Altomare Deposition 26 Jun 08 OCR Transcript Extract 5
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AFTERNOON SESSION
(Time noted: 1:09 p.m.)
RICHARD ALTOMARE, resumed and testified as follows:
EXAMINATION BY MS. HUGHES:
(Contd.)
Q. Mr. Altomare, in 2006 and 2007, what automobiles did you have access to?
A. Are you asking me which automobiles did I lease?
Q. Which automobiles did you lease?
A. I had two Mercedeses. I had a Mercedes S550 and a Mercedes, I think it's an S -- the hatch -- not the hatchback, the SUV type. I think it's a 320. And then I leased a Bentley two-door automobile.
Q. And did you own any cars during 2006 and 2007?
A. No, ma'am.
Q. And in leasing the Mercedes, those payments were made to what company?
A. Mercedes Leasing, I don't recall. My wife wrote them out every month, but I believe it was a Mercedes Leasing Corporation.
Q. I have summarized a series of payments that were taken out of your Wachovia bank account 5480, and we will mark that as Exhibit 18.
(Plaintiffs Exhibit 18, series of payments from Wachovia account 5480,marked for identification, as of this date.)
Q. Mr. Altomare, on the first page of Exhibit 18 is a series of payments made to Daimler-Chrysler in two different amounts, one is $969.85, the other $1,998.98. There are some variations. The second page is a series of payments made to Mercedes-Benz in approximately the same amounts. Are these the payments that you made monthly or your wife made monthly for lease of the two Mercedeses?
A. Yes, ma'am.
MR. TIFFORD: For the year 2007 only?
MS. HUGHES: Correct. I am going to have the court court reporter mark this as Exhibit 20.
(Plaintiffs Exhibit 20, check on the Wachovia account dated March 13, 2006, payable to Chase Auto Finance for $1,777.74, and a summary of a series of payments made to Chase Auto Finance during 2006, marked for identification, as of this date.)
Q. Exhibit Number 20 is a composite. The first page is a check drawn on your Wachovia account dated March 13, 2006, payable to Chase Auto Finance in the amount $1,777.74. The second page is a summary that I created of the series of payments made to Chase Auto Finance during 2006. Do you know what these payments were for?
A. Yes, ma'am.
Q. What are they for?
A. I believe those are the Mercedes payments, of the old Mercedes that we had. Then when the lease was up, we no longer used Chase Auto Finance. We used whatever Mercedes offered at that time. I think the Mercedes dealership had changed ownership, so I think they changed finance companies.
Q. So in 2006 you were leasing a different Mercedes?
A. I was leasing -- whenever the lease was up, yes, it would have been -- I believe it would have been a different Mercedes, yes, ma'am.
Q. Mr. Altomare, I am going to have the court reporter mark this as Exhibit 21.
This has a series of Bates numbers, U 50079 through 50086, then including 50088, '89, 50097 and 50099. These are a series of statements for a credit card, first on MBNA, then it converted to the Bank of America. The last four digits of the card are 4259. This was a Universal Express credit card.
MS. HUGHES: I am going to have the court reporter mark that. I don't have another copy, gentlemen. I apologize.
(Plaintiffs Exhibit 21, series of statements for Universal Express credit card 4259 first on MBNA, then on the Bank of America, Bates numbers, U 50079 through 50086, then 50088, '89, 50097 and 50099, marked for identification, as of this date.)
A. Before I answer any questions on it, I just wanted to comment on your statement. Every credit card at Universal Express was Richard Altomare's credit card, guaranteed by Richard Altomare. I put Universal Express's name on some of them when they requested did I want a company name. I just want to clarify that since the closing of Universal Express, all of those credit cards have been coming after me for payment, and I presently owe between 80 and a hundred thousand dollars on a multitude of credit cards, many of which were services which were utilized by the company, but I'd be happy to answer questions. I just wanted to clarify the Universal Express credit card.
