Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 122-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y. 2022)/326-13.pdf

EXHIBIT 13 Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 326-13 Filed 09/08/23 Page 1 of 9 Kevin McCleerey - Highly Confidential Golkow Litigation ServicesPage 1 1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK 2 - - - 3 GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED : Case Number: STATES VIRGIN ISLANDS : 1:22-cv- 4 Plaintiff, : 10904-JSR v. : 5 JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A. : Defendant/Third-Party : 6 Plaintiff. : _________________________________________ 7 JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A. : Third-Party Plaintiff, : 8 v. : JAMES EDWARD STALEY : 9 Third-Party Defendant. : 10 - - - 11 APRIL 28, 2023 HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL 12 - - - 13 Videotaped deposition of 14 KEVIN McCLEEREY, taken pursuant to 15 notice, was held at the law offices of 16 Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, P.C., 100 17 Southgate Parkway, 3rd Floor, Morristown, 18 New Jersey 07960, commencing at 19 9:13 a.m., on the above date, before 20 Amanda Dee Maslynsky-Miller, a Certified 21 Realtime Reporter and Notary Public in 22 and for the State of New York. 23 - - - GOLKOW LITIGATION SERVICES, INC. 24 877.370.3377 ph| 917.591.5672 fax Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 326-13 Filed 09/08/23 Page 2 of 9 Kevin McCleerey - Highly Confidential Golkow Litigation ServicesPage 38 1 Q. Given your experience in 2 risk management, did you believe that 3 Mr. Epstein presented an intolerably high 4 reputational risk to the bank? 5 MR. BUTTS: Objection to 6 form. 7 You may answer. 8 THE WITNESS: Mr. Epstein 9 represented a reputational risk to 10 the firm. My group did not have 11 any responsibility for onboarding 12 or exiting any clients. That was 13 the business's role. 14 BY MS. OLIVER: 15 Q. I think my question was a 16 little different, which was, did you 17 personally believe that Mr. Epstein 18 presented an intolerably high 19 reputational risk to the firm? 20 MR. BUTTS: Objection to 21 form. 22 You may answer. 23 THE WITNESS: I don't know 24 what "intolerable" means. People Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 326-13 Filed 09/08/23 Page 3 of 9 Kevin McCleerey - Highly Confidential Golkow Litigation ServicesPage 155 1 relationship approach. 2 Q. Got it. Thank you. 3 A. That's how I interpret it. 4 Q. Did you have an 5 understanding as to why Ms. Keating and 6 Ms. Verdon wanted to escalate the 7 relationship up the chain to more senior 8 officers within the asset and wealth 9 management group? 10 A. He had pled guilty. They 11 wanted to make sure that senior 12 management was fully aware of the current 13 status of Mr. Epstein. 14 Q. Why would senior management 15 need to be aware of Mr. Epstein's current 16 status? 17 A. Well, he was now considered 18 a felon. According to the sponsorship 19 policy, Mr. Staley and Mr. -- the head of 20 the legal department at the time, I 21 believe Mr. Cutler, had to approve the 22 relationship to keep the relationship, as 23 he was now a convicted felon. 24 So it was important Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 326-13 Filed 09/08/23 Page 4 of 9 Kevin McCleerey - Highly Confidential Golkow Litigation ServicesPage 156 1 before -- the people who were below the 2 level of Mr. Staley and Mr. Cutler were 3 fully informed as to the current status 4 of his guilty plea. 5 Q. If Ms. Keating had wanted to 6 exit Mr. Epstein from the bank at this 7 point, did she have the authority to do 8 so? 9 A. Yes. She was in charge of 10 the business, yes. 11 Q. And if Ms. Casey had wanted 12 to exit Mr. Epstein from the bank at this 13 point, did she have the authority to do 14 so? 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. Was it your understanding 17 that Ms. Casey wanted to keep Mr. Epstein 18 as a client of the bank at this point? 19 A. I don't recall any 20 conversations from Mary Casey at any 21 meeting about that. 22 Q. Is there a reason that 23 you're aware of that Ms. Casey would have 24 chosen to escalate the decision to more Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 326-13 Filed 09/08/23 Page 5 of 9 Kevin McCleerey - Highly Confidential Golkow Litigation ServicesPage 196 1 wanted to exit the client, she had the 2 authority to do so, correct? 3 MR. BUTTS: Objection. 4 You may answer. 5 THE WITNESS: If the 6 people -- if the head of the 7 business at the time, Catherine 8 Keating, agreed to exit the 9 relationship, then the client 10 would have been exited. 11 BY MS. OLIVER: 12 Q. So Mary Casey did not have 13 the authority to exit a client? 14 A. She could recommend the 15 exiting of a client, but most likely she 16 would elevate the discussion to her 17 market manager and the head of the 18 business. 19 Q. Well, you said "most 20 likely." 21 Was she required to escalate 22 the decision to the market manager? 23 A. I think that would be normal 24 course of a supervisor, manager role -- a Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 326-13 Filed 09/08/23 Page 6 of 9 Kevin McCleerey - Highly Confidential Golkow Litigation ServicesPage 199 1 her recommendation. 2 BY MS. OLIVER: 3 Q. And if at the end of that 4 meeting she said, I do not approve and 5 accept sponsorship of Jeffrey Epstein, 6 what would have happened? 7 A. It would have been escalated 8 up. She was -- 9 Q. To whom? 10 A. Catherine Keating. She was 11 the head of the business. 12 Q. So Catherine Keating had the 13 ability to say, Mary Casey, I don't care 14 whether you approve and accept 15 sponsorship of Jeffrey Epstein, we're 16 retaining him as a client and you're 17 going to be compelled to continue to 18 affirm sponsorship of him? 19 MR. BUTTS: Objection to 20 form. Objection. 21 You may answer. 22 THE WITNESS: I don't think 23 Catherine Keating would assign a 24 banker to a client if the banker Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 326-13 Filed 09/08/23 Page 7 of 9 Kevin McCleerey - Highly Confidential Golkow Litigation ServicesPage 200 1 was not comfortable with that 2 client. I think Catherine Keating 3 would try to understand what was 4 the nature of Mary Casey's 5 concerns and whether she agreed 6 with those concerns or not. 7 She was the head of the U.S. 8 business. She was responsible for 9 all the clients within the 10 business. And she would make the 11 decision. 12 Deciding to exit and then 13 how you execute the exit is 14 another process, too. Clients 15 have complex investments, assets. 16 It's not just a banking account, 17 send a person a letter and they go 18 to another bank. So it involved 19 some discussion about how to do 20 that as well. 21 BY MS. OLIVER: 22 Q. So supposing Catherine 23 Keating agreed with Mary Casey and 24 believed that Mr. Epstein should be Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 326-13 Filed 09/08/23 Page 8 of 9 Kevin McCleerey - Highly Confidential Golkow Litigation ServicesPage 201 1 exited from the bank, did Jes Staley have 2 the authority to retain him as a 3 client -- 4 A. Well, Jes -- 5 Q. -- despite that? 6 A. Jes Staley was in charge of 7 asset and wealth management. He was the 8 senior-most person heading that line of