1 1 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA 2 3 GENERAL JURISDICTION DIVISION 4 CASE NO. 02-3317 CA-20 5 6 FASWAG INTERNATIONAL, LTD., a Florida limited Partnership, 7 Plaintiff, 8 vs. 9 10 11 CHAMPION HOLDINGS GROUP, LTD., a British Virgin Islands Company, Defendant. -------------------X 12 13 14 15 201 South Biscayne Boulevard Miami Center - Seventeenth Floor 201 South Biscayne Boulevard Miami, Florida 33131 October 21, 2003 1:30 p.m. - 6:10 p.m. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 DEPOSITION OF BROCK PIERCE, Taken before Michael Jay Kugler Notary Public in and for the State of Florida at Large, pursuant to Notice of Taking Deposition in the above cause. 8 Q 9 10 11 Well, I'll put it this way. Did there come a time where Mr. Rector felt his assets should be protected, that you're aware of? A 12 David Geffin -MR. KAPLAN: No, the question simply 13 put to you is, whether or not you know 14 if Mr. Rector felt, he felt he needed to 15 protect his assets. 16 17 That's the question. A Marc is a successful businessman, had 18 reasons to feel threatened by other very successful 19 businessmen that made offers for his company, and that 20 he denied, and was told that, I'm going to take your 21 business whether you like it or not. 22 23 24 25 So, yes, he had reason to believe that. Q That person who purportedly said that, was David Geffin, correct? A Correct. Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 1 Q 2 3 4 62 That's why -THE REFEREE: Okay. Q Thank you. Now, as a result of that purported or claimed threat, what did Mr. Rector do? 5 A He hired Michael Laurie. 6 Q To do what? 7 A To protect him from any imminent threats 8 that may be coming from David Geffin. 9 Q Physical threats, financial threats, how? 10 A Anything's possible. Probably more 11 12 13 financially than physically, but very likely both. Q Were you present when that was, when Mr. Laurie was initially retained? 14 A Yes. 15 Q Can you tell me who else was present? 16 A Chad. 17 Q Chad Shackley? 18 Again, we're choosing both names. 19 A Yes, Chad Shackley. Excuse me. 20 Q And who else? 21 A And Marc Collins Rector. 22 Q Any other person, any lawyer there? 23 A No, not that I remember. 24 Q What was the nature of that conversation 25 that day, between the three of you? Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 1 A 63 Mike Laurie was pitching himself for the 2 job as a professional kidnapper, ex CIA guy, that was 3 very good at investigating issues like this. 4 5 6 Q You said -- he said that he was a kidnapper? A Well, I remember specifically, he stated a 7 story about he was hired to go crash a car into 8 someone's car, and run up with a needle, and stick a 9 needle in them that made them pass out and put them in 10 a fake ambulance, and then put them on an airplane and 11 fly them to some person that paid for this person. 12 13 14 15 Q Okay. He didn't say this was related to government service, or don't you know? A I think this was actually separate. I think this is when he went into the private sector. 16 Q Okay. But did you ever ask -- 17 A I think, I'm pretty sure he said this was 18 private. 19 Q 20 this was? 21 A 22 been. 23 Q 24 Okay. Did he tell you on behalf of whom I don't remember who the client would have Did he tell you any more details, when it occurred purportedly? 25 MR. KAPLAN: I'm sorry, would you Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 1 2 3 re-read the question? Q 6 7 8 9 Did he tell you when this purportedly occurred? 4 5 64 MR. KAPLAN: Okay. A He didn't give me dates, but he made it sound like it wasn't too long ago. Q Okay. And did you hear anything more about it, any other wild stories? A Well -- 10 MR. KAPLAN: Objection to form. 11 THE REFEREE: You can answer, sir. 12 A He, in his sales pitch, he made himself 13 sound like a guy of much means, that was capable of 14 investigating these types of issues. 15 16 That threats that may come from David Geffin, and how to protect him. 17 His job was to protect him from security. 18 I think that's the same line of work he's 19 in today. 20 Q 21 Collins -- 22 A Protect him, you're referring to Marc Marc Collins, to protect Marc Collins 23 Rector from David Geffin, who he thought, at that 24 time, was threatening him, both financially and 25 physically, as well. Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 1 Q 65 He actually said, in that conversation, he, 2 Mr. Rector, said to Mike Laurie, he thought David 3 Geffin wanted to kill him, right? 4 A Yes. 5 Q Okay. And he also said that he thought 6 David Geffin, and I think he used the word, the gay 7 Mafia was trying to kill him; is that correct? 8 9 A Well, I don't know enough about such an organization that -- 9 10 A the beginning of 2001, yeah, okay. 11 12 13 Maybe in the spring of 2001, I think he was making occasional trips to Spain. Q 14 17 18 answered. Q A 1999. 20 Q 22 23 When did you first go there, so I can know specifically? 19 21 When did you first go to Spain? MR. KAPLAN: Objection, asked and 15 16 The beginning of 2001, well, yeah, I think I think I visited Spain the first time in When did you first move there with Chad and Marc Collins Rector? A We moved there in, and made that our primary residence. 24 Q When? 25 A In the spring of 2000. Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 109 1 Q Can you be more specific? 2 A I don't know the exact date. 3 Q Okay. Let's -- you now had a second 4 meeting with Mike Laurie on Sunset, in Miami Beach. 5 6 After the second meeting, what happened? A Well, a close personal childhood friend of 7 mine had been paid by David Geffin, to spy and collect 8 information, and to steal faxes out of the fax 9 machine, and send this information to him, and we had 10 just caught this person doing this. 11 We had called up Mike Laurie, and had him 12 come over, and explain that this threat from David 13 Geffin was much more serious than we thought, and Mike 14 Laurie said, you guys need to get away for a little 15 while, and let this blow over, and let it cool down, 16 let David Geffin back off you guys. 17 18 19 Q the fax that you just told us about? A 20 21 What was the name of this person that stole My childhood friend, Alex Burton. THE REFEREE: Alex what? A Alex Burton. 22 MR. BURTON: Not related. 23 THE REFEREE: Just checking. 24 THE WITNESS: I don't think they're 25 related. Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 110 1 Q No. 2 A Well -- okay. 3 Q And who made the determination that Alex 4 5 Burton was placed there by Geffin? A It was later discovered that they had been 6 communicating, that he was being paid off, being given 7 a cell phone. 8 There are tons of things. 9 Mike Laurie is very familiar with it. 10 Q 11 12 13 I'm not asking about Mike Laurie. How did you first call Mike, to say that this person was being an agent? A Okay. 14 MR. KAPLAN: I think your question, not 15 to switch gears was, who made the 16 determination that Alex Burton was doing 17 this? 18 MR. BURTON: I'm asking him is, how 19 they made the determination -- 20 THE REFEREE: Right. 21 MR. BURTON: By themselves. 22 MR. KAPLAN: Okay. 23 Q At the time? 24 A Well, while I was in Spain in 1999, the 25 first time, I had become suspicious of Alex Burton's Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 111 1 behavior. 2 Q Was he living at the house? 3 A He was traveling with us at this time. 4 Q Yes. 5 A And there was information that very, very 6 few people were privileged to. 7 A handful of people were familiar with this 8 information, and somehow this information was getting 9 to David Geffin's good friend, Joseph Mann, that wrote 10 for the Los Angeles Times, and this information was 11 somehow getting into the L.A. Times, that we were in 12 Paris at a certain time, and were going, who is it? 13 We conducted an investigation on my 14 assistant, and Marc's assistant, and Chad's assistant, 15 and trying to figure out where's the leak with this 16 information. 17 18 And then finally -Q And what information -- 19 MR. KAPLAN: Let him finish. 20 THE REFEREE: Let him finish. 21 A While we were traveling, what was the 22 status of the company, what was going on with the 23 24 company that we had started. And information that, really, only the 25 Board of Directors and a few people were very close to Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 1 2 3 4 112 the Board of Directors could have been privileged to. This information was finding its way into newspapers. So we conducted an investigation to find 5 out where this leak was, and after we were unable to 6 discover where this leak was, I finally had a thought, 7 that I actually felt guilty about at the time, that 8 perhaps my good friend, childhood friend that I've 9 known since I'm five years old, Alex Burton, was 10 leaking this information, because I didn't know why. 11 So I told Chad Shackley to install, on one 12 of the computers that Chad owned, a program to monitor 13 certain key strokes, and this was the computer that 14 Alex Burton was using at the time. 15 Q 16 Burton? 