Altomare Deposition 26 Jun 08 OCR Transcript Extract 6
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Q. Mr. Altomare, among the deposit items that were part of your Wachovia account was a check from a Gail Samuels. Can you tell me who Mr. Samuels or Ms. Samuels is?
A. It's Mrs. Samuels, my neighbors in Bocaire, and they knew that I needed money to pay my lawyer, and they -- to continue, and they lent me the money.
MS. HUGHES: I am going to mark it as Exhibit 22.
MR. SCHOEPPL: I think it's 23.
Q. Has Gail Samuels paid you any other monies?
(Court reporter not handed document to mark.)
A. I need to respond to the question. I don't -- I need to respond to the question, paid any other money. She lent me $35,000 and that's all she lent me.
(Plaintiffs Exhibit 23, check from Gail Samuels, marked for identification, as of this date.)
Q. Has anyone else lent you money since September 1, 2007?
A. No.
Q. Mr. Altomare, can you tell me the companies through which you have insurance or had insurance in the last two years?
A. I believe I can. AIG Insurance.
MR. TIFFORD: Can I raise a point of order, did you mean life insurance only or all kinds of insurance?
MS. HUGHES: I mean all kinds of insurance.
A. Oh, I was only speaking of life insurance.
Q. Okay.
A. I believe Geico would be our automotive policies, and there may be some homeowners policies that my wife would know the name of.
Q. When you were at Universal Express, were there health insurance policies that were in place?
A. For the employees?
Q. And yourself.
A. Yes.
Q. Who were those insurance companies that provided health insurance?
A. Blue Cross/Blue Shield. And we had a dental program. I don't recall the name. Guardian comes to mind, but I could be mistaken.
Q. Did you have any insurance on personal property?
A. Yes. We may have had personal property in the homeowners policy. I think they have a section for a replacement.
MS. HUGHES: Exhibit 24.
(Plaintiffs Exhibit 24, two checks payable to Wexler Insurance Company, from Wachovia account 5480, Bates number RAA-0661 and 0742, marked for identification, as of this date.)
Q. Mr. Altomare, these are two checks that I put together, both are payable to Wexler Insurance Company, from your Wachovia account ending in the number 5480, Bates number RAA-0661 and 0742. Do you know what kind of insurance policy you had with Wexler Insurance Company?
A. I believe we had two policies with Wexler. One -- and I don't recall if this would refer to it or not, but we insured part of the Michael Jackson Art Collection and memorabilia collection, and then we had an insurance policy on my wife's ring. She had a large ring.
Q. Is the ring that was insured by Wexler Insurance Company one of the pieces of jewelry sold to The Estate Department in the fall of 2007?
A. Yes, ma'am.
Q. Did you have any other insurance policies through Wexler Insurance?
A. Not that I recall.
MS. HUGHES: We will mark this as Exhibit Number 25.
(Plaintiffs Exhibit 25, copy of a May 26, 2006 check on Wachovia account 5480, Bates number RAA-1741, payable to Gueits, Adams & Dolfi, in the amount of $9,533.69, marked for identification, as of this date.)
Q. Mr. Altomare, Exhibit 25 is a copy of a May 26, 2006 check drawn on your Wachovia account number 5480, Bates number RAA-1741. I believe it's made out to a firm called Gueits, Adams & Dolfi, G-U-E-I-T-S, Adams regular spelling, Dolfi, D-O-L-F-1. It's in the amount of $9,533.69. Do you know why your wife is writing this check?
A. I believe that's when -- when I see down there "London," I do remember that the Michael Jackson collection was insured by Lloyds of London, so I can say I do not recall, since I didn't write the check, but if I had to take a stab at it, I think it would have been related to that particular policy.
Q. Did you have more than one policy on the Michael Jackson memorabilia?
A. No, ma'am.
Q. Had you acquired the Michael Jackson memorabilia in May of 2006, and why I question you about that, the press leases that come out about that are much later in the year.
A. Then, it would be her jewelry. If it's not the Michael Jackson, then it would be her jewelry--
MR. TIFFORD: Could you please clarify, when you say "it would be," the word "it," I-T, refers to what?
THE WITNESS: The check they're referring to would have been – Exhibit 25 would have been for that, but as I said, I didn't write the check, I don't know what it was for, but I just took a stab at it. If the dates are wrong, then it would be for homeowners insurance.
Q. Do you believe that you have a homeowners policy with Gueits, Adams & Dolfi?
A. I don't know what we have as a homeowners policy. My wife handles those.
Q. Mr. Altomare, in looking through your checks drawn on the Wachovia account in 2006, I saw a number of payments to Chubb. Do you recall having an insurance policy with Chubb?
A. If we wrote a check to Chubb, we had an insurance policy with Chubb. It may be flood insurance. It may be homeowners. I truly do not know. I think they're for $179.
Q. Yes. It appears -- the court reporter will mark it in a moment. It appears they were monthly checks.
A. Yeah. I do not -- I do not know.
(Plaintiffs Exhibit 26, monthly checks to Chubb for $179, marked for identification, as of this date.)
