Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 122-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y. 2022)/245-03.pdf

FILED UNDER SEAL EXHIBIT 278 Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-3 Filed 07/25/23 Page 1 of 43 ·1· · · · · UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE ·2· · · · · · · SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ·3· · · · · · · CASE NUMBER:· 22-CV-10904-JSR ·4· · · · · · · · · ·ACTION FOR DAMAGES ·5 · · ·GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES· · · ) ·6· ·VIRGIN ISLANDS,· · · · · · · · · · · ) · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ) ·7· · · · · · · · · · · · · · Plaintiff,· ) · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ) ·8· ·VS.· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ) · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ) ·9· ·JP MORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.,· · · · · ) · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ) 10· · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·Defendant. ) · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ) 11· ·------------------------------------- 12 13 14 15· · · · · · · VIDEO RECORDED DEPOSITION OF 16· · · · · · · · · · ·VINCENT FRAZER 17· · · · · · · · ·THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2023 18 19 20 · · ·REPORTED BY: 21 · · ·DENISE D. HARPER-FORDE 22· ·Certified Shorthand Reporter (CSR) · · ·Certified RealTime Reporter (CRR) 23· ·Certified LiveNote Reporter (CLR) · · ·Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) 24· ·Notary Public (FLORIDA) 25 Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-3 Filed 07/25/23 Page 2 of 43 ·1· ·give specific information as to where ·2· ·he would be residing when he was not ·3· ·in one of his own homes, when he was ·4· ·out Of the country particularly or out ·5· ·of whatever it's -- away from one of ·6· ·his own homes. ·7· · · · · · ·His concern was out of having ·8· ·to disclose whose residence he may ·9· ·have been staying in, and they 10· ·expressed some apprehensions about 11· ·making that information publicly 12· ·available. 13· · · · ·Q.· Okay.· What was your reaction 14· ·to the various issues that his lawyers 15· ·were raising? 16· · · · · · ·ATTORNEY ACKERMAN:· Object to 17· ·form. 18· · · · · · ·THE WITNESS:· Initially my 19· ·reaction was we would apply the law 20· ·strictly the way the law was written. 21· ·And so it required him, as other 22· ·registrants, to come in and provide 23· ·all of the information that is 24· ·required by statute. 25· · · · · · ·(BY ATTORNEY NEIMAN): Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-3 Filed 07/25/23 Page 3 of 43 ·1· · · · ·Q.· You said that was your initial ·2· ·reaction. ·3· · · · ·A.· Yes. ·4· · · · ·Q.· Did that change over time? ·5· · · · ·A.· When -- yes.· When his lawyer ·6· ·then began to explain and provide ·7· ·justification for their requests. ·8· · · · ·Q.· And how did it change? ·9· · · · ·A.· Well, we began to consider -- 10· ·we, myself and my staff, began to 11· ·consider the facts that they had 12· ·brought.· Because until I received the 13· ·request from Epstein's lawyers, I did 14· ·not know him personally or by 15· ·reputation.· I didn't know anything 16· ·about him. 17· · · · · · ·So when the correspondence and 18· ·information they provided indicated 19· ·and explained that he was a -- 20· ·basically a financier, investment 21· ·banker or something of that sort that 22· ·required him to be very mobile and in 23· ·and out of the territory on very short 24· ·notice because he was in the type of 25· ·business that required him to travel Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-3 Filed 07/25/23 Page 4 of 43 ·1· ·frequently.· Then we considered that. ·2· · · · · · ·So we began to see whether or ·3· ·not the law could accommodate it. ·4· ·And, for the most part, initially it ·5· ·was determined that we could not ·6· ·accommodate the requests he was ·7· ·making. ·8· · · · ·Q.· And, again, did that ·9· ·subsequently change over time? 10· · · · ·A.· Yes. 11· · · · ·Q.· In what way? 12· · · · ·A.· It changed in the discretion 13· ·was given to the Attorney General that 14· ·provided for a relaxation of some of 15· ·the time requirement and notice, prior 16· ·notice requirement for his travels. 