IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR PINELLAS COUNTY, STATE OF FLORIDA CIVIL DIVISION CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY FLAG SERVICE ORGANIZATION, INC. Plaintiff, v. CASE NO.: OO-002750-CI-20 DELL LIEBREICH, individually and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Lisa McPherson; ROBERT MINTON; THE LISA MCPHERSON TRUST; DANDAR & DANDAR, P.A., and KENNAN G. DANDAR, Defendants. ____________________________/ DEFENDANTS' COUNSEL'S CLOSING ARGUMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION. 1 II. THE MOTION. 9 III. THE ISSUES RAISED BY FLAG A. There never was a meeting to discuss adding on parties as described by Minton. 12 B. There never was an agreement to give any portion of hoped for proceeds in this case to Robert Minton or the Lisa McPherson Trust, Inc. 26 C. There is no evidence that the UBS check of May 2000 for $500,000 is Robert Minton's. 45 D. False allegations of commingling and converting Estate money. 60 E. Minton and UBS money are Loans to Dandar. 72 IV. PERJURY OR JUST INCONSISTENCIES. 85 V. ALLEGED "RECANTATIONS" RESULT FROM EXTORTION. A. The Motive for Extortion. 90 B. The Evidence of Extortion 92 VI. ALLEGED "RECANTATIONS" ARE A FRAUD ON THIS COURT RESULTING FROM AN ILLEGAL "MARY CARTER AGREEMENT." A. The Law on Mary Carter Agreements. 127 B. The Evidence of the Illegal Agreement. 129 VII. ATTACKING OPPOSING COUNSEL IS AN ESTABLISHED BUSINESS PRACTICE OF SCIENTOLOGY. 137 VIII. CONCLUSION 153 DEFENDANTS'S COUNSEL'S CLOSING ARGUMENT COMES NOW the counsel for defendants, ESTATE OF LISA MCPHERSON and DELL LIEBREICH, and files the following Closing Argument to the Plaintiff's Motion for Disqualification. Counsel, a member in good standing with the Florida Bar since 1979, who has never suborned perjury or committed perjury in this case or any other case. I. INTRODUCTION. The instant motion to disqualify is based entirely on the testimony of admitted perjurer, Robert Minton. The Plaintiff is filing the motion pursuant to the policy of the church. "If attacked on some vulnerable point by anyone or anything or any organization, always find or manufacture enough threat against them to cause them to sue for peace." Plaintiff's Ex. 109-C, before Judge Schaeffer, Exhibit 8 herein, "HCO Policy Letter of 15 August 1960." After spending 10 million dollars and five years of his life combating what he saw as abusive behavior by the Church of Scientology, FLAG would have the court believe that when Robert Minton felt compelled to recant perjury, he chose to contact Scientology attorneys. No reasonable person would perceive this as a sensible action, given the chronic hostility and mistrust that existed between these two parties. What Defendant will show in this argument is that the real motivation behind Minton's decision to testify on behalf of Scientology at this hearing is his desire to reach a confidential deal with Scientology that would see the Church disengage its campaign of harassment against himself, his wife, his two young daughters, his friends, his family, and his business associates. It is this deal that FLAG has attempted to conceal from the court, and Minton's testimony in this hearing is a direct result of the confidential settlement negotiations between the Church and Minton that led to that deal. Although both Minton and Scientology have made every effort to conceal the details of the negotiations that led to Minton's startling volte face and subsequent claims of subornation of perjury, the notes taken by Church attorney Monique Yingling, who was present at the meetings between Minton and the Church, demonstrate conclusively that Minton's efforts at reaching an agreement with Scientology depend largely on making the wrongful death case, in the words of top Church management official Michael Rinder, "go away." According to the notes, this outcome was to be reached by any means necessary. Any and all subsequent testimony by Minton cannot be considered at face value, but must be weighed against the fact that as per the Yingling notes, he has no choice but to do whatever it takes to put an end to the wrongful death case. When he was unable to persuade the Estate to drop the case voluntarily, Minton found himself locked into a clandestine agreement with Scientology that made it necessary for him to come before the court, both in this case, and in the hearings before Judge Schaeffer, and perjure himself in order to protect his own interests by attempting to assist Scientology in reaching its ultimate goal: dismissal of the wrongful death case itself. The court cannot and should not use the false allegations and testimony elicited from Minton by Plaintiff to unwittingly assist Flag in its efforts to derail the wrongful death case. To do so would be to reward this malicious tortious interference that Plaintiff has committed, as well as the coercive tactics that led to Minton's subsequent perjuries before this court. The plaintiff, FLAG, moves to disqualify counsel for the Estate, Dandar, by alleging that Dandar committed perjury and solicited perjury from Dell Liebreich and Robert Minton. In order for there to be perjury or solicitation of perjury, the false testimony must be material and prejudicial to the case. State v. Ellis, 723 So.2d 187, 189-190 ( Fla 1998). In sum, "materiality" is not an element of the crime of perjury in Florida as Ellis proposes, but rather is a threshold issue that a court must determine prior to trial, as *190 with any other preliminary matter. [FN3] Just as the Florida Legislature could have defined materiality as an affirmative defense that the defendant must raise, that body is within its rights in designating "material matter" as a threshold issue for the court. This division of labor between court and jury guarantees that no Florida citizen will be hauled into court for an immaterial falsehood or be prosecuted for a trifle:..(cits omitted) ..[T]here is a mind-set in the average juror to condemn any false statement made under oath and, in the hands of a persuasive prosecutor, lies told under oath by an accused about any matter may lead to the conviction of the liar of perjury. In such instances, it is only the court that stands as a barrier between an immaterial lie and a jail cell. Out of the four issues presented by FLAG in its Statement of Issues and Motion to Limit Issues served on August 24, 2002, to support its Motion to Disqualify, only one is legitimately within the jurisdiction of this court. That singular issue within this court's jurisdiction is whether Dandar solicited Minton to perjure himself in Minton's October 2001 deposition in this case concealing Minton's attendance of a meeting with Dandar, Stacy Brooks, Jesse Prince, and Michael Garko on deciding to add parties in the wrongful death case. All the other issues concern conduct in the wrongful death case of Lisa McPherson, issues not within this court's jurisdiction. Therefore, this closing will concentrate on what is relevant and material to this case since the allegation is perjury and solicitation of perjury. Perjury must be on a matter which is material and prejudicial to the Plaintiff. Argyros v. State, 718 So.2d 222 (Fla 2nd DCA 1998). FLAG's closing is all about the money Minton or his friends have loaned. FLAG'S closing, the 67 page "Post-Trial Memorandum of Law" contains false and unfounded allegations by church counsel of how Dandar either commingled or stole loan money from Minton or Minton's friends in the death case. FLAG has no standing to assert commingling or theft of loan money, whether it be the Estate's money or Dandar's money. This court deserves and requires more than the coerced fabrications of an admitted perjurer, Plaintiff's key witness, Robert Minton. Since the court correctly prohibited evidence of how the loan money was spent, Dandar will not respond to these wild and unfounded allegations in FLAG'S closing. This motion to disqualify is motivated by Flag's intention to circumvent the three decisions of the Second District Court of Appeal concerning Defendant's finances as it relates to its ability to complete the wrongful death litigation. Scientology has not hidden its intentions to stop the trial of the death case. It is attempting now with this motion to manipulate the court to rule, outside of its jurisdiction, that all of the loan money is property of the Estate so that Scientology can garnish any remaining funds and by doing so, achieve its goal of stopping the death case outside of the conventional litigation process. Plaintiff disregards with this motion that only the probate court has jurisdiction to determine the assets of the Estate. See Rule 5.340 of the Florida Probate Rules, requiring an inventory of the Estate. FLAG's closing is all about the money Minton or his friends have loaned. FLAG's closing, the 67-page "Post-Trial Memorandum of Law" contains false and unfounded allegations by church counsel of how Dandar either commingled or stole loan money from Minton or Minton's friends in the death case. FLAG has no standing to assert commingling or theft of loan money, whether it be the Estate's money or Dandar's money. This court deserves more than the exaggerated and fabricated allegations of an admitted perjurer, Robert Minton. Since the court correctly prohibited evidence of how the loan money was spent, Dandar will discuss a limited his response to these wild and unfounded allegations in FLAG's closing. This court has not had the benefit of the 35-day hearing on the same issues before Judge Schaeffer. There it was made evident that Minton and Brooks, his mistress, lied in depositions on many subjects unrelated to the death case or Dandar. Those lies will be listed in this closing. To this day, FLAG has intentionally failed to provide this court with the details of its deal with Minton in violation of Dosdourian v. Carsten, 624 So.2d 241 (Fla. 1993). Minton's deal requires that he make the Lisa McPherson wrongful death case "go away." In the hearing before Judge Schaeffer, notes on the negotiation process itself taken by Church counsel Monique Yingling, who attended the meeting with Minton, were ordered to be produced before Judge Schaeffer. In this court, Mr. Rosen chose to testify in direct contradiction to sworn testimony of Monique Yingling and her notes and therefore her testimony combined with her notes confirm the falsity of Rosen's testimony before this court. Jesse Prince, a former confidant of Robert Minton, testified herein that Minton openly discussed with him the conspiracy to attack the Estate's counsel both in this case and the death case when Dandar refused the demands of Scientology to dismiss the Lisa McPherson case. Mr. Prince, formerly the third highest executive in Scientology's worldwide operations, was able to produce and explain church policies that require and ordained these actions on the part of Plaintiff. However, even with this evidence, Dandar was not permitted to introduce into evidence those church policies establishing its routine business practice of extortion. No one supports Minton's version of the truth. FLAG called as its own witness before Judge Schaeffer, the Estate's jury/trial consultant, Dr. Garko. Garko later resigned after secretly meeting with church counsel and was summarily dismissed as a defendant in this case. Nonetheless, his testimony still did not support Flag's claims: 116 2 Q Okay. Now, did I ever tell Bob Minton to lie 3 about anything? 4 A Not in my . 5 Q Did I ever tell Bob Minton to fudge somehow so he 6 didn't have to answer the question truthfully? 7 A Not in my presence. 8 Q Have you ever known me to tell anybody to lie 9 under oath? 10 A No. And I wouldn't work for you if you did. Michael Garko, Ph.D., Estate's former jury/trial consultant, being questioned by Ken Dandar before Judge Schaeffer, June 11, 2002. Appendix 1. Disqualification of a party's chosen counsel is a sanction or remedy of last resort. .. disqualification "strikes at the heart of one of the most important associational freedoms that a person may have--the right to choose one's own lawyer ." Kusch v. Ballard, 645 So.2d 1035, 1036 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994) (Farmer, J., concurring). Accordingly, disqualification of a party's chosen counsel is a harsh and drastic sanction and an extraordinary remedy that should be resorted to sparingly. Lee v. Gadasa Corp., 714 So.2d 610, 612 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998); City of Apopka v. All Corners, Inc., 701 So.2d 641, 644 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997); Pascucci v. Pascucci, 679 So.2d 1311 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996). It is because disqualification is such an extraordinary sanction that a trial court must exercise its discretion to disqualify counsel only as a last resort to prevent further conduct in defiance of the court's order or authority. In Re Gustafson, 650 F.2d at 1022. Even then, the court's power should be exercised with great caution, and the court should consider the use of lesser sanctions before invoking disqualification. Carnival Corporation v. Beverly, 744 So.2d 489, 495-496 (Fla 1st DCA 1999). In Henriquez v. Temple, 668 So.2d 638 (Fla 3rd DCA 1996), the court upheld disqualification when the attorney: "deliberately and surreptitiously obtained documents which, after an in camera inspection, the trial court had previously ordered were not to be produced. This conduct clearly involved "a situation rife with the possibility of discredit to the bar and the administration of justice," see State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. K.A.W., 575 So.2d 630, 634 (Fla.1991), and fully supported the order of disqualification. Rentclub, Inc. v. Transamerica Rental Fin. Corp., 811 F.Supp. 651 (M.D.Fla.1992), aff'd, 43 F.3d 1439 (11th Cir.1995); State Farm; Pantori, Inc. v. Stephenson, 384 So.2d 1357 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980). Indeed, even more serious sanctions, including contempt and bar discipline, would have been justified on this record. At 