USA v. Bruno 20 Nov 2009 AM

1
1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
2 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
5 -versus- 09-CR-29
6 (JURY TRIAL cont'd)
7 JOSEPH L. BRUNO,
8 Defendant.
9 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS held in and for the
11 United States District Court, Northern District of New
12 York, at the James T. Foley United States Courthouse,
13 445 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207, on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20,
14 2009, before the HON. GARY L. SHARPE, United States District
15 Court Judge.
16
17 APPEARANCES:
18 FOR THE GOVERNMENT:

ANDREW T. BAXTER, Acting United States Attorney - NDNY
19 BY: ELIZABETH C. COOMBE, Assistant U.S. Attorney
WILLIAM C. PERICAK, Assistant U.S. Attorney
20
21 FOR THE DEFENDANT:

McDERMOTT, WILL & EMERY, LLP
22 BY: ABBE D. LOWELL, ESQ
PAUL M. THOMPSON, ESQ
23 -and-
DREYER, BOYAJIAN LAW FIRM
24 BY: WILLIAM J. DREYER, ESQ.
APRIL M. WOOD, ESQ.
25
THERESA J. CASAL, RPR, CRR

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT - NDNY
2
USA v. Bruno - 09-CR-29
1 (Court commenced at 9:00 AM.)
2 MR. PERICAK: Your Honor, may I address the Court
3 before the jury comes in?
4 THE COURT: About what?
5 MR. PERICAK: Your Honor, we sent back through
6 Mr. Law a Decision, Order and Judgment of the Supreme Court
7 of the State of New York, County of Albany. It is a
8 decision that --
9 THE COURT: I read it, I know what the issue is,
10 I'll take care of it at an appropriate time. We don't need
11 to do it through this witness, do we?
12 MR. PERICAK: We do not. Thank you, your Honor.
13 THE COURT: All right.
14 (Jury present at 9:01 AM.)
15 THE COURT: Good morning. Who's up?
16 MS. COOMBE: I am, your Honor.
17 THE COURT: All right.
18 MS. COOMBE: The Government calls Jared
19 Abbruzzese.
20 (Pause in proceedings.)
21 THE CLERK: Mr. Abbruzzese, come down this way.
22 THE WITNESS: Okay.
23 THE CLERK: Please raise your right hand. Please
24 state and spell your name for the record.
25 THE WITNESS: Jared, J-A-R-E-D; E; Abbruzzese,

3
USA v. Bruno - 09-CR-29
1 A-B-B-R-U-Z-Z-E-S-E, Sr.
2 (Witness duly sworn.)
3 THE WITNESS: Good morning.
4 THE COURT: Good morning. Is this an order
5 witness?
6 MS. COOMBE: It is, your Honor.
7 THE COURT: This is another witness testifying
8 under a grant of immunity, ladies and gentlemen, therefore
9 the limiting instructions I've given you in the way in which
10 to evaluate the testimony are the same.
11 Miss Coombe.
12 MS. COOMBE: Thank you, your Honor.
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Abbruzzese - Direct - Coombe
1 J A R E D E. A B B R U Z Z E S E,
2 having been duly sworn by the Clerk of the Court, was
3 examined and testified as follows:
4 DIRECT EXAMINATION
5 BY MS. COOMBE:
6 Q Good morning, Mr. Abbruzzese.
7 A Good morning, Miss Coombe.
8 Q Would you tell us about your educational
9 background?
10 A I started out at St. Pius up in Loudonville,
11 finished my grammar school, went to St. Gregory's in
12 Loudonville. Went to school over in Lenox, Massachusetts,
13 for high school and had a very illustrious career at Siena
14 for one semester and that was the sum total of my college
15 career.
16 Q Have you been involved in a variety of business
17 endeavors since then?
18 A Quite a few, yes, ma'am.
19 Q I'd like to direct your attention to a company
20 called NEON. That the full name of the company?
21 A Northeast Optical Networks, I believe is what it
22 was.
23 Q And it went by NEON?
24 A Yes, ma'am.
25 Q What kind of business was NEON?

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1 A We were a fiberoptic company.
2 Q What relationship did you have with NEON?
3 A We were -- my firm was hired to restructure it and
4 take it through bankruptcy on behalf of the creditors.
5 Q Approximately when was that?
6 A Sometime ago.
7 Q Did you ever explore whether NEON could provide
8 any data storage for New York City?
9 A We did look at, post 9/11, whether there was
10 something that could be done to locate data storage outside
11 of New York City, possibly in upstate New York, as opposed
12 to all the data storage centers running to New Jersey and
13 Connecticut and elsewhere, yes.
14 Q Did you ever meet with Senator Bruno regarding
15 proposed rules for data backup and recovery in the financial
16 services industry?
17 A I did meet with Senator Bruno about the concept of
18 figuring out something to promote data storage being done in
19 upstate New York to help the economy.
20 Q Would that have benefitted NEON?
21 A NEON was a fiberoptic company, didn't do data
22 storage.
23 Q Was the fiberoptic company involved in the
24 transmission of the data from New York City to an upstate
25 facility?

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1 A They would have had to construct a line from New
2 York City up to Albany, New York, or somewhere in Troy,
3 wherever they were talking about locating it. I think at
4 the time the State was talking about taking over the
5 Harriman facility over by State University and putting
6 something in there, but we were just exploring ideas.
7 MS. COOMBE: May I approach, your Honor?
8 THE COURT: Yes.
9 BY MS. COOMBE:
10 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, I am gonna hand to you Government
11 GU-82 previously admitted into evidence.
12 A Yes, ma'am.
13 Q I'd like to direct your attention, this is a --
14 these are minutes of a meeting of the Board of Directors
15 from October 20th of 2003, for Evident Technologies,
16 Incorporated.
17 I'd like to direct your attention to the last
18 paragraph on the first page. It says, "Voted, that in
19 connection with consideration received it was in the best
20 interest of the corporation to issue a warrant to Niskayuna
21 Management exercisable for an aggregate of up to 85,423
22 shares of common stock at the exercise price per share of
23 $4.80 in the form of warrant attached hereto as Exhibit A
24 and to reserve and approve 85,423 shares of common stock for
25 issuance upon exercise of the warrant."

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1 Who owned Niskayuna Development at the time?
2 A I was majority owner.
3 Q Anyone else have an interest?
4 A My wife, on and off, owned significant pieces of
5 these companies.
6 Q Were you always the majority owner of Niskayuna
7 Development?
8 A I don't know if I was the majority owner, but I
9 certainly was the managing member.
10 Q All right.
12 THE COURT: Yes.
13 BY MS. COOMBE:
14 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, I am gonna hand you GU-81
15 previously admitted into evidence. This is an electronic
16 mail message, dated October 17th of 2003, from Mr. Barr to
17 Mr. Ballinger and Mr. Williams, and the subject is NDLLC
18 warrant. Do you recognize that for an abbreviation for
19 Niskayuna Development, LLC?
20 A I do.
21 Q It says, "Fellas, attached please find draft
22 warrant for NDLLC. I will revise when I see paperwork from
23 Bruno member item that drives the vesting. Wayne."
24 Could you please look at the second page?
25 A The second page of the warrant or the second page

8
1 of the exhibit?
2 Q The second page of the warrant.
3 A Yes, ma'am.
4 MS. COOMBE: And Ron, we need to look at the third
5 page, second page of the warrant.
6 Q Do you see the paragraph that states "vesting"?
7 A Yes, ma'am.
8 Q It states, "The warrant shares underlying this
9 warrant shall vest in three installments as follows: 8,475
10 warrant shares shall be immediately vested upon the issuance
11 of this warrant; two, 28,474 warrant shares shall vest on
12 the day that the company receives the second installment of
13 New York State funding; and three, 28,474 warrant shares on
14 the day that the company receives the third installment of
15 New York State funding."
16 Did you offer to help Evident Technologies
17 try to obtain State funding?
18 A I offered to help Evident Technologies and I did
19 position it to seek funding from both the public and private
20 sector.
21 Q Did you expect to receive some compensation for
22 that?
23 A I asked for, if I was able to put together a
24 scenario or an environment where they could be credible
25 enough to get funding from the Federal Government or the

9
1 State government, to get some sort of compensation for it.
3 THE COURT: Yes.
4 BY MS. COOMBE:
5 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, I am gonna hand you GU-68, GU-79
6 and GU-83, all of which have been previously admitted into
7 evidence. Could we please look at GU-68 first?
8 A Yes, ma'am.
9 Q This is an electronic mail message from Karen
10 Armsby?
11 A Yes.
12 Q To a number of people, regarding an Evident
13 meeting with Mr. Abe Lackman. And it states, "I have
14 received confirmation from Mr. Lackman's office the meeting
15 for Evident Technologies will be held on Friday, May 31st,
16 at 11:00 AM, in (sic) his office with the following
17 attendees: Michael Fancher, from Dr. Kaloyeros' office,
18 Clint Ballinger and Wayne Barr." And it's signed by Karen
19 Armsby. Who is Karen Armsby?
20 A She was Wayne's assistant.
21 Q And if we could look please at the next page. Did
22 you have your own assistant, Mr. Abbruzzese?
23 A No. I'm my own assistant.
24 Q If we could look at GU-79.
25 A Yes, ma'am.

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1 Q If we start at -- this is another electronic mail
2 message, from Miss Armsby to Mr. Barr, yourself and
3 Mr. Ballinger, regarding an October 15th meeting. And it
4 states, "I have just received confirmation from Senator
5 Bruno's office on the meeting scheduled for Wednesday,
6 October 15th. It will be held in Room 909 of the
7 Legislative Office Building, beginning at 10:00 AM, with the
8 following participants," and the participants are listed
9 there.
10 And if you could please look now at GU-83.
11 If we start at the bottom, this is an electronic mail
12 message from Ms. Armsby to Mr. Ballinger regarding a meeting
13 with Senator Bruno and Jerry. "Clint, Jerry has scheduled a
14 meeting to talk about Evident with Senator Bruno on
15 Wednesday, December 3rd at 2:30 PM in Room 332 in the LOB.
16 He is requesting that you be at this meeting."
17 And if we could look at the e-mail above
18 that. Mr. Ballinger wrote back, "I'll be there with bells
19 on."
20 Did you facilitate Evident meeting with
21 Senator Bruno in connection with Evident's request to get
22 State funding?
23 A I facilitated a meeting, and it might have been
24 more than one, but I did facilitate a meeting with Evident
25 with Senator Bruno so they could collect on the money that

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1 was owed them by the State government as part of the
2 $1.5 million commitment made in December -- September of '02
3 by Governor Pataki.
4 MS. COOMBE: Move to strike. Nonresponsive.
5 THE COURT: Granted.
6 MS. COOMBE: I'm sorry?
7 THE COURT: Granted.
8 MS. COOMBE: Thank you.
9 BY MS. COOMBE:
10 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, my question is: Did you
11 facilitate Evident meeting with Senator Bruno in connection
12 with Evident's request to get a grant from the State of
13 New York?
14 A Ma'am, I'm tryin' to answer. The money -- it
15 wasn't a new grant. It was payment on a grant or a
16 commitment already made by the State government. So I did
17 facilitate a meeting for them to get the payments that were
18 owed them by the State of New York.
20 THE COURT: You may.
21 BY MS. COOMBE:
22 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, do you remember testifying in the
23 grand jury?
24 A I do.
25 Q I'm handing you a copy of your grand jury

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1 transcript.
2 A Thank you.
3 Q You're welcome. I'd like to direct your attention
4 to page 44, lines 11 through 15. Please read them to
5 yourself and let me know when you are done.
6 A Forty-three what?
7 Q Page 44, lines 11 through 15.
8 A (Witness complies.) Yes, ma'am.
9 Q Did I ask you this question and did you give this
10 answer:
11 Question, "Would it be fair to say that you did
12 facilitate Evident meeting with Senator Bruno in connection
13 with their request to get member item funding?"
14 Answer, "Absolutely fair to say that."
15 Did I ask you to question?
16 A Yes, ma'am.
17 Q And did you give that answer?
18 A I did. As -- but again, in the context --
19 THE COURT: No. No. No. Wait for a question,
20 please.
21 THE WITNESS: Okay.
22 BY MS. COOMBE:
23 Q Did Evident receive funding from Senator Bruno
24 that you understood at the time or referred to as a member
25 item?

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1 A I think you referred to them as member items and
2 I -- they did receive a couple payments of $250,000. There
3 was supposed to be a million and a half dollars forthcoming.
6 BY MS. COOMBE:
7 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, I'm showing you Government Exhibit
8 GU-78 previously admitted into evidence. This is an
9 electronic mail message. Do you recognize the e-mail
10 address of the person who sent this message?
11 A I do.
12 Q Whose address is it?
13 A That's my old e-mail address, thankfully it's old.
14 Q And it's to Clinton Ballinger?
15 A Yes, ma'am.
16 Q And there's a copy to Mr. Barr and Mr. Williams?
17 A Correct.
18 Q And you wrote, "Clint, how are those warrants for
19 Niskayuna Development for 1.25 percent and 1.25 percent at
20 market price respectively doing? You are only about eight
21 months late in fulfilling this commitment."
23 THE COURT: Yes.
24 BY MS. COOMBE:
25 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, I am handing you Government

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1 Exhibit GU-75 previously admitted into evidence. This
2 is a bank statement for Evident Technologies. I'd like to
3 direct your attention to the entry for February 18th of
4 2003.
5 A Yes, ma'am.
6 Q It indicates that a $250,000 deposit was made to
7 Evident's bank account from the ESDC Community Project Fund.
8 Was this the event that occurred eight months earlier that
9 you were referring to in your electronic mail message which
10 is marked as GU-78?
11 A I believe the warrants were supposed to vest or be
12 awarded based on success and money coming in on a commitment
13 that was made in 2002, would be a vesting, so, yes, I would
14 expect that the warrants would vest as they came in.
15 Q So was this the event that you were referring to
16 in the electronic mail message which we just looked at,
17 which is marked as GU-78?
18 A Again, I don't know the exact deposit, but it
19 would seem reasonable to think that.
20 Q Can you think of any other event that occurred in
21 February of 2003 that would have made Mr. Ballinger eight
22 months late in fulfilling the commitment regarding the
23 warrant?
24 A Ma'am, I can't remember 2008 February, but 2003,
25 no idea.

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1 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, can you please look at your grand
2 jury transcript again?
3 A Yes, ma'am.
4 Q I'd like to direct your attention to page 38.
5 Could you please review lines 13 through 21.
6 A (Witness complies.) Um-hum.
7 Q Let me know when you're done.
8 A Yes, ma'am.
10 answer:
11 Question, "Can you think of any other event that
12 occurred in February of 2003 that would have made
13 Mr. Ballinger eight months late in fulfilling the commitment
14 regarding the warrant?"
15 Answer, "No."
16 Did I ask you that question?
17 A You did.
19 MR. LOWELL: Your Honor, this meets the rule of
20 completeness, please.
21 THE COURT: All right. What is it that you --
22 MR. LOWELL: Just the rest of the answer of that
23 particular question.
24 MS. COOMBE: That's fine. I will continue.
25 THE COURT: Please.

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1 BY MS. COOMBE:
2 Q The answer continues, "But, again, the warrants
3 were put in place, were introduced to be put in place and
4 discussed originally was to my benefit, pay me or compensate
5 me for positioning the company to accept, get public
6 funding."
7 A I think you misquoted, though. You said "to my
8 benefit." There is no "my" before "benefit."
9 Q If I did, then I apologize.
10 THE COURT: Reread it, please.
12 Q The answer says, "No, but, again, the warrants
13 were put in place, were introduced to be put in placed and
14 discussed originally was to benefit, pay me or compensate me
15 for positioning the company to accept, get public funding."
16 A Yes, ma'am.
17 Q Did I ask you that question?
18 A You did.
20 A I did.
22 THE COURT: Yes.
23 BY MS. COOMBE:
24 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, I'm handing you Government Exhibit
25 GU-87 previously admitted into evidence. This is a

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1 statement from Evident Technologies' bank account showing a
2 deposit on July 30th of 2004 of $250,000. Was this money a
3 grant Evident received at the direction of Senator Bruno?
4 A This is a grant that Evident received, I guess.
5 Q Did this --
6 A I don't track what comes in and goes out on
7 specifics as far as accounts and all that, but it seems
8 reasonable.
9 Q Did this deposit drive the vesting of the warrant,
10 the second tranche?
11 A Probably so.
12 Q Did it?
13 A I believe so.
15 THE COURT: Yes.
16 BY MS. COOMBE:
18 GU-95, previously admitted into evidence.
19 A Yes, ma'am.
20 Q These are minutes of a Board of Directors meeting
21 of Evident Technologies from November 2nd of 2005. I'd like
22 to direct your attention to the second page, to the last
23 paragraph.
24 A Second page, I'm sorry?
25 Q Yes. Second page, last paragraph, please.

