Astralaga Testimony in Laurie Fine Suit

Case 5:12-cv-00836-DEP Document 98-20 Filed 09/30/15 Page 1 of 22
EXHIBIT 17
to the
DECLARATION OF NATHAN E. SIEGEL
IN SUPPORT OF
DEFENDANTS MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Page 1
1
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
Civil Action Number: 5:12-cv-00836(LEK)(DEP)
_____________________________________________________
LAURIE J. FINE,
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Plaintiff,
vs.
ESPN, INC., MARK SCHWARZ and ARTHUR BERKO,
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Defendants.
_____________________________________________________
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VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF DOUGLAS H. ASTRALAGA
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AUGUST 28, 2014
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12:56 p.m.
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VERITEXT REPORTING COMPANY

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
Civil Action Number: 5:12-cv-00836(LEK)(DEP)
_____________________________________________________
LAURIE J. FINE,
6
7
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Plaintiff,
vs.
ESPN, INC., MARK SCHWARZ and ARTHUR BERKO,
Defendants.
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_____________________________________________________
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BEFORE:
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VIRGINIA DENESE BARRETT, Commissioner
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LAW FIRST, by Mr. Lawrence H. Fisher, One
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Oxford Centre, Suite 4300, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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15219, appearing on behalf of the Plaintiff.
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LEVINE, SULLIVAN, KOCH & SCHULZ, LLP, by
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Mr. Nathan Siegel, 1899 L Street, NW, Suite 200,
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Washington, DC
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Defendants.
20036, appearing on behalf of the
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plaintiff.
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MR. SIEGEL:
Nathan Siegel for the
defendants.
VIDEOGRAPHER:
Our court reporter, Denese
Barrett, representing Veritext, will now swear in the
witness and we can proceed.
DOUGLAS H. ASTRALAGA
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The witness, having been first duly sworn or

affirmed to speak the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, testified as follows:
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COURT REPORTER:
And will we have the usual
stipulations?
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MR. SIEGEL:
Yes.
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MR. FISHER:
Agreed.
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EXAMINATION
BY MR. SIEGEL:
17
Q.
Good afternoon.
18
A.
Good afternoon.
19
Q.
Why don't you state your name for the
20
record?
21
A.
Douglas H. Astralaga.
22
Q.
And what city do you live in?
23
A.
Fairhope, Alabama.
24
Q.
And what is your current job?
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A.
Chief division counsel for the FBI in
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Mobile.
Q.
And where were you born?
A.
Columbia, South America.
Q.
And when did you come to the United
States?
A.
I believe it was 1978.
eighth grade, I think.
It was about
Half a year.
Q.
And did you come with a family?
A.
My mother.
10
Actually my brother, and then
my mother came a short time thereafter.
11
Q.
How many siblings did you have?
12
A.
We are five in total.
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14
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I have four --
three brothers and a sister.

Q.
And when you came to the United States,
where did you come?
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A.
Where?
17
Q.
Yeah.
18
A.
Syracuse.
19
Q.
And how long did you live in Syracuse?
20
A.
From -- let's see -- eighth grade through
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high school.
Obviously, I graduated from Henninger
22
High School.
And on and off through college basically
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Syracuse was my residence.
24
Q.
Where did you live in Syracuse?
25
A.
101 Mariposa Street, Syracuse, New York.
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Q.
And where did you go to college?
A.
State University of New Paltz.
Q.
And what post graduate education did you
A.
Juris Doctorate.
Q.
Where did you go to law school?
A.
Thomas Cooley Law School in Michigan.
Q.
And do you have family here in Alabama
have?
with you?
10
A.
My wife and kids, yes.
11
Q.
Do you know who Bernie Fine is?
12
A.
Yes, I do.
13
Q.
And how do you know him?
14
A.
Just growing up in Syracuse and following
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Syracuse basketball.
16
Q.
Have you ever had any interaction with
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Bernie Fine?
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A.
Yes, I did.
19
Q.
Could you describe that?
20
A.
I really only had one interaction with
21
him, and that was at Sunnycrest Park.
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-- I was fifteen years old, going into eleventh grade.
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And we used to do a lot of basketball during the
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summer.
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caliber, pretty good games, and I spent most of my
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I was probably
There was a lot of games that were pretty high