638-639. The correctness of an order involving the disqualification of counsel must be determined by testing it against the standards imposed by the Disciplinary Rules of the Code of Professional Responsibility. Cazares v. Church of Scientology of California, Inc., 429 So.2d 348, 350 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983)... To require disqualification, prejudice which would or might result must be more than de minimus. This narrow construction derives from the policy of the rule and the committee comment thereto, which notes that the rule was not designed to permit a lawyer to call opposing counsel as a witness and thereby disqualify him as counsel. Cazares at 350. The moving party bears the burden of demonstrating the likelihood that this prejudice will or might result. Ray v. Stuckey, 491 So.2d 1211, 1213-1214 (Fla 1st DCA 1986). The "appearance of impropriety" discussed in State Farm v. K.A.W. above is a conflict of interest case. The church mistakenly relies on it to attempt to lower the standard requiring disqualification. There must be serious misconduct and violation of the Disciplinary Rules before a court can consider such an extreme sanction. Carnival Corporation v. Beverly. Another case relied upon by FLAG is Rentclub, Inc. v. Transamerica Rental Finance Corp., 811 F.Supp. 651 (M.D. Fla. 1992), aff'd, 43 F.3d 1439(1Cir. 1995), which sanctioned counsel for contacting and retaining a former employee of the opposing party. The Florida Supreme Court effectively overturned that decision in H.B.A. Management, Inc. v. Estate of May Schwartz, 693 So.2d 541 (Fla 1997), by holding that it is permissible to contact the opposing party's former employees. In Hicks v. State, 468 So.2d 1045 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985), also sited by FLAG, the court reinstated an attorney improperly removed because "the charges against the attorney were not related to the representation of petitioner in his criminal trial.... When there is no claim that the trial will be tainted, appearance of impropriety is simply too slender a reed on which to rest a disqualification order except in the rarest cases." The defendants have failed to meet their burden of proof to establish fraud on the court or any violation of the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar. Even if the allegations were true, which they are not, no prejudice has been shown since nothing is material to the plaintiff's claims or the defenses raised. Ray v. Stuckey. II. THE MOTION. In serving its Motion for Disqualification on April 8, 2002, FLAG never complied with Rule 1.100 of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, which requires that a motion state the grounds of the motion with particularity. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company v. Travelers Indemnity Company, 531 So.2d 1049 (Fla 1st DCA 1988), holding that " Rule 1.100, Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, requires that all motions "shall state with particularity the grounds therefor." That motion was therefore legally deficient. The first Amended Motion is dated April 12, 2002, and cites as its stated ground commingling of Minton money given to the Estate. This motion also improperly refers generally to the testimony of Minton of April 9, 2002, again not stating the grounds with particularity as required by Rule 1.100. Confirming the inadequacy of the notice requirement of fair play and substantial justice under our Rules of Civil Procedure, Mr. Pope, called as a witness by FLAG before Judge Schaeffer, testified that upon orders of Rosen, he signed and filed a "bare-bones motion" because he had no clue as to the facts to support the motion to disqualify he had signed and filed with this court until he attended the first hearing on April 9, 2002 in this court. That means that Mr. Rosen and the church kept their basis for the motion from Mr. Pope, their counsel in this case! This deliberate obfuscation, which left even the Church's own attorney in the dark about the 180 degree reversal by Mr. Minton, suggests that far from being merely an effort to, in Minton's oft-repeated words, "set the record straight," his testimony at the April 9th hearing was a direct result of the settlement negotiations that had been taking place between Minton and the Church of Scientology before the hearing took place. 5 Q Well, you just told me that if Mr. Rosen 6 apparently told you to go ahead and file a motion to 7 disqualify me, you didn't know what the facts were but you 8 trusted he knew what the facts were? 9 A You know, I suspect Mr. Rosen communicated to me 10 the facts. But I honestly can't -- my -- my present 11 recollection is that the full-blown facts came out at the 12 hearing of the 9th. That is when I learned the meat on the 13 bones. Wallace Pope, July 17, 2002, questioned by Ken Dandar in Estate of Lisa McPherson v. Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Case NO. 00-5682-CI-11. Appendix 2. Dandar has therefore been deprived of substantive and procedural due process. It is motion practice by ambush, not permitted by Rule 1.100. Apparently not knowing what its grounds would be after filing the motion, on August 24, 2002, after this court had heard all of FLAG's evidence on April 9, 19, and 30, and after the Plaintiff rested, the Plaintiff filed a Statement of Issues and Motion to Limit Evidence to finally state its grounds to four basic issues: 1) Did Dandar solicit the perjury of Robert Minton in Minton's deposition of October 2001 in this case to conceal a meeting with Minton, Dandar, Prince, Brooks, and Garko concerning the plan to add on additional parties. 2) Did Dandar solicit and commit perjury in the wrongful death case by preparing and filing affidavits of himself, Liebreich, and Minton to conceal a secret agreement to give the bulk of any proceeds in the wrongful death case to the LMT. 3) Did Dandar solicit perjury of Minton during Minton's deposition of May 24, 2000, in the wrongful death case to conceal that Minton had given Dandar a UBS bank check of $500,000. 4) Did Dandar commingle and convert "funds that Robert Minton transferred to the Estate for the Estate's use in prosecuting the wrongful death case." See Appendix 3, FLAG's Statement of Issues and Motion to Limit Evidence, dated August 14, 2002. This Statement of Issues makes it clear that the Minton recantation and subsequent allegations against Dandar form not simply the base of the motion to disqualify, but represent virtually the totality of evidence on which it rests. Yet somehow, Mr. Pope was able to draft a "bare-bones" motion without any idea what that testimony would demonstrate. This suggests that the final version of the "truth" offered by Minton in court was the direct result of a secret deal that had been struck between the Church and Minton as part of settlement negotiations dealing with a wide variety of issues, many of which were entirely unrelated to the wrongful death case. It is also readily apparent that only the first ground falls within the jurisdiction of this court since it is the only ground which concerns testimony in this case. Items two and three above are strictly relevant only to the wrongful death case, occurred during the course of the wrongful death case, and are the subject of a 35 day hearing before Judge Schaeffer in the wrongful death case. For this court to address items two and three above would intrude upon the jurisdiction of Judge Schaeffer. However, Dandar will address those matters so that this court will have a complete understanding of the fraud committed upon this court by Mr. Rosen and his client, FLAG. III. THE FOUR ISSUES RAISED BY FLAG A. There never was a meeting to discuss adding on parties as described by Minton. Human nature being what it is, it is a sad reality that from time to time, courts and lawyers are forced to deal with perjurers. These same courts should not, however, have to contend with attorneys who know precisely what the evidence is, yet deliberately misstate it in their closing, and that is what counsel for FLAG has done. FLAG's grounds for Item 1 above is Minton's recantation affidavit describing a meeting attended by Dandar, Garko, Prince, Brooks, and Minton in Dandar's office which had an elevator. In fact, before this court, Minton stated in the course of his testimony that a particular conversation had occurred in the elevator itself after the meeting took place, wherein Dandar allegedly stressed that it was vital that all parties deny that such a meeting had taken place. However, immediately before preparing to give the same testimony before Judge Schaeffer, Minton's mistress and fellow self-confessed perjurer Stacy Brooks corrected him by reminding him that Dandar had not moved into his new and current office , which has an elevator, until late Fall of 1999. The significance of the elevator is that it places this meeting that Minton claims to have attended on or after November 1, 1999, the move-in date when Dandar took occupation of his new office. This would mean that whether or not such a meeting took place has no relevance whatsoever to FLAG's cause of action in this case. The instant case is an alleged breach occurring prior to the date of the hearing to add-on parties, which was October 8, 1999. The fact that this alleged meeting, and in particular, the conversation immediately following the meeting that included Dandar's alleged exhortations to Minton that its existence be kept secret, could not have taken place as recounted by Minton. This is fatal to FLAG's entire argument and that fatality was caused entirely by the false testimony offered by its star witness, Robert Minton. His testimony and recantation affidavit allege that Dandar called a special meeting in July or August of 1999 for this and Minton made a trip to Florida just for this meeting: 173 3 A. July or August of 1999 I flew into town to 4 Tampa airport for the purpose of having a meeting at Ken 5 Dandar's office, an important meeting which I don't 6 remember whether at the time that I knew what the subject 7 matter was, but I was picked up at the airport by Stacey 8 Brooks and taken directly to Mr. Dandar's office, which was 9 very close to the airport. 10 At that time, present at that meeting were 11 myself, Stacey Brooks, Jesse Prince, Michael Garko and 12 Dandar. And this meeting went on for two or three hours 13 and the sole purpose of the meeting was to discuss adding 14 these additional parties to the wrongful death case. 18 6 A. He did, and basically the other four people at 7 the meeting gave their views starting with Dandar, Garko, 8 Jesse Prince and Stacey Brooks and finally I was the last 9 one to talk about it. And all four of those were strongly 10 in favor of adding David Miscavige. Minton, 4/9/02, before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 4. Of more significance is Minton's later testimony before Judge Schaeffer. While Minton testified before this court that the special meeting to discuss the adding on parties in the death case was in the summer of 1999, i.e., before the motion to add was originally filed, he later was corrected by Brooks. Then he testified before Judge Schaeffer that the meeting was sometime in the Fall of 1999, after November 1. His new and corrected testimony makes the alleged meeting immaterial to this case, since this case only concerns a breach of contract not to add parties that occurred before October 8, 1999. 1239 22 Q Here, Mr. Minton, do you recall that, in front of 23 Judge Baird, where you said, "I'm testifying truthfully," on 24 page 17, line 3, you say, "July or August of '99, I flew 25 into town to Tampa Airport for the purpose of having a 1240 1 meeting at Ken Dandar's office. An important meeting. 2 Which I don't remember whether, at the time, that I knew 3 what the subject matter was. But I was picked up at the 4 airport by Stacy Brooks and taken directly to Mr. Dandar's 5 office, which is very close to the airport. And at that 6 time present at that meeting were myself, Stacy Brooks, 7 Jesse Prince, Michael Garko and Ken Dandar. And that this 8 meeting went on --" .. 17 BY MR. DANDAR: 18 Q Isn't it true, Mr. Minton, that you did not fly 19 into Tampa airport on July or August of 1999 for this 20 so-called secret meeting to discuss the addition of David 21 Miscavige to the wrongful death suit. 22 A That is true. I didn't. It was later. 23 Q Who - 24 A And the reason I know it was later is because it's 25 after you moved your offices. 1241 1 Q Well, why didn't -- 2 A And both Stacy Brooks and Michael Garko told me on 3 that Sunday, at the Radisson Hotel, that it was later -- it 4 wasn't July and August. It was a little later than that; 5 sometime in the fall. 6 Q Are you saying today, Mr. Minton, that Michael 7 Garko told you, after this hearing of April the 9th, that 8 you were at a meeting in my office in the fall of '99, where 9 it was discussed, the addition of David Miscavige? 10 A What Dr. Garko said was that -- and this was after 11 he checked his records to see if he had records of that 12 meeting. 13 He said he had records of another meeting that 14 happened later, after David Miscavige was already added. 15 But he said he didn't have his records. He said, "Some of 16 my records are at Ken Dandar's office and I can't get them." 17 If you remember Dr. Garko was not -- you were not 18 talking to Dr. Garko because of the fact that you owed him 19 10 months' worth of statements that you had denied him, 20 saying that you didn't have any money. And he couldn't get 21 hold of his records. He said, "I don't know, because I 22 can't get hold of my --" 23 THE COURT: Wait -- 24 A "-- books." 25 THE COURT: Wait. What does this have to do 1242 1 with whether or not this answer is incorrect? 2 THE WITNESS: Well, it's -- 3 THE COURT: Did you need Mr. Garko to -- to 4 tell you what month it was that you went in for this 5 meeting? 6 THE WITNESS: Well, your Honor, it was after 7 Mr. Dandar had moved from his old office to his new 8 office. And Stacy Brooks and Garko said that didn't 9 happen until the fall. It wasn't July or August. 