EFTA00801124.pdf

1 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA Case No. 502009CA040800XXXXMB JEFFREY EPSTEIN, Plaintiff/Counter-Defendant, vs. SCOTT ROTHSTEIN, individually; BRADLEY EDWARDS, individually, Defendants/Counter-Plaintiffs. TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS DATE TAKEN: Wednesday, May 23rd, 2018 TIME: 9:00 a.m. - 9:18 a.m. PLACE 205 N. Dixie Highway, Room 10D West Palm Beach, Florida BEFORE: Donald Hafele, Presiding Judge This cause came on to be heard at the time and place aforesaid, when and where the following proceedings were reported by: Sonja D. Hall Palm Beach Reporting Service, Inc. 1665 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, Suite 1001 West I 3401 Palm Beach Reporting Service, Inc. EFTA00801124  2 1 2 APPEARANCES: 3 For Plaintiff/Counter-Defendant: 4 LINK & ROCKENBACH, P.A. 1555 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, Suite 301 5 West Palm Beach, FL 33401 By KARA BERARD ROCKENBACH, ESQUIRE 6 By SCOTT J. LINK, ESQUIRE 7 For Defendant/Counter-Plaintiff: 8 SEARCY, DENNEY, SCAROLA, BARNHART & SHIPLEY, P.A. 9 2139 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard West Palm Beach, FL 33409 10 By DAVID P. VITALE JR., ESQUIRE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Palm Beach Reporting Service, Inc. EFTA00801125  3 1 THE COURT: Well, based upon the fact 2 that there is going to be, at least from my 3 perception and my limited exposure to these 4 emails, a continued insistence, I will presume by Mr. Epstein, on the utilization 6 of some of those emails; and the fact that 7 these emails have come to light subsequent 8 to the trial court -- my orders relative to 9 not permitting the floodgates to open and, 10 again, with respect to discovery that should 11 have been taken prior -- here I don't 12 believe that's something that would be 13 subject to that order, meaning, consistent 14 with Judge Ray's ruling -- I too will allow 15 Mr. Epstein to be -- on a limited basis -- 16 questioned regarding his review of any of 17 the documents in question prior to 18 March 18th or subsequent thereto to the 19 present time. 20 Whether or not he has any knowledge 21 regarding the compliance of the Court's 22 order regarding destroying of the records, 23 that's not necessarily going to be 24 admissible at trial, although I think it's 25 discoverable. Palm Beach Reporting Service, Inc. EFTA00801126  4 1 Whether or not he shared any of the 2 allegedly privileged materials with anyone 3 other than Mr. Link, Ms. Rockenbach or 4 Mr. Goldberger; and which, if any, materials 5 he plans to use to testify at trial, if he 6 so testifies, the last issue can be avoided 7 if there is a representation on the record 8 that Mr. Epstein will not testify at any 9 trial proceedings in this case. 10 However, absent such a stipulation, he 11 will be compelled to answer questions as to 12 what, if any, of those materials he plans to 13 use, even if he doesn't have those materials 14 in his possession any longer. It would be 15 based upon his review. 16 So that would be the limited areas of 17 inquiry that I would allow in conjunction 18 with Judge Ray, and to be consistent, 19 essentially, with the spirit and intent of 20 Judge Ray's ruling, as well as a corollary 21 to what we are looking for in this 22 particular case relative to those materials. 23 So, if you can, in preparing an order, 24 Mr. Vitale, track the Court's ruling, I 25 would appreciate it. Palm Beach Reporting Service, Inc. EFTA00801127  5 1 I wish you all a very pleasant rest of 2 the week. 3 Is there anything else that's 4 remaining, because I think there were two 5 hearings that were set? Is there something 6 else? This is it? 7 MR. LINK: I believe this is the only 8 one, Your Honor. 9 THE COURT: Thank you for your 10 respective participation and arguments. I 11 appreciate that very much. Thank you. 12 13 (Whereupon the requested portion of the 14 proceedings concluded.) 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Palm Beach Reporting Service, Inc. EFTA00801128  6 1 COURT CERTIFICATE 2 3 4 STATE OF FLORIDA ) : SS 5 COUNTY OF PALM BEACH ) 6 7 I, SONJA D. HALL, certify that I was 8 authorized to and did stenographically report the 9 foregoing proceedings and that the transcript is a 10 true record of my stenographic notes. 11 12 13 Dated this 25th day of May 2018. 14 15 16 SONJA D. HALL 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Palm Beach Reporting Service, Inc. EFTA00801129