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1 A Yes, you may.
2 Q It states, "Mr. LoCascio indicated that
3 Mr. Abbruzzese has done a lot of work in assisting the
4 company raise money and both Mr. Ballinger and Mr. LoCascio
5 indicated that Mr. Abbruzzese had assisted in the
6 discussions with Mr. Bruno's office regarding the money for
7 Russell Sage College."
9 THE COURT: Yes.
10 BY MS. COOMBE:
12 GU-96 previously admitted into evidence. This is an
13 electronic mail message from Mr. Barr to Mr. Ballinger. The
14 subject is Niskayuna Development warrant. It states, "Hi,
15 Clint: I spoke with Jerry. He would prefer to have the
16 Russell Sage arrangement count as vesting the last tranche
17 of the warrant rather than receive the new warrant. Call me
18 to discuss. Thanks, Wayne."
19 Why did you prefer to have the Russell Sage
20 arrangement count as vesting the last tranche of the warrant
21 rather than receiving a new warrant?
22 A It was quite clear to me at that point in time
23 that the State was not gonna honor its full commitment for
24 $1.5 million. They were supposed to -- the funding was
25 supposed to come in three, predetermined, precommitted to

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1 tranches of $500,000 each. That was the commitment Governor
2 Pataki made to me and was ratified or validated by Senator
3 Bruno and it was all prearranged, precommitted to. The
4 State did not honor its commitment.
5 MS. COOMBE: Move to strike.
6 A So I asked that the Russell Sage -- the deal was
7 cut for Evident to go use the new facility at Russell Sage,
8 that that, in my view, was a form of State help and that the
9 third tranche vest accordingly.
11 THE COURT: Yes.
12 BY MS. COOMBE:
13 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, I'm handing you Government
14 Exhibits GU-1, GU-2 and GU-7, all of which were previously
15 admitted into evidence. Could we please look at GU-1?
16 A Yes, ma'am.
17 Q This is an agreement between Communication
18 Technology Advisors, LLC, and Joseph L. Bruno. Were you
19 affiliated with Communication Technology Advisors, LLC, at
20 this time?
21 A I was, as the majority owner.
22 Q Did you refer to it as CTA?
23 A When I was speaking about it kindly, yes, I did.
24 Q Well, I won't ask you when you were not speaking
25 of it kindly.

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1 A There were times.
2 Q And if we could look at GU-2, please.
3 A Yes, ma'am.
4 Q This is an agreement between Capital & Technology
5 Advisors, LLC, and Joseph L. Bruno. Were you affiliated
6 with Capital & Technology Advisors, LLC, at this time?
7 A I was.
8 Q What was your relationship with this company?
9 A Same, majority, controlling owner.
10 Q And what was your name for it when you were happy
11 with it?
12 A C&TA, versus CTA.
13 Q When did you first talk to Senator Bruno about
14 entering into these agreements which are marked as GU-1 and
15 2?
16 A I think it was on a flight home from playing golf
17 in Florida, sometime in a February time frame. Might be of
18 '05, I think, or somethin' like that. '04, '05, I can't
19 remember.
20 Q Well, the agreements with dated 2004?
21 A Then it would be '04. Thanks for the help.
22 Q You're welcome.
23 MS. COOMBE: Your Honor, the Government moves the
24 admission of GU-110 at this time.
25 MR. LOWELL: And without any objection, your

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1 Honor.
2 THE COURT: Admitted.
3 (Government Exhibit GU-110 received.)
4 MS. COOMBE: May I approach?
6 BY MS. COOMBE:
8 GU-110. This is an itinerary for a trip to Florida from
9 February 5th through February 7th, 2004?
10 A Yes, ma'am.
11 Q It included you?
12 A Correct.
13 Q Zachary Passaretti?
14 A Yes, ma'am.
15 Q And Senator Bruno?
16 A Yes.
17 Q And you were to play golf with someone named Joe?
18 A Cornaccia,10 percent Joe.
19 Q I'm tempted, but I'm not gonna go there.
20 (Laughter.)
21 Q Is this when the trip occurred that you were just
22 referring to?
23 A Yeah. And also I should add I think Roddy Valenti
24 went along with us. This was regarding golf at Joe
25 Cornaccia's golf club, Pine Tree, down in Palm Beach.

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1 Q So this is the trip where --
2 A Yes, this would be the trip, ma'am.
3 Q And Mr. Abbruzzese, I just have to remind you, you
4 have to wait until I finish my questions, even though you
5 know how I am going to finish them, I still have to get them
6 out for the record.
7 A No problem.
8 Q Who brought up the possibility of a consulting
9 agreement between your companies and Senator Bruno?
10 A Senator Bruno.
11 Q What did Senator Bruno say?
12 A He started talking about the uniqueness of New
13 York State and how it's set up, part-time legislators, and
14 that they're allowed to do work away from it. And I said I
15 never heard of such a thing. And he started talking about
16 Sheldon Silver and how Sheldon gets paid 40, 50, $60,000 a
17 month, something like that by the Trial Lawyers'
18 Association. And you know, we talked about him possibly
19 doing consulting work for me.
20 Q What did you say to him?
21 A I said I'd consider it.
22 Q Where did this conversation occur?
23 A On the plane on the way back.
24 Q How much time passed between the conversation on
25 the plane on the way back from this trip to Florida and when

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1 the agreements were executed?
2 A I don't know -- sorry. Probably not too long.
3 Couple weeks maybe. I don't know.
4 Q Do you remember how long it was?
5 A No, ma'am.
6 Q Do you remember that it happened within a short
7 time after you returned?
8 A I remember that probably within a few days I got a
9 call from Joe about it.
10 Q Why do you remember that?
11 A Because I remember talking to him and, you know, I
12 said, you know, something I'd consider and, you know, what
13 would you want? And he said, well, $30,000 a month. I said
14 I'm not payin' ya $30,000 a month. I maybe would consider
15 giving you ten. And we went back and forth. I don't think
16 it was all done in one year, but I don't really remember.
17 Q All right. Could I direct your attention back to
18 GU-1 and GU-2, those are the agreements. And do you see
19 that they're each for payments of $10,000 each month?
20 A Yes, ma'am.
21 Q So did you settle on 20,000, in between the 10 and
22 the 30?
23 A Yes. I thought I was a really good negotiator.
24 Q I'd like to direct your attention now to GU-7,
25 those are the checks that I brought up to you.

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1 A A lot of checks.
2 Q As a result of the agreements that we looked at,
3 did CTA and C&TA pay Senator Bruno $20,000 each month from
4 March through December 2004 for a total of $200,000?
5 A What were the dates again, please?
6 Q March through December.
7 A Yes.
8 Q What reports did you receive from Senator Bruno
9 for the $200,000 that he was paid?
10 A None. I didn't ask for any either, though.
11 Q What correspondence did you receive from Senator
12 Bruno?
13 A We spoke by phone.
14 Q What memoranda did you receive from Senator Bruno?
15 A No reports, no memorandum, but neither did I ask
16 for any.
17 Q What written work product did you receive in
18 return for the $200,000 in payments made by CTA and C&TA to
19 Senator Bruno?
20 A None. Didn't ask for any either.
21 Q Are there any documents from any source reflecting
22 the amount of time Senator Bruno spent working in return for
23 the $200,000 that he received?
24 A We never discussed time commitments. So there
25 wouldn't be any. I'm sorry.

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1 Q I'm sorry, what did you say?
2 A I said there wouldn't be any reports, we never
3 discussed time commitments.
6 BY MS. COOMBE:
8 GU-5, it's been previously admitted into evidence?
9 A Yes, ma'am.
10 Q There is a letter signed by Mr. Barr and
11 Mr. Bruno?
12 A Yes, ma'am.
13 Q And it terminates the agreements that we looked at
14 in the first paragraph. I'd like to direct your attention
15 to the second paragraph.
16 A Yes, ma'am.
17 Q It states, "On behalf of C&TA and CTA, I would
18 like to thank you for your fine help with respect to various
19 golf course opportunities in Florida."
20 What fine help did Senator Bruno provide
21 regarding various golf course opportunities in Florida?
22 A I, at that point in time, was looking to get into
23 the development business and do work in other things.
24 Telecommunications, the restructure business had ebbed from
25 the crisis in '99-2000 when we had so much business. Our

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1 revenues were declining and I was lookin' for other things
2 to do.
3 I had friends in golf course management, golf
4 course development and I had spoken to Senator Bruno about
5 helping use his rolodex and contacts, vast contacts to help
6 me network in golf course development and people who might
7 be looking at developing golf courses.
8 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, will you take a look at your grand
9 jury transcript again for me?
10 A Yes, ma'am.
11 Q I'd like to direct your attention to page 13,
12 lines 2 through 10. Could you please read those to yourself
13 and let me know when you're done?
14 A 2 through 10?
15 Q Yes, please.
16 A Yes. (Witness complies.) Okay.
17 Q Did I ask you these questions and did you give
18 these answers:
19 Question, "And just to make sure I'm clear on
20 this, no one of your businesses had a financial interest in
21 development of golf courses at the time?"
22 Answer, "Not directly, no."
23 Question, "Did they somehow indirectly?"
24 Answer, "Well, what I do is if I help a friend of
25 mine, then he helps me on something I'm interested in, so

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1 it's always trading and opportunities and favors and helping
2 each other."
3 Did I ask you those questions and did you
4 give those answers?
5 A Absolutely.
6 Q Did you mention anything about starting a new
7 business involving golf courses when you testified in the
8 grand jury?
9 A You didn't ask. And the friend I'm referring to
10 there is Greg Norman, down in Florida, who was looking for
11 more golf course design opportunities and expansion. And he
12 had introduced me to a Cory Banks out of Australia who was
13 one of the biggest developers of golf courses in the world
14 at that time. I was simply using the contacts of Senator
15 Bruno to network with people doing golf course building and
16 golf course development. And I was feeding these to the
17 president of Greg Norman Enterprises down in Florida.
18 Q Let's talk about exactly what Senator Bruno did
19 regarding the golf course opportunities. Who exactly did he
20 introduce you to?
21 A He introduced me to Richard Fields, who was
22 building the casino down in Florida and who they were
23 looking at building either 18 holes or 36 holes of golf in
24 association with the casino. I made contact with them and I
25 put their people -- excuse me, in touch with the Norman golf

28
1 course design people in Florida and they began discussions
2 about possibly participating in the design of the -- that
3 one or two golf courses.
4 Q Who else did Senator Bruno introduce you to
5 regarding golf course opportunities?
6 A Donald Trump, which was amazing. I spent some
7 time, a couple meetings with Donald Trump, and I have to
8 tell you, just a brief aside, I went in there to try and
9 work on potential opportunities with Donald Trump, based on
10 an introduction from Joe, and I came out of there having
11 bought a membership at one of his clubs. So, in the art of
12 the deal, he totally walked over me. I mean, it cost me
13 money and I got nothing out of it.
14 (Laughter.)
15 A But he does comb his hair from the side and swirl
16 it around.
17 (Laughter.)
18 Q Is there anyone else that Senator Bruno introduced
19 you to?
20 A There was a gentleman who I think had like 3,000
21 acres down in the Catskills, only I cannot remember his
22 name. I couldn't remember when you asked me in the grand
23 jury and I haven't done anything to refresh my memory. But
24 there was him, and I think there was one or two others that,
25 you know, I was trying to be selective, 'cause I prize my

29
1 friendship with Mr. Norman and business is always different
2 than friendship, and if I am gonna serve up anything from a
3 business perspective to his people, I wanted to make sure
4 that it was real and credible.
5 Q And when you testified in the grand jury, you
6 never mentioned that you were thinking of starting
7 developing golf courses, did you?
8 A Well, ma'am, I testified in the grand jury --
9 Q Would you please answer my questions,
10 Mr. Abbruzzese?
11 A I am. When I testified in the grand jury, you
12 were very specific on limiting what I got to answer.
13 MS. COOMBE: Your Honor, move to strike.
14 A So I tried to explain, I think, and you kept
15 cutting me off. I -- you didn't ask was he looking at it
16 and why.
17 THE COURT: Miss Coombe.
18 MS. COOMBE: Move to strike, nonresponsive.
19 THE COURT: No. I deny it. But as I have offered
20 throughout, you may cross-examine. You are not limited to
21 direct examination with this or any of these witnesses.
22 BY MS. COOMBE:
23 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, you didn't tell the grand jury
24 that you were thinking of having golf course opportunity
25 developments at the time that you testified, did you?

30
1 A No, I did not, ma'am.
2 Q And I repeatedly asked you during various times of
3 your appearance about the golf course opportunities and
4 instead of saying that, you said that those introductions
5 were to help some friends of yours, that you were friends
6 with Greg Norman and that you got -- that's what you got out
7 of it. Isn't that correct?
8 A No. I think, ma'am, what you asked me, and I
9 could go to the page and find it, you asked me on several
10 occasions did I have a golf course business at that time,
11 and I did not. I was looking prospectively as I do. I just
12 go out and try to find opportunities where they lie or don't
13 lie.
14 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, when you testified in the grand
15 jury, you characterized it as introductions that helped out
16 your friends, isn't that correct?
17 A Yes, ma'am.
18 Q I'd like to direct your attention back to GU-5.
19 A Yes, ma'am.
20 Q To the second paragraph, it continues on, after
21 general telecommunications advice, which I am going to go
22 back to, "And in particular, introduction to Lenny Fassler
23 and his efforts surrounding VoIP and how it relates to
24 iBasis, Ntera and other CTA and C&TA portfolio companies."
25 Did Senator Bruno introduce you to

31
1 Mr. Fassler?
2 A Yes, ma'am, he did.
3 Q Where did Senator Bruno introduce you to
4 Mr. Fassler?
5 A I believe we were at the Fort Orange Club.
6 Q Who was at the lunch?
7 A It was Senator Bruno, myself and Lenny Fassler.
8 Q Was this before or after you entered into the
9 consulting agreements with Senator Bruno?
10 A Oh, I believe it was after, but no way I could say
11 for sure.
12 Q Did you know Mr. Fassler before you entered into
13 these consulting agreements with Senator Bruno?
14 A I might have met him once or twice, that he, you
15 know, would go to the track and be with Senator Bruno, and
16 may have brought him once or twice, but I didn't know him
17 like nobody did or how he did it.
18 Q I'm going to direct your attention to page 14 of
19 your grand jury transcript, lines 3 through 6.
20 A Yes, ma'am.
22 answer:
23 Question, "Did you know Mr. Fassler before you
24 entered into these agreements with Senator Bruno?"
25 Answer, "I don't ever remember meeting him or

32
1 seeing him beforehand."
2 A Right.
3 Q Did I ask you that question and did you give that
4 answer?
5 A I did.
6 Q What did Mr. Fassler say at this meeting?
7 A He talked about all the different companies that
8 he had started and taken public or fixed, which was a lot of
9 similar things that I've tried to do in my life. And he
10 was, in particular, involved in -- I can't even remember the
11 name of the company, it's probably that Ntera, but I don't
12 know, a company that was working on a VoIP product which was
13 voice over internet protocol and we were restructuring a
14 company that was one of the largest VoIP companies in the
15 country, which was iBasis, and we sort of had conversations
16 about it, if there was a synergistic opportunity that could
17 be created between the two.
18 Q What did Senator Bruno say at the meeting?
19 A He basically said, you know, he's known over the
20 years as being very credible and he introduced me to Lenny
21 as somebody who was very credible and both with telecom
22 backgrounds.
23 Q Did you have any contact with Mr. Fassler after
24 that meeting at the Fort Orange Club?
25 A I don't know if I did. Certainly Wayne Barr and

33
1 other people followed up on the conversations, but to what
2 extent and exactly how and when, I'm not really sure.
3 Q Did any of your companies enter into any business
4 relationships with Mr. Fassler?
5 A It's hard to say. People keep calling these
6 things my companies. They're not my companies. I wish to
7 God they were. I would be living in Jupiter Island,
8 something like that, in a big house. They're not any
9 companies. This was a company I was retained to help as a
10 consultant. And iBasis, I had some warrants in it, as I
11 typically take in companies I help, and that was it. I had
12 no stock ownership at the time or anything like that.
13 Q I'm going to direct your attention to page 17 of
14 your grand jury transcript, lines 18 through 21.
15 A 18 through 21?
16 Q Yes.
17 A Thank you.
18 Q You're welcome.
19 A Yes, ma'am.
20 Q Question, "Did you enter into a business
21 relationship with Mr. Fassler?"
22 Answer, "I don't think anything happened that came
23 out of it."
24 Did I ask you that question and did you give
25 that answer?