10 That -- that's all. It was -- you know -- 11 I mean, for example, I said here in this -- you 12 know, I got the dates wrong. 13 I said also the check was 2001, but it was 14 2000. You know, I just didn't remember it. Minton, May 28, 2002, before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 4. Minton now states that the "meeting" happened after Miscavige was added. 1241:14. This means it is after December 14, 1999. It is not surprising that FLAG failed to point out Minton's substantial change of testimony in its closing. With this new testimony, even Minton does not support any argument that perjury was committed and that any such statement effects this case. Even Dr. Garko, the Estate's trial/jury consultant, who testified that he was opposed to adding on parties and was called to testify for FLAG in the death case destroys Minton's and the church's perjury allegations. It was learned during the hearing before Judge Schaeffer that he secretly met the day before he testified for FLAG with lead counsel for FLAG, while he was the Estate's consultant. FLAG then released Garko from liability and dismissed him from the instant case as a defendant. Garko then abruptly resigned as the Estate's trial/jury consultant after he testified for FLAG that this meeting never happened. 7 A Okay. I would not consider it a meeting. 8 And this is a different interaction than is 9 outlined in Mr.Minton's affidavit. 10 But present were myself, Mr. Dandar, Ms. Brooks 11 and Mr. Minton. And Jesse Prince was not there, as alleged 12 in Mr. -- in Mr. Minton's affidavit. Garko, June 11, 2002, at 12, before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 1. 52 18 Q. Dr. Garko, my question was: Did you agree with 19 Mr. Minton that a meeting took place between you and me, 20 Stacy Brooks, Jesse Prince and Mr. Minton as outlined in 21 Mr. Minton's recantation affidavit in my office on Kennedy 22 Boulevard? 23 A. That wasn't your question. Your question is what 24 did I say to him in response to his discussion about the 25 adding of David Miscavige, and I just answered your 53 1 question. 2 Q. Okay. I'm sorry. 3 So my next question is, did you correct -- did 4 you have any reply to Mr. Minton when he said that a 5 meeting took place between you and I, Stacy Brooks, Jesse 6 Prince and he in my office on Kennedy Boulevard discussing 7 the addition of Mr. Miscavige as a defendant? 8 A. I did talk to him about that, and I said that I 9 did not view it as a formal meeting. I tried to explain to 10 him my perception of what went on that day when I was in 11 the room with you, him and Stacy Brooks. 12 Q. So Jesse Prince wasn't there? 13 A. I don't have a recollection of that. 14 Q. You've read the affidavit of Mr. Minton where he 15 describes this meeting, that he flew into Tampa especially 16 for the meeting to come to my office with an elevator, 17 where there was an elevator, to discuss adding on David 18 Miscavige with all of those individuals. 19 A. I read his affidavit, yes. 20 Q. And did you reply to Mr. Minton on April 14th that 21 that meeting that he described never took place? 22 A. What I said to him was that it was not a formal 23 meeting. I viewed it as, for lack of a better term, a 24 conversation. 25 I mean, he and Stacy -- my recollection is that 54 1 he and Stacy Brooks stopped by the office, they did go into 2 the conference room, we did go in there, and we were 3 sitting around talking. 4 I didn't view it as a driven -- an 5 agenda-driven meeting. I just didn't see it that way. I 6 saw it as a more relaxed informal -- If you want to call it 7 a meeting, informal meeting. I don't know what else to 8 call it. 9 Q. Was Jesse Prince there? 10 A. I don't have a recollection of Jesse Prince being 11 there. 12 Q. And was Brian Haney there? 13 A. I don't have any recollection of Brian Haney being 14 there either. 15 Q. Did this take place in my old office on O'Brien, 16 the one you're talking about? 17 A. No, no, no, no. I'm talking about -- no. The 18 meeting that I'm thinking about are the -- this event, 19 whatever you want to call it, took place in your other 20 office where there's an elevator. I think that's Kennedy 21 Boulevard. 22 Q. And do you recall when I moved into that office? 23 A. I think I do. I helped you move. 24 Q. Do you remember? 25 A. I don't have a real clear memory of that. 1 Q. Okay. Well, isn't it true that the meeting that 2 you're talking about that's not a meeting -- just dropped 3 in out of the blue and said hi kind of a meeting, get 4 together -- didn't that occur after the October 8th '99 5 hearing with Judge Moody where he upheld the stipulation? 6 A. I'm unclear as to when it happened. My 7 recollection is that we had been before Judge Moody on this 8 issue at least twice. I remember you filed a motion to add 9 David Miscavige as a party, and I believe Judge Moody 10 denied that motion and you went back. 11 Again, this conversation with Mr. Minton and 12 you and Ms. Brooks and myself occurred either between those 13 two hearings or subsequent to the second ruling by Judge 14 Moody. I'm unclear as to exactly when. Garko, August 29, 2002, before Judge Baird, Appendix 1. 19 10 A. Before Stacey and Jesse and I left, he told us, 11 I think he went down in the elevator with us and walked out 12 to the cars. He told us that, you know, we should never 13 discuss that this meeting ever occurred in any way. Minton, April 9, 2002, before Judge Baird, Appendix 4 Although Garko states the meeting never happened as alleged by Minton,(53:14 above). Minton only remembers it was in the office with an elevator after Miscavige was added as a party. Jesse Prince was not there. This is fatal to FLAG's entire argument and the fatality was caused by its own star witness, Robert Minton. Dr. Garko also confirms that Brooks stated at this impromptu "conversation" that she was not in favor of adding Miscavige, when in fact she was the proponent of it. More importantly, this "conversation" happened after Judge Moody permitted the addition of Miscavige as a defendant. The proof of this is Minton's own admission in testimony and that of the past tense language used by Brooks as relayed by Dr. Garko. 58 15 Q. Did she say something that caused you or shocked 16 you about her position on adding David Miscavige? 17 A. After I made the argument as to why I believed 18 David Miscavige should not have been added or be added as a 19 defendant in the wrongful death case, she looked over at 20 you and said, "And so why did you add him, Ken," something 21 to that effect. That's my recollection, "So why did you 22 add him, Ken?" 23 And I was surprised by that. 24 BY MR. DANDAR: 25 Q. Why were you surprised by that? 59 1 A. Because I knew that she was the person who came up 2 with that idea, that she was the creator of it, the 3 architect of it, whatever term you want to use. It was her 4 idea. 5 And when she responded that way, it just 6 sounded odd to me. It was like -- I mean, she was 7 encouraging you to do that. She was the one who was making 8 that argument. I was opposed to it, as you know. Garko, August 29, 2002, Appendix 1. If Minton participated in this meeting as he claims, then why would Brooks ask Dandar in front of Minton and Garko why Miscavige was added? Minton would already know. In addition to Dr. Garko denying that a meeting took place as described by Minton, the Estate's expert on Scientology and former confidant of Minton, Jesse Prince, also has testified in both hearings that this meeting as described by Minton never took place. Dandar also denies that such a meeting took place. Brian Haney, a former staff Scientologists, former officer of the Lisa McPherson Trust, Inc., and a former confidant of Minton also confirmed no such meeting ever took place. 566 3 Q But Mr. Prince, do you recall having any meeting 4 with me, Dr. Garko and Stacy Brooks about adding on David 5 Miscavige -- ... 23 BY MR. DANDAR: 24 Q So was there such a meeting? 25 A There was a meeting between you, myself, 567 1 Mrs. Brooks, Dr. Garko, where we discussed -- and I mean, my 2 recollection is there's been more than one time that we 3 discussed this -- about adding Mr. Miscavige on as a party. 4 Q Was Mr. Minton ever at any of those meetings? 5 A No, he was not. 6 Q Do you have any idea why Mr. Minton would tell 7 you, when you met with him in April, why he wanted to say he 8 was at a meeting to add on David Miscavige? ... 16 A Okay. The idea that Mr. Minton told me is 17 Scientology had several things that they wanted Mr. Minton 18 to do. These were in conjunction and coordination with 19 things that could be done to get the case dismissed. 20 Specifically, going after you. Specifically, you 21 were to be made the target of whatever stack of papers that 22 Scientology provided to Mr. Minton. There was five or six 23 things that they wanted him to do in relationship to you 24 only. And you were the obvious target - 25 /// 568 1 BY MR. DANDAR: 2 Q Why? 3 A -- to -- 4 Because they wanted to get you kicked off the 5 case. Because they figured if they got you kicked off the 6 case, then no other attorney would pick it up and the suit 7 would simply go away. 8 Q And Mr. Minton told you this. 9 A Yes. 10 Q And how many times did he tell you that 11 A Several. 12 Q Did Mr. Minton ever indicate to you that he knew 13 that what he was saying about me was not true? 14 A Mr. Minton was in -- in the -- in the very 15 beginning, Mr. Minton was in anguish over the -- the 16 prospect of -- of lying on behalf of Scientology for - 17 against you. Mrs. Brooks was in a panic and desperate frame 18 of mind to do whatever it took to extricate Mr. Minton from 19 just the assault that Scientology was enacting upon 20 Mr. Minton. And she thought that it would be a good idea 21 for Mr. Minton to cooperate with Mr. Rinder, with Mr. Rosen, 22 whatever they wanted, to get him extricated from the 23 Scientology assault Jesse Prince before Judge Schaeffer, July 9, 2002, Appendix 6. 83 2 Q And during that time, did you observe or do you 3 have knowledge of Mr. Minton's having any interaction in the 4 wrongful death case? 5 A Well, I know that from December of '99 on, I went 6 with you to depositions and attended meetings about the 7 strategy in the case and stuff. And I know that Bob didn't 8 attend any of those. I even asked him to at times. And he 9 didn't. ... 17 Q Did Bob Minton exert any control whatsoever over 18 the Lisa McPherson case? 19 A No. Nothing that I observed. 20 THE COURT: Did he appear to be a person who 21 was funding -- helping to fund the litigation but 22 had no other real interest? 23 THE WITNESS: Yeah. And that was the only 24 thing he ever talked about. Like on the Internet he 25 just would always talk about, I have to give more 84 1 money, or, Dandar wants more money, that kind of 2 thing. 3 And he would often talk about, "Well, if I'm 4 spending this much, then Scientology is spending ten 5 times that" or whatever. That was his point of 6 pride, so to speak. 7 But other than that, he didn't have an 8 interest. Even when I tried to tell him stuff, he 9 just didn't have any interest. 11 Q Did you attend any meetings, as my consultant, to 12 talk about adding on parties to the wrongful death case? 13 A Yes. 14 Q How many? 15 A Mmm, four or five. 16 Q And do you recall when those were? 17 A Mmm, not specifically, no. I mean, it was 18 sometime in 1999. 19 Q Okay. And one of those parties -- or did you 20 attend -- was it more than one person we talked about? 21 Maybe that might help. 22 A Well, the main thing was about adding David 23 Miscavige. 24 Q Okay. And did Bob Minton attend any of those 25 meetings? 94 1 A No. 2 Q Who attended those meetings? 3 A You, me, Jesse, Stacy and sometimes Michael Garko. 4 And I think Thom Haverty was there once. 5 Q And out of all those people, who was the proponent 6 of that idea? 7 A It was Stacy's idea. And Jesse supported it. 8 Q Okay. And what did I -- if you remember, did I 9 respond to that idea? .. 95 12 BY MR. DANDAR: 13 Q What did I say in response to these -- to 14 Ms. Brooks and Mr. Prince? 15 A Mmm, I can just characterize what each person did 16 at the meetings. 17 It was Stacy's idea. Jesse supported it. They 18 were both very emphatic. Michael Garko opposed it. 19 And you just kept asking Bob and Stacy, "Are you 20 sure you have enough direct evidence to show that he was in 21 charge?" And you just kept asking them over and over again, 22 because you had signed some agreement based upon -- you told 23 me -- advice you got from Dan Leipold at the beginning of 24 the case about not adding parties. And I don't really know 25 the specifics of it. 96 1 Q You just said Bob and Stacy. Did you mean to say 2 Bob? Was Bob there? 3 A I'm sorry, Jesse and Stacy. 4 Q All right. Are you sure? 5 A Yes. I'm positive. .. 13 THE COURT: Okay. Is it still your testimony 14 Bob Minton was not present at any of those meetings? 15 THE WITNESS: Bob never attended like a trial 16 strategy meeting that I was at, ever. Haney, June 19, 2002 before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 7. FLAG tries to suggest that Minton's imagined meeting proves that Minton is in control of the case. Even Minton admitted that he had no control over the death case. 105 11 A. Ah, it's true if I -- I'm not quite 12 certain what you're asking me is true, but it was 13 true that Mr. Dandar -- that I didn't want to have 14 anything to do with the control of this case 15 because Mr. Dandar told me in his first letter to 16 me back in -- soon after that first check in 17 October of '97, that that's what the Florida Bar 18 had said and that's the way it had to be 19 conducted. Minton, April 19, 2002, Appendix 4. How could Minton both be in control of the case and yet have Dandar force him to lie? FLAG, knowing that Minton dramatically changed his story on this subject, never mentions in its closing Minton's originally rehearsed version placed before this court by Mr. Rosen. This is subterfuge and bad faith, and results directly from Flag's dependence on the credibility of Minton's new testimony to sustain its motion. Others have testified that Minton admitted he had no control: Frank Oliver, Brian Haney, Peter Alexander, and Michael Garko. 