MS. HUGHES: I am going to have the court reporter mark this as Exhibit 27.
(Plaintiffs Exhibit 27, February 25, 2006 check drawn on Wachovia account 5480, payable to First Colony Life Insurance Company in the amount of $1,857.63, marked for identification, as of this date.)
Q. Mr. Altomare, Exhibit 27 is a February 25, 2006 check drawn on your Wachovia account 5480, payable to First Colony Life Insurance Company in the amount of $1,857.63. Do you recognize your wife's signature on this check?
A. Yes, ma'am.
Q. Could you tell me what this payment was for?
A. I think this was the AIG account. I think AIG took over First Colonial Life Insurance (sic). I think it was the same policy that ended up being AIG. But it was the same agent, and I think that's what it was. It was on my life. It was a term policy.
Q. Who is the agent that you dealt with?
A. A Mr. Darby, D-A-R-B-Y.
Q. Where was he located?
A. In Florida. I don't really know. I've never gone to his office. He came to my home.
MR. TIFFORD: Can I ask something about the life insurance in the form of questions?
MS. HUGHES: Yes.
MR. TIFFORD: Did you have two different life insurance policies, one term and one whole life?
THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
MR. TIFFORD: Do you know if this particular payment represented by Exhibit 27, also marked Bates number 1578, if this payment -- can you identify for which of the life policies this payment was made?
THE WITNESS: This would be for the term.
MR. TIFFORD: The term life policy?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
MR. TIFFORD: Thank you.
Q. Exhibit 28 is a summary I created of checks that were drawn on your Wachovia 2 account 5480 and payable to the Weinstein Design Group. Then I also included two checks that were drawn on the Washington Mutual account 9286, which was part of your second mortgage on the Toscano condominium, and then I found one check that was drawn on Commerce Bank. When I total all of those payments that I could find, they totalled $641,979.52. However, the Weinstein invoices, the last one Mr. Tifford gave me, was dated February 7, 2008, indicate that you have made payments of $685,554.69.
A. What was the difference?
Q. The difference here at the bottom is roughly a $43,000 difference.
A. We did make one cash payment to Mr. Weinstein after we sold the jewelry. That may explain the difference.
Q. Did you receive a receipt?
A. I don't recall.
Q. Do you remember the amount of the cash payment?
A. It was somewhere between 20 and $30,000. I don't think it was more than that. I don't think it was less.
Q. Did you personally go and do that?
A. No, he came to my home. After I had sold the jewelry, I gave him the money.
MR. TIFFORD: Give me one second. I just need a minute.
(Discussion off the record.)
Q. Mr. Altomare, on this summary, I show that there was a check written out to Weinstein Group on November 29, 2007, which occurs after you sold your jewelry. Is it possible that you gave him a check versus cash?
A. No. I remember giving him Cash, so I'm sure it was both. My wife and I both were there and gave it to him.
(Plaintiffs Exhibit 28, summary of checks drawn on Wachovia account 5480 and payable to the Weinstein Design Group, marked for identification, as of this date.)
Q. Where you live, are you in a secured community, where if a visitor comes, they have to check in through security?
A. Yes.
Q. Who provides that security service?
A. The country club; the community.
Q. Do you know the company's name of who provides --
A. No, ma'am.
Q. When you come into this, at your house at Bocaire, and you go through security, do you have to sign in, do you know, if you're a visitor?
A. I think you have to announce your name. I don't know if the guards write anything.
Q. Do you know whether there is a videotape of some kind that would photograph the license plate of the car or something like that?
A. I don't know.
Q. Why I am asking this series of questions, there is a dispute about the date when you sold the jewelry to The Estate Department. It's my understanding they came to your house and, at least as to one day, it's unclear what date that is. So I'm trying to figure out ways we can confirm when Mr. Kravit and friends came to your house.
A. Yeah, I don't know.
Q. Mr. Altomare, in looking through your checks, there was a check and, while it's handwritten, the date 2002, it was processed --
A. 2002?
Q. Yes. It was processed in 2006. So I don't know why it was written that way, but it's to Deacon SSC, which I assume stands for Security Service Corporation. Do you know who they are?
A. If you allow me to look at the check. I truly don't think I remember, but...
MS. HUGHES: Let's mark this as Exhibit 29.
(Plaintiffs Exhibit 29, check to Deacon SSC, marked for identification, as of this date.)
A. No, ma'am, I have no recollection of this. I'm sure the check -- my wife probably just put the wrong date. I'm sure it was 2006. I'm sure she wouldn't have had a 2002 check, but I do not know who Deacon -if that's Security Services Corp. for $166.
Q. There are some other -- at least another check written to this same company. I don't know if it's a recurring bill. When I look at the print from the back of the check, it looks like it may be Deycon, D-E-Y-C-O-N, Deycon Security; does that make any difference to you?
A. I have a security system in the home, but we have never activated it. Maybe that is an annual fee or something. My wife would better know than I.
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