34
1 A Yes, ma'am.
2 Q Did Mr. Fassler tell you that he also paid Senator
3 Bruno?
4 A No, ma'am.
5 Q At this time, were you aware that Senator Bruno
6 was being paid by anyone else?
7 A No ma'am.
9 There's a reference to general telecommunications advice.
10 What general telecommunications advice did Senator Bruno
11 give you?
12 A Well, we used to play golf a lot, which was, you
13 know -- I probably should have gotten paid by him because I
14 was always tryin' to help him with his swing. But the -- we
15 talked a lot about his experiences, taking one of the --
16 making one of the first break away telephone companies a
17 success post Judge Greene when they started to break up the
18 Baby Bells. And it was well known and recorded by people in
19 my industry, the story, and how he went from being a
20 successful businessman, went into the Senate and when the
21 company he put together and grew against all odds fell into
22 trouble and almost went bankrupt, he left the Senate, went
23 back and fixed it, paid off all the bills, as a moral man
24 would do, and then went back into the Senate. It's a
25 tremendous story. He talked about that and some of the

35
1 similarities I had by -- in fixing bankrupt telephone
2 companies, telecom companies, communications companies. And
3 there were a lot of 'em, and I think we did 14 or 15 over
4 the period of late '90s, early 2000s.
5 In addition, he gave me a lot of general advice
6 about being a leader. I mean, before I met Joe, when we
7 would be playing golf and talking about these things, what I
8 would be doing, breaking the rules at the club, always on a
9 cellphone at the golf course, yelling and screaming at
10 people, and he would say, "Would you stop, that's not how
11 you lead. You're commanding people, telling people what to
12 do. You gotta lead by making them feel enthusiastic about
13 following you and following your beliefs and the standards
14 you want to set as opposed to urging them from behind like a
15 sheep dog herding sheep," which is the way I was doing it.
16 There are a lot of things I got from my relationship, both
17 direct and indirect, regarding telecom and my business from
18 Joe.
19 Q Other than telling war stories, what did Senator
20 Bruno give you in the way of general telecommunications
21 advice?
22 A From where the telecom industry is today, his
23 information, his experiences were not really germane in the
24 sense that they were dated.
25 Q Did you find them to be quite dated and far less

36
1 relevant than what you were working on at the time?
2 A Business principles rarely get dated, but the
3 technology certainly was.
4 Q Did you find Senator Bruno's advice to be quite
5 dated?
6 A I found Senator Bruno's understanding of the
7 telecom industry today would be quite dated, of the day we
8 were talking, yes.
9 Q At the end of the day, Senator Bruno didn't give
10 you a tremendous amount of telecommunications advice, isn't
11 that correct?
12 A At the end of the day, I didn't need Senator Bruno
13 for telecommunications advice solely. I wanted him for his
14 rolodex.
15 Q I am gonna direct your attention to page 20 of
16 your grand jury transcript.
17 A Yes, ma'am.
18 Q Lines 6 through 11.
19 A Page 20?
20 Q Yes, lines 6 through 11.
21 A (Witness complies.) I was on the wrong page,
22 sorry. Maybe I need another pair of glasses.
23 Q I have trouble counting.
24 A Me, too. (Pause.) Yes, ma'am.
25 Q Did I ask you these questions -- this question and

37
1 did you give this answer:
2 Question, "I understand that. But I want to focus
3 on what Senator Bruno said to you regarding general
4 telecommunications advice in return for the $240,000 that he
5 received."
6 Answer, "At the end of the day, probably not a
7 tremendous amount."
8 Did I ask you that question and did you give
9 that answer?
10 A Yes, ma'am.
11 Q Other than war stories about Senator Bruno's
12 experiences at Coradian, did Senator Bruno give you any
13 other general telecommunications advice?
14 A He gave me general business advice. General
15 telecommunications advice specifically?
16 Q Yes.
17 A No, ma'am.
18 Q Other than this termination letter, are there any
19 other documents prepared by anyone which reflect work
20 Senator Bruno did in return for the payments from CTA and
21 C&TA?
22 A Not that I'm aware of.
24 admission of Government Exhibit GU-108.
25 MR. LOWELL: Without objection.

38
5 BY MS. COOMBE:
7 GU-108.
8 A Yes, ma'am.
9 Q This is a calendar entry, dated August 26th of
10 2004. At this time, were your companies, which you owned a
11 majority share of, CTA and C&TA, paying Senator Bruno?
12 A August 2004.
13 Q You can look back at GU-7, the checks?
14 A '04, I think I was paying him most of the year, I
15 think.
16 Q I would like to direct your attention to the entry
17 at 11 o'clock.
18 MS. COOMBE: Actually there's a second 11 o'clock
19 entry, Ron, a little farther down the page.
20 A 11 or 10.
21 Q There's one regarding golf.
22 A Okay.
23 Q You see it, it's about halfway down on the
24 left-hand column?
25 A Yes, ma'am.

39
1 Q It says, "11 o'clock, JLB, golf, 1 o'clock lunch,
2 Schuyler Meadows, Jerry Abbruzzese, Steve Dunker" --
3 A Um-hum.
4 Q -- "NYRA, and Tim Smith"?
5 A Correct.
6 Q Who was Mr. Dunker?
7 A He was an up and coming leader on the Board of
8 NYRA, retired banker, Goldman Sachs.
9 Q Do you know what his position with NYRA was at the
10 time?
11 A No. I think he was vice chairman or somethin'
12 like that, I don't know. He was somethin'. I mean, he
13 eventually became the boss, so...
14 Q He had a leadership role at the time?
15 A Yes, ma'am.
16 Q Had you met Tim Smith before this --
17 A Absolutely.
18 Q -- golf outing? What was Mr. Smith's position at
19 this time?
20 A '04? I don't remember all the chronology. At
21 some point, he was slated to be the head of NYRA and he was
22 there for a period of time and then left all of a sudden and
23 he formed Friends of New York Racing, a not-for-profit
24 advocacy group that a bunch of us put some money into to try
25 and frame the discussion about horse racing, the future of

40
1 horse racing in the State of New York. As to the timing of
2 all this, that's the general, yes, ma'am.
3 Q Did you have an interest in horse racing at this
4 time, in August of 2004?
5 A I was losing plenty of money at this time, yes,
6 ma'am.
7 Q Was the NYRA franchise a potentially lucrative
8 business opportunity?
9 A I think at this point in time NYRA was under
10 indictment or about to go under indictment and losing its
11 shirt.
12 Q Was the franchise itself a potentially lucrative
14 A Under the current circumstances, I didn't think
15 there was any way of saving it. Horse racing itself was a
16 potential lucrative business opportunity.
17 Q And you needed the franchise to conduct horse
18 racing in New York State, isn't that correct?
19 A Correct.
20 Q So the franchise was a potentially lucrative
22 A If someone had the franchise, it would be a
23 potential lucrative business opportunity, yes, ma'am.
24 Q When was the NYRA franchise scheduled to expire?
25 A '06, '07, somewhere in that range.

41
2 THE COURT: Yes.
3 BY MS. COOMBE:
5 Exhibits GU-15, GU-30, GU-24, and GU-31, all of which have
6 been previously admitted into evidence. Let's look first at
7 GU-15.
8 A Yes, ma'am.
9 Q This is an agreement between Motient Corporation
10 and Capital Business Consultants?
11 A Yes, ma'am.
12 Q And if you could look at GU-30, please, are those
13 the checks that resulted from that agreement?
14 A I presuppose they are the checks. I would never
15 see a check, so...
16 Q They are checks in the amount of $20,000 written
17 from Motient to Capital Business Consultants?
18 A Yes, ma'am.
19 Q And there are six of them, totaling $120,000?
20 A Yes, ma'am.
21 Q I'd like to look now at GU-24.
22 A Okay.
23 Q This is an agreement -- well, the first page is a
24 fax cover sheet. Let's look at the second page.
25 A Okay.

42
1 Q This is an agreement between TerreStar Networks
2 and Capital Business Consultants?
3 A Yes, ma'am.
4 Q And it continues the term of payments for
5 $20,000 a month from the period of July 1, 2005, through
6 December 31st of 2005 --
7 A It continues the payments from Motient --
8 Q -- correct?
9 A -- that what you're saying? Yes.
10 Q And before that, CTA and C&TA had paid Senator
11 Bruno $20,000 a month?
12 A Apples and oranges, yes, ma'am.
13 Q So it was a continuous flow of $20,000 a month to
14 Senator Bruno?
15 A C&TA terminated the agreement with Senator Bruno
16 in December.
17 Q And then Motient picked up?
18 A No. Motient established a new, fresh relationship
19 with Senator Bruno in January, or whenever it was.
20 Q Well, we can look at the agreement. It's GU-15.
21 A Okay.
22 Q So that was in December, just after the CTA and
23 C&TA agreements were terminated, is that correct?
24 A Yes, ma'am.
25 Q All right. And then this agreement ran for six

43
1 months, through June?
2 A Okay.
3 Q And if we look again at GU-24, the second page,
4 this agreement is dated in August, but it covers the period
5 of July 2005 through December 31, 2005.
6 A What I'm looking at is dated July 27th, signed by
7 Bob Brumley.
8 Q Oh, you're right, it's dated in July. Thank you
9 for clarifying that. So it continued the payments from July
10 through December 31st, is that correct?
11 A Correct.
12 Q And if we could look at GU-31, please.
13 A Yes, ma'am.
14 Q This is a check for $40,000 from TerreStar to
15 Capital Business Consultants?
16 A Yes, ma'am.
17 Q Who was responsible for Motient and TerreStar
18 retaining Senator Bruno?
19 A I was.
20 Q What was your role with Motient at the time?
21 A Chairman of the Board.
22 Q What reports did Senator Bruno prepare for Motient
23 and TerreStar?
24 A None, nor did I ask for any.
25 Q What correspondence did Senator Bruno prepare for

44
1 Motient and TerreStar?
2 A None, other than phone calls and occasional
3 meetings I asked him to attend.
4 Q What memoranda did Senator Bruno prepare for
6 A None that I asked for.
7 Q What work product did Motient and TerreStar
8 receive for the $160,000 that was paid to Senator Bruno?
9 A None.
10 Q Are there any documents reflecting any -- from any
11 source reflecting the amount of time Senator Bruno spent
12 working in return for the $120,000 he was paid by Motient
13 and TerreStar?
14 A No, ma'am. There wouldn't be.
15 Q What introductions did Senator Bruno make for
17 A Well, he wasn't supposed to make any
18 introductions.
19 Q Did he make any introductions?
20 A Not that I asked him for, no.
21 Q What meetings did Senator Bruno set up for Motient
22 and TerreStar?
23 A He didn't set up meetings for Motient and
24 TerreStar. That wasn't what I asked him to do.
25 Q What meetings did Senator Bruno attend for Motient

45
1 and TerreStar?
2 A I had a meeting set up down in Washington at the
3 National Committee. I had him attend three dinners: One at
4 the St. Regis, one at San Pietro and one at Raio's, a very
5 tough ticket to get, with different people, and I believe
6 they're all in the spring time when we were getting Motient
7 ready -- or I think it was Motient at the time in
8 fund-raising and corporate history. Motient was a story and
9 TerreStar was a story, it had no assets. It was a story
10 that needed a lot of help in 2005, and I used Senator Bruno
11 to build one of the tools I tried to deploy to build
12 credibility around a story that otherwise didn't have a
13 chance.
14 Q Now, when you testified in the grand jury, you
15 never mentioned that Senator Bruno had attended three
16 dinners with you, did you?
17 A I don't think I was asked.
18 Q You never mentioned it, did you, Mr. Abbruzzese?
19 A I didn't -- you were very specific, only answer
20 the questions you were asking me, and I did so, and I don't
21 think you ever asked me were there any dinners that Senator
22 Bruno attended.
23 Q No, but I asked you what work Senator Bruno did
24 for Motient and TerreStar, didn't I?
25 A Yes, you did.

46
1 Q And you didn't mention the dinners, did you?
2 A No. You asked me if he submitted reports, asked
3 me if he submitted time cards. I tried to explain that it
4 was visual presentation, he was there to provide
5 credibility. And every time I tried to expand and provide
6 context, you know, you asked me just to stay specifically
7 with the questions asked and I tried to respect your wishes.
8 Q I asked you how Senator Bruno provided
9 credibility, didn't I, Mr. Abbruzzese?
10 A Yes, ma'am.
11 Q And you never mentioned the dinners, did you?
12 A Well, I wasn't withholding them.
13 Q Did you mention them?
14 A No.
15 Q No, I didn't think so.
17 THE COURT: Yes.
18 BY MS. COOMBE:
19 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, I'm showing you grand jury -- I
20 mean, excuse me, Government Exhibit GU-11 --
21 A Yes, ma'am.
22 Q -- previously admitted into evidence.
23 A Thank you.
24 Q You're welcome. This is a memorandum from Tim
25 Smith to the Friends of New York Racing Board of Directors.

47
1 It's dated May 18th of 2005. Were you a member of the
2 Friends of New York Racing Board of Directors at this time?
3 A Yes, ma'am, I was.
4 Q Could you please tell us what Friends of New York
5 Racing was?
6 A Friends of New York Racing was a not-for-profit, I
7 think it was a 501(c)(3), which is IRS designation for a
8 non-profit organization. We were -- I think you can deduct
9 your gift if you make it to it. I can't remember. It was
10 established by a group of horsemen trying to frame the whole
11 issue surrounding New York horse racing and to make some
12 recommendations, ultimately, to the Legislature and to the
13 Governor about the private sector's opinion of what could be
14 done to help fix horse racing in New York.
15 At the time, as I said, NYRA was either under
16 investigation and indicted or just under investigation with
17 a Court-appointed monitor and federal monitor, basically
18 conducting races. They were not paying their bills. They
19 were a hundred million dollars upside down in their pension
20 fund liability to all the employees that worked there. As a
21 horseman, many times we were questioning whether our purses
22 and our winnings, the few times I had any winnings, would
23 get paid, and it was a disaster.
24 Q Friends of New York Racing was formed in
25 anticipation of the expiration of the NYRA franchise?

48
1 A Yes, ma'am.
2 Q I'd like to direct your attention to the second
3 page, to the last paragraph.
4 A Yes, ma'am.
5 Q Says, Senator Bruno/Senate staff. "A recent,
6 informal "off campus" meeting with Senator Bruno was set up
7 by Board member, Jerry Abbruzzese, a close friend of the
8 Senator. We had the opportunity -- again following the
9 February to April budget intensity -- to review our issues
10 and progress over about an hour." And it continues on the
11 next page, "To summarize, the Senator remains committed to
12 privatization and putting the NYRA assets into a for profit
13 business structure as a way to improve operations,
14 accountability, results, et cetera. By the same token, he
15 wants racing and breeding -- and obviously Saratoga in
16 particular -- to be "appropriately protected" so he
17 suggested that our report reflect this balance and contain
18 specifics on how racing, racing quality, facility
19 improvement, et cetera, would be assured along with the
20 ability to attack capital and function like a real
21 business."
22 "Staff, they particularly like the new financial
23 models. The Senator has directed them to be available to us
24 for information, assistance, advice, et cetera."
25 Where did this off campus meeting occur,

49
1 Mr. Abbruzzese?
2 A In my living room, I believe.
3 Q Did you attend the meeting?
4 A I don't think I -- I don't add much to those
5 discussions. I think I probably sat in the beginning and
6 came in at the end, but I don't recall one way or the other.
7 Q Other than Senator Bruno and Mr. Smith, did anyone
8 else attend this meeting?
9 A No. It was the two of 'em.
10 Q Where were those dinners that you mentioned today
11 for the first time that Senator Bruno attended?
12 A Raio's.
13 Q I don't know where this is or what it is.
14 A Raio's. They were all in New York City. It's a
15 little Italian place and it's impossible to get into and he
16 was very excited and I was there with business people,
17 gentlemen who were investors in Motient, and we ran into
18 Alfonse D'Amato, so it was a big Italian muck muck between
19 Senator Bruno and Al D'Amato for quite awhile.
20 Q So, Senator Bruno went to dinner with investors to
21 try to raise money for Motient?
22 A No, ma'am, I didn't say that. I said he went to a
23 dinner and part of the people who were there that I invited
24 were institutional investors.
25 Q Well, whom else was there?

50
1 A I can't remember everybody that was there. It was
2 a table for six.
3 Q How about -- you mentioned two other times; where
4 were those dinners?
5 A SanPietro's.
6 Q Can you spell that for us, please?
7 A S-A-N, capital P-I-E-T-R-O, on 54th in Manhattan.
8 Q Who was at that dinner?
9 A I don't remember. That was, again, four or five
10 of us. And then over at St. Regis, that was a much bigger
11 dinner.
12 Q Who was there?
13 A It was Steve Lampe of Lampe, Conway.
14 Q Who is he?
15 A Institutional investor.
16 Q Anyone else?
17 A There were about seven, eight people there.
18 Again, this is a long time ago.
19 Q But you remember them?
20 A I do remember them.
21 Q Right. This didn't have anything to do with FCC
22 lobbying, did it, these dinners?
23 A Senator Bruno's not a lobbyist. I wouldn't have
24 him lobbying the FCC.
25 Q Do you have any idea why the Motient and TerreStar

51
1 agreements refer to lobbying?
2 A I did the lobbying.
3 Q And Senator Bruno didn't help you with that at
4 all, did he?
5 A I didn't ask him to. I wanted him to provide
6 visual credibility, in a company that had none, no
7 credibility. We had to build it, construct it from nothin'.
9 A May I continue while you're looking and just
10 explain what I mean by the visual credibility?
11 THE COURT: No.
12 MS. COOMBE: There's no question pending.
13 THE WITNESS: No? Sorry.
15 BY MS. COOMBE:
16 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, you testified in the grand jury
17 that Senator Bruno was going to -- that you "hoped that he
18 would be helpful with people that he knew in Washington who
19 were power brokers who, by lending his name, it would be
20 viewed as credibility to what we are trying to get done."
21 Didn't you?
22 A Yes, ma'am.
23 Q You didn't mention these dinners, did you?
24 A No, ma'am.
25 Q And you testified in the grand jury that you

52
1 discovered that Senator Bruno's reputation in Washington was
2 not what you thought it would be, didn't you?
3 A That's true. And if you like me to explain, I'm
4 happy to.
5 Q I'd like to direct your attention back to GU-28,
6 it's the TerreStar termination agreement. This is dated
7 August 26, 2005. Do you need a minute to find it,
8 Mr. Abbruzzese?
9 A Yeah, I have a lot of papers here. It's kinda
10 looking like my son's desk. Are you sure I have GU-28?
11 Q You don't actually. That's why you can't find it.
12 A Ahhh. So I'm not totally dead.
13 Q I am handing you GU-28 previously admitted into
14 evidence.
15 A Thank you very much.
16 Q Would you like me to take some of those --
17 A That would be great.
18 MR. LOWELL: I am sorry, I'm confused. What
19 number are we on?
20 MS. COOMBE: GU-28.
21 MR. LOWELL: Thank you.
22 BY MS. COOMBE:
23 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, this is a termination agreement
24 dated August 26, 2005. It's signed by Robert Macklin --
25 A Yes, ma'am.