83 17 Q Did Bob Minton exert any control whatsoever over 18 the Lisa McPherson case? 19 A No. Nothing that I observed. 20 THE COURT: Did he appear to be a person who 21 was funding -- helping to fund the litigation but 22 had no other real interest? 23 THE WITNESS: Yeah. And that was the only 24 thing he ever talked about. Like on the Internet he 25 just would always talk about, I have to give more 84 1 money, or, Dandar wants more money, that kind of 2 thing. 3 And he would often talk about, "Well, if I'm 4 spending this much, then Scientology is spending ten 5 times that" or whatever. That was his point of 6 pride, so to speak. 7 But other than that, he didn't have an 8 interest. Even when I tried to tell him stuff, he 9 just didn't have any interest. Brian Haney, June 19, 2002, Appendix 7. 137 14 A Okay. Well, while we were at dinner, Patricia 15 asked Bob about the case. And she said, "How's the case 16 going?" And Bob said, "I don't really know." And she said, 17 "What you mean, you don't --" 18 THE COURT: Your objection's overruled. That 19 would be appropriate, as far as impeachment. 20 A And so he says -- well, she says -- you know, she 21 was actually like saying, "Well, that's not fair." I mean, 22 I don't remember her exact words, but, "That's not right. 23 You're paying for this thing and you don't get to know about 24 it?" 25 And he says, "Well, I can't know." He said, 138 1 "There's this obscure Florida law --" I remember the - 2 that's how he described it. "There's an obscure Florida 3 law, and it's called directing the case. So I can't have 4 anything to say about it." 5 Now that sounded incredible to me. Now, I don't 6 know all these laws in Florida. 7 So I said, "You mean you're paying for this and 8 you don't even get briefed about it?" He says, "No. I 9 can't." 10 But it didn't seem to bother him, so I thought, 11 "Well, okay." I just dropped it. Peter Alexander, June 7, 2002, Appendix 8. 96 15 Q In the two-plus years that you've been working on 16 this case for me, who was in control of this case? 17 A The client. 18 Q Well, what about Bob Minton? Does he have 19 anything to do with running the case? 20 A Do you mean day-to-day operations of the case? 21 Q Day-to-day decision-making? 22 A No. No. 23 Q How would you describe Mr. Minton's association 24 with the day-to-day operation of the case, strategizing, 25 decision-making, et cetera? 97 1 A I can only speak from my experience and what I 2 observed of Mr. Minton's behavior. I would describe it as 3 hands-off, laissez-faire, aloof. 4 Q Would you agree or disagree that to try to talk to 5 Bob Minton over the two-plus years about the case was like 6 pulling teeth? 7 A I would agree with that. Michael Garko, June 11, 2002,before Judge Schaeffer as a witness called by FLAG, Appendix 1. 316 22 Q And did you -- did you know Mr. Minton to have any 23 level of interest in the Lisa McPherson wrongful death case? 24 A The only level of interest that I knew he had was 25 that he was -- he was providing funding to cover the costs 317 1 of the litigation. 2 Q Did you ever know Mr. Minton to direct the 3 litigation at all? 4 A No. I don't know Mr. Minton to have directed 5 litigation. He seemed pretty aloof about the case. Frank Oliver, June 15, 2002, before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 9. FLAG has failed to meet its burden of proof on its only issue that concerns this case. B. There never was an agreement to give any portion of hoped for proceeds in this case to Robert Minton or the Lisa McPherson Trust, Inc. The original affidavits of Dandar, Minton, and Liebreich are absolutely true: There never was any agreement to give any portion of the hoped for eventual proceeds of the wrongful death case to either Robert Minton or the Lisa McPherson, Trust, Inc. The only evidence of how the proceeds would be distributed is the family's testimony that it was their "idea" to set up a nonprofit foundation in memory of Lisa McPherson to help victims of cults. The only party that thinks that there is anything wrong with this idea is the Church of Scientology, Further, contrary to the misrepresentation of counsel for FLAG, Minton's own attorney, John Merrett, testified that he, not Dandar, prepared the Minton affidavit on this subject. John Merrett destroys both Minton's and Brooks' testimony on the allegation of an agreement to give any portion of a settlement/judgment proceeds to Minton or the LMT. THE COURT: 73 22 . . . Like I said -- I have said, there is no 21 agreement. But that is what we're calling the 22 secret agreement. 23 THE WITNESS: Yes, ma'am. 24 THE COURT: Now, what I recall is that 25 Ms. Brooks said she testified falsely about it in 74 1 her deposition. So I'm going to assume that she 2 said in her deposition it didn't exist because she 3 now says it did exist. 4 THE WITNESS: Well, you know, by application of 5 reason, she would have had to have said it didn't 6 exist because my understanding was that it didn't 7 exist. 8 THE COURT: So it didn't exist. So your 9 understanding was it didn't exist? 10 THE WITNESS: Correct. John Merrett, May 23, 2002, before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 10. Other witnesses also confirmed that Minton is lying. Brian Haney, once a trial consultant to the Plaintiff, once a member of the LMT, once a confidant of Minton, testified: 89 6 Q At that dinner did you hear Dell Liebreich tell 7 Bob Minton that she wanted to give him or his 8 organization -- which the trust was already formed at that 9 time -- any bulk or substantial amount of the money if 10 recovered in this case? 11 A No. What happened was I suggested to you that Bob 12 Minton do something like that. But she didn't say anything 13 like that at all. 14 Q When did you suggest that to me? 15 A Right there at the dinner. 16 Q Was that in front of Bob Minton? 17 A No. 18 Q That was just a private conversation between you 19 and I? 20 A Yes. 21 Q So you predicted Bob Minton would do what? 22 A Would claim that money belonged to him. That in 23 return for funding the wrongful death case, that he or the 24 trust would be entitled to that money. 25 Q Why did you predict that? I mean, what made you 90 1 even think that? 2 A I had some experience with Mr. Minton and his 3 behavior by that time. 4 Q In what way? 5 A He's what I called assumptive and presumptive. He 6 would -- you know, he would take over a situation and 7 commandeer it and think that it was his right to just be in 8 charge or take over things that I don't think were within 9 his -- you know, his domain. 10 Q Did you ever hear, later on, Bob Minton claim that 11 he had some agreement with me or the estate to get the bulk 12 or substantial amount of any recovery in this case? 13 A I read a thing on the Internet where he said it in 14 a radio program, that -- that -- first he said that the 15 money was supposed to go to an anti-cult organization. 16 And then at some point later he said it was 17 supposed to go to the LMT. And that is when I called you 18 and I said, "See," so, yes -- "it happened." 19 Q And what -- did I respond to when you called and 20 said, "See, it happened"? 21 MR. WEINBERG: Now Mr. Dandar is asking for 22 Mr. Haney to apparently parrot self-serving 23 statements that Mr. Dandar made which is hearsay. 24 THE COURT: Sustained. 25 MR. DANDAR: All right. 91 1 BY MR. DANDAR: 2 Q Did you ever talk to Bob Minton about that - 3 A Yes. 4 Q -- Internet posting? 5 A Yes. About that situation, yes. 6 Q What did he say? 7 MR. WEINBERG: Could we date this conversation, 8 please? 9 MR. DANDAR: We will. 10 A He kind of -- he - 11 THE COURT: Well, do it now. 12 MR. DANDAR: Okay. 13 BY MR. DANDAR: 14 Q When did you talk to Bob Minton about his 15 postings? 16 THE COURT: Approximately, if you can give us 17 an approximate year, month. 18 THE WITNESS: End of January of 2000. 19 THE COURT: This would have been after he had 20 been on the radio proclaiming that he had the deal? 21 THE WITNESS: Yes, your Honor. 22 BY MR. DANDAR: 23 Q What did he say? 24 A He kind of laughed and he said, "I guess I got a 25 little carried away, huh?" Then he had a big smile. 92 1 Q What impression were you left with after that 2 conversation? 3 A That he had done what I thought he would do. 4 Just, you know, take it over. Because he just figured no 5 one would oppose him. He figured he had the power to get 6 what he wanted because you were dependent upon him to 7 finance the case. Most of the other people were dependent 8 upon him for their livelihood. The same way he got them to 9 picket. It is all the same thing. 10 Q Did he ever tell you that rather than just being 11 carried away, did he ever tell you that he actually had an 12 agreement with the estate or with me for the estate to give 13 him any recovery out of the wrongful death case? 14 A No. And, in fact, I called you and asked you, and 15 I called Dell and asked her after that, you know. 16 And you both confirmed it wasn't true. I just 17 wanted to make sure that there wasn't something going on 18 didn't know about. Brian Haney hearing testimony of June 19-2002, before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 7. Teresa Summers, a former executive of the LMT, also confirmed that there was no agreement. 4 Q Okay. Did you ever hear anyone at the Lisa 5 McPherson Trust talk about there being some type of 6 agreement between the estate and the trust or Minton to pay 7 the bulk of the proceeds from the settlement or judgment in 8 the Lisa McPherson case to Mr. Minton or the LMT? 9 A Well, I spoke with Stacy about that because I - 10 the allegations were being made, I believe in depositions, 11 that that was the case. And, Mmm, and I did ask Stacy. 12 And she said, "No, you know, certainly that is not 13 true. It is just what the Church is trying to drum up to 14 create problems." 15 Q Did you ever hear Bob Minton talk about that? 16 A I'm sure I did. And he said the same thing, you 17 know, you know, "There is no agreement. It's -- you know, 18 it's just them drumming up stuff." Summers hearing testimony of June 6, 2002, at 99, before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 11. Michael Garko also denied such an agreement existed. 2 Q Dr. Garko, are you aware of any agreement between 3 me or the estate and Mr. Minton or LMT or Stacy Brooks or 4 anybody where the bulk of the proceeds, if that ever comes 5 about in this case, would ever be given to them? 6 A I'm not aware of any such agreement. 7 Q How about just a little bit? 8 A No. Garko at page 100 on June 11, 200, before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 1 The only agreement concerning the settlement/judgment proceeds is one which exists among the aunts and uncle of Lisa McPherson. No third party, such as Minton, Brooks, or the LMT, is part of this family goal, which is to set up a non profit foundation to help those abused by cults, such as Scientology. This is what Lisa's mother, Fannie McPherson, wanted. 187 10 Q. Now have you or your family agreed to donate 11 the bulk of any recovery to cult awareness 12 groups? 13 A. We've discussed it, yes. 14 Q. Who - 15 A. Fannie wanted us to if there was anything. 16 Q. Who has discussed it? 17 A. My family. 18 Q. Well, who in your family? 19 A. Ann and Fan -- Lee and Sam. 20 Q. Is there a written agreement as to that? 21 A. No written agreement. 22 Q. Well, how much -- how much have you-all 23 decided to donate to cult awareness groups? 24 A. It is a substantial amount. 25 Q. Well, how much? 188 1 A. We have no set amount. 2 Q. Have you reached some understanding with 3 your beneficiaries? 4 A. We have agreed that that is what Fannie 5 would have wanted, and that is what we want 6 to do. 7 Q. How do you know that that is what Fannie 8 would have wanted? 9 A. Because she stated that she wanted -- 10 Q. Stated to whom? 11 A. To us. 12 Q. When? 13 A. Before she died. 14 Q. When did you and the other -- and your other 15 siblings reach this agreement? 16 A. When did we reach the agreement? 17 Q. Yeah. To -- 18 A. I don't remember when it was. 19 Q. -- distribute a substantial portion of any 20 recovery to a cult awareness group. 21 A. Oh, a few months ago or whatever. I don't 22 remember the date. We have nothing written. Dell Liebreich deposition, May 24, 1999, Appendix 12. Judge Schaeffer correctly held that there is nothing illegal about the Estate wanting to give any portion of any recovery to any person or group. There is no reason for anyone to lie about this. Unless of course, one is like Minton, who is of the habit of inventing various ways to provoke Scientology. Only a group, such as Scientology, who does not want victims of cult abuse helped, would make such an honorable goal appear unseemly. Many times throughout the testimony of Minton, Judge Schaeffer stated to Minton that there is no evidence of an agreement. Minton and Brooks stand alone in this lie. The only evidence of how the proceeds would be distributed is the family's testimony that it was their "idea" to set up a nonprofit foundation in memory of Lisa McPherson to help victims of cults. Scientology and only Scientology thinks this is a bad idea. Further, contrary to the misrepresentation of counsel for FLAG, Minton's own attorney, John Merrett, testified that he, not Dandar, prepared the Minton affidavit on this subject. 35 10 Q Now, look at Exhibit 44, a notice of filing 11 affidavits in support of plaintiff's motion to strike 12 witnesses from the defendant's witness list. Do you see 13 that? 14 A Yes. 15 Q And take a look at the Grady Ward affidavit, the 16 first one. Who prepared that? 17 A I believe I did. 18 Q How can you tell? 19 A Mmm, the type face - ... 36 6 BY MR. DANDAR: 7 Q Mr. Ward was a contractor for the Lisa McPherson 8 Trust. Is that right? 9 A Correct. 10 Q And how can you tell you prepared this affidavit? 