Q. When I look at the statement, not necessarily the first page, but the following statements do indicate a name on the card. Keep flipping through and I will show you. I believe here, if we look at U 50083, the name at the top --
A. What is that?
Q. -- is indicating Universal Express.
A. It very possibly might be, but Universal Express didn't have a credit card. It was guaranteed by me.
Q. Since I only have one copy, I'm going to take that from you and turn to some particular pages and ask you questions.
A. (Handing) No problem.
Q. On the first page, 50079 indicates that a check was drawn on this account in the amount of $1,000 during the month ending March 21, 2006.
A. Yes, ma'am.
Q. Do you recall what happened to the proceeds from that check or to whom it was paid?
A. If you had the document on it, I would more than happy to -- I just simply cannot recall a thousand dollar check from 2006.
Q. I don't have the document, so that's fine. I am going to ask you these questions.
A. If I may, many times, and I don't think it was a thousand dollars, but many times when Universal Express needed money for payroll or for expenses, many times I would write a check made to Universal Express. That would not be one for a thousand dollars. That would be too small. I don't know the answer to that one, but some of the others, at times when I had cash advances on my credit cards and the company needed to make a payroll or needed money, I would utilize those cards for that purpose. Then when we had money again, we'd pay them down.
Q. This is the statement that ends for the period May 19, 2006. It's Bates number U 50081. It indicates a check was drawn on this account for $7,000. It doesn't tell us the date here, but I assume that's prior to the May closing date in 2006.
A. Sure. Again, I would be more than happy if I had copies of the checks, if I saw the name to whom it was sent to, to be able to respond to it, but I really don't recall.
Q. That's what I'm trying to determine, who was it paid to. These are the documents I got from the receiver, so I don't have a way to know who they were paid to. Going back to our first page, the $1,000 withdrawal, you notice on this page 79 there are some handwritten notes that indicate a debit, a credit, and some accounting indications. There are some initials, RAA, which I'm presuming are your initials. Then there is the finance charge, and then there is the credit line indication.
A. I "RAA" are my initials, but where are they?
Q. Here, here (indicating).
A. That's "RAA'; well, that's not my handwriting, so I would assume it was done by the controller.
Q. All right. Did you ever talk with her about accounting entries whereby she was crediting a withdrawal from one of the credit cards to you versus an expense for the company?
A. Whenever she came down, she would ask me a question, you know, regarding either a credit card or a check, and I would give an explanation as to what it was used for, and she would book it accordingly.
Q. Do you know when she booked it under that, if you will, account heading "RAA," that was attributing that expense to you?
A. I don't know.
Q. The best person to answer that question would be Saadia Hardial?
A. Whoever wrote that, and I believe it would be Saadia, yes, ma'am.
Q. Was there anyone else in 2006 who was doing these kind of entries?
A. Yes, ma'am.
Q. Who else did that?
A. Saadia had a staff, so she would be best able to tell you which ones. She had a number of people up there, sometimes as many of three or four people in her accounting department.
Q. I'm showing you the October 2006 statement, Bates number 50083. It indicates there was a cash advance or check drawn on this account on September 21, 2006. Again it's indicated by handwriting "RAA" next to the $10,000.
A. Yes.
Q. Do you have any recollection where those proceeds of the $10,000 check went?
A. No, it would be the same on all of them. Without seeing the checks, I truly could not recall those.
Q. I am going to show you the June 2007 statement, Bates number U 50089. This indicates there was a cash advance drawn on this account on June 12, 2007 in the amount of $9,000. Do you have a recollection as to this amount?
A. No, ma'am.
Q. Then I'm showing you page 50099, the July 2007 statement. It indicates there are two different checks drawn on this account, one in the amount of $9,000 and the second in the amount of $20,000. Do you have a recollection where those amounts went?
A. No. It could have either been back to Universal Express or for any other use,and it would have been booked accordingly. But I happen to know that, I'm making payments on that particular card, and some of those expenses I know were Universal Express.
MS. HUGHES: May we go off the record for a moment?
MR. TIFFORD: Sure, any time you want.
(Discussion off the record.)
(Plaintiff's Exhibit 22, statements for MBNA account 7105, later Bank of America, Bates numbers 50108 through 50114, marked for identification, as of this date.)