17 A 18 He was with us, at this time, in Spain, when I suggested this. 19 20 Where was he physically located, Alex So Chad Shackley installed on his own computer, a program that records key stroking. 21 It records whatever a person types. 22 Q Okay. 23 A And Chad, later that week, then 24 investigated what he had been doing on his computer, 25 on Chad's computer recently, to find out if he's the Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 113 1 person, just suspicious behavior, this is the way to 2 see if someone is actually doing something nefarious. 3 Q Go ahead. 4 A And Chad didn't find anything. 5 So I felt kind of insulted, and everyone 6 was kind of like a little upset with -- Marc and Chad 7 was a little upset that I had made this suggestion, 8 when I was wrong, because, to point a finger at 9 somebody like this, I felt very guilty about it, but 10 coincidentally, when we were living in Florida, after 11 the first meeting with Mike Laurie, Chad, for whatever 12 reason, I don't know what reason, decided to check 13 this again, and at that time he found a number of 14 communications between David Geffin and himself, and 15 in these communications it was leaking information, 16 and other such things. 17 Q Well -- 18 A To David Geffin's e-mail address. 19 Q Well, Alex Burton was living in Sunset, 20 21 Miami, Beach, also, with you? A He was -- yes, he was staying with us at 22 that time, but he was not privileged to these 23 meetings. 24 He was not the business partner. 25 He had no business interest. Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 114 1 Q How old was Alex Burton? 2 A I think he was twenty. 3 Q And as a result of this second -- strike 4 that. 5 As I understand your answer was, is that 6 Marc Collins Rector and Chad Shackley, after checking 7 the key stroke indicator the second time, determined 8 that Alex Burton was providing information to 9 Mr. Geffin? 10 11 A Chad Shackley discovered this, and then revealed this information to both Marc Collins Rector 12 13 14 15 and myself. Q Okay. And that was the reason for the second meeting with Laurie? A That was an emergency meeting, saying David 16 Geffin not only is an imminent threat, but he is 17 literally sitting inside our house everyday. 18 Q What did you do with Alex Burton? 19 A At this point, called up Mike Laurie. 20 Mike Laurie said don't do anything, and 21 Chad Shackley put this document on the fax machine, to 22 go to our attorneys in California at that time, and 23 went to the bathroom, and as this document was going 24 out, and the fax, the room where the fax machine was 25 empty, Alex Burton walked in there, doing his regular Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 115 1 spy work, I guess, picked up the fax off the fax 2 machine, quickly tried to inspect it, to see if there 3 was information to leak to David Geffin, and saw that 4 this was his communication with David Geffin, sitting 5 on the fax machine. 6 7 8 He quickly grabbed the documents, ran to his bedroom, and locked the door. And at this point, Matt Rector showed up, 9 coincidentally, at that same time, with his wife and 10 children. 11 We confronted Alex, and Alex got very 12 upset, and he stormed out in front of all three of us, 13 and Matt Rector and his family, saying if you want to 14 find me, I'll be at David Geffin's, and you're going 15 to regret the day that we ever met. 16 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Going off the video 17 record. 18 (Whereupon there was a pause in the 19 proceedings.) 20 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: We're now back on 21 the video record. 22 DIRECT EXAMINATION CONTINUED 23 BY MR. BURTON: 24 25 Q So, as I understand it, after this discovery, that you believe that Alex Burton, I don't Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 116 1 know, because Lance Burton is the magician, of course, 2 and anyone who has my name, which isn't important -- 3 anyway, Alex Burton was determined, that day, to be a 4 Geffin, if you will, associate, and what did you -- 5 then you called Mike Laurie to come and help. 6 How quickly did he come over? 7 A I think it was that same afternoon. 