11 A It appears to be an affidavit prepared by me based 12 on the type face and size and the way that the style of the 13 case is set up. 14 Q Okay. Let me -- well, of course we won't have 15 enough time to do this. 16 A As well as the language of the jurat at the 17 commencement of the affidavit. 18 Q Okay. When you say the style of the caption, are 19 you talking about up here (indicating)? 20 A Yes, where the identity of the court and the case 21 number are affixed in the upper right-hand corner of the 22 first page of the affidavit. 23 Q Okay. And the jurat is at the end where Mr. - 24 A No, the jurat actually begins at the beginning of 25 the affidavit. 37 1 Q "Before me, the undersigned authority." 2 A Yes. 3 Q Is that your language? 4 A Yes. 5 Q Okay. Let's turn to -- well, let's turn to 6 Mr. Minton's -- .. 38 3 BY MR. DANDAR: 4 Q So it's your -- Mr. Merrett, the way you do your 5 affidavits up in Jacksonville, you put the name of the court 6 from the center over to the right in the affidavit, correct? 7 A Correct. 8 Q And the jurat, "Before me, the undersigned 9 authority," this is the way you do your jurats in your 10 office? 11 A Yes. And what is distinctive about it is the 12 omission of the "personally known" language, which I always 13 omit when I'm having them sign not under my direct 14 supervision, because of the -- of the risk that -- sometimes 15 I have seen notaries just circle "Personally known," when 16 they didn't know the guys from Adam's ox, and by omitting 17 that part and leaving blank "for identification" it insures 18 the notary will see identification and the jurat will be in 19 proper form. 20 Q Now, this particular affidavit is of Mr. Minton, 21 correct? 22 A As custodian of the records of the LMT, not of him 23 personally. 24 Q And you prepared this affidavit? 25 A Yes. I'm sure I did. 39 1 Q All right. Turn to the next Robert Minton 2 affidavit. This is one for him personally, correct? 3 A Correct. 4 Q And this one, was this prepared by you? 5 A Yes. 6 Q It is because you can tell by the way you have the 7 format? 8 A Well, it's that. And looking at the two 9 affidavits, I recall drafting two separate affidavits 10 because of Mr. Minton's dual roles. And I was attempting to 11 cover all of the bases which I regarded as spurious under 12 which he might be dragged into the litigation for purposes 13 of discovery. 14 Q Okay. Why did you regard it as spurious? 15 A Because he has no information about the death of 16 the girl or about anything else that is actually pertinent 17 to the wrongful death case. 18 Q Well, let me ask you this. You were Mr. Minton's 19 attorney for the year -- .. 40 16 MR. DANDAR: This was prepared by Mr. Merrett. 17 THE WITNESS: Correct. 18 BY MR. DANDAR: 19 Q How did Mr. Minton get it? 20 A Either -- it would have been one of three ways. 21 Either I E-mailed it to him and had him print out an 22 original, sign it, fax it back or Fed Ex it back, or I Fed 23 Ex'd it to him so it could be executed and Fed Ex'd back, or 24 may have -- from the quality of document -- I doubt it, it 25 may have been faxed to him for signature and faxed and Fed 41 1 Ex'd. 2 Q So you are pretty positive this was not done in 3 Clearwater? 4 A Yes. For the one thing, the notary is a New 5 Hampshire notary. 6 Q How do you know that? 7 A The notary stamp on the third page, if you can 8 read the -- the middle line, you see "C-New," then you can 9 make out, even on my copy, an "H" at the beginning of the 10 next word. 11 Q I think that says "New Hampshire." 12 A Yes. 13 Q And this was signed by Mr. Minton on December 13 14 of 2000, correct? 15 A A New Hampshire notary public says so. 16 Q All right. Okay. Now - 17 THE COURT: You would have E-mailed it, Fed 18 Ex'd it, or what was the third? 19 THE WITNESS: Faxed it. But that is unlikely, 20 based on the quality of the copy. 21 THE COURT: All right. 22 BY MR. DANDAR: 23 Q Now, did you also send one to Stacy Brooks? 24 A I prepared one for Stacy Brooks. 25 Q And is this the one right after Mr. Minton's 42 1 second one, this is Stacy Brooks', is this something - 2 again, your format, where the caption of the case, the name 3 of the court, is to the right of center line, and the jurat 4 is the jurat you use? 5 A Yes. 6 Q And what about the notary? 7 A That appears to be the same New Hampshire notary. 8 Q Also dated December 13, 2000? 9 A Yes. 10 Q Okay. Now, according to the notice of filing, I 11 am the one that filed these affidavits of Ward, two of 12 Minton, and one of Brooks, one of Keller, on December 14, 13, 2000. 14 How did I get these affidavits? 15 A I believe I delivered them to you or had them 16 delivered to you. 17 Q Do you recall coming in to my office? 18 A I was in your office on a number of occasions. 19 Q Okay. 20 A But I would think that -- I think that either at 21 this same time or almost immediately thereafter, I was -- I 22 had filed or was filing motions for protective order on 23 behalf of these people. I believe I used these same 24 affidavits in filings I made on their behalf, because their 25 interests in being deposed and your interests not having to 43 1 sit through their depositions were conterminous. Merrett, May 23, 2002, before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 10. Prior to this hearing, Minton consistently and correctly testified under oath that there was no agreement between him and the ESTATE to donate any portion of the money that may be received by the ESTATE in this case. In every one of his depositions, beginning with the first one in 1998, he denied any agreement to receive any money from this case, except what he loaned to counsel. At this hearing, he testified that his December 2000 affidavit, which states there was no such agreement, was false -- yet it supports his prior deposition testimony of May 2000, as pointed out by Judge Schaeffer at page 673 of Minton's hearing testimony. 65 14 A Well, he says, I've already had that idea but I haven't 15 discussed it with Dell Liebreich yet. 16 Q Has he since told you that he discussed it with 17 Ms. Liebreich? 18 A Yes. 19 Q What did he say? 20 A He said she agreed to do just that. 21 Q When did he tell you this? 22 A I think the 5th of December. 23 Q What cult awareness group was agreed on? 24 A No specific groups were discussed. The only one that 66 1 was discussed was one that Mr. Lottick is involved in... Minton first deposition of 1-13-98, Appendix 4. 13 Q. Do you have any agreement of any kind with 14 the Estate of Lisa McPherson? 15 A. No. 16 Q. Does the Lisa McPherson Trust have any 17 agreement with the Estate of Lisa McPherson? 18 A. No. Minton deposition of May 24, 2000 at 239, Appendix 4. 158 18 Q Do you know of anyone else investing in the case? 19 MR. MERRETT: Objection. Assumes facts not 20 in evidence, argumentative. 21 THE COURT: Overruled. 22 MR. MERRETT: Do you know of anybody 23 investing? 24 A I don't know of anyone investing in the case, 25 including me. Minton deposition of 9-18-01, Appendix 4. 269 10 Q. Exhibit 34, Mr. Minton, this is a posting 11 by Mr. Bunker, who is employed at the LMT, right? 12 A. He was at that time, that's correct. 13 Q. Right. And the time is April 6th, 2001? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. This posting? I want to direct your 16 attention to one portion of this posting. It's the 17 next to the last page of the document, and if you 18 look -- can I see the copy you're holding just to 19 make sure we are at the same place? Yeah. If you 20 look at the last paragraph on the page, starting 21 four lines up from the bottom of the page: 22 Additionally, Scientology is aware that the family 23 of Lisa McPherson has agreed to donate the bulk of 24 any funds they receive from this litigation to the 25 Lisa McPherson Trust, which Bob recently set up in 270 1 Clearwater. 2 Do you see that? 3 A. I do. 4 Q. And is that statement accurate? 5 A. It's not. 6 Q. Huh? 7 A. It's not. 8 Q. What is incorrect about it? 9 A. It's just completely incorrect. 10 Q. Is there anything that's right about it? 11 A. No. .. 18 Q. Did the family of Lisa McPherson agree to 19 donate the bulk of any funds? 20 A. No. 21 Q. Do they agree to donate anything? 22 A. No. 23 Q. Had they ever agreed to do so? 24 A. No. Minton deposition of 10-11-01, Appendix 4. FLAG states that Minton admitted in his May 24, 2000, deposition that the Estate does have an agreement to donate a bulk of the proceeds to the LMT. FLAG refers to pages 391-392 of the deposition. However, as is common with the Plaintiff, and hopefully not with the Estate, Flag does not "tell the rest of the story" by including clarifying testimony, so Defendant will do so. At 219 of his May 2000 deposition, Appendix 4, Minton is speaking of the one and only agreement, i.e., repayment of the money he loaned to Dandar as explained in Minton's 1998 deposition. 219 2 Q. Is the agreement that you just described 3 with Mr. Dandar in writing? 4 A. No. 5 Q. Is it memorialized in any fashion? 6 A. In the depositions that I've done before. 7 Q. It's memorialized in writing no other 8 place except where your words have been 9 transcribed? 10 A. Not to my knowledge. 11 Q. Why not? 12 A. It's not necessary. 13 Q. Is there any writing with any of Lisa 14 McPherson's relatives - 15 A. No. 16 Q. -- with respect to this agreement? 17 A. No. 18 Q. Was there ever? 19 A. No. 223 1 Q. Have you talked to Dell Liebreich about 2 what would happen to the hoped for proceeds in this 3 case? 4 A. No. 5 Q. Have you had any discussion with her about 6 money coming to the Lisa McPherson Trust? 7 A. No. 8 Q. It's never happened? 9 A. No. 10 Q. Have you talked to anyone in the family 11 about money coming to the Lisa McPherson Trust 12 arising out of the hoped for proceeds of this case? 13 A. No. No. 14 Q. Have you talked to anyone in the family 15 about potential proceeds in this case going to a, 16 quote, anticult, end quote, organization? 17 A. No. 239 10 Q. Have you had any written communications 11 with any other family member I haven't mentioned? 12 A. Not to my knowledge. 13 Q. Do you have any agreement of any kind with 14 the Estate of Lisa McPherson? 15 A. No. 16 Q. Does the Lisa McPherson Trust have any 17 agreement with the Estate of Lisa McPherson? 18 A. No. 391 18 Q. Now, January 31st, 2000, you appeared on a 19 talk show, 1270 AM, WXYT Detroit - 20 A. Uh-huh. 21 Q. -- where you said, and I quote: The 22 family who I have been supporting in the civil 23 lawsuit have agreed that when and if they prevail 24 against the Church of Scientology in this lawsuit, 25 they will donate a very substantial amount of the 392 1 proceeds of that lawsuit to this organization 2 called the Lisa McPherson Trust. 3 A. That's correct. 4 Q. Do you remember saying that? 5 A. That's correct, yes. 6 Q. So how much have you agreed with them that 7 they will donate to the Lisa McPherson Trust if 8 they prevail in this lawsuit? 9 A. I haven't had any direct discussions with 10 them about it. 11 Q. Where did you get this information, that 12 they were going to donate a substantial amount of 13 the proceeds of the lawsuit to the Lisa McPherson 14 Trust? 15 A. Mr. Dandar. 16 Q. When did he tell you that? 17 A. I don't remember. 18 Q. What did he tell you? 19 A. Just what it said. 20 Q. What did you understand the substantial 21 amount of the proceeds to be? 22 A. A substantial amount of money. 23 Q. What year did he tell you that? 24 A. '98 or '99. 25 Q. Well, actually, the Lisa McPherson Trust 393 1 didn't exist until November '99. 2 A. The Lisa McPherson Trust has nothing to do 3 with it. 4 Q. What do you mean? 5 A. Oh, that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that part, 6 yes. So that would have been '99. 7 Q. What do you mean the trust has nothing to 8 do with it? Was there a prior agreement - 9 A. No. 10 Q. -- that money would be donated to - 11 A. No. There was a discussion at one stage 12 that they would, and this was with Mr. Dandar over 13 lunch, which I think I testified to in January 14 '93 -- January '97 -- whenever the - 15 MR. BOULT: That's outside the scope. 16 A. '98. Sorry. Okay. 17 MR. DANDAR: Objection; outside the 18 scope. 19 A. -- that they would support the anticult 20 community with a significant amount of money from 21 this lawsuit. 22 Q. All right. When did Mr. Dandar tell you 23 that the family is going to make a substantial 24 amount -- provide a substantial amount of the 25 proceeds to the Lisa McPherson Trust? 394 1 A. Sometime -- I don't remember whether it 2 was before or after it was formed. 3 Q. It may have been before? 4 A. It could have been. I mean, you know, 5 that sort of time frame. That would be roughly 6 summer through late fall. 7 Q. Was it around September of 1999 when he 8 told you that? 9 A. Excuse me? 10 Q. Was it around September of 1999 that 11 Mr. Dandar told you that a substantial amount of 12 the proceeds of this lawsuit would be donated to 13 the Lisa McPherson Trust? 14 A. That falls within the time range that I 15 think, you know, between summer and fall of '99, 16 late fall. 17 Q. Was it before or after you gave Mr. Dandar 18 the $250,000 payment? 19 A. Do you know when that was? 20 Q. Well, apparently it was on or about 21 September 2nd, 1999. 22 A. I don't recall that that particular thing 23 had anything to do with it, you know, time-wise. 24 Q. Was it before or after that? 25 A. I don't remember. 395 1 Q. What was the context when Mr. Dandar told 2 you that you were going to get this money back from 3 the family? 4 MR. MERRETT: I'll object; argumentative, 5 assumes facts not in evidence. 6 A. I've already testified to that prior, in 7 a prior deposition. 8 Q. No. I'm talking about the communication 9 you had with him about the Lisa McPherson Trust 10 since the prior deposition of the trust didn't 11 exist, right? 12 A. No, but you asked when I was going to get 13 the money back. 14 Q. Okay. So what was the context of the 15 communication you had with Mr. Dandar when you 16 talked to him about the family providing a 17 substantial amount of the proceeds in this case to 18 the Lisa McPherson Trust? 19 A. There was no particular context. It was 20 just, you know, the family was very supportive of 21 the idea of setting up this organization, you know, 22 something like that. I don't remember any 23 particular context. 