53
1 Q -- of TerreStar Networks. And it states,
2 "Gentlemen, on July 27, 2005, TerreStar Networks and Capital
3 Business Consultants entered into a consulting agreement
4 that was to last through December 31, 2005. Unfortunately,
5 changing circumstances have required TerreStar to terminate
6 this engagement prematurely effective August 31, 2005. As
7 all payments through August 31, 2005, required by the
8 agreement have been made, no further payments shall be
9 required thereunder."
10 What were the changing circumstances which
11 required TerreStar to terminates its agreement with Senator
12 Bruno?
13 A Well, at the end of July, I hired Bob Brumley
14 about this time to come in as a CEO and when he become CEO,
15 my goal was for him to be in control of all the things that
16 up until that point in time I was in control of.
17 Q Like the lobbying?
18 A Like the lobbying, like the implementation of the
19 lobbying and everything else.
20 Q Did you talk --
21 A And -- sorry.
22 Q -- did you talk to Mr. Brumley about Senator
23 Bruno?
24 A I thought, and I remember telling you in the grand
25 jury, that I talked to him, but it might have been Downie

54
1 that called me. But either way, I, directly or indirectly,
2 got a question from, you know, Brumley through somebody
3 directly from him or somebody inside the company, you know,
4 I don't really see what he's doing, you know, do I need to
5 keep 'em on? And I shouted back it's your company you make,
6 the decision, and he decided to terminate him.
7 Q What did you tell Senator Bruno when the agreement
8 with TerreStar was terminated?
9 A "You're terminated."
10 Q What did he say?
11 A "Ouch."
12 (Laughter.)
14 A You just took all my GU-24s (sic).
15 Q You're right. I should have left them up there.
16 A I will be confused again. Maybe if you just give
17 me the 20s, that would be better.
18 Q I will find it for you.
21 BY MS. COOMBE:
22 Q I'm handing you GU-24, directing your attention to
23 the second page.
24 A Yes, ma'am.
25 Q That's the agreement with TerreStar?

55
1 A It is.
2 MS. COOMBE: May I approach again, your Honor?
4 BY MS. COOMBE:
5 Q I'm handing you back again Government Exhibit
6 GU-31.
7 A Do you want to just bring the whole back up?
8 Q No, I don't mind walking back and forth.
9 A I was doing that all day yesterday, it's not so
10 bad. Yes, ma'am.
11 Q Let's look at GU-24, the agreement. It was
12 supposed to run from July to December 2005, correct?
13 A Correct.
14 Q How many months is that?
15 A It was supposed to run to the end of the year, so
16 six months, yes.
17 Q And it was terminated early and if we could look
18 at GU-31, this is a spec for $40,000 from TerreStar?
19 A Yes, ma'am.
20 Q So Senator Bruno was paid for only two months of
21 the six months of the TerreStar agreement, is that correct?
22 A Yes, ma'am.
23 Q So, if the TerreStar agreement had not been
24 terminated four months early, then Senator Bruno would have
25 received an additional $80,000 pursuant to the TerreStar

56
1 agreement, is that correct?
2 A He would have and should have, yes.
3 Q Did you try to make up that $80,000 to him in some
4 way?
5 A Well, we had this discussion in the grand jury. I
6 mean, you can't just look at it did I try and make up. I
7 tried to, at that point in time, begin the process of
8 unwinding all my business relationships with Senator Bruno
9 for a number of reasons. And as part of that --
10 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, you tried to make up the $80,000
11 to Senator Bruno in some way, didn't you?
12 A As I told you in the grand jury, I was looking for
13 a global solution. I felt I had an obligation towards him
14 for a contract that I entered into or had committed to him
15 about on behalf of the companies when I was in charge of
16 Motient, TerreStar. A year agreement is a year agreement.
17 Whether it gets terminated or not, you have a moral
18 obligation. I mean, part of what I do is I have to go by --
19 over the same bridge, over and over and over. If I start
20 cutting consultants loose early and terminating them on five
21 days' notice, next time I go to look for help or people to
22 stand there and I say, "I will give you a year", they'll
23 say, "No, you're not gonna give me a year, you're gonna use
24 me and lose me."
25 Q So you felt you owed a moral obligation to pay

57
1 Senator Bruno $80,000 under the TerreStar agreement if it
2 had not been terminated early?
3 A I felt I had an obligation to come to a successful
4 conclusion that took into account he was cut loose early.
5 That's what I told you in the grand jury. It was a global
6 solution. I was lookin' for a global solution this dealt
7 with the horses, that dealt with the horse deal with he and
8 Bilinski, that dealt with the -- him goin' loose. Let's
9 understand the context. In 2005, we turned into the most
10 successful year Motient and TerreStar had.
11 MS. COOMBE: Your Honor --
12 THE COURT: Yes.
13 MS. COOMBE: -- we are far afield.
14 THE COURT: We are. Mr. Abbruzzese, this is not
15 an opportunity for you to give a speech. Please answer the
16 questions that are asked of you by whomever you are asked
17 and limit your answers to the questions that are asked.
18 Let's leave it there. Reask your question, please.
19 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
20 BY MS. COOMBE:
21 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, you felt a moral obligation to pay
22 Senator Bruno the $80,000?
23 A I felt a moral obligation to consider that as part
24 of my global termination of all the business transactions.
25 Q You bought a horse from Senator Bruno for $80,000

58
1 at this time, isn't that correct?
2 A I committed to buy a horse for $80,000 from the
3 two people that owned the rest of the horse. I ended up
4 only pay $40,000 for it.
5 Q The horse wasn't worth $80,000, was it?
6 A ,Well you can look back and say the horse isn't
7 worth $80,000 now, but at the same time I was doing that, I
8 bought two horse down in Kingsland at auction for
9 seventy-five and $150,000 and I could have parked them at
10 the same 7-11 and given them away with this one at the end
11 of the day, so...
12 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, I am going to direct your
13 attention to page 97 of your grand jury transcript.
14 A Yes, ma'am.
15 Q I am going to direct your attention to lines 12
16 through 15.
17 A Yes, ma'am.
18 Q Did you give this answer: "Christy's Night Out
19 wasn't worth $80,000." Did you give that answer?
20 A I did.
21 Q Did you continue on to say, "But it was not worth
22 zero, but was worth somewhere in between"?
23 A Yes, ma'am.
24 Q Did you give that answer in the grand jury?
25 A I did.

59
1 Q The horse wasn't worth $80,000, was it,
2 Mr. Abbruzzese?
3 A No. And I ended up paying forty for it.
4 Q Senator Bruno was owed $80,000 under the
5 terminated TerreStar agreement and you agreed to pay him
6 $80,000 for a horse that was not worth $80,000, isn't that
7 correct?
8 A Ma'am, I think if you read on in the grand jury
9 testimony --
10 Q Excuse me, Mr. Abbruzzese. The question requires
11 a "yes" or "no" answer.
12 A I agreed to purchase a horse for $80,000.
13 MS. COOMBE: Your Honor, move to strike,
14 nonresponsive.
15 THE COURT: Nonresponsive. Reask the question one
16 more time. Answer the question, please, Mr. Abbruzzese.
18 BY MS. COOMBE:
19 Q Senator Bruno was owed $80,000 under the
20 terminated TerreStar agreement and you paid him $80,000 for
21 a horse that was not worth $80,000, isn't that correct?
22 A I paid him $80,000 for a horse.
23 Q That was not worth --
24 A I committed to pay him $80,000 for a horse.
25 Q You committed to paying him $80,000 for a horse

60
1 that was not worth $80,000, isn't that correct?
2 A Looking back on it, that is correct.
3 Q Isn't that correct?
4 A I just said looking back on it, that's correct.
6 THE COURT: Yes.
8 admission of Government Exhibit GU-44.
9 THE COURT: Objections.
10 MR. LOWELL: No, sir.
15 BY MS. COOMBE:
17 Exhibits GU-44 and GU-45. Government Exhibit GU-45 was
18 previously admitted into evidence. GU-44 is a letter from
19 Senator Bruno to you?
20 A Yes, ma'am.
21 Q It states, "Dear Jerry, enclosed is a bill of sale
22 for the '04 filly by Exploit and out of Ladies Night In.
23 Please sign both copies, return one to me in the enclosed
24 envelope and retain one for your files."
25 What was the name of the '04 filly by Exploit

61
1 and out of Ladies Night In?
2 A Christy's Night Out.
3 Q Can we look at the next page, please.
4 A Yes, ma'am.
5 Q Or I should say GU-45.
6 A I have it.
7 Q This is a bill of sale. "Joseph L. Bruno,
8 proprietor of Mountain View Farm, Troy, New York, has, on
9 this date, agreed to sell 100 percent of the 2004
10 thoroughbred filly by Exploit and out of Ladies Night In,"
11 that would be Christy's Night Out, is that correct,
12 Mr. Abbruzzese?
13 A Correct.
14 Q "To Weatherwatch Farm, 18 Corporate Woods, Albany,
15 New York, for the sum of $80,000." And it's signed by
16 Senator Bruno and yourself, is that correct?
17 A Correct.
18 Q Weatherwatch Farm was your farm?
19 A My wife's.
20 Q You signed this, right?
21 A I did.
23 THE COURT: Yes.
24 BY MS. COOMBE:

62
1 GU-43 previously admitted into evidence. This is a note
2 that states, August 18, 2005. "JLB: Is it okay for Jerry B
3 to bill Jerry A for the expenses for the '04 filly?" And
4 "yes" is checked. "September 1st on." It says, "Jerry B
5 also wants me to send Jerry A a bill of sale for $1 for the
6 filly." And there's a note, "okay."
7 Didn't Dr. Bilinski give you his one-third
8 interest in Christy's Night Out before you agreed to pay
9 $80,000 for that horse?
10 A Dr. Bilinski give me his portion of the horse?
11 Q Yes.
12 A I have no idea. I've never seen this. I don't
13 know what this is.
14 Q It says, "Jerry B also wants me to send Jerry A a
15 bill of sale for $1 for the filly."
16 A That could mean that he's just selling his
17 portion. I was paying $80,000 for the two-thirds I did not
18 own. My view, there were two other people that owned that.
19 I don't know what this is. I have never seen this.
20 Q Why would Jerry B want a bill of sale for $1 to be
21 sent to you for the filly?
22 A Ma'am, I couldn't begin to tell you about Jerry
23 Bilinski.
24 Q Well, why would he want a bill of sale for $1 be
25 sent for the filly, other than if he had agreed to give you

63
1 his one-third ownership in that horse for a dollar?
2 A I have no idea what Jerry Bilinski was thinking.
3 Q Was it Senator Bruno who agreed to give you his
4 share of the horse for $1?
5 A I think, as we look here, what I got, I paid
6 $80,000 -- or committed to pay $80,000 for two-thirds I did
7 not own in a horse deal where two other people owned the
8 other two-thirds.
9 Q Right. But this note says, "Jerry B also wants me
10 to send Jerry A a bill of sale for a $1 the filly."
11 A I can't speak to what Jerry B wants. I don't like
12 Jerry B, I don't trust Jerry B, so that is just the way it
13 is.
14 Q Well, in any event, it refers to a bill of sale
15 for a dollar. Dr. Bilinski was walking away from his
16 one-third interest in this horse, isn't that true?
17 A I don't know what's true in this. I have no idea
18 what this is.
19 Q You wound up giving Christy's Night Out away?
20 A Eventually.
21 Q Why didn't you just walk away from the horse
22 rather than agreeing to pay $80,000 for it?
23 A I -- as I tried to indicate to you in my grand
24 jury testimony, I was looking for a global solution. I
25 wanted to be out of the horse dealings with Senator Bruno

64
1 and Mr. Bilinski. I wanted to be out of that totally. I
2 wanted to sever all economic ties. At that point in time,
3 the horse racing franchise and what was gonna happen with
4 NYRA started to take shape and I had expressed a commitment
5 or desire to possibly play in that arena and I wanted to
6 make sure that all of my ties, any financial or otherwise,
7 were totally gone.
8 Q So, by August of '05, when you bought this horse,
9 or September of '05 when you agreed to pay $80,000 for a
10 horse that wasn't worth $80,000, you were aware that you
11 were going to be involved as one of the bidders for the NYRA
12 franchise?
13 A There were no rules out there at that time what
14 the deal on NYRA was going to be. But I was making plans or
15 thinking about potentially playing in that, oh, absolutely.
16 And I did not pay 80,000 for the horse; I paid forty.
17 Q The bill of sale is for $80,000, isn't that
18 correct, Mr. Abbruzzese?
19 A Yes, ma'am, it is.
21 THE COURT: Yes.
22 BY MS. COOMBE:
24 GU-56, that's been previously admitted into evidence.
25 That's a termination agreement regarding the horses?

65
1 A Okay.
2 Q Between you and Senator Bruno, is that correct?
3 A I guess.
4 Q All right. I'd like to direct your attention to
5 page 2, to the first paragraph. It states, "The parties,
6 Jared Abbruzzese and Joseph L. Bruno, agree that the $40,000
7 debt owing from Jared Abbruzzese to Joseph L. Bruno is
8 forgiven in exchange for the transfer of Jared Abbruzzese's
9 one-third interest in broodmares," and they're identified,
10 "as well as the offspring of those broodmares." Is that
11 correct?
12 A Yes, ma'am.
13 Q Is this the only compensation you received from
14 Senator Bruno for terminating your interest in the horses?
15 A That I'm aware of.
16 Q So, you walked away from these horses, which had
17 value, and you paid $80,000 for a horse that was not worth
18 80,000 because you paid $40,000 for it at one point and had
19 $40,000 debt forgiven?
20 A So that would be a $40,000 total, not eighty like
21 everybody talks about it. What's forgiven is my debt being
22 forgiven, not compensation to Joe, it's compensation to me.
23 So my total cost for getting out of this thing ended up
24 being $40,000, the way I look at it.
25 Q Well, you would have had to pay Senator Bruno

66
1 another forty --
2 A Right --
3 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, please let me finish my question.
4 A I'm sorry. I apologize.
5 Q The bill of sale was for $80,000, isn't that
6 correct?
7 A Correct.
8 Q You paid half of it, $40,000?
9 A Correct.
10 Q If Senator Bruno had not forgiven the $40,000 debt
11 in connection with the termination agreement, then you would
12 have owed him another $40,000, isn't that correct?
13 A Correct. But he did forgive it and so all I did
14 was terminate -- I made good on the TerreStar contract, I
15 made good on getting out of all the horse dealings with
16 Jerry Bilinski, I made good on severing all my economic ties
17 for $40,000. It was never an $80,000 transaction, it was a
18 $40,000 transaction. Forgiveness of debt -- and people in
19 the newspaper misprint this all the time because they don't
20 bother to think about it. Forgiveness of debt is him
21 forgiving my debt. If I forgave him $40,000 in debt, that
22 would be $40,000 to Joe Bruno. This was $40,000 to Jerry
23 Abbruzzese, so it was a $40,000 transaction.
24 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, you really didn't make out very
25 good, did you? You paid $80,000 for a horse that wasn't

67
1 worth $80,000 and you walked away from a bunch of horses
2 that had value that Dr. Bilinski received a lot more money
3 for so you really didn't make out good at all, did you?
4 A Well, horses and I have not been very lucky. As I
5 said, I bought two in Kingsland, the same time I bought
6 Christy's Night Out, for 75,000 for one, 150,000 for the
7 other, put 'em through training, put 'em through Crupi's,
8 the same time Christy's Night Out was out there, and they
9 ended up turning up crops also. I think I gave them away,
10 eventually, for a dollar. 10 percent Joe I talked to you
11 about earlier --
12 MS. COOMBE: Your Honor, at this time I am gonna
13 interrupt.
14 THE COURT: It's not an opportunity for a speech
15 or to regale us about these things. Wait for a question,
16 answer a question and then stop, please.
18 BY MS. COOMBE:
19 Q It doesn't sound like you made out very good on
20 this investment with the horses with Senator Bruno. You
21 paid $80,000 for a horse that was not worth $80,000 and you
22 walked away from a bunch of horses that Dr. Bilinski got
23 paid a lot of money for, isn't that correct?
24 A Sometimes I did well with them, sometimes I did
25 poorly. This time I did poorly.