Q. Mr. Altomare, I am going to show you the next exhibit. This is Exhibit 22. These are credit card statement I received from the receiver for an account. I think it was an MBNA account that then converted to Bank of America. It's the account number that ends in the number 7105. In particular, it's Bates numbers 50108 through 50114. In particular, I would have you look at page 50111. On there it indicates purchases of two airline tickets, I believe, to go to Zurich, Switzerland, and the purchase date appears to be April 1, 2006. Did you go to Switzerland in April of 2006?
A. No, ma'am.
Q. Did you go to Switzerland at some time after April 1 of 2006?
A. I truly can't recall. I did vacation in 2006. I don't remember where the connecting flights may have come from, but I do not remember going to Switzerland, nor have I been to Switzerland in five years, but I don't know that I didn't stop there to go on to somewhere else.
Q. You know, I was directing you that this was April of 2006. I have misspoken. I am looking at the top billing date. This is actually April of 2007. So really within the last year, you have not been to Switzerland?
A. No, ma'am.
Q. Mr. Altomare, where is your passport currently located?
A. At my home.
MS. HUGHES: Mr. Tifford, I am going to request a copy of Mr. Altomare's passport so we could look at the stamps to indicate whether he had been through Switzerland in that time frame.
MR. TIFFORD: I will make arrangements to get it and get a copy.
Q. Then I am going show you 50113. This is the June 24, 2007 statement for the account number ending 7105. It indicates that there was a check drawn on the account in the amount of $15,000 prior to June 24, 2007.
A. If you have a copy of the check, I'd be more than happy to respond to it, but it could have been, again, something that Universal Express needed or something that I myself needed, but it was my credit card.
Q. Sitting here today, without the check, you don't have a recollection of what you did with that money?
A. I don't know that I received that money.
Q. Do you have a recollection of a third party, then, to whom it was paid?
A. No, ma'am.
Q. For all of these credit cards that were issued in your name, where did the statements come to?
A. All of them came to my home. Maybe there were one or two that came to Universal Express at 5295 Town Center Road, but the majority of them came to my home. I don't-- I never received them. They would have gone directly to the controller and she would have brought it down, we would have gone over it.
Q. When you say you didn't receive them, you didn't receive the statements that were sent to the address of Universal Express?
A. No, it would go directly to the controller.
Q. The statements that came to your home?
A. Would be my wife and I would look at them.
Q. Mr. Altomare, what is the current status of the mortgage on your home at Bocaire Avenue (sic)?
A. I'm two months behind.
Q. Is it still listed for sale?
A. I don't believe so.
Q. You took it off the market?
A. The market is pretty soft, and the longer you keep it on, the more difficult it is to get your asking price, so we took it off. It's been on awhile.
Q. What is the current status on the mortgage on the Toscano condominium?
A. At least six months late, maybe five, five or six months late.
Q. Have you had any negotiations with Countrywide related to that mortgage?
A. I have been speaking to Countrywide; however, the last two months I've been unable to do such.
Q. Are you similarly late on the second mortgage on the Toscano property?
A. Yes, ma'am.
Q. Is it still listed for sale?
A. Yes, ma'am.
Q. And the real estate broker who has that listed for you, I know Mr. Altomare had said his name at the hearing before, do you recall what it is?
A. You said Mr. Altomare?
Q. Mr. Tifford said it at the hearing.
A. Vinny. The same -- Vinny. I'm sorry, I don't know his last name.
Q. He's at Coldwell Banker?
A. Yes, ma'am.
Q. It's my understanding from something Mr. Tifford told me that your wife has returned the Bentley; is that correct?
A. Yes, because for the past three months I had not paid for the Bentley. I was trying to get gainful employment after the closing of Universal Express, and we were able to defer some payments, and then when I couldn't defer any longer, we returned it.
Q. What's the status on the lease of the two Mercedeses?
A. One of them is two months late, and one of them is one month late.
Q. Are you receiving unemployment insurance?
A. I did receive unemployment checks for a short period of time, and then the period ran out.
Q. And was your wife also receiving unemployment checks?
A. Yes.
Q. Has her period run out also?
A. Yes, ma'am.
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