Government of the United States Virgin Islands v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 122-cv-10904 (S.D.N.Y. 2022)/263-50.pdf

EXHIBIT 103 FILED UNDER SEAL Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 263-50 Filed 08/07/23 Page 1 of 7 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 263-50 Filed 08/07/23 Page 2 of 7 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 263-50 Filed 08/07/23 Page 3 of 7 Kevin McCleerey - Highly Confidential Golkow Litigation ServicesPage 234 1 to kick clients out or to open accounts 2 for clients. 3 Q. I understand that you didn't 4 have the authority to exit the clients. 5 A. Right. Right. 6 Q. Despite not having the 7 authority to exit a client, did you have 8 a view, at this time, about whether 9 Mr. Epstein should be exited from the 10 bank? 11 MR. BUTTS: Objection. 12 THE WITNESS: My view was it 13 was -- the reputational risk of 14 the firm was increasing with these 15 allegations, if they were true. 16 We knew in previous news articles 17 some of the information was not 18 true. So we needed to get the 19 facts. 20 But until then, we should 21 have a meeting to review the 22 current allegations in the press. 23 That was my view. 24 BY MS. OLIVER: Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 263-50 Filed 08/07/23 Page 4 of 7 Kevin McCleerey - Highly Confidential Golkow Litigation ServicesPage 236 1 BY MS. OLIVER: 2 Q. Did you believe, in December 3 of 2010, that Mr. Epstein should be 4 exited from the bank? 5 MR. BUTTS: Objection. 6 Asked and answered. 7 THE WITNESS: I'm going to 8 say it again. Newspaper articles 9 appeared. We knew in the past 10 they were not totally accurate. 11 He was now, quote, being 12 investigated for sex trafficking. 13 It now required another meeting 14 with the rapid response team. 15 My view was it increased the 16 reputational risk of the firm by 17 keeping the client. And that was 18 my view. 19 BY MS. OLIVER: 20 Q. Yes or no, did you believe 21 Mr. Epstein should be exited as a client 22 in December of 2010? 23 MR. BUTTS: Objection. 24 THE WITNESS: My view was we Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 263-50 Filed 08/07/23 Page 5 of 7 Kevin McCleerey - Highly Confidential Golkow Litigation ServicesPage 238 1 MR. BUTTS: You have gotten 2 the answer. 3 MS. OLIVER: I have not 4 gotten the answer, John. 5 MR. BUTTS: You have gotten 6 the answer. 7 Do you want to give it for 8 the fifth time? 9 THE WITNESS: Sure. 10 Allegations of sex trafficking 11 appeared in the press. We had 12 previously known that the press 13 reports were not totally accurate. 14 But these charges were troubling, 15 and it increased the reputational 16 risk of the firm if we kept the 17 client. 18 And in my role, it was 19 necessary to schedule a rapid 20 response meeting. I was not in 21 charge of the business. I didn't 22 have responsibility or authority 23 to open or close accounts. 24 So my view was, the risk Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 263-50 Filed 08/07/23 Page 6 of 7 Kevin McCleerey - Highly Confidential Golkow Litigation ServicesPage 239 1 increased, let's have a meeting. 2 - - - 3 (Whereupon, Exhibit 4 McCleerey-20, 5 JPM-SDNYLIT-00204777, 12/23/10 6 E-mail, was marked for 7 identification.) 8 - - - 9 BY MS. OLIVER: 10 Q. Mr. McCleerey, I'm handing 11 you what has been marked McCleerey-20, 12 with Bates number 00204777. 13 Again, I know you have not 14 seen this e-mail chain, but I'd like you 15 to look about halfway down the page to an 16 e-mail that Mr. DeLuca sent to William 17 Langford on December 23rd, 2010. The 18 e-mail starts, Yep. 19 Do you see that? 20 A. Yep. Yes. 21 Q. Yep. Yep. 22 On cell if needed. And I 23 sent you an e-mail yesterday on that scum 24 Epstein. That looks good, too. I Case 1:22-cv-10904-JSR Document 263-50 Filed 08/07/23 Page 7 of 7