68
Abbruzzese - Cross - Lowell
1 Q Yeah, I am not asking about the other times. I'm
2 asking about this time. This time you did poorly, isn't
3 that correct?
4 A Yes, ma'am.
5 MS. COOMBE: May I have a moment, your Honor?
7 MS. COOMBE: I have nothing further, your Honor.
8 THE COURT: Mr. Lowell.
9 MR. LOWELL: Thank you, your Honor.
10 THE COURT: Pick a spot that's convenient to you.
11 It's twenty-give after. About ten minutes or so.
12 MR. LOWELL: Certainly.
13 CROSS-EXAMINATION
14 BY MR. LOWELL:
15 Q Good morning. I'd like, if you can --
16 A Do I need my glasses or can I put them away for
17 the time being?
18 Q Can you read the screen --
19 A The screen is much worse. I'll keep them out.
20 Q Please do that then. I would like to unwind the
21 chronology of the last exchange on horses, okay?
22 Miss Coombe asked you whether or not the horse
23 ended up not being worth a particular amount, I think
24 $80,000, right? She asked you that question?
25 A Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. Too many ma'ams.

69
1 (Laughter.)
2 A No offense. Let me start over.
3 Q With my first name, it happens all the time.
4 (Laughter.)
5 Q After you entered into the 2005 agreement that
6 Miss Coombe showed you the contract for, that was your
7 intention to pay $80,000, you took possession of the horse,
8 correct?
9 A I did.
10 Q And then you tried to see if that horse could
11 perform, correct?
12 A I did.
13 Q You sent it to be, the phrase you used is broken,
14 correct?
15 A You do not know what a horse is capable of in
16 horse racing until you go through the breaking process and
17 start putting it on the track. Big, small, ugly, pretty,
18 doesn't really matter.
19 Q And you went through that process, I understand?
20 A I did.
21 Q And you mentioned Crupi's Farm in Ocala?
22 A Yes, sir.
23 Q And Mr. Crupi doesn't do that for free?
24 A No.
25 Q So you would put money into this horse after the

70
1 sale from Mr. Bruno?
2 A I probably spent another ten or $12,000 on that
3 horse after the sale from Senator Bruno.
4 Q And in addition to the fees to break the horse,
5 you had to pay for the upkeep and boarding and other parts
6 of having the possession of the horse, correct?
7 A Oh, yeah.
8 Q So you were putting money into that horse even
9 after, in addition to Crupi's?
10 A Right. But I think that's all bunched into the
11 ten, 12,000. I couldn't possibly separate that out.
12 Q Okay. And so, it wasn't as if on one day a
13 contract was made for 80,000 and the next day all of a
14 sudden the horse was worthless, correct?
15 A No.
16 Q A contract was made, and in the beginning there
17 was every reason to think it was worth $80,000, correct?
18 A You don't know. Horse racing is craps. I mean...
19 Q I will get, after the break, into that, as to the
20 lineage of the horse, but it didn't happen all in a day, did
21 it?
22 A Oh, God know.
23 Q It transpired over time. The sale occurred, the
24 horse was sent, you tried to train it, you tried to upkeep
25 it and at some point, it didn't work out. Is that a correct

71
1 chronology of that particular horse's events?
2 A Yes, sir.
3 Q Now I'd like to go back to the beginning.
4 Ms. Coombe asked you about there came a time where you ended
5 up having some consulting arrangement with Mr. Bruno
6 initially with a company called CTA?
7 A And C&TA.
8 Q So I would like to start there.
9 A All right.
10 Q It's not like you met Bruno on Monday and hired
11 him for CTA on Tuesday, is it?
12 A No. We were friends for four or five years before
13 that.
14 Q In fact, you had met him probably eight years
15 before the first contract -- I'm sorry, six years before the
16 first contract --
17 A Again --
18 Q -- sometime?
19 A -- years meld in my mind. I remember meeting him
20 on a golf course, at Troy Country Club, so that's how I
21 frame it. Other than that, exact year escapes me.
22 Q There must be more golf courses in this area than
23 in any place in the country.
24 All right, Mr. Abbruzzese, so you met him on
25 a golf scours six or so years before, is that fair?

72
1 A Somewhere around there, yes.
2 Q And you got to know him after that?
3 A Yes, sir.
4 Q It wasn't as if you met him and then the next day
5 hired him?
6 A Oh, no.
7 Q You got to know a little bit about him?
8 A Yes, sir.
9 Q A little bit about his background?
10 A Yes, sir.
11 Q A little bit about his experience?
12 A Absolutely.
13 Q So that when the time came that he raised the
14 issue of whether he could provide consulting services, did
15 you have some information about his background and
16 experience that would allow you to determine whether that
17 was a good idea for any of your companies?
18 A Well, absolutely. I mean, we were very good and
19 growing closer friends over a period of time and I got to
20 watch him act, I got to watch the way he treated people, I
21 got to watch the way he treated his wife.
22 Q So, what was it on the business side of things
23 that you learned that caused you to come to believe that
24 when he raised the issue of consulting, he could add value
25 to your company and your efforts?

73
1 A He had a lot of qualities about him that I admired
2 and wanted to borrow or steal for myself, which -- Joe has a
3 reputation, on both sides of the aisle, in state, out of
4 state, of a man who took good business principles and tried
5 to apply 'em in government. Joe was one of the first people
6 in my space, telecom, to build a successful franchise in
7 telephone equipment arena at a time when nobody else could
8 get it done. IBM was trying, a lot of people. He beat the
9 odds, came up from a very tough childhood. I mean, I used
10 to sit around at the house with Bobbie, Bobbie, his wife of
11 55 years --
12 MS. COOMBE: Objection, your Honor.
13 THE COURT: Sustained.
14 Q Mr. Abbruzzese --
15 A Sorry. Am I going aside again?
16 Q I am going to try to ask questions and keep your
17 answers short.
18 A I get it. Stay focused.
19 Q Yes. I will ask one more question before I ask
20 the Court if it's a good time for a break. You were saying
21 the business side?
22 A Business side.
23 Q You mentioned his telecommunications experience,
24 the Coradian company and you mentioned his having turned
25 that company around. Were those factors you knew about

74
1 before you hired him or before you talked to him even about
2 whether he could add value in consulting to your company?
3 A Absolutely. We talked about it all the time.
4 Q And was that part of the equation that you had in
5 mind when he raised the subject?
6 A Yes, sir.
7 MR. LOWELL: Shall I keep going, your Honor?
8 THE COURT: Oh, no. I was delegating to you at a
9 point that's comfortable with you.
10 MR. LOWELL: This is good, and then we'll go to a
11 different subject.
12 THE COURT: All right. Ladies and gentlemen, you
13 may step aside until ten of. Twenty minutes.
14 (Short recess taken at 10:32 AM.)
15 (Court reconvened at 10:50 AM.)
16 (Jury present.)
17 THE COURT: Mr. Lowell, please.
18 MR. LOWELL: Thank you, your Honor. Thank you,
19 ladies and gentlemen.
20 BY MR. LOWELL:
21 Q Before the break, Mr. Abbruzzese, I was getting to
22 the point where you and Mr. Bruno with discussing a possible
23 consulting agreement. I asked if you had background
24 knowledge of Mr. Bruno and you said you did. You described
25 some of it. I am not gonna ask you many more questions

75
1 about it, but in that period of time, you had the
2 opportunity to see Mr. Bruno in life experiences as well,
3 how he dealt with people?
4 A Yes, sir.
5 Q How he dealt with his family?
6 A Yes, sir.
7 Q And all of that came to be part of the equation --
8 A Absolutely.
9 Q -- in your decision?
10 A Absolutely.
11 Q I am gonna ask you some questions about dates,
12 and before I do, some of these events, like when you met
13 Mr. Bruno, you said you weren't sure whether it was four or
14 five or six years ago, correct?
15 A Correct.
16 Q I mean, four or five or six years before the
17 consulting agreements. And some of the dates you were shown
18 documents, one agreement's '04, one agreement's '05. Do you
19 remember those?
20 A Yes.
21 Q You were shown documents about Evident, some of
22 those are in '01 and some of those are in '02?
23 A Yes.
24 Q And you talked about events, a trip to Washington,
25 do you remember that?

76
1 A Yes.
2 Q You talked about dinners in New York, do you
3 remember that?
4 A Yes.
5 Q Sitting here in November of '09, do you actually
6 know in chronological order when those occurred?
7 A I have no idea chronological. I can just give you
8 my best guess on all of 'em.
9 Q And as to the events of either the Washington
10 trip, do you know when -- if that was either during the
11 Motient consultancy or TerreStar, or you're not clear on
12 that one?
13 A I'm not clear on that.
14 Q And on the dinners, do you know whether it was
15 during the CT&A (sic) consultancy or the Motient or the
16 TerreStar, are you clear on that?
17 A No, sir. I remember who -- some of the people
18 that were there and the places because of -- Joe was --
19 SanPietro is owned by the Bruno family, so we had a big
20 Bruno discussion.
21 Q But not his Bruno family?
22 A Not his Bruno family, no.
23 Q So, is it fair to say that while you can remember
24 the events, you can't link them to one period or another, is
25 that fair?

77
1 A That's fair.
2 Q Nevertheless, there came a time when you entered a
3 consultancy agreement for CTA, right, that was one, right?
4 A Yes.
5 Q CT&A (sic)?
6 A I think it's C&TA.
7 Q Sorry, C&TA.
8 A Very complicated.
9 Q No, it's not, I can do better. C&TA, and then a
10 company called Motient, correct?
11 A Yes, sir.
12 Q And a company called TerreStar?
13 A Correct.
14 Q Did Mr. Bruno ever have, in any form, any kind of
15 financial consulting or other arrangement with that company
16 called Evident?
17 A No, sir, not that I'm aware of.
18 Q I imagine by now you would have seen such if it
19 existed?
20 A There's been a lot out about this stuff, most of
21 it incorrect, but I haven't seen anything on it.
22 Q But you didn't ever engage him at Evident nor did
23 anybody else?
24 A No. I was chairman for a period of time. I had
25 no right to engage him in Evident.

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1 Q But it never came up, never happened?
2 A No, sir, not that I'm aware of.
3 Q And in your dealings with Mr. Bruno for CTA, C&TA,
4 Motient and TerreStar, was it ever part of his consultancy
5 agreement that he should appear in front of any New York
6 State agency on behalf of those companies?
7 A No, sir.
8 Q Let alone was it ever part of the arrangement that
9 he should be compensated for appearing in front of any New
10 York State agency?
11 A No, sir.
12 Q His role was for his consulting services to those
13 entities for various purposes, but not that purpose,
14 correct, not New York State?
15 A Not New York State.
16 Q You began to explain that he was providing you
17 with a variety of kinds of advice, is that fair?
18 A Yes.
19 Q I'd like to lump CT&A -- CTA and C&TA, and you
20 were explaining that he was providing advice for you how to
21 be a better business person in that area, is that right?
22 A Absolutely.
23 Q Could you explain briefly what you meant by that?
24 A As I tried to explain it earlier, we have a lot of
25 similarities in the way we grew up, you know, Joe came from

79
1 the school of hard knocks.
2 MS. COOMBE: Objection.
3 THE WITNESS: I'm sorry.
4 BY MR. LOWELL:
5 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, I am going to do a better
6 question.
7 A Okay.
8 Q Focusing in on the business part, I mean I
9 understand that the family background matters, but focusing
10 in on the business part, what was it that you were getting
11 from Mr. Bruno that was helping you become or be a better
12 CTA person, C&TA person and a Jerry Abbruzzese person in the
13 businesses you were doing at the time? Did I ask that okay,
14 Mr. Abbruzzese?
15 A Yes. I'll try to be focused. I've been fortunate
16 in being very smart and very unfortunate in being a horrible
17 people person. Joe was both smart and a wonderful people
18 person. He helped me over time become a better people
19 person and managing people in a business, managing people
20 who I wanted to do business with and in managing people who
21 are peers, like directors on a Board of Directors.
22 Q And some of these companies about which you've
23 been describing, the consultancy -- sorry, the company
24 called CTA and C&TA, and then the company Motient and the
25 company TerreStar, they did a lot of business?

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1 A They did.
2 Q They had a lot of revenue?
3 A They did in that one time.
4 Q Right. The money that you paid in the
5 consultancy, the 10,000 a month for each of those first two
6 companies and then later the 20,000, how did that compare to
7 the amounts of business that Mr. Bruno was helping you get
8 in those companies?
9 A Oh, it wasn't just -- he wasn't helping me get
10 business. In all of the deals when we were dealing with
11 bankruptcies, you're dealing with creditors, you're dealing
12 with shareholders, you're dealing with owners, you're
13 dealing with Board of Directors, you're dealing with people
14 who all have disparate interests.
15 Q And. Sorry, go ahead?
16 A And my -- I was always focused on fixing a
17 business, how to take a losing business like we did with
18 League Wireless, which is known as Cricket in parts of the
19 country, out on the west coast, losing 14 million a month,
20 and in six months, I had it turned around to making
21 14 million a month. And while in bankruptcy, while I was
22 getting it back, the owner or the founder, who was this very
23 arrogant, erudite guy, he and I went to war all the time
24 'cause I couldn't -- I wasn't good at managing him. And
25 once he threw a bottle at me. I mean, I probably deserved

81
1 it, I don't know, but you know, Joe took my rough edges and
2 kinda like beveled 'em and made me --
3 Q And did that become valuable to your ability to
4 lead your companies?
5 A Look at me now.
6 (Laughter.)
7 A I'm a little bit of a people person, much less of
8 a jerk.
9 Q We talked about four companies thus far, CTA,
10 et cetera, right? How did it reflect which consulting
11 company would engage Mr. Bruno as to those companies? Why
12 on any particular time CTA, why a particular time Motient?
13 Did that reflect anything about what you were doing or where
14 you were spending your time?
15 A No.
16 Q So, how did that come about?
17 A I don't know. Just happened. They're both our
18 companies. We used one for one thing, one for another. I
19 don't remember specifically why I chose to do half and half.
20 Q But those were your choices?
21 A Those were my choices.
22 Q Not Mr. Bruno's?
23 A No, not Mr. Bruno's.
24 Q He would have been perfectly content to provide
25 consulting services that you described on the airplane

82
1 flight in whatever company you felt needed the help?
2 A He would be more content if I was paying him
3 $30,000, but I think he was content getting $20,000,
4 regardless of which company or companies it came from.
5 Q And you were asked questions about work product
6 and written invoices and you began to say that wasn't part
7 of the arrangement, that wasn't part of the arrangement,
8 right?
9 A No.
10 Q You were seeking his, as you've described it, I
11 won't ask to you do it again, but you were asking him to do
12 something other than providing written reports, correct?
13 A Correct. I do consulting work. I never provide
14 written reports, time reports. I don't do it. There's
15 different types of consultants.
16 Q And sometimes consultants are there in order to do
17 the kind of nonwritten work, but to provide advice, meeting,
18 telephone calls, being on call. Was that the nature of the
19 arrangement?
20 A You have three, four different types of
21 consultants and at the level Senator Bruno's at, the kind
22 they are are -- you employ somebody to keep 'em out of
23 somebody else's hands, you employ 'em to stand there and
24 lend credibility, the halo effect, and then the kind that
25 Bill Clinton does today and so does Tom Daschle and the

83
1 others and Clark Clifford actually perfected it, which is,
2 you know, make a phone call. I think Clifford charged
3 $75,000 a phone call. Different ways of doing it.
4 Q And when you engaged Mr. Bruno for this nonwritten
5 kind of consultancy, you understood that these were by way
6 of written agreements, correct?
7 A Correct.
8 Q And you saw some of the written agreements?
9 A Yes.
10 Q I just want to show you one, for example. GU-1 on
11 the screen, please.
12 MR. LOWELL: GU-1, thank you, Jon. There you go.
13 Q I think this is maybe the first, February 18th of
14 2004. And then I'd like you to look at the last paragraph
15 of this letter. And I want you to look at the two
16 sentences. "This agreement comes with the understanding
17 that you will abide by all provisions of the Public
18 Officer's Law and the Legislative Law, which may be relevant
19 to your consulting business, period. Further, CTA
20 understands that you will have sole discretion to determine
21 your schedule in providing services to CTA." See that?
22 A Yes, sir.
23 Q I take it that's not language someone on your side
24 of the equation would use?
25 A We insisted the agreements be drafted by counsel

84
1 in Senator Bruno's office.
2 Q And do you see the phrase "sole discretion to
3 determine your schedule"?
4 A Yes, sir.
5 Q Does that reflect what you were describing as the
6 kind of consultancy he had as being on call and being
7 available?
8 A Yes, sir.
9 Q And as to the issue of counsel, could I show you,
10 please, Defendant's Exhibit G, as in golf, 5. Do you see
11 that document?
12 A I see a fax cover sheet.
13 Q Yes. Okay, and do you see that it's to Wayne Barr
14 who you know, correct?
15 A Correct.
16 Q And it says from Francis J. Gluchowski. Do you
17 know who he is?
18 A I believe he was Ethics Counsel to Senator Bruno
19 or something like that.
20 Q And if you'll turn over to the next page. And can
21 you see that that is the draft form of the very letter I
22 showed you that was GU-1?
23 A Okay.
24 Q Do you see the language about sole discretion and
25 the Public Officer's Law?