24 Q. What did the family think this 25 organization was? 396 1 A. A Scientology watchdog group. 2 Q. Did they -- did you give them the 3 impression it was a nonprofit organization? 4 MR. MERRETT: I'm going to object for 5 scope and relevance. 6 MR. BOULT: Overruled. 7 A. You know, I didn't give them any direct 8 impression. Whatever impression they got, 9 Mr. Dandar gave it to them. It was intended to be 10 nonprofit until such time as we determined that 11 there was too much transparency in a nonprofit and 12 the Church of Scientology would be snooping around 13 all the time, like you're doing here in this 14 deposition. 15 Q. Did you have a discussion with the family 16 about that? 17 A. No. 18 Q. So everybody understood it would be 19 nonprofit early on? 20 MR. MERRETT: I'm going to object as 21 being -- I apologize. 22 Q. Let me give you the question again. 23 Generally, when y'all were talking about starting 24 this organization, it was understood it was going 25 to be nonprofit, correct? 397 1 MR. MERRETT: And I'll object as being 2 beyond the scope. It's going into the 3 internal affairs of the trust. 4 MR. DANDAR: Join in the objection. 5 MR. BOULT: Overruled. 6 A. We all talked as though it were going to 7 be nonprofit, that's pretty much accurate except -- 8 except I did say that, you know, we have to examine 9 the transparency issue with a nonprofit. 10 Q. Okay. Did you have any -- you had some 11 communications with Dell Liebreich and she was 12 supportive of - 13 A. No, not on that subject. 14 MR. MERRETT: Let him finish the question. 15 Q. Well, let me finish the question. You 16 had some communications with Dell Liebreich and she 17 was supportive of the idea of setting up this 18 organization, right? 19 A. I didn't have any communications with Dell 20 Liebreich. 21 Q. Who did you have communications with in 22 the family you told me were supportive of setting 23 up - 24 A. Mr. Dandar. He told me the family was 25 very supportive of the idea of setting up this 398 1 organization. 2 Q. Okay. Who in the family would that be? 3 A. I don't know who he talked with but I 4 assume Dell Liebreich. 5 Q. And you later worked out with Mr. Dandar 6 that this was going to be a for profit company, 7 correct? 8 A. Mr. Dandar had nothing to do with the 9 decision that it was going to be a for profit 10 corporation. ----- In this testimony, Minton states there is no agreement for the bulk of anything, and is then confronted with an unsworn media interview. While he states that his interview statements are correct, he finally admits he has no agreement with the family or the Estate, and that all he knows is that the family thought it was a good "idea." Id.,at 395:19-23; 397:25. Even Minton admits that the idea was to support the "anti-cult community," not the LMT or Minton. 393:19-21. Contrary to Minton's apparent desire to see the money go to the specific anti-cult organization that he controlled, there was never such an agreement between the Estate and Minton or the LMT. Minton talks of the same luncheon meeting he had with Dandar in 1997. All of this conforms to his deposition testimony of January 1998 and the beneficiaries testimony of December 1999. No one is contesting that it was the family's idea to set up a foundation in the memory of Lisa McPherson. But there was no agreement, formal or otherwise, that such a foundation would in any way be one controlled by Minton or the LMT. It was and is an idea of the family, and a noble one at that. After making his deal with Scientology, however, Minton now claims he lied in all of his depositions, and that despite the fact that he had his own counsel present, that it was with the ESTATE'S counsel who suborned his perjury. FLAG has failed to meet its burden of proof on this issue. C. There is no evidence that the UBS check of May 2000 for $500,000 is Robert Minton's. FLAG alleges that Dandar solicited perjury from Minton in his deposition of May 2000 in the death case. However, Minton's own attorney, John Merrett, testified that he, not Dandar, prepared Minton for this deposition. 13 5 Q Okay. And is it your understanding at the time of 6 the May 24, 2000 deposition of Mr. Minton that the trial was 7 scheduled in June of 2000 in Tampa? 8 A Yes. 9 Q And that is the Lisa McPherson case? 10 A Yes. 11 Q Now, are you aware of any instance where I sat 12 down, in person or over the telephone, with Mr. Minton and 13 attempted to prepare him for his May 24th, 2000 deposition? 14 A No. In fact, it's my understanding that the 15 reason that he came to me was because there wasn't anybody 16 involved in the case who could do that without creating a 17 conflict of interest. Merrett, May 23, 2002, before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 10. Minton claims to have had his money sent to the UBS Bank which then issued the May 2000 check payable to Ken Dandar. The only evidence presented by FLAG that this $500,000 bank check is money of Robert Minton is from the testimony of an admitted perjurer, Robert Minton. Minton pled the Fifth Amendment when asked to identify the financial institution which sent the money to the UBS Bank. Minton states he had no relationship with the UBS Bank. He states that is why he could not obtain a copy of the UBS checks. Minton, by pleading the Fifth Amendment is protecting the source of the money transferred to the UBS Bank Without corroborating evidence to prove the UBS check was Minton's money, FLAG has failed to meet its burden of proof. Both Dandar and Jesse Prince have testified that each were separately told by Minton that this check was from friends in Europe. Minton told the same thing to Dandar about the March 2002 check. Of course, there was never any prior testimony of the March 2002 check before FLAG filed its motion. Therefore, it certainly cannot be a matter of perjury before this court. This "friends in Europe" scenario does not just involve the May 2000 check and the March 2002 check to Dandar. Minton apparently also lied to his own attorney, John Merrett, about "friends in Europe," leading Merrett to set up a fictional "Fat man" to donate money to the Lisa McPherson Trust all at the behest of Minton. Not until he testified before Judge Schaeffer did Merrett learn that this money, a $300,000 donation to the LMT from a web site known as "Operation Clambake" as well as a $500,000 wire transfer to the LMT was really money from Minton. Minton's mistress, Brooks, also testified in a previous deposition that these donations were from third parties, but claimed in testimony before judge Schaeffer that it was only after this deposition that she learned that the money was actually from Minton. Therefore, Minton lied to her as well, demonstrating that he apparently had no difficulty lying to even his closest confidante and associate. Minton and FLAG argue that Dandar had to know that this UBS check was Minton's money, but Brooks admits that she never knew that the donations from Operation Clambake totaling $300,000 and the $500,000 respectively were, in fact, Minton's money -- and as his constant companion, Brooks is clearly much closer to Minton than anyone else, and would be more likely to know the truth than an attorney with whom Minton maintained a friendship. Minton also told this same story to his attorney, Merrett, and Merrett also believed him. The court is now expected to take him at his word when he now claims that the money came from his own personal funds, and not the "anonymous donors" that he had previously led not only Dandar, but also his own attorney and close companion Brooks to believe. 308 14 THE COURT: Then LMT got a $500,000 anonymous 15 donor from someplace in Europe, is that true? 16 THE WITNESS: At that time, that is - 17 THE COURT: I'm asking you now, is that true? 18 THE WITNESS: No, it's not. 19 THE COURT: Where did the money from? 20 THE WITNESS: From Mr. Minton. 21 THE COURT: So Mr. Minton forgot to tell us he 22 lied about that, too. Brooks, May 6, 2002, before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 13. Not even Minton suggests that he lied to Brooks and his own attorney at the behest of Dandar. If Minton was lying then, this shows Minton is lying about this offshore money for reasons unknown to Dandar, Prince, Merrett, and Brooks, but now probably well known to Scientology. If Minton told the truth to Brooks, Merrett, Prince, and Dandar that these UBS checks and donations were really from anonymous European donors, then he is lying now only for Scientology so that Scientology will "disengage" from all aspects of Minton's life. To this day, Minton refuses to show proof that the money came from his accounts. Minton testified at his May 2000 deposition that he loaned $1,050,000 to Dandar. 212 11 Q. Have you given Mr. Dandar any money since 12 January 13th, 1998? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. Tell me all the amounts that you have 15 given him. 16 A. I don't know all the amounts. The total 17 amounts to a little over a million dollars, 18 $1,050,000. 19 Q. Did you make these checks to him yourself? 20 A. Did I what? 21 Q. Did you make the checks to him yourself 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. Each check was drawn on one of your 24 personal accounts? 25 A. I believe it was, yes. 213 1 Q. Did you instruct anyone else to write the 2 checks or -- 3 A. No. 4 Q. -- did you physically write them? 5 A. I think I physically wrote them all. 6 There may have been a wire transfer in there or 7 two. I don't remember. Minton May 2000 deposition, Appendix 4. This testimony is inconclusive. Given Minton's statements to Dandar, Prince, and Brooks that this UBS check was from "friends in Europe," this testimony is truthful. Minton now states at this hearing that he concealed in this deposition and two subsequent ones that he gave Dandar a UBS check in May 2000 for $500,000. Per Minton, the concealment was not his idea, but borne of Dandar's desire to keep this sum hidden both from Scientology and from his own employees and consultants. This claim is made despite the fact that Dandar asked Garko to go to New Hampshire to visit Minton and funding was freely discussed in front of Garko. Further, Minton volunteered to tell Scientology about giving over a million dollars, of which Dandar's employees and consultants did not know. Why, then, would Dandar develop this complex deception solely to avoid including an additional $500,000? If Dandar wanted Minton to lie about the money that he had provided, why would he not have suggested the "anonymous friends" deception for the entire loan of over one million dollars? Per court order, up to January 2000, Dandar provided Scientology with copies of either deposit statements or checks from Minton totaling $750,000. Minton's accusations make no sense, and on top of the lack of consistency in Minton's current testimony on the subject, there is still no proof that the UBS check was issued using Minton's money in the first place, as he has maintained his Fifth Amendment privilege through all subsequent questioning on the subject. As this does not allow Dandar to present a complete and cohesive defense to the claim since he is thwarted from being able to question the witness in depth on the details of this supposed transaction, this testimony must be stricken. City of St. Petersburg v. Houghton, 362 So.2d 681, 685 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978), Fifth Amendment cannot be used as sword and shield. Minton's own pattern of conduct and his inability to tell the truth during this hearing leads to the conclusion that he is not telling the truth now on the source of this check and that he did tell the Estate's counsel the truth in May 2000 that this check was from anonymous sources in Europe. Dandar, May 30,2002, at 31:16-17. Furthermore, Minton told Jesse Prince that this check was from his friends in Europe. 367 2 And he came and he said, 3 "Come here, you guys come out here," because he had a fear 4 that the building that we were in was electronically bugged. 5 And we got in Stacy's car and we went into the 6 city parking lot, which is directly across the street from 7 the LMT Trust. Went to the very top where we could see. 8 And he said, "Look, I'm going to tell you guys, 9 you can't tell anybody this, Ken Dandar has more money, he 10 doesn't know where it came from. It came from Europe. You 11 know, I told him, this is as much as I think I can get, I 12 hope this takes you to trial." 13 That was in 2000. He told us that, you know, he 14 didn't want the office to know, you know, Ken didn't want 15 everybody in the office to know or whatever, but this 16 $500,000 came. And -- and, you know, everything with the 17 case would be okay, basically, was the one instance. 368 2 Q Did he say where this $500,000 came from? 3 A Europe. People from Europe. 4 Q Did he say to you it was his money? 5 A No. He said he had arranged from some people from 6 Europe who made this money available. 446 5 Q Did you ever have a conversation with Bob Minton, 6 for instance, let's go to that night, the Adam's Mark Hotel, 7 where he's talking about the $500,000 UBS check and what he 8 told you in the parking lot about it? 9 A Oh, I brought that up to him. You know, they were 10 saying, you know, "Ken is really going to get it. He told 11 me to lie about this check." 12 I said, "Wait a minute, Bob, let me remind you --" 13 he and Stacy are like gleeful children, like all 14 responsibility is gone. "Hee-hee. Guess what?" 15 "Are you insane? We were both on the parking lot. 16 Bob got you and me out of the office, said he was giving 17 this check to Ken, Ken didn't know where it was coming from, 18 told us it was from people from Europe. I mean, why are you 19 gleefully now telling me somehow this is Ken's fault?" 20 Q What did they say? 21 A They just looked at me like, "Oh, yeah, we forgot 22 about that part." Mmm, they were telling me things like, 23 "We really got him now." 24 I said, "But don't you remember what we did? 25 Don't you remember this is what really happened as opposed 447 1 to this story you are making up now? Do you remember what 2 actually happened?" 