17· · · · ·Q.· Okay.· Did you ultimately 18· ·grant him the accommodations that he 19· ·was seeking? 20· · · · ·A.· To my recollection, we granted 21· ·some by -- through the discretion of 22· ·the Attorney General, we granted some 23· ·relaxation. 24· · · · ·Q.· Was there -- withdrawn. 25· · · · · · ·Was Mr. Epstein the first time Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-3 Filed 07/25/23 Page 5 of 43 ·1· ·the placement of the registrant to ·2· ·particular tiers.· That's my ·3· ·recollection. ·4· · · · ·Q.· Uh-huh.· Let's look at Exhibit ·5· ·54 for a second -- or Tab 54 for -- ·6· ·for which we'll call Exhibit 3. ·7· · · · · · ·(Whereupon, Defendant's ·8· · · · · · · Exhibit No. 3, Bill No. ·9· · · · · · · 29-0239, was marked for 10· · · · · · · identification) 11· · · · · · ·(BY ATTORNEY NEIMAN): 12· · · · ·Q.· All right.· Sir, do you 13· ·recognize Exhibit 3 as the sex 14· ·offender legislation that was passed 15· ·in the summer of 2012? 16· · · · ·A.· I recognize Exhibit 3 to be a 17· ·copy of Article 7372, which shows it 18· ·was passed in 2012. 19· · · · ·Q.· Okay.· If you look at the last 20· ·page of the exhibit, you can see the 21· ·seal of the Governor.· Do you see 22· ·that? 23· · · · ·A.· Yes. 24· · · · ·Q.· And it's dated July 18th of 25· ·2012.· Do you see that? Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-3 Filed 07/25/23 Page 6 of 43 ·1· · · · ·A.· Yes. ·2· · · · ·Q.· So that's the day in which ·3· ·this bill was signed into law? ·4· · · · ·A.· Yes. ·5· · · · ·Q.· Okay.· And this is a law ·6· ·you're familiar with? ·7· · · · · · ·ATTORNEY ACKERMAN:· Object to ·8· ·form. ·9· · · · · · ·THE WITNESS:· I used to be 10· ·familiar. 11· · · · · · ·(BY ATTORNEY NEIMAN): 12· · · · ·Q.· Sure.· I'm not expecting you 13· ·to remember off the top of your head 14· ·every detail.· But there was a time 15· ·when it was part of your job to be 16· ·familiar with this law? 17· · · · ·A.· Yes. 18· · · · ·Q.· Okay.· And let's just take a 19· ·look at the tiering statute, tiering 20· ·portion of the statute just so we can 21· ·see if we agree on how this works. 22· · · · · · ·If you turn to page 9 of the 23· ·statute, you'll see a Section 1721B, 24· ·Tier Defenses.· Do you see that? 25· · · · ·A.· Yes. Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-3 Filed 07/25/23 Page 7 of 43 ·1· ·has concluded its effort to draft ·2· ·proposed legislation." ·3· · · · · · ·Do you see that? ·4· · · · ·A.· Yes. ·5· · · · ·Q.· What was this task force? ·6· · · · ·A.· Well, it was a task force we ·7· ·assembled to assist us with drafting ·8· ·new and upgrading of our SORNA law. ·9· · · · ·Q.· All right.· And the article 10· ·references a 2011 deadline for 11· ·upgrading the law to be in compliance 12· ·with SORNA.· Do you see that? 13· · · · ·A.· Okay.· You say it here. I 14· ·haven't seen it yet, but... 15· · · · ·Q.· What was that deadline as you 16· ·recall it? 17· · · · ·A.· I don't recall. 18· · · · ·Q.· All right. 19· · · · ·A.· They may have had a deadline 20· ·for us to be in compliance with 21· ·Federal law.· I don't remember what it 22· ·was. 23· · · · ·Q.· And was compliance with that 24· ·Federal law important to getting 25· ·funding to support your registration Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-3 Filed 07/25/23 Page 8 of 43 ·1· ·program? ·2· · · · ·A.· Yes. ·3· · · · · · ·ATTORNEY ACKERMAN:· Object to ·4· ·form. ·5· · · · · · ·(BY ATTORNEY NEIMAN): ·6· · · · ·Q.· Did the Virgin Islands get its ·7· ·new legislation passed by the July ·8· ·2011 deadline? ·9· · · · ·A.· I don't recall. 10· · · · ·Q.· We just looked at some 11· ·legislation that was passed in the 12· ·summer of 2012, correct? 13· · · · ·A.· Yes. 14· · · · ·Q.· So that would be a year after 15· ·the deadline, right? 16· · · · ·A.· If that's what the dates 17· ·show. 18· · · · ·Q.· Take a look. 19· · · · ·A.· Yeah. 20· · · · ·Q.· Do you remember why it was 21· ·that the Virgin Islands missed the 22· ·statutory deadline? 23· · · · ·A.· I don't recall.· We may have 24· ·gotten an extensions, I think. I 25· ·think we had gotten extensions on it. Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document