85
1 A Okay.
2 Q So that confirms that Mr. Bruno's Ethics lawyer
3 was involved in the process as you understand it, right?
4 A We insisted on it.
5 Q And in addition to Mr. Bruno for CTA, C&TA and the
6 other companies, was he the only consultant that those
7 companies employed?
8 A No.
9 Q Over the time that we're talking, 2004 through
10 2005, can you tell the jury how many consultants these
11 companies had from time to time?
12 A Oh, I don't know. It's, you know --
13 Q More than one?
14 A Oh, yeah. Probably somewhere between five and ten
15 at any given time. They were kinda -- we would fix these
16 companies and then leave one or two of our guys in there
17 'cause they wanted an opportunity to do other consulting and
18 they ended up running the company. So we populated some of
19 these companies with our consultants who got to build a
20 company or keep running the company. So they came in, they
21 went out, they came in, they went out, they did different
22 things.
23 Q And the amount of funds that consultants were paid
24 in this period of time, they were from what range to what
25 range?

86
1 A Oh, anywhere from 5,000 to maybe 50,000 in a
2 month.
3 Q So Mr. Bruno's compensation for his kind of
4 consultancy was not uncommon and it was not out of the range
5 of the other consultants these companies hired, is that
6 fair?
7 A No. I mean, let's be clear. $20,000 is a lot of
8 money.
9 Q I understand.
10 A But, you know, it's -- I paid Wayne Barr as a
11 consultant a lot of money, a lot more money, for years and
12 years and years for doing work.
13 Q But not the same amounts of work as Mr. Bruno, I
14 suppose. He was part-time?
15 A It's never the amount.
16 Q It's never the amount of the work is what you're
17 saying?
18 A It's never the amount of work. It's what I need.
19 Q If you would put up GU-7, too, I think you were
20 shown these checks. Do you see that? You said you wouldn't
21 see checks necessarily. This one, though?
22 A That's definitely my signature.
23 Q Right. And it's March 2, 2004, correct?
24 A Yes, sir.
25 Q From the very beginning, these checks were made

87
1 out to an entity called Capital Business Consultants, LLC,
2 is that right?
3 A Yes, sir.
4 Q And you understood Capital Business Consultants,
5 LLC, to be what?
6 A Senator Bruno's consulting company.
7 Q So, from the very beginning, that was the
8 understanding?
9 A Yeah.
10 MR. LOWELL: And I don't think we moved it yet,
11 but we'd like to move G-9. Defendant's G-9 into evidence.
13 MR. LOWELL: Your Honor, we would like to move G-9
14 into evidence. It's another of the consultancy agreements
15 about which Mr. Abbruzzese made reference in the time period
16 we are talking.
17 MS. COOMBE: The Government objects. Rule 401 and
18 403.
19 THE COURT: Has the defendant supplied me with a
20 copy of this exhibit in advance of the offer?
21 MR. LOWELL: Yes, it was part of the group that we
22 believe we provided on the list, your Honor, and we gave it
23 to the Government pursuant to your order.
24 THE COURT: I wonder if I have seen it, that's
25 what I'm asking.

88
1 MR. LOWELL: I thought you have. It was in a
2 group of documents. May I hand it to you now, sir?
5 THE COURT: The objection is sustained. 403.
6 BY MR. LOWELL:
7 Q Did you direct the work of all the other
8 consultants that were in the companies that you described,
9 CTA, C&TA, Motient and TerreStar?
10 A I'd say most, not all.
11 Q And would the people who wrote the checks or the
12 people who were in bookkeeping, would they know what all
13 those consultants did on a day-to-day basis?
14 A No way.
15 Q There came a time when -- sorry. Miss Coombe
16 showed you a document where it reflected that there came a
17 time that Motient or TerreStar then ended the relationship
18 with Mr. Bruno in the summer of '05. Do you recall that?
19 A Yes, sir.
20 Q And it said changed circumstances, right?
21 A Something like that, yeah.
22 Q Can you explain what effort Motient and TerreStar
23 had been engaged in up to that point as to its goals in
24 Washington and whether it achieved those goals at that
25 point?

89
1 MS. COOMBE: Objection. Relevance.
2 THE COURT: I need to rehear the question, please.
3 (Record read back.)
4 THE COURT: I'll overrule the objection. You may
5 answer, if you understand the question.
6 BY MR. LOWELL:
7 Q Do you understand my question?
8 A I think so. 2005 was a pivotal year for
9 TerreStar. TerreStar, by nature, was a company that hoped
10 to get some designation from the FCC and hoped to raise
11 money in order to achieve that designation from the FCC and
12 they were all linked. And they were all scheduled to occur
13 in 2005, or we hoped for them to occur in 2005.
14 And the first thing we were able to
15 successfully get done in Washington was something called the
16 recon order or ATC.
17 Q What is that?
18 A It was a petition for reconsideration on an ATC,
19 which is ancillary terrestrial components, where we took
20 satellites and re-employed them back for terrestrial use.
21 It was fought by AT&T and Verizon and I was primarily the
22 author of the strategy of how to combat them at the FCC.
23 Q Stop there, if you can.
24 A Yes, sir.
25 Q And you were spearheading the effort involving the

90
1 regulatory issues on that issue at that time for Motient
2 and/or TerreStar, is that fair?
3 A Yes.
4 Q And that was when Mr. Bruno had a consultancy
5 agreement with those two entities, is that right?
6 A It was during that time. I was doing it before
7 and during.
8 Q Right. But he had some arrangement during that
9 time?
10 A Yes, sir.
11 Q And he was providing you -- I'm sorry, strike
12 that.
13 Was he providing you any help in the way you
14 were doing your work to coordinate that regulatory effort?
15 A Again, I did not use Senator Bruno specifically at
16 the regulatory level. The -- we had a full litany of other
17 consultants and professionals that were interacting on a
18 daily basis, registered lobbyist and the like --
19 Q I'm sorry --
20 A Then I don't understand your question.
21 Q -- you didn't answer my question.
22 A Okay.
23 Q I am not asking whether Mr. Bruno went to the FCC
24 or did the lobbying. I was asking if he helped you in your
25 efforts to coordinate the work of all the others.

91
1 A He was helping me at that time.
2 Q How was he helping you coordinate all these others
3 who were dealing with politicians, regulators and the people
4 you described?
5 A I think, again, I believe, best recollection, in
6 February of that year, I took him to Washington, and showing
7 up in Washington with Joe provided good aura. It ended bad
8 because of the conversations I got subsequent to -- from
9 indirectly that came back out of the Whitehouse. But,
10 again, there were a lot of people that respect Joe Bruno and
11 they saw me in Washington with Joe Bruno. Did it -- was it
12 a hundred percent effective? Was it 10 percent effective?
13 I don't know and I have no ability to tell you. But at the
14 end of the day, we got what we needed in February from the
15 FCC and then we moved on to raise $440 million deferred
16 offering in April, which again, I used the aura of Joe Bruno
17 and others, again there were multiple tools, he was a tool.
18 Not classic sense of the way the kids call tools today, but
19 he was a tool, a weapon that I deployed, that, you know, it
20 was a critical year. I pulled out every stop I had
21 available to me because if we were not successful, TerreStar
22 was a donut, a zero.
23 Q And at that time, he was one of a number of things
24 you were deploying for the effort?
25 A Absolutely.

92
1 Q And these were people that were working under your
2 leadership?
3 A Most of them were working under my leadership, my
4 direction.
5 Q And one of them did one thing, one did another
6 thing, Mr. Bruno did a third?
7 A Correct.
8 Q And there were a lot of people working at the
9 time?
10 A A lot of people.
11 Q And it was ultimately successful?
12 A It had to be successful. And it reflected that
13 year. I mean at the end of the year, when the history was
14 written, it was the best year in the history of the company.
15 Q That was the best year?
16 A By far.
17 Q Now, the said the whole relationship started on a
18 plane ride in which you had a conversation with Mr. Bruno
19 and you said he made reference to the fact that this was a
20 part-time legislature?
21 A That they were part-time legislators.
22 Q Right.
23 A And he had the opportunity to earn outside income.
24 Q And he mentioned somebody as a comparison?
25 A Sheldon Silver.

93
1 Q You never identified who he was. Head of The
2 Assembly?
3 A Oh, he's Speaker of the Assembly.
4 Q Right. And an attorney, you understood?
5 A I understood he was an attorney.
6 Q And I didn't mean to demean this before, because I
7 know this from my dad, but people do a lot of business on
8 golf courses, is that right?
9 A Yes. I sold a company once -- I sold CAI on the
10 golf course down in Florida conducting the sale over the
11 phone over 18 holes, a bid auction between Sprint and MCI.
12 It was quite interesting. I didn't get a lot of golf in,
13 but I did sell the company.
14 Q I would like to turn to the topic of some horses
15 now. You were shown GU-11. I would like to put that on the
16 screen. GU-11 was a memorandum from something called
17 Friends of New York Racing and you identified a man named
18 Tim Smith, correct?
19 A Correct.
20 Q And you were directed by Miss Coombe to the second
21 page, the bottom paragraph.
22 MR. LOWELL: Can you do that, please, Jon?
23 Q And it talked about the meeting you had with
24 Mr. Bruno and his staff, right?
25 A Correct.

94
1 Q And if you look at the next page, you talked
2 about, with Ms. Coombe, the fact that the Senator remains
3 committed to privatization, do you see that?
4 A Yes.
5 Q And it says at the end, it would be along with the
6 ability to attract capital and function, quote, like a real
7 business, end quote. See that?
8 A Yes, sir.
9 Q That's consistent to what you said before about
10 what Mr. Bruno's approach to being a public person was,
11 wasn't it?
12 A It's what made him so unique.
13 Q And this was happening at a time that the New York
14 Racing Authority wasn't doin' so hot?
15 A Either indicted or about to be indicted. Not too
16 good.
17 Q But there was a whole lot more to the story of
18 this document than just that paragraph that you were shown,
19 isn't there? Could you go to the first page, the first page
20 of the document, please -- and if you will enlarge the first
21 paragraph -- first of all, it talks about this entity having
22 political consultants and it lists quite a few, correct?
23 A Correct.
24 Q Okay. And it says that there are people with
25 relationships to public officials, including Mike

95
1 DelGiudice, current appointee of Speaker Silver. Do you see
2 that?
3 A Correct.
4 Q And if you go to the next paragraph, it says our
5 counsel, Mel Schweitzer has been appointed to become a
6 Judge, do you see that?
7 A Okay.
8 Q Now turn the page. This didn't just talk about a
9 meeting off campus with Mr. Bruno that this was having, did
10 it?
11 A I don't know. Show me.
12 Q Look at 2-A. Who's that about?
13 A John Cahill.
14 Q Who does it identify Mr. Cahill as being?
15 A I know who he is. He is the Chief of Staff of
16 Pataki.
17 Q And it says in this paragraph, second line, "Set
18 up by BSI, first line, very constructive, friendly meeting,
19 period. He questioned that we include draft legislation in
20 our final report in October, period. He reflected the
21 Governor's view that an alternative to NYRA's model is
22 definitely needed," correct?
23 A Yes, sir.
24 Q This was important to a variety of people at this
25 time?

96
1 A I think Tim tried very hard to get everybody's
2 perspective, especially the leadership, on what they thought
3 they needed to be done to fix this thing.
4 Q And so the Governor was involved?
5 A Absolutely.
6 Q And if you'll look at paragraph B, which you
7 didn't get a chance to do before, who's this about, Speaker
8 Silver?
9 A Yep.
10 Q The same Silver you were talking about, the head
11 of The Assembly, Speaker of the House?
12 A Correct.
13 Q And it even talks about there being something
14 called an RFP process, which means request for proposal?
15 A Correct.
16 Q And after the paragraph about Senator Bruno on the
17 bottom of the page, and if you could turn to the next page,
18 there's even yet another New York State official involved.
19 And do you see who that one is?
20 A Yes.
21 Q And that's, at the time, Attorney General Eliot
22 Spitzer, right?
23 A Um-hum.
24 THE COURT REPORTER: "Yes"?
25 THE WITNESS: Yes.

97
1 Q And the group was getting meetings with either
2 these represent -- these officials or their staff about this
3 issue, correct?
4 A Correct.
5 Q By far, Mr. Bruno wasn't the only one being told
6 what was going on on this issue, was he?
7 A Correct.
8 Q Now I'd like to turn further into the horse
9 arrangement, if I can. And you indicated you were aware
10 that Mr. Bruno's Ethics counsel was involved in the
11 consulting agreements and you identified him as Mr. Frank
12 Gluchowski. I'd like to now show you what's been received
13 in evidence as Defense Exhibit K-2 -- and put it on the
14 screen, please -- do you see this memo? I don't know that
15 you've seen it at the time. Did you? I'm sorry, did you?
16 A All I see is a fax cover sheet.
17 Q Right. Did you see this fax cover sheet at the
18 time?
19 A No. I don't know what it is.
20 Q Do you see that it's directed to a person named
21 Frank?
22 A Okay.
23 Q Okay. If you'll turn -- and by the way, the date
24 of this is 4/2. If you'll turn to the next page -- and if
25 you will enlarge the date, please. Not just the date, the

98
1 whole first part -- you see that's 2004, correct?
2 A Okay.
3 Q The arrangement of horses and the offspring of
4 horses that Ms. Coombe asked you about, that didn't start in
5 2006, did it?
6 A Oh, no.
7 Q It didn't start in 2005, did it?
8 A I don't think so.
9 Q It started in 2004, didn't it?
10 A It would appear from this.
11 Q In 2004, did there come a time that you entered
12 into an agreement to have partial ownership with Mr. Bruno
13 and ultimately Dr. Bilinski in a variety of horses and their
14 offspring?
15 A The agreement might be that I agreed to
16 participate in a horse deal, as you would.
17 Q It was a handshake arrangement?
18 A I don't even know if we shook hands, but certainly
19 exchanged checks.
20 Q Okay. And you did not have a written agreement in
21 2004, as you can recall?
22 A I don't think I have ever seen a written
23 agreement.
24 Q But, nevertheless, you did pay money to get
25 interest in horses?