3 Q What was their response? 4 A "Hmmm." You know, just "Hmmm." Like, "He's not 5 cooperating." 6 Q So - 7 A So I told him, you know, "Now, you know we were up 8 in the parking lot. We went through this whole thing. So 9 now what do you want me to say what happened now, when this 10 is what did happen? What am I supposed to do?" 11 THE COURT: What did he say? 12 THE WITNESS: He just looked at me like I was 13 crazy. And they looked at each other and they 14 changed the subject. We started talking about - 15 Mmm - what else did we start talking about? 16 They brought up something else that -- the 17 meeting, yeah, oh, and the other thing they want - 18 "they" being Rinder and Rosen, the other thing they 19 want brought out is how Minton was supposedly at 20 some meeting that happened where we all said, "Yeah, 21 add Miscavige and don't talk to anybody about it." 22 I am like, "Are you crazy? That didn't happen 23 either." Jesse Prince, July 8, 2002, Appendix 6. 228 15 Q. And what did Mr. Minton tell you on the rooftop of 16 this parking garage? 17 A. He explained to myself and Ms. Brooks that you 18 were going to receive the check, you did not know where it 19 came from, and he didn't tell us where it came from, but he 20 said this check -- this check was being given to you -- I 21 believe he said -- you know, because he said this to me as 22 well about people in Europe that were contributing to this 23 case financially. 24 He said that this check was to take you to 25 trial and through trial. 229 1 Q. Why were you talking with him on the top of a 2 parking garage? 3 A. Because it was Mr. Minton's concern that - 4 MR. ROSEN: Objection. Mr. Minton's 5 concern? This witness is now a mind reader? 6 THE COURT: Why is it relevant? 7 MR. DANDAR: It's relevant to Mr. Minton's 8 state of mind, which continues on until - 9 THE COURT: Mr. Minton's state of mind at 10 the time he made those statements is not 11 relevant. What's important is the statements, 12 okay? 13 MR. DANDAR: It will be subsequently 14 relevant to the defense that I'm offering to 15 the Court of these false accusations. 16 BY MR. DANDAR: 17 Q. Why were you meeting on the top of the garage? 18 A. Mr. Minton had a concern that - 19 MR. ROSEN: Objection, same statement. 20 Did Your Honor rule on that? I'm sorry. I 21 didn't hear. 22 THE COURT: Well, I guess I didn't. You 23 know, I guess you're going to have to establish 24 how he knows why it was they were meeting, 25 unless he just pulled it out of the air. 230 1 MR. ROSEN: Your Honor, do I understand 2 this is a meeting two years ago in April of 3 2000? 4 THE COURT: I think it was -- is it May 5 2000? April or May? 6 BY MR. DANDAR: 7 Q. Mr. Prince, can you tell us more specifically when 8 it was? 9 A. It was April or May of 2000, as best as I can 10 recall. .. 16 BY MR. DANDAR: 17 Q. Did Mr. Minton tell you why he wanted to meet on 18 the garage? 19 A. Yes, he did. .. 23 THE WITNESS: He told me that he had a 24 concern that Scientology had electronically 25 bugged the Lisa McPherson Trust, and so privacy 231 1 was an issue. 2 BY MR. DANDAR: 3 Q. Now, did he tell you whose money it was that I was 4 going to get from Europe? 5 A. As far as I recall about that, this was money from 6 people from Europe that were contributing -- that were 7 willing or able to contribute financially to the wrongful 8 death case. 9 Q. Did Mr. Minton ever express to you that it was his 10 money? 11 A. No. Prince, August 29, 2002, Appendix 6. Minton also told the same story to his own attorney, John Merrett, about the source of the anonymous donations to the LMT. There was certainly no motive for Minton to lie not only to Dandar, but also to Brooks, Prince and Merrett, and the most plausible conclusion that can be drawn, given the testimony that contradicts Minton's current testimony, is that he is currently lying under oath about the provenance of the check as a direct result of settlement negotiations with Scientology. Even though Minton had no account at the UBS Bank, Scientology amazingly was able to obtain a copy of this UBS check before Minton could get a copy! Appendix 6, Prince at 386-387, July 8, 2002. See also Dandar's testimony elicited by Rosen before this court confirming this and no correction by Rosen! April 19, 2002 at 268.) Scientology must therefore not only know the source of the money used for the UBS check, but must have known that Minton would refuse to testify to show proof that this money is his. Therefore, including this allegation in its motion is frivolous and in bad faith. Based on the three Second District Court decisions, money to the Estate or its counsel is immaterial. It can therefore not be a matter of perjury. Argyros v. State, 718 So.2d 222 (Fla 2nd DCA 1998). Again Dr. Garko does not support Minton's story in court. 22 Q During -- during this time that you were there in 23 New Hampshire, did you overhear any discussions or 24 conversations between Mr. Dandar and Mr. Minton about money, 25 about getting more money and where the money might be coming 36 1 from? And if so, can you tell us what you remember was 2 being said and what your reaction was to it? 3 A I do remember conversations about money and 4 funding. 5 Mr. Dandar -- despite Mr. Minton's assertion that 6 he's no longer going to fund this case, Mr. Dandar still 7 wanted to know if there were other ways to fund the case, 8 and if there were other people that could fund the case. 9 And they were talking about -- talking about that. No 10 specific names were mentioned, no particular individual that 11 I could say, Mr. Jones or Mr. Smith or something like that 12 It was generally perhaps people from Europe might be able to 13 fund the case -- Garko, June 11, 2002. Only during the hearing before Judge Schaeffer did Minton finally admit that the $300,000 from Clambake to the LMT and the anonymous $500,000 to the LMT from Europe were really monies from Minton. Minton at 443-446. He lied about this in his court ordered deposition in this case on April 8, 2002. Dandar was also successful in getting Minton to admit that contrary to his testimony in his recantation deposition of April 8, 2002, there were two additional transactions that Minton conducted that used the same method of transferring money from a Swiss Bank to an individual in the United States, who then transferred the money back to Minton or the Lisa McPherson Trust, an entity with its own financial obligations to Minton that was in the process of repaying his loan. It's also interesting to note that Minton never provided the court with proof of this loan to the LMT. Both the $100,000 loan repayment from Gerald Armstrong to Minton and the subsequent $100,000 donation by Armstrong to the LMT were, in fact, simply a circuitous way for Minton to move his own money around from one account to another. Until these lies were revealed before Judge Schaeffer, however, both Minton and Scientology were perfectly willing to let the lies slide through, since neither transaction had anything to do with this case, except to show using the UBS checks is part of Minton's scheme. However, such evidence does support the contention that the Swiss bank transfers and "European friends" were the result of Minton's desire to transfer his money in an untraceable fashion. Minton was completely unable to provide a plausible explanation for the curiously familiar pattern exemplified by the Armstrong transactions, or for lying about it by deliberately omitting it from his recantation deposition, hearing testimony before this court, and affidavits. Concealing the existence of the Armstrong UBS check in question damaged the Estate by preventing evidence that the UBS check transaction is really Minton's invention to circumvent income tax. In short, it is indeed peculiar that Minton would choose to "set the record straight" and immediately thereafter get caught in lie after lie after lie after lie. 926 6 THE COURT: Yeah. So this would be a fine time 7 for him to go get it and bring it back, show it to 8 your lawyer so we can all find it, so we can get 9 this straightened out. 10 And I would appreciate it, Mr. Howie, if we're 11 going to have any more lies, and this three that he 12 hasn't recanted, that I know of -- three that I know 13 of -- that if there are more that perhaps he needs 14 to spend enough time to go through his deposition -- 15 I mean, his credibility is indeed at issue. 16 This is a man who says to me, "I lied. I committed 17 perjury," and then all of a sudden, when Ms. Brooks 18 is asked a question, well, he remembers some more 19 lies. And now we've got another lie that apparently 20 he didn't tell you about, I'm sure, in the recanting 21 affidavit because he didn't tell the church about 22 it, about something I would assume would be fairly 23 critical, but it just dawned on him last night when 24 he was looking at transcripts. 25 So what I want to see are the transcripts. 927 1 Maybe you can point it out to me so I can go to it 2 and so I can see what it was that refreshed his 3 memory. 4 MR. HOWIE: Yes, your Honor. If I have the 5 permission of the court - 6 THE WITNESS: I'll go get them. 7 MR. HOWIE: -- to discuss Mr. Minton's 8 testimony to that extent only. 9 THE COURT: To the extent of whatever this is 10 he's talking about -- 11 MR. HOWIE: Yes, your Honor. 12 THE COURT: -- you may. 13 MR. DANDAR: And any other things that he 14 discovered. I mean, I don't want -- 15 THE COURT: Oh, yeah. 16 Are there more lies that you discovered last 17 night? 18 THE WITNESS: No, your Honor. 19 THE COURT: Okay. Then you may discuss this 20 new lie. 21 MR. HOWIE: Thank you. 22 THE COURT: Do I need to get the state attorney 23 here? I mean, I thought I could refer this to the 24 state attorney when this was all done. But as far 25 as I'm concerned, there are at least two lies that I 928 1 uncovered, and those are prosecutable, quite 2 frankly. This one, he brought to our attention 3 first 4 So I just thought I'd wait and deliver all 5 this, because we've got allegations of lies on one 6 side; on the other side we've got allegations of 7 people committing extortion and bribery, and all 8 that has got to be figured out with the state 9 attorney. I don't prosecute crimes, I don't defend 10 crimes. That's a matter for the state attorney. So 11 I thought we'd just wait till this was all over and 12 we could send all this out. 13 Of course, I told Mr. McCabe this was coming. 14 But you know, maybe I need somebody here to advise 15 this man of his rights. 16 Are you -- are you fully equipped to do that? 17 MR. HOWIE: Yes, your Honor. Minton before Judge Schaeffer, May 23, 2002. Appendix 4. This can only result in a negative inference with this blatant refusal to answer a question that strikes so close to the heart of the allegation that Flag is currently using Minton's new testimony to support. It is completely implausible that Minton would perform this astonishing sleight-of-hand with UBS checks and have no idea why he did it. 7 Q When did you write a check to Gerry Armstrong so 8 he could pay you back? 9 A I never wrote him a check. 10 Q All right. How did he get the money? 11 A He got a check from UBS. 12 Q And what's the source of that UBS check? 13 A Me. 14 Q What's the name of the financial institution that 15 sent the UBS money? 16 A I'm going to take the Fifth Amendment on that 17 question. 18 Q And you're telling this court that you don't know 19 why you did it that way; why you made this false pretense of 20 showing that Gerry Armstrong was using his money to pay back 21 your loan. 22 A I'm not sure why. Minton, 1251, May 28, 2002, before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 4. The inference is obvious, and was promptly drawn by Judge Schaeffer. Minton played this shell game not because of any demands by Dandar, but in an attempt to conceal his own tax evasion and it was that tax evasion that was discovered and used for purposes of blackmail and extortion by Scientology. 1252 23 THE COURT: Well, let me ask you this question. 24 When you bring in money from the foreign countries, 25 don't you have to pay taxes on it? 1253 1 THE WITNESS: It would -- 2 THE COURT: If you made money? 3 THE WITNESS: -- depend on the nature of it. 4 THE COURT: If you made money in a foreign land 5 and you bring that money into the United States of 6 America, isn't that something that you report and 7 pay taxes on? 8 THE WITNESS: Yes. That's correct. 9 BY MR. DANDAR: 10 Q Did you pay tax on the money that Gerry Armstrong 11 paid you back a hundred thousand dollars on the loan? 12 A I would have to look at my tax returns for the 13 year. 14 Q What year was this? 15 A 2001. 16 Q What month? 17 A I don't remember which month it was. 18 Q Was it before or after your September, 2001 19 deposition? 20 A I think it was before. 21 THE COURT: Isn't there a little box on the 22 income tax return that has a person disclose whether 23 any of the money reported in income came from a 24 foreign source? 25 THE WITNESS: I don't know whether there is. 1254 1 THE COURT: Well, I know there is, 'cause I 2 know I check it "no" every year, 'cause I don't have 3 any. So perhaps if we don't know the answer to 4 these things -- 5 I mean, what did I say as to his income tax 6 return; that -- oh, he claimed the Fifth Amendment 7 on that, didn't he? 8 MR. HOWIE: I believe, your Honor -- 9 THE COURT: Because I would demand that, based 10 on his answer -- right now I would demand it. He 11 may claim the Fifth Amendment after my demand, but I 12 think it's important. So his Fifth Amendment will 13 stand. But at this point in time, it's not just one 14 of those things that I think is -- is personal, that 15 I don't need. I think we need the income tax 16 returns 17 I'm going to find that I need the income tax 18 return to resolve some of these issues. However, he 19 can claim the Fifth Amendment, refuse to turn it 20 over. 21 MR. HOWIE: Yes, your Honor. 