Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 122-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y. 2022)/245-08.pdf

FILED UNDER SEAL EXHIBIT 283 Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-8 Filed 07/25/23 Page 1 of 10 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES VIRGIN ISLANDS, Plaintiff, vs. No. 22-cv-10904-JSR JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., Defendant. ________________________________ JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., Third-Party Plaintiff, v. JAMES EDWARD STALEY, Third-Party Defendant. ________________________________ THE ORAL DEPOSITION OF SANDRA BESS was taken on the 18th day of May, 2023 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 6900 Great Bay, Nazareth, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, between the hours of 8:43 a.m. and 11:53 a.m. pursuant to Notice and Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. ____________________ Reported by: DESIREE D. HILL Registered Merit Reporter Hill's Reporting Services P.O. Box 307501 St. Thomas, Virgin Islands (340) 714-0269 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-8 Filed 07/25/23 Page 2 of 10 29 (Deposition Exhibit No. 1 was marked for identification.) Q.(By Mr. Neiman:) Did you -- let's just pause for one second before we start talking about this document. With any of those supervisors, did you ever have any discussions about Mr. Epstein's criminal issues? A.No, sir. Q.Let's take a look at the document that I placed in front of you marked as Exhibit 1. Can you tell me what this is? A.It is the certificate that is given to me, assigned to me, Financial Trust, as a compliance officer. Q.So, this is the certificate for the tax benefit for the Financial Trust Corporation -- Financial Trust Company, I should say? A.Yes, sir. Q.And you were the compliance officer in relation to this certificate? A.Yes, sir. Q.I'm going to ask you a couple of questions about this certificate. If you take a look at page 3, you'll see 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-8 Filed 07/25/23 Page 3 of 10 34 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. Q.(By Mr. Neiman:) What is Exhibit 2? A.Exhibit 2 is an amendment to -- could I refer to it as Exhibit 1? Yes. Q.Sure. A.Extension amendment, I apologize. Q.So Exhibit 2 is the Extension of benefits as amended for the same company as is addressed in Exhibit 1? A.Yes, sir. Q.All right. Were you involved as a compliance officer in both the initial period and the extension period for this company? A.As the compliance officer, yes, sir. Q.Okay. And do you know how it's decided which -- A.No, sir. Q.-- compliance officer gets which companies to do their work for? A.No, sir. It would just be assigned by the supervisor. Q.Okay. And would it by typical in your compliance work to make site visits to a company? A.Yes, sir. Q.Tell me about what site visits are. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-8 Filed 07/25/23 Page 4 of 10 36 Q.Okay. Did you do any unannounced visits to the Financial Trust Company as best as you can recall? A.As best as I can recall, I probably would have done one or two. Q.Okay. Tell me about the one or two unannounced visits that you recall. A.Nothing that I can specifically recall, but I would show up at the door, identify myself, and then ask to see the compliance person -- the person that I relayed to, speak to on the email, on the phone, or anyone else if that person is not there. Q.Who was the person or people at the Financial Trust Company that you dealt with? A.Cecile de Jongh. Q.Okay. And who is Cecile de Jongh? A.The office manager at the Financial Trust and Southern Trust. Q.And during the time that you were interacting with her as a compliance officer, was she also the First Lady of the Virgin Islands? A.Yes, sir. Q.So, her husband was the governor? A.Yes, sir. Q.Okay. Did the fact that she was married to the governor affect how you interacted with her in any 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-8 Filed 07/25/23 Page 5 of 10 37 way? A.No, sir. Q.Okay. Do you remember where the Financial Trust Company's offices were? A.It was -- it was located in the Yacht Haven, American Yacht Haven on the second floor. Q.Can you describe what the offices were like? A.A glass door, typically white furniture. The reception area would be at the front. I think accounting was in a door right behind the reception area. There was an office -- there was an office off to the right, maybe two or three at the back on the right and there was a kitchen just not too far from the reception area. Q.About how many times were you at the offices of FTC as best as you can recall? A.FTC, maybe once or twice. Q.You seem to be able to describe it very well from one or two visits. A.Yeah, because I have to be -- as a compliance officer be very observant. So -- Q.And did Mr. Epstein have an office at Financial Trust Company? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-8 Filed 07/25/23 Page 6 of 10 42 (Deposition Exhibit No. 3 was marked for identification.) Q.(By Mr. Neiman:) Do you recognize Exhibit 3? A.Yes, I do. Q.What is Exhibit 3? A.It is a certificate for Southern Trust Company, Inc. Q.And what is Southern Trust Company, Inc. as you understand it? A.Southern Trust Company, Inc. is a designated service which provides -- THE REPORTER: I'm sorry, provides -- THE WITNESS: -- extensive DNA database, develops data mining platform for a database to be available through the internet. Q.(By Mr. Neiman:) Okay. And that's how the company is described in the certificate, correct? A.Yes, sir. Q.And is it correct that Southern Trust Company was one of the companies that you served as the compliance officer for? A.Yes, sir. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-8 Filed 07/25/23 Page 7 of 10 53 MR. NEIMAN: Okay. All right. We have been going for an hour. Should could we take a short break? MR. ACKERMAN: Yes. THE WITNESS: Yes. Thank you. VIDEOGRAPHER: Are you ready to go off the record? MR. NEIMAN: Yes, let's go off. VIDEOGRAPHER: Going off the record, the time is 9:42 a.m., Wednesday May 17, 2023. We're off the record. (Break taken.) VIDEOGRAPHER: Okay. We are going back on the record. The time is 10:09 a.m., Wednesday, May 17, 2023. We're on the record. Q.(By Mr. Neiman:) Good morning, again, Ms. Bess. I want to show you now a document I will mark as Exhibit 4. (Deposition Exhibit No. 4 was marked for identification.) Q.(By Mr. Neiman:) All right. Ms. Bess, do you recognize Exhibit 4? A.Yes. Q.Can you tell us what it is? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 245-8 Filed 07/25/23 Page 8 of 10 54 A.It's a compliance report for Financial Trust Company as of December 31st, 20 -- 2006. Q.Who prepared this report? A.I prepared this document, this report. Q.Okay. Was this the first compliance report that you prepared related to the Financial Trust Company? A.If I can recall, yes, it is. Q.Okay. Do you have any idea -- I withdraw it. The date of this report is April of 2008. Do you see that? A.Yes. Q.So, That would be about nine years after Financial Trust Company first became a beneficiary of the tax benefit, correct? A.Correct. Q.Do you know why it took nine years for the first compliance report related to Financial Trust Company to be prepared? A.As I indicated prior, may have had other items that were