99
1 A Oh, yeah.
2 Q A bunch of 'em?
3 A Oh, yeah.
4 Q One of them ended up being this horse you talked
5 to Miss Coombe about being Christy's Night Out, right?
6 A And I am not sure I spelled it right.
7 Q I think it's C-H-R-I-S-T-Y. I know who knows
8 this.
9 A Thank you.
10 Q It turns out it wasn't just Christy's Night Out
11 being bought, Christy's Night Out being sold, Christy's
12 Night Out having value, Christy's Night Out not having
13 value, this was a lot more complicated than that, wasn't it?
14 A Oh, very complicated.
15 Q You can see from this document, Frank, Frank
16 Gluchowski, that man was involved in the horse contract from
17 the very beginning, wasn't he?
18 A It would appear. Again, I don't know how that
19 stuff works over there.
20 Q Did you understand Mr. Bruno's practice to be to
21 put a lawyer, an Ethics lawyer into his financial
22 arrangements with you and others?
23 A All I know is that when it came to the two
24 consulting agreements, or however many there were, we
25 insisted on Ethics counsel and it seemed to be normal

100
1 practice, based on the way they reacted, but I can't speak
2 to anything beyond that.
3 Q Miss Coombe showed you GU-45, which was the equine
4 bill of sale that then was later in the time sequence,
5 more than a year later in the time sequence than when the
6 April '04 contract occurred. This is dated September '05,
7 see that?
8 A Yes, sir.
9 Q She asked you questions about this bill of sale?
10 A Um-hum.
11 Q And I want to ask you whether or not at this time,
12 the fall of '05, was that when a variety of events were
13 occurring in terms of your decision to become more involved
14 in seeking a disengagement with financial arrangements so
15 that you could pursue other interests?
16 A There were a variety of reasons why I wanted
17 disengagement, but that was about the time when I was
18 getting very serious about total disengagement.
19 Q Now, one of the issues you started to explain was
20 the explanation of wanting to start racing, correct?
21 A Well, I went into my horse deal with Joe and
22 Bilinski anticipating and fully expecting that we would be
23 racing horses.
24 Q But you couldn't do that, could you?
25 A Well, I was naive. I didn't know that Senator

101
1 Bruno was prohibited, even worse yet, Bilinski never had any
2 intention of racing anything. He was fully intending to
3 just breed with his own crop and at my expense.
4 Q So, in order to race, you would have to disengage
5 with Senator Bruno to comply with the Ethics Law?
6 A In order to race, I had to get away.
7 Q And so that was one reason?
8 A Well, I was never gonna race with this crowd to
9 begin with, but yes.
10 Q And you wanted, in this period of time, as you saw
11 a memo, to begin thinking about whether you would be part of
12 a group that might seek the franchise in New York to operate
13 racing, is that right?
14 A That's correct.
15 Q And you certainly couldn't do that if you were in
16 a financial relationship with horses with Mr. Bruno, is that
17 fair?
18 A I could not.
19 Q And as it turns out, you weren't the only person
20 seeking that franchise, right?
21 A No. Quite a few.
22 Q And would one of them happen to have been the very
23 same Dr. Bilinski?
24 A I found that out later, you know. I want to be
25 clear. One of the reasons I wanted out of this was because

102
1 of Dr. Bilinski.
2 Q I think we get that and I am trying to figure out
3 whether one of those reasons was he became a competitor of
4 yours in trying to get the franchise, correct?
5 A He became a competitor later, much later.
6 Q All right.
7 A But I don't think he dealt with me fairly.
8 Q I think we understand that.
9 A Okay. I won't say it again.
10 Q Ultimately, however, he was somebody who also was
11 trying to get the franchise, right?
12 A Ultimately, and so were a lot of the other people
13 in these other documents that I have been shown, so...
14 Q And so Dr. Bilinski, as well as you, would not be
15 able to be in a financial horse relationship with Mr. Bruno
16 if he was gonna -- "he" being Dr. Bilinski -- was gonna seek
17 the same arrangement, correct?
18 A If Dr. Bilinski was gonna seek the same
19 arrangement, there was no way he could be involved with
20 Senator Bruno without a serious problem.
21 Q So it became an issue to make sure that the entire
22 horse arrangement was disengaged for all of you?
23 A I'd have to agree.
24 Q You identified that there were more than one horse
25 in this transaction from the beginning and you identified

103
1 that, ultimately, there was a 2005 contract for one of them.
2 And ultimately, that horse was given away. Other horses in
3 that same group did a lot better, correct?
4 A I don't know. People tell me they have. I was so
5 disappointed by the thing, I just never looked back.
6 Q But at the time that the first horses were
7 acquired and the agreement with Mr. Bruno, you began to
8 explain that had you some other purchases from the same era?
9 A I had a lot of purchases.
10 Q From Kingsland?
11 A Kingsland, I bought two horses at the sale, I
12 think November, same time frame.
13 MS. COOMBE: Objection, relevance.
14 THE COURT: What's the relevance?
15 MR. LOWELL: The valuation of the horses that
16 Ms. Coombe has put into issue.
17 THE COURT: I'll allow some limited inquiry.
18 Let's see where it goes.
19 BY MR. LOWELL:
20 Q In the same era, Mr. Abbruzzese, did you purchase
21 other horses for value amount in the same neighborhood?
22 A Yes. With my trainer and stock agent's advice and
23 all these people who give you great advice that's generally
24 worthless, I bought two horses down at sale in Kingsland,
25 one for seventy-five, I think the other was for $150,000,

104
1 same time period.
2 Q And you ended up giving those two away as well?
3 A They kinda just faded off in the sunset. I have
4 given a lot of horses away in my life.
5 Q Now, as to this one particular horse, in addition
6 to it being in the group, some of which had value, and in
7 addition to which it being in an era where you were buying
8 other horses, did this particular horse -- was there a
9 reason why you kept on this horse, trained it, paid for it,
10 after you bought it from Mr. Bruno that indicated it had
11 special value to you?
12 A My wife and her best friend, Christy Passaretti,
13 nursed and took care of that horse from when it was born and
14 they loved it. And Christy Passaretti was up at Senator
15 Bruno's barn all the time working and one point she found
16 the bridle -- again, Bilinski wasn't doin' his job as the
17 vet, the bridle grew into the face of the horse. The horse
18 was growing, the bridle was in tight, the skin was growing
19 over the bridle. So Christy found it and alerted Joe and
20 Joe got Bilinski over and they had to peel it off and then
21 Sherry and Christy just took a severe liking to that horse,
22 which is a bad thing because it generally cost money.
23 Q And what was your wife's view whether you should
24 get the horse, pay for the horse, train the horse, break the
25 horse and try to make the horse work?

105
1 A She wanted me to buy the horse and I did it with
2 one commitment from her, because I had another horse sitting
3 around of hers that she paid $50,000 for and it never did
4 anything, and we've held on to it for four years paying,
5 paying, paying, paying, paying. And I said if it doesn't
6 work, I'm tossin' it.
7 Q And by the way, the name of the horse we're
8 talking about is called Christy's Night Out?
9 A Christy's Night Out.
10 Q Why is it called Christy's Night Out?
11 A My wife named it for her best friend and gave it
12 to her for a Christmas present in a Christmas card sayin'
13 I'm namin' the horse, we bought it that year, and I think it
14 was that Christmas that she named it, if I remember
15 correctly.
16 Q Now, back to the point of the time period, where
17 you were trying now to disengage, and Dr. Bilinski, you
18 found out also, was trying to disengage, the letter
19 agreement you were shown, GU-56, or GU -- GU-56, please.
20 You were shown GU-56. This was the agreement that indicated
21 that there was a debt owed and there was going to be a
22 transfer of the interest in horses, do you remember that?
23 A Yes, sir.
24 Q And this was dated, if you look at the second
25 page, March 1st of 2006. See that?

106
1 A Yes, sir.
2 Q Okay. And it's signed by you and Mr. Bruno,
3 right?
4 A Okay.
5 Q A similar agreement was ultimately worked out with
6 the Bilinskis. Did you know that?
7 A No.
8 Q Can we put on GU-57. If you'll look at this
9 letter agreement, it looks similar in terms of its format to
10 the one you just saw, doesn't it?
11 A Similar, right.
12 Q And if you look at the bottom, it indicates that
13 the amount of money that this is about is gonna be an
14 additional payment of $80,000. Do you see that?
15 A From who to who.
16 Q It says from Mountain View Farm to Darlene
17 Bilinski. Do you see the last sentence?
18 A Yes, sir.
19 Q And this was again now --
20 A I got paid $80,000 to leave?
21 Q The agreement speaks for itself. You see it,
22 though, right? Do you see that this is the first period of
23 time, March, and now if you look at the second page,
24 June 1st, see the date? And this is the era in which now
25 you understood the franchise you were talking about was

107
1 coming close to being up for rebid or up for renewal, right?
2 I'm sorry, you can't nod your head, you have to say yes.
3 A I'm sorry, I'm just mulling things. Yes.
4 Q Yes?
5 A Definitely that time frame.
6 Q And let me show you G-34. Sorry, I can't show it
7 to you yet.
8 MR. LOWELL: Just found this.
10 THE COURT: Do I understand there is an
11 outstanding offer on G-34?
12 MR. LOWELL: There is now, your Honor, we would
13 like to move this into evidence.
14 MS. COOMBE: No objection, your Honor.
16 (Defendant Exhibit G-34 received.)
17 MR. LOWELL: May I approach, your Honor?
19 BY MR. LOWELL:
20 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, let me show you this. Do you
21 recognize that document?
22 A Yes.
23 Q Can you explain it?
24 A I was trying to get out of the horse deal.
25 Q And not just with Mr. Bruno?

108
1 A No. This was me tryin' to get out with Bilinski.
2 Q And you were willing to give Mr. Bilinski all the
3 same interests in the horses, as you say, for fair and
4 equitable consideration, Bazaguma, you're entity, hereby
5 transfers all of its interest in You're The Top, Ladies
6 Night In and their progeny, Christy's Night Out. That was a
7 progeny?
8 A Not at this time. In February. I already had
9 Christy's Night Out probably at Crupi's at this point.
10 Q So this would give all the remaining horses to
11 Waldorf, which was Dr. Bilinski?
12 A Correct.
13 Q That didn't work out?
14 A Obviously not.
15 Q But you were trying to get out?
16 A I was definitely trying to get out.
17 Q And here is February of '06?
18 A Correct.
19 Q Thank you. I would like to turn to the issue of
20 Evident Technologies, please. First of all, I don't know if
21 anybody has asked you this, what was Evident Technologies?
22 A It was a nano tech company that had developed
23 proprietary technology called quantum dots. They're, you
24 know, millionths of a centimeter in size and they were being
25 used for or hopefully being used for a variety of different

109
1 things.
2 Q Did Evident have brochures which explained what it
3 did, what its value was in terms of its technology, its jobs
4 and its impact on the economics of New York State?
5 A Absolutely.
6 MR. LOWELL: I would like, your Honor, to move and
7 have received in evidence Defendant's G-20.
8 MS. COOMBE: Objection, Rule 403.
9 THE COURT: It is such a brochure?
10 MR. LOWELL: It is.
11 THE COURT: The objection is sustained.
12 BY MR. LOWELL:
13 Q You began to explain how this entity was seeking
14 financing.
15 A Correct.
16 Q From what sources was it seeking financing?
17 A Well, I had put up seed capital along with Wayne
18 of about a quarter million dollars and then we turned around
19 and forced 'em to make some progress on development of their
20 technology, and then we went out and solicited people we
21 knew who liked to take opportunities like this and invest in
22 a small solicitation. And then after that, contemporaneous
23 with that, I had spent a lot of time with Pataki, probably
24 starting in 1999, pounding on the fact that we needed
25 funding available to help keep small developing companies in

110
1 upstate New York to start developing in private job space
2 'cause people were leaving. And I spent a lot of time in
3 with Cahill and Jim Foley and George Pataki working on this,
4 and I actually had something in the works with life
5 insurance providers where they were gonna help fund, put up
6 a hundred million dollar fund with guarantees coming out of
7 The Assembly to help pro jobs. That never transpired, but
8 Pataki took an interest in Evident and he's the one that
9 came up with the million-and-a-half-dollar commitment for
10 Evident as a sign that he was pro jobs in upstate New York.
11 As part of that $1.5 million commitment from Pataki that
12 included these three $500,000 tranches from Senator Bruno
13 because we were locating it in Troy. There was some jobs
14 money that was supposed to be made available and everything
15 else, but we had committed to raise at least $12 million of
16 private funding.
17 Q And that started this process you're talking about
18 which ended up with all these other various funding pieces,
19 started when with respect to New York State being involved?
20 A I probably was talkin' to Pataki about it '98,
21 '99. I remember I had a fundraiser for George Bush year
22 2000 in my house. Doro Bush, his sister, came up, Pataki
23 was at my house and in the opening remarks, I went after him
24 again about not doing enough to keep jobs in upstate New
25 York and how I was gonna move my family and everybody else

111
1 if things didn't get better because the tax base was
2 evaporating and people had no jobs.
3 Q And did Mr. -- I'm sorry, did former Governor
4 Pataki start providing the opportunity for Evident to make
5 presentations to New York State agencies to get funding?
6 A I don't know how things translated. We -- I think
7 somebody hooked us up with this guy, Kaloyeros, who runs
8 that steamship looking building over at State University of
9 Albany, and he was appointed as the guy to help walk us
10 through.
11 Q And there was a process of some kind?
12 A Some kind.
13 Q You weren't the person to do the process, others
14 in your businesses were?
15 A I really stink at process.
16 Q And so that would be something like Clint
17 Ballinger and others?
18 A Others.
19 Q Would he be one?
20 A Absolutely.
21 Q Governor Pataki did come through early on and
22 provide some funding, didn't he?
23 A There was a State something or other, it wasn't a
24 grant. They bought stock, I think.
25 Q Right. They actually made an investment, correct?

112
1 A And then he made the commitment to me and others
2 of $1.5 million, which I think he announced in 2002,
3 September time frame, something like that, with big a plume
4 and fanfare, Senator Bruno was there also, I think.
5 Q I want to --
6 A And I want to make a point. We took that and then
7 went out and raised money from private individuals in the
8 community, and that's why I was so upset about the lack of
9 performance on the part of the State, because our reputation
10 was at risk. We said it would be maxed at 1.5 and it never
11 showed.
12 Q Are you familiar with an entity called the Small
13 Business Technology Investment Fund?
14 A I've heard the name.
15 Q Do you know if that's the entity you're talking
16 about with which Governor Pataki arranged the investment?
17 A I couldn't say for sure.
18 Q Let me show you what will be marked now for
19 identification as Defendant's G-23.
20 MR. LOWELL: And ask your Honor if I may approach
21 the witness?
23 BY MR. LOWELL:
24 Q Would you look at this, read it to yourself, and
25 see if it refreshes your recollection on the subject.

113
1 A (Witness complies.)
2 Q Okay. Let me take it back, please, sir.
3 A Yes, sir.
4 Q Does that refresh your recollection as to how the
5 first thing occurred?
6 A It looks to be as you say.
7 Q I am not asking you what it says, I am asking if
8 it refreshes your recollection.
9 A Well, again, it refreshes that we got a $400,000
10 investment, thereabouts, in the form of -- I remember it was
11 very complicated because they wanted stock and you had to
12 get certain rights and the Board had to take action on it at
13 some point.
14 Q And that was originating as early as 2001?
15 A Yes.
16 Q With Governor Pataki?
17 A Absolutely.
18 Q Nothing to do with Senator Bruno?
19 A No.
20 Q In fact, didn't the State become an owner of
21 interest in Evident through this transaction or at least the
22 Small Business Technology Fund?
23 A Yes.
24 Q It made an investment?
25 A I think they still are today.

114
1 Q So they, therefore, had an interest in the success
2 of Evident, correct?
3 A You -- they should have, yes. You would have
4 thought they would have paid the 1.5.
5 Q But that did not come about?
6 A Did not come about.
7 Q But it was something that you had committed, the
8 rest of the payments were part of that commitment?
9 A I think there was an article I read, September
10 something, in the Times Union, back when they wrote --
11 MS. COOMBE: Objection.
12 THE COURT: Sustained.
13 BY MR. LOWELL:
14 Q The question was: Was there a commitment in your
15 mind that the State would help provide these additional
16 funds even though the commitment was earlier, it would be
17 paid out over time?
18 A Correct.
19 Q And it didn't all come?
20 A No. The vast majority of it did not come.
21 Q But, in your mind, it's firm. When do you date
22 that commitment to be?
23 A That September press -- or press announcement by
24 Pataki.
25 Q And that would be in 2002?

115
1 A 2002.
2 Q And Ms. Coombe showed you some bank accounts that
3 were from Fleet Bank, remember that, that showed a deposit
4 in 2002 or 2004. Anyway, you saw the documents, right,
5 the --
6 A I did.
7 Q Were those the payments on the commitment that had
8 occurred earlier on, as you understood it?
9 A As I understand 'em, yes.
10 Q I want to spend a minute on the warrant issue.
11 What's a warrant?
12 A A warrant is basically a contract that let's you
13 buy stock at a later date, a form of stock. In the
14 specifics of Evident, I got a warrant to buy 85,000 shares
15 of common stock at $4.80 a share.
16 Q Miss Coombe asked you and showed you some of the
17 documents that reflected how the warrants would be triggered
18 by funding. Do you remember that?
19 A Yes.
20 Q And there were different times where you could
21 purchase warrants if funding occurred, is that the way it
22 worked?
23 A Yes.
24 Q Now, in order to have a warrant, was it just given
25 to you?

116
1 A No. There were vesting schedules, certain things
2 had to occur.
3 Q Did you have to pay for it?
4 A I paid something to buy the warrant.
5 Q And then, at the time that Ms. Coombe asked you
6 these questions about whether the warrants vested or you
7 were able to get them, did they have value at that time?
8 A When I got 'em?
9 Q At the times that they were going to vest.
10 A They were common stock at $4.80. At that time, I
11 believe the company was warranting incentive stock options
12 to management at a dollar a share of common stock and those
13 of us who were investing cash money and were buying
14 preferred, convertible preferred at $4.80. So, this thing
15 was way out of the money and at the bottom of the totem
16 pole.
17 Q What does that mean, "way out of the money and at
18 the bottom of the totem pole"?
19 A Well, if I was an employee or I wanted to buy
20 common stock from the company, I could have bought shares at
21 a dollar a share. So for $80,000 I could have bought those
22 85,000 shares in common on the basis of a dollar a share, or
23 85,000, versus paying $10,000 or whatever I paid, I can't
24 remember, for the warrant, with the opportunity then to
25 write a check for almost $5 a share for 85,000 shares,

117
1 another $400,000, to get the same value as the $85,000, just
2 putting in the company at that point in time.
3 Q So that wasn't a good deal for you?
4 A It was a principle of doing something. I don't do
5 something for nothing when I'm in business. Otherwise, I
6 would be out of business.
7 Q All right. You indicated that the very first
8 financial consulting agreement you had with Senator Bruno
9 was the one with CT&A (sic), which is GU-1.
10 MR. LOWELL: Jon, would you put GU-1 on the screen
11 to begin with?
12 Q See that was the very first one, correct?
13 A Can you blow it up?
14 Q Okay. Do you see the date?
15 A Yes.
16 MR. LOWELL: And Jon, would you put that on the
17 right side of the screen, if you're able to do that. Can
18 you put it on the right side? Can you do that? Okay.
19 Q Ms. Coombe showed you some documents about
20 meetings having to do with Evident.
21 MR. LOWELL: Could you put GE-68 on the left side
22 of the screen. And would you highlight the date of this
23 e-mail, please.
24 Q See that that's 5/23/02?
25 A Yes, sir.