8 Q Okay. And what next happened? 9 A Well, he said this is much worse than I had 10 11 thought. I mean, David Geffin, being there with us, 12 you know, in one form or another, everyday, certainly 13 makes this much more of an imminent threat, and 14 requires much quicker action. 15 16 Mike Laurie said, you guys should go to Spain, or he didn't say you should go to Spain. 17 He said you guys should take off for a 18 little while, out of sight, out of mind, and let 19 things cool over. 20 And he said, what places did you like, and 21 we said we like Spain, because that's where we had 22 been, back in 1999, and he goes, Spain it is. 23 Q So what happened next? 24 A So he said you guys should go to Spain, so 25 we went to Spain immediately. Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 1 117 I think he charted -- okay. 2 Q We think he charted -- 3 A No, he charted a jet. 4 Q Okay. What I'm trying to say, and I guess 5 the court reporter is, is when I get on a roll I can 6 go three hundred words a minute. 7 You're doing about the same, and if you 8 want your words to be taken down, you have to slow it 9 down. 10 A He charted a jet. 11 Q Okay. So he charted a jet. 12 13 Was any money given to him, at that point, when you saw him? 14 A I didn't see any money exchange hands. 15 Q Okay. So he took the responsibility of 16 chartering a jet. 17 18 How quickly did you leave, the next day or that afternoon? 19 A I think it was that evening. 20 Q And the jet went Miami, Spain? 21 A Yes. 22 Q And were you still in contact with 23 Kleinfeld at that time? 24 A I was never Kleinfeld's client, so, no. 25 Q Was the group in contact with Kleinfeld at Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 1 118 that point in time? 2 A I'm not sure. 3 Q This is Dennis Kleinfeld, correct? 4 A Yes, I'm not sure. 5 Q Okay. I just want the right name on the 6 record. 7 A 8 I think he continued to perform some estate planning functions for Marc and Chad. 9 Q But you have no direct knowledge of that? 10 A No. 11 Q Okay. So at this juncture, you went from 12 Kleinfeld, to Kleinfeld's recommendation, Mr. Laurie, 13 and the three -- were there any other people but the 14 three of you on the jet with Mr. Laurie? 1 I need the answer. 2 I'm going to make it real simple. 3 THE REFEREE: I'll sustain the 4 objection. 5 Let him answer the question, if he 6 knows. 7 MR. BURTON: Fine. 8 DIRECT EXAMINATION CONTINUED 9 BY MR. BURTON: 10 11 12 Q Do you know if Laurie had the authority to reimburse himself out of any money? A When we first met Mike Laurie -- 13 THE REFEREE: First answer, do you 14 know? 15 MR. KAPLAN: Answer. Do you know, yes 16 or no, and then you can answer. 17 A Yes, I know. 18 Q Please answer it. 19 A When we first met Mike Laurie I thought he 20 was a crook, but Marc is somewhat paranoid, and was 21 extremely worried about, worried about this David 22 Geffin threat. 23 I thought it was very, a very serious 24 threat, but I didn't think it was as serious as Marc 25 thought. Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 142 1 2 Marc thought Geffin was going to kill him, but I thought maybe, but unlikely. 3 MR. BURTON: Will you direct him to 4 answer. 5 MR. KAPLAN: He's explaining it. 6 THE REFEREE: Go ahead. 7 A Mike Laurie did a very good job of 8 terrifying Marc, which put Mike Laurie in a position 9 that he was able to assert a lot of control over Marc, 10 at the very initial time that they began working 11 together, but within a few months -- in the first few 12 months, he did have some control, that he could make 13 some things happen on his own quite easily. 14 But as time went along, that ability went 15 away quite quickly, because it became apparent that 16 Marc was still alive. 17 18 19 He wasn't dead yet, and that Mike Laurie was out to rob him. Q I see. And you're saying this, did anyone 20 ever put that in writing to Mike, that his power or 21 authority over this money was terminated? 22 A Marc and Mike spoke often. 23 Q I didn't say that. 24 25 Did anybody put it in writing? A In writing? Pierce-Plaintiff-Direct 1 Q Yes. 143