens of millions probably.
17 Q. What's the basis for that?
18 A. Because large numbers -- everybody was
19 wanting large numbers.
20 Q. But you don't remember specifically?
21 A. No.
22 Q. Did you ever satisfy yourself that there
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1 A. I did not go in person to open an account.
2 I do remember going to Chain Bridge Bank on or around
3 March -- in the middle of March.
4 Q. I believe you went twice, from the
5 documents. But do you remember going to the document
6 on the 25th and meeting with a representative of the
7 bank named Mariano Castagnello?
8 A. I may have.
9 Q. You don't specifically remember?
10 A. I remember going to the bank. I do not
11 specifically remember who I spoke with.
12 Q. Do you remember going to the bank twice,
13 once on the 25th and once after the wire was canceled
14 on the 26th?
15 A. Yes. I do know -- I do not specifically
16 know whether I went to the bank on the 23rd, 24th or
17 25th. I do know I did go before the California
18 transaction and I know I went on March 26th.
19 Q. Okay. Why did you go the first time?
20 A. I was asked to come to the bank and fill
21 out wire instruction paperwork.
22 Q. You think you were asked by Chain Bridge
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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 Q. And do you remember one of the pieces of
2 information requested was the estimated amount of
3 wires going in and coming out by month?
4 A. I do.
5 Q. And do you remember telling
6 Mr. Castagnello that the monthly estimated average of
7 wires coming in from foreign countries was $25
8 million?
9 A. I did not -- I did not specifically tell
10 him. I believe I was writing everything on the sheet
11 of paper.
12 Q. Do you remember telling him that the
13 estimated monthly average of wires coming in
14 domestically was 75 million?
15 A. I may have written that down.
16 Q. Does that number sound right?
17 A. It could, yeah. We were dealing with a
18 lot of transactions possibly.
19 Q. Do you remember telling him that the
20 estimated monthly average of wires going out
21 domestically was 25 million?
22 A. Again, I don't remember specifically
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Mike Gula CONFIDENTIAL 1/12/2021
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1 telling him because, from my recollection, he handed
2 me a sheet of paper and I wrote it down. I don't
3 believe I had any personal interaction of a
4 conversation of that level.
5 Q. Did you write down or otherwise
6 communicate, when you were at Chain Bridge Bank, that
7 you expected a wire of 45 or so million dollars
8 coming in from California?
9 A. I specifically remember writing to -- I
10 believe it was Maria or Jennifer in an email that
11 that's what was coming in.
12 Q. Okay. We'll come to that. Other than the
13 -- there's an email to Maria Cole I'll show you.
14 Do you remember any other means by which
15 you communicated that?
16 A. I believe over the telephone. I had a
17 number of phone calls with the bank.
18 Q. Okay. Do you know who the phone call was
19 with when you said that?
20 A. It was either Maria or Jennifer, one of
21 the two.
22 Q. When you were in the bank, did you write
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1 Q. Do you remember telling Mr. Brough and
2 Mr. Evinger that the California transaction amounted
3 to your payday, quote, unquote.
4 A. I don't believe I would have characterized
5 it as my payday.
6 Q. Do you think you used words to that
7 effect?
8 A. No, I do not believe that.
9 Q. Did you tell Mr. Brough and Mr. Evinger
10 that by this transaction, you'd make enough money
11 that you'd no longer have to worry about anything?
12 A. No, I don't believe I would have used
13 those words with him, no.
14 Q. Did you tell Mr. Brough and Mr. Evinger on
15 that call that, after this transaction, you'd no
16 longer be reachable?
17 A. God, no. Not to them.
18 Q. Did you tell them you'd be going far away?
19 A. What do you mean by far away?
20 Q. I don't know. Did you tell them that?
21 A. I have a seven-year-old and a
22 five-year-old. I would not be going far away.
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1 Q. Did you tell them that your email and cell
2 phone would no longer work the next day?
3 A. No, I don't believe I would say that to
4 them. I specifically wanted a close relationship
5 with them.
6 Q. Did you tell them that only 10 people
7 would have your new contact information?
8 A. Ten probably would have been high.
9 Q. What was your new contact information?
10 A. My 202-713-8608 phone number.
11 Q. Was that new?
12 A. Relatively.
13 Q. Do you remember them asking you on that
14 call for the contract that you had with the
15 manufacturer or manufacturers?
16 A. Not specifically. But I profusely,
17 exhaustively told them I would provide them whatever
18 information they needed to be comfortable with the
19 transaction.
20 Q. Do you have any recollection of them
21 specifically asking on that call for further
22 documentation about your business?
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1 A. No. They said they would get back to me
2 and I proactively emailed them where we would be
3 wiring the money within the United States. They did
4 not even ask where I would be -- where we would be
5 wiring out the money.
6 Q. You --
7 A. I did assure --
8 Q. Forgive me.
9 A. I did assure them on the phone that we
10 would not be wiring -- or Chain Bridge Bank would not
11 be wiring any money to China.
12 Q. Do you deny that Mr. Brough and
13 Mr. Evinger on that call asked you for further
14 documentation about your business?
15 A. Do I deny? What's the question?
16 MR. WHITE: Could you restate that,
17 Counsel?
18 MR. ORSECK: Yes.
19 MR. WHITE: Just to make sure he
20 understood.
21 BY MR. ORSECK:
22 Q. Do you deny that on that call, Mr. Brough
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1 that with Mr. Thomas, Mr. Bearman or both?
2 A. I'm sure I did. I don't --
3 Q. Any specific -- sorry. Were you finished?
4 A. Yeah, I was finished.
5 Q. Do you have any specific recollection?
6 A. No.
7 MR. ORSECK: Can I ask folks if Exhibit 56
8 has downloaded yet?
9 THE WITNESS: Mine says compressed and
10 it's downloading very slowly.
11 MR. ORSECK: Okay. So you don't have it
12 yet?
13 THE WITNESS: (Shaking head.)
14 MR. ORSECK: All right. Well, we'll
15 continue on, then. Let's put up tab 280 -- I'm
16 sorry, tab 284, which will be Exhibit 58.
17 (Defendant's Exhibit No. 58 was
18 marked for identification.)
19 BY MR. ORSECK:
20 Q. This is Bates CBB 639. Do you have it?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. At 2:16, you emailed David Evinger and
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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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