118
1 Q The first agreement on any consulting is two years
2 later?
3 A Okay.
4 Q See that?
5 A Yes.
6 Q Is that true?
7 A Yes, sir.
8 MR. LOWELL: Would you put CU-69 on the left side
9 of the screen, please, Jon, and would you enlarge the date?
10 Q Do you see that that memo is August 26th of '02?
11 A Correct.
12 Q And would you look at the agreement on the right
13 side of the screen. Is that, I don't know, almost two years
14 later, 17 months later?
15 A Yes.
16 MR. LOWELL: Would you put GU-72 on the screen,
17 please, Jon.
18 Q Do you see the date of this letter to
19 Mr. Ballinger?
20 A Yes.
21 Q It's October 25, 2002, is that right?
22 A Yes.
23 Q Would you look at the agreement on the right side,
24 it's 2004, correct?
25 A Correct.

119
1 Q Would you look at GU-77, on the left side -- and
2 would you please enlarge it -- do you see that it is
3 5/29/03?
4 A Yes.
5 MR. LOWELL: Would you put GU-79 on the screen,
6 Jon, and will you blow up the date.
7 Q That is October of '03, correct?
8 A Yes, sir.
9 Q Would you put GU-82, the warrant meeting on the --
10 do you see the date?
11 A October 20, '03.
12 Q And would you look at the date on the right?
13 A Yeah. February 18, '06 -- '04.
14 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, did any of your efforts and the
15 others on Evident have anything to do with a consulting
16 agreement that occurred two years later and three from the
17 date the State first funded in the investment of Evident?
18 A I never thought about a consulting agreement until
19 that plane ride home in '04. No, in answer to your
20 question.
21 MR. LOWELL: That's all the questions I have.
22 THE COURT: Miss Coombe.
24 - - - - -
25

120
1 REDIRECT-EXAMINATION
2 BY MS. COOMBE:
3 Q Good morning again, Mr. Abbruzzese.
4 A You have 15 minutes left of morning, but yes, good
5 morning.
6 Q I usually check before I say that.
7 A Good for you.
8 Q You testified that you paid Senator Bruno because
9 you admired him and valued his opinion, but you didn't put
10 that in the termination agreement from CTA and C&TA, did
11 you?
12 A No, ma'am.
13 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, when you testified in the grand
14 jury, and you can turn to page 25 so you can follow along
15 with me, if you like --
16 A Yes.
17 Q Page 25, line 5, I asked you, "What work did
18 Senator Bruno do for Motient and TerreStar?" You gave an
19 answer, the answer went on. I asked you again, "What did
20 Senator Bruno do, what work did he do to help Motient,
21 Motient and TerreStar with that effort?" You gave an
22 answer. And I said again, "So what did he actually do for
23 Motient and TerreStar," and it continues on.
24 Did I ask you those questions, Mr. Abbruzzese?
25 A Yes, ma'am.

121
1 Q And you never mentioned those dinners that you
2 mentioned today, did you?
3 A Ma'am, I had no idea about those dinners at the
4 time.
5 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, the question requires a "yes" or
6 "no" answer. You never mentioned those dinners, did you?
7 A No.
8 Q Now, on cross-examination, you mentioned that all
9 you needed was for somebody to see you with Senator Bruno.
10 You expected that might influence people to do what you
11 wanted, isn't that correct?
12 A No, that -- I think I was saying that would
13 influence people in how they saw the company.
14 Q Because he's the Senator Majority Leader, isn't
15 that correct?
16 A No. Because he's a very powerful --
17 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, you have to answer the question
18 "yes" or "no." Is that correct?
19 A I think that may be part of it, but it's certainly
20 not all of it.
21 Q You mentioned that you paid Mr. Barr a lot of
22 money for consulting, but he actually produced something,
23 didn't he?
24 A He's produced things for years.
25 Q Could I -- do you still have GU-11 up there? The

122
1 Friends of New York Racing letter? I've got it here. I'll
2 bring it up to you.
4 THE COURT: Yes.
5 BY MS. COOMBE:
6 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, I'm showing you Government Exhibit
7 GU-11.
8 A Yes.
9 Q Could you please turn to the second page.
10 Mr. Lowell focused your attention on a meeting with John
11 Cahill. You weren't paying anyone on the Governor's staff
12 at this time, were you?
13 A No, ma'am.
14 Q And if you look a little further down, Mr. Lowell
15 mentioned Speaker Silver. You weren't paying anyone on
16 Speaker Silver's staff at this time, were you?
17 A No, ma'am.
18 Q And if you look at the next page, it refers to the
19 Attorney General. You weren't paying anyone on the Attorney
20 General's staff at this time, were you?
21 A No, ma'am.
22 Q Now, Mr. Abbruzzese, you have been interested in
23 horses a long time, isn't that right?
24 A Yes, ma'am.
25 Q And you've spent time around horses, you know

123
1 horses, isn't that right?
2 A Yes, ma'am.
3 Q Didn't you see Christy's Night Out before you
4 purchased her?
5 A Oh, I saw her quite often.
6 Q And she was kind of backwards, wasn't she?
7 A I don't know what you mean by "backwards."
8 Q She was very, very tiny?
9 A She was small.
10 Q She was unathletic?
11 A I don't know how you determine unathletic. If I
12 knew horses that well, I wouldn't have taken so many losses
13 on 'em over the years.
14 Q She wasn't promising, was she, Mr. Abbruzzese?
15 A I thought she had potential. She was well bred.
16 Q Everyone who looked at that horse commented on the
17 fact that she wasn't promising, isn't that correct, and you
18 were aware of that?
19 A No, I'm not aware of that. I didn't have people
20 look at that horse. I decided to buy that horse in, you
21 know, a very short period of time. I did not bring people
22 in to look at it, I decided to buy it.
23 Q Dr. Bilinski brought people to look at it, didn't
24 he?
25 A I don't know what Dr. Bilinski did.

124
1 Q Didn't you hire Bruce Levine?
2 A He is my trainer.
3 Q Didn't he look at the horse?
4 A I don't know if he looked at that one. He looked
5 at others. He did look at it at Crupi's.
6 Q But he looked at it on Dr. Bilinski's farm, too,
7 didn't he?
8 A I don't know, he might have.
9 Q The $40,000 forgiveness of debt we talked about
10 earlier, that was the $40,000 that you still owed Senator
11 Bruno based on the bill of sale, isn't that correct?
12 A Yes.
13 Q You never got a nickel out of the horses that you
14 invested in with Senator Bruno, isn't that correct?
15 A Yes.
16 Q If it weren't for your moral obligation that you
17 felt as a result of your -- the termination of the TerreStar
18 agreement, you probably could have purchased Christy's Night
19 Out for a whole lot less than $80,000, isn't that correct?
20 A That's a good question. I don't know. I mean, I
21 felt, as I said --
22 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, my question is, is that correct?
23 A I probably could have gotten it for less.
24 Q Because it wasn't worth $80,000, isn't that
25 correct?

125
1 A I think I said somewhere between zero and eighty
2 at the time of the grand jury.
3 Q Governor Pataki never came through on the
4 $1.5 million commitment, did he, on the whole thing?
5 A It was a State commitment and that's how it was
6 articulated and I think at the same press conference Senator
7 Bruno said we have the funds committed for 1.5 million,
8 three tranches of 500,000.
9 Q So, a press conference or a press release isn't
10 enough to guarantee that money winds up in the bank, is it?
11 A Obviously not.
12 Q If you thought --
14 THE COURT: Yes.
15 BY MS. COOMBE:
16 Q I'm handing you Government Exhibit GU-81
17 previously admitted into evidence. That's an electronic
18 mail message, again from Mr. Barr to Mr. Ballinger. It
19 indicates that he will revise the warrant when he sees the
20 paperwork from the Bruno member item that drives the
21 vesting. If you thought that the deposits were from
22 Governor Pataki, the deposits that we looked at today, why
23 does this e-mail refer to a Bruno member item?
24 A I don't know. I didn't write it.
25 Q Evident was a promising company, wasn't it?

126
1 A Yes, ma'am.
2 Q And if it had succeeded, you would have made a
3 pile of money on that warrant, isn't that correct?
4 A No.
5 Q You would have had the stock in, if the stock had
6 increased, you would have made money, isn't that correct?
7 A All of the preferred stock would have seniority.
8 The common was a caboose and this was a very expensive
9 common stock instrument. I owned all the things I purchased
10 that I put my money in, were preferred stock along with all
11 the other investors. Preferred gets taken care of ahead of
12 common. So, I mean, companies don't get successful without
13 more capital coming in. It's impossible to sit there and
14 say anybody would make a killing on that.
15 Q Mr. Abbruzzese, my question was: If the stock had
16 taken off and the company had done really well, you would
17 have made money on that warrant, isn't that correct?
18 A If the company took off and stock did really well,
19 I would have made some money on that warrant, but a lot less
20 than if I just took the cash and bought the stock to begin
21 with.
22 Q Then why did you pay $10,000 for the warrant?
23 A Because I earned the warrant. I am gonna exercise
24 it.
25 Q 'Cause it was worth something, right?

127
1 A Something. Yes, ma'am, it was.
2 Q On the plane ride back from Florida we talked
3 about earlier, did you discuss the grant that was trying to
4 be obtained for Evident Technologies on that plane ride in
5 February of 2004?
6 A Ma'am, I don't remember ever talking about Evident
7 Technologies. We were out playing golf and having fun.
9 THE COURT: Yes.
10 BY MS. COOMBE:
11 Q I am handing you GU-110, GU-85 and GU-87, all of
12 which have been admitted into evidence. The first document
13 is the itinerary for the plane ride. Do you see that's
14 February 5th to February 7th of 2004?
15 A Yes.
16 Q And if we could look next at, I believe it's GU --
17 can you help me out, Mr. Abbruzzese, and give me the number
18 of the next document?
19 A GU-85, GU-87 and GU-110.
20 Q GU-85. Do you see the date on this document,
21 GU-85, the Senate Majority initiative form?
22 A February 12, 2004.
23 Q And that was just after you got back from Florida,
24 isn't that correct?
25 A Yes, ma'am.

128
Abbruzzese - Recross - Lowell
1 Q And if we could please look at GU --
2 Mr. Abbruzzese, gonna help me out again?
3 A Oh, sorry. GU-87.
4 Q The next one. Not the itinerary. The bank
5 deposit?
6 A That's 87.
7 Q Thank you, GU-87. That deposit occurred while you
8 were paying Senator Bruno through CTA and C&TA, isn't that
9 correct, July 30, 2004.
10 A Yes.
11 MS. COOMBE: I have nothing further, your Honor.
12 THE COURT: Mr. Lowell.
13 MR. LOWELL: Yes, sir, two.
14 RECROSS-EXAMINATION
15 BY MR. LOWELL:
16 Q How many months went by after you got Christy's
17 Night Out before the training, breaking and decision was
18 made whether it would or would not work?
19 A Probably four or five, six months, something like
20 that.
21 Q And all of what Miss Coombe showed you in terms of
22 the Evident payments was based on a commitment that dates
23 back how far?
24 A I think, as I said, September '02 is the way we
25 looked at it.

129
1 MR. LOWELL: That's all.
2 MS. COOMBE: Nothing further, your Honor.
3 THE COURT: You may step down, Mr. Abbruzzese.
4 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
5 (Witness was excused.)
6 THE COURT: All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's
7 five minutes of twelve. Let's take the luncheon recess
8 until one o'clock. Parties will remain, please.
9 (Jury excused at 11:55 AM.)
10 THE COURT: Where's the Government at, please?
11 MS. COOMBE: Your Honor, the Government is almost
12 prepared to rest. We have no additional witnesses to call.
13 I do have some housekeeping matters involving some exhibits
14 that I'm not sure have been admitted, as well as the GZ
15 exhibits that we've talked about throughout the trial, which
16 have been marked and --
17 THE COURT: What are the GZ exhibits?
18 MS. COOMBE: The portions of grand jury
19 transcripts.
20 THE COURT: All right. That's -- yeah, letters
21 bore me, substance gets me.
22 MS. COOMBE: It's confusing. I am sorry for the
23 alphabet soup.
24 THE COURT: It is my intention to permit you to
25 rest with leave to reopen if there are any other evidentiary

130
1 issues beyond those we need to resolve, given the way in
2 which I have addressed this. So one o'clock the government
3 is gonna rest?
4 MS. COOMBE: Yes, your Honor. I do have a handful
5 of exhibits that I would like to move in at that time if the
6 Court would allow me to.
7 THE COURT: I will.
8 MS. COOMBE: They're not the grand jury
9 impeachment. They're other exhibits.
10 THE COURT: Before you rest, I will either -- all
11 right. Let me hear from Mr. Lowell.
12 MR. LOWELL: I have no objection, obviously,
13 to the Government resting, subject to getting whatever
14 exhibits we have stipulated to into evidence. I don't
15 know if we need to take any time to do that, but that's up
16 to your Honor of course. So, I don't know that they need
17 to do that, but I don't care if we do it after the fact,
18 5 o'clock. I will not foreclose -- we won't foreclose any
19 of the exhibits for which we now have this arrangement, so
20 that's easy.
21 THE COURT: Is the defense then prepared to
22 proceed?
23 MR. LOWELL: Indeed. We would like to move
24 because one of our witnesses that we will call subject to
25 now -- when they formally rest, I will formally make a

131
1 motion, which you have told me will be without prejudice,
2 we'll discuss at some other time --
3 THE COURT: Yes.
4 MR. LOWELL: -- is that right? So we are prepared
5 to proceed. One of our witnesses has a family health issue
6 to deal with so we would like to move as quickly as we can
7 after lunch.
8 THE COURT: All right. That's fine with me.
9 MR. LOWELL: Thank you, Judge.
11 (Lunch recess taken at 11:59 AM.)
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USA v. Bruno 20 Nov 2009 AM

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1

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

2 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

4 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

6 (JURY TRIAL cont'd)

10 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS held in and for the

11 United States District Court, Northern District of New

12 York, at the James T. Foley United States Courthouse,

13 445 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207, on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20,

14 2009, before the HON. GARY L. SHARPE, United States District

18 FOR THE GOVERNMENT:

21 FOR THE DEFENDANT:

THERESA J. CASAL, RPR, CRR

USA v. Bruno - 09-CR-29

1 (Court commenced at 9:00 AM.)

2 MR. PERICAK: Your Honor, may I address the Court

3 before the jury comes in?

4 THE COURT: About what?

5 MR. PERICAK: Your Honor, we sent back through

6 Mr. Law a Decision, Order and Judgment of the Supreme Court

7 of the State of New York, County of Albany. It is a

9 THE COURT: I read it, I know what the issue is,

10 I'll take care of it at an appropriate time. We don't need

11 to do it through this witness, do we?

12 MR. PERICAK: We do not. Thank you, your Honor.

13 THE COURT: All right.

14 (Jury present at 9:01 AM.)

15 THE COURT: Good morning. Who's up?

16 MS. COOMBE: I am, your Honor.

17 THE COURT: All right.

18 MS. COOMBE: The Government calls Jared

21 THE CLERK: Mr. Abbruzzese, come down this way.

22 THE WITNESS: Okay.

23 THE CLERK: Please raise your right hand. Please

24 state and spell your name for the record.

25 THE WITNESS: Jared, J-A-R-E-D; E; Abbruzzese,

THERESA J. CASAL, RPR, CRR

USA v. Bruno - 09-CR-29

2 (Witness duly sworn.)

3 THE WITNESS: Good morning.

4 THE COURT: Good morning. Is this an order

6 MS. COOMBE: It is, your Honor.

7 THE COURT: This is another witness testifying

8 under a grant of immunity, ladies and gentlemen, therefore

9 the limiting instructions I've given you in the way in which

10 to evaluate the testimony are the same.

12 MS. COOMBE: Thank you, your Honor.

THERESA J. CASAL, RPR, CRR

Abbruzzese - Direct - Coombe

2 having been duly sworn by the Clerk of the Court, was

3 examined and testified as follows:

6 Q Good morning, Mr. Abbruzzese.

7 A Good morning, Miss Coombe.

8 Q Would you tell us about your educational

10 A I started out at St. Pius up in Loudonville,

11 finished my grammar school, went to St. Gregory's in

12 Loudonville. Went to school over in Lenox, Massachusetts,

13 for high school and had a very illustrious career at Siena

16 Q Have you been involved in a variety of business

17 endeavors since then?

18 A Quite a few, yes, ma'am.

19 Q I'd like to direct your attention to a company

20 called NEON. That the full name of the company?