22 THE COURT: But I'm demanding it at this time, 23 saying that I need it for my purposes. 24 And he is claiming the Fifth, is that correct? 25 MR. HOWIE: Your Honor, I'd request permission 1255 1 to discuss that matter with my client -- 2 THE COURT: All right. 3 MR. HOWIE: -- during a recess. Minton, May 28, 2202, before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 4. D. False allegations of commingling and converting Estate money. Item 4, commingling or conversion of funds, is not an issue within the jurisdiction of this court. It is solely within the province of the Florida Bar. It is not a matter to be raised by Dandar's client, the Estate, since the loan money is not the client's money under any stretch of the imagination. If it were Estate money, it would have had to have been borrowed by the Personal Representative under the Florida Probate laws. § 733.612(14). Further, there exists no contract or loan agreement between Minton and the Estate. And if Liebreich had borrowed the money for the estate, FLAG would still have no standing since it is not the client. Estate property is only the decedent's property at the time of the decedent's death. § 731.201(12), Fla. Stat. (2002). The Texas federal court has previously ruled that the Estate has no asset except the death case. It is also not a matter for Minton to raise, since Minton is not Dandar's client. There has not been any commingling or theft. This is another fabrication by the church and its counsel. Mr. Minton, as conceded by FLAG, has always maintained that the funds were loaned to Mr. Dandar for the expenses in the wrongful death case, to be spent within the full discretion of Ken Dandar, not Minton or Dell Liebreich. Thus, there are "no strings." Ken Dandar and his firm are record counsel in the wrongful death case. It is indisputable that the funds were loaned to the counsel of record in the wrongful death case. It is also indisputable that the funds were not loaned to the counsel of the personal representative. The fact that Ken Dandar happens to hold both positions does not mean FLAG can arbitrarily blur the distinction. This court has held in this hearing that how Dandar spent loan money is irrelevant and sustained objections by Dandar when Mr. Rosen attempted to delve into this area. The Second District Court of Appeal in three separate decisions and through five appellate judges specifically agreed with the Estate and held that the church is not permitted to know anything about the amount or use of the funds counsel for the Estate has for the litigation against the church. Even when FLAG moved for reconsideration and advised the Second District of its new allegation of perjury by Dandar, the Second District denied its motion. Therefore, Minton's money remains irrelevant to all issues raised by FLAG. Irrelevant matters cannot be the basis of a charge of perjury. State v. Ellis, 723 So.2d 187, 189-190 (Fla 1998). This church has repeatedly attempted to find out how much money counsel for the Estate has received and how much counsel has left. The church will stop at nothing to put an end to the wrongful death case, as is clear from the notes prepared by Church attorney Monique Yingling, and produced during the hearings in Judge Schaeffer's court as a result of the Estate's request. Clearly, any action that would lead to successfully disqualifying the Estate's counsel, or bankrupting the Estate itself, would further the overall goal of derailing the wrongful death case itself. The Yingling notes indicate precisely the level of intent on the part of the Church to make the McPherson case "go away", and also demonstrate how that outcome was so closely tied to Minton's own prospects for successful settlement with the Church by both lawyers and Church representatives attending that meeting. An obvious sign of desperation is FLAG citing to page 341 of Dandar's testimony before Judge Schaeffer, where FLAG misrepresents the testimony as being Dandar's admission that he knew these UBS checks to Dandar were Minton's money. See page 28 of FLAG's closing brief. Dandar is telling Judge Schaeffer on page 341 on June 4, 2002, that he now knows the $300,000 donation from "Operation Clambake" and the $500,000 anonymous wire transfer, all to the Lisa McPherson Trust, are in reality Minton's money based on Minton's testimony in this court. If Minton is lying, then no one knows except Minton. Minton lied about this in his deposition in this case on April 8, 2002. In fact, Dandar has not, and will not "admit" to knowing that the money in question originally came from Minton, and not from anonymous donors, as he had previously testified and believed to be the case, because it was not until the April 9th hearing that he had any inkling that this may be the case. As he has testified to at length in open court before Judge Schaeffer, Dandar had taken Minton at his word when Minton had explained to him that the money in question was from friends in Europe who wanted to help the case without the risk of being the target of the same kind of harassment that Minton had received from the Church of Scientology after he had first decided to offer financial support to the wrongful death suit. It was not until after he had heard Mr. Minton state, repeatedly, that the money had, in fact, been his own money that Dandar finally acknowledged that he could not definitively state that Minton was lying on this issue. However, at the same time, it should be noted that Minton has consistently failed to conclusively demonstrate that the money in question did belong to him. Minton has explained at length how he had developed a system to transfer money from at least one account that he holds in an overseas bank by using UBS as a "middleman" that issues a blank "cashier-style" check that can then be forwarded to any individual, anywhere in the world, without the possibility of being traced back to the original Minton account. At no point during either the hearings in this court, or in those held before Judge Schaeffer, has Minton ever brought forward any proof that the donation to Dandar was handled in this manner. In fact, he refuses to answer any questions regarding the originating bank account itself, instead choosing to plead the Fifth Amendment rather than back up his story with some sort of tangible proof. This segment of Dandar's testimony comes after Brooks admitted this in open court on May 6, 2002, before Judge Schaeffer. This testimony of Dandar has nothing to do with the UBS checks to Dandar from Minton. 339 1 THE WITNESS: But, see, I knew he had a 2 business partner who was in Europe and who is just 3 as wealthy as Mr. Minton. And I also know his 4 friend, because of Scientology investigators, had to 5 go pay taxes that he owed. 6 I mean, I -- I knew that Mr. Minton was wealthy 7 and he had a circle of friends that he -- I assumed, 8 were as wealthy as he was or even more. So I had no 9 reason to suspect that he was pulling something off 10 or lying to me. 11 THE COURT: But you know what I have seen is 12 that everybody who wants to support this 13 anti-Scientology movement, as far as I can tell, 14 with money is fairly proud of it and wants to be 15 known, wants to toot their horn. Certainly 16 Mr. Minton did. He wanted to bang his chest and 17 toot his horn. 18 All of a sudden you see a little different 19 person in court and, "I don't want to toot any 20 horns," and he doesn't want to be on any internets. 21 But -- boy, we've seen a 180. 22 But I would assume, if I'd been sitting in your 23 shoes, the same thing: Somebody wants to support 24 LMT, somebody wants to support the Lisa McPherson 25 lawsuit, they would have been quite proud of 340 1 themselves. 2 THE WITNESS: But, no, wait. This is what -- 3 now I -- now I see what is missing, I think. 4 THE COURT: Well, maybe you do. The light bulb 5 just came on now? 6 THE WITNESS: Well, there is a lot to cover 7 here. But in May of 2000 the discovery against the 8 LMT and Mr. Minton and Ms. Brooks was heating up. 9 It had just started, I believe, in February of 2000. 10 Mr. Minton, prior to May of 2000, went on the 11 Internet and told everybody how much money he gave 12 me, to my dismay, which I didn't want him to do, but 13 he did. 14 And we turned over all of the checks, up to 15 January of 2000, because that is what the court 16 order was. And only from Mr. Minton, because 17 Mr. Weinberg said to Judge Moody, "I'm only 18 interested in Mr. Minton." So that is what we did, 19 we complied with all of the court orders. 20 So when he's getting discovered, like he was, 21 in May of 2000, I can understand then and now why he 22 might have people in Europe who have similar 23 thinking as him as to supporting the case but did 24 not want their names disclosed because they did not 25 want to have this discovery go on about their 341 1 finances. And Mr. Minton was being subjected to 2 this -- this discovery of his personal finances. 3 And then it went on in the year 2001. So I get 4 another check in 2002. I can understand -- and I 5 had already gotten a stay entered by the Second 6 District. And I can understand why no one in 7 Europe, if he had anonymous friends like he said he 8 had, wouldn't want me to know who they were so 9 wouldn't have to disclose it to the Court. They 10 didn't want Scientology to know who they were, they 11 didn't want to be subject to all this discovery. I 12 mean, that makes sense. 13 But Mr. Minton was the only individual I know 14 who was proud and bragged about -- until he started 15 to plead the Fifth -- 16 THE COURT: Mr. Minton is also the only one who 17 gave them this kind of money, too, isn't he? 18 THE WITNESS: Yes. 19 THE COURT: There weren't any pals in Europe, 20 there wasn't any "Fat Man." 21 THE WITNESS: Well, now I know that is right. 22 THE COURT: So once again, when people give 23 this kind of money, I don't know of a soul who gives 24 this kind of money very often that doesn't like to 25 brag about it. Take it from somebody who knows. Dandar, June 4, 2002, with Judge Schaeffer. On line 17 above, where Judge Schaeffer states: "Mr. Minton is the only one who gave them this kind of money..." She is referring to the LMT, not Dandar. In fact, The term "The Fat Man" was invented on the spur of the moment by Minton's former attorney, John Merrett, as part of a similarly complex scheme to transfer money to Operation Clambake, a web site in Norway critical of Scientology, who then in turn had it transferred to the LMT. Merrett testified that he believed, based on information given to him by Minton, who was his client at the time, that this money came from "anonymous friends in Europe" the very same explanation that Minton had offered to Dandar, yet this time, as part of a transaction to which neither Dandar nor the Estate was a party! Only during the Schaeffer hearing was it revealed that the $300,000 and the $500,000 anonymous donation from friends in Europe was really Minton's money. Even John Merrett did not know it was Minton's money until Judge Schaeffer informed him of this during his hearing testimony. 48 21 Q Did you ever learn that the LMT received a 22 $300,000 payment, donation, whatever, from Operation 23 Clambake? 24 A Yes. 25 Q Did you have anything to do with securing or 49 1 arranging for that payment? 2 A Yes. 3 Q What did you do? 4 A I located an individual over the Internet to 5 operate as a go-between, severing initial direct connect 6 between the LMT and Operation Clambake in order to protect 7 Operation Clambake and whatever source of the money was from 8 discovery by Scientology. .... 15 A The third party telephoned Operation Clambake, I 16 think it's Andreas Heldal-Lund - ... 21 THE WITNESS: Operation Clambake is a website 22 owned and operated by Andreas Heldal-Lund. .... 51 8 A The third party contacted Mr. Lund and said he was 9 speaking on behalf of people in Europe who wished to donate 10 money to the Lisa McPherson Trust, but for obvious reasons 11 did not wish to be identified as supporters of the Lisa 12 McPherson Trust and wanted Mr. Lund to handle the actual 13 transfer of the money, to receive a check, to deposit the 14 check, and then to write a check to the Lisa McPherson 15 Trust. 16 The individual also called the Lisa McPherson 17 Trust and advised Ms. Brooks that this was being arranged, 18 and that the -- Mr. Lund or someone, I don't know whether it 19 was identified as Mr. Lund, but that somebody would be 20 calling to notify her of the impending transfer. 21 Q And this is someone you just met in a chat room on 22 the Internet? 23 A Yes. 54 8 Did you use any code names? 9 A The individual who was handling the message 10 identified himself as the "Fat Man." 11 Q Is that right? And did you come up with that 12 name? 13 A Yes. .. 55 7 THE COURT: Well, if I were to tell you that 8 Mr. Minton has testified that the money came from 9 him, would you know what the next circle out was? 10 THE WITNESS: Mmm, investment banking would be 11 my guess. I think that is where his money comes 12 from. 13 THE COURT: Well, you did not know this money 14 was coming from Mr. Minton? 15 THE WITNESS: No. 16 BY MR. DANDAR: 17 Q Mr. Merrett, this is a very important area. So 18 you did not know that the money that was being transferred 19 to Operation Clambake through the "Fat Man" was coming 20 really from the bank account of Mr. Minton? 21 A That is correct. Merrett, May 23, 2002 before Judge Schaeffer, Appendix 10. The remarkable similarity between the stories told by Minton to both Dandar and Merrett to explain the provenance of ostensibly anonymous donations demonstrates that it was, in all likelihood, Minton himself who came up with the scheme of transferring his own or others' money to third parties by using a Swiss Bank as a third party to disguise the origin. In fact, in the case of the money transferred through Operation Clambake to the Lisa McPherson Trust, the ultimate beneficiary of the "anonymous donation" was Minton himself, as the Trust immediately transferred the money back to Minton as loan repayment. It is interesting to note that Dandar had no control or interest in the activity |