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summer out there that year playing basketball.
times some Syracuse basketball players would be at the
park, at the Sunnycrest Park, and, you know, it was a
big exciting moment for everyone to try to, you know,
complete with those guys.
there once in a while.
7
8
Q.
At
And Bernie Fine would be
And what interaction did you have with
Mr. Fine?
A.
On one particular occasion, it was during
10
a week day.
I remember that.
I don't know what day it
11
was.
12
pretty well.
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Mr. Fine walked up to me and said that that was pretty
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good, if I was willing to do a workout with him the
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next day.
I was on a team, and we were running the court

And after we finished running the court,
16
Q.
And then what happened?
17
A.
I said, Sure.
Absolutely.
And I came the
18
next day about three thirty, as I recall, and we had a
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workout that first day.
20
Q.
And what happened during the workout?
21
A.
Normal workout.
I'm a -- I'm 6'6" and
22
change, almost 6'7", so I play a big man position which
23
basically means I have the ball and you bounce into the
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man and you turn and put your moves.
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seemed to be going pretty well.
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And everything
And Bernie asked me to

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come back the next day for an additional workout, and I
said, Sure.
that was kind of weird because I felt that he lingered
on his defense a little bit in certain areas that I
didn't feel real comfortable with.
justified it in my mind saying, Well, I'm younger.
He's a bit older.
quick as I am, and that's probably the reason he was
kind of lingering on his defense.
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11
12
Q.
Absolutely.
But at that point I thought
But I just -- I
He can't move as fast.
He's not as
When you say lingering on his defense,
could you describe exactly what you mean?

A.
Sure.
Normally when you're playing in a
13
position, a guy will come behind you and they're
14
pushing off on you.
15
They're moving around.
16
in and out and you're pushing.
17
elbows and so on.
18
bit longer than normal for a regular basketball player.
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20
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22
23
24
25
Q.
They're shoving a little bit.

But it's that, you know, quick
You're using your
He tended to kind of stay a little
Did you feel -- was he touching you when
he was staying on you?

A.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, he's touching my
back, my lower back, sides, things of that nature.

Q.
Okay.
Did you participate in the second
workout with Mr. Fine?

A.
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Yes, sir, I did.

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Q.
What happened?
A.
Same thing basically.
We started playing,
and the second one, it was -- as we progressed through
the workout, it started getting a whole lot more.
There was now -- pretty much he was touching me and
feeling me up to a point where I felt really
uncomfortable.
confronted him and I said, What kind of defense are you
playing on me, in a very rough, street-like way.
And at one point I just immediately
10
Q.
Where was he touching you?
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A.
My back.
And the thing that did it for me
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was that he came around the back and kind of reached
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forward.
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across the front of my body a little bit.
As I was trying to bounce into him, he came
15
Q.
Did he touch any of your private parts?
16
A.
He didn't get to touch my private parts.
17
He came across the side like this as I pulled away
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inside.
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What kind of B.S. defense are you playing on me.
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21
22
Q.
And that's when I confronted him and said,
Did you feel that Mr. Fine was touching
you inappropriately?
A.
Again, as a fifteen-year-old, I felt very
23
uncomfortable with the way he was playing me.
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been playing basketball for a while and had never come
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into that kind of a predicament.
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I've
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Q.
Where did he touch you?
A.
Oh, he was -- basically when I was moving
back, he had his hands on my buttocks and then he came
across the front.
only one time, while he was touching me around the back
side was continuous and really stayed on, which at that
point I was going, There's something going on here.
Basically he came across my front
Q.
What did you think was going on?
A.
I thought he was feeling me up.
10
Q.
And what exactly did you say to him?
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A.
You want me to -- I can remember still
12
what --
13
Q.
Yes.
14
A.
Okay.
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I said, What kind of fucked up
bullshit defense are you playing.
16
Q.
And why did you use those words?
17
A.
Because I -- as a kid growing up without a
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dad, I knew that you had to be strong whenever you were
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nervous about something and just shock them.
20
Q.
And what did Mr. Fine say?
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A.
He was shocked.
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Q.
And did he respond?
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A.
Yeah.
He immediately looked up at me
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bright-eyed and put his hands up and said, No.
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No.
You misunderstand what I'm doing.
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No.
You
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misunderstand what I'm doing.
for a while.
he said, You know, when you finish your tenth grade,
we're going to be looking at you, and, you know, we're
going to be watching you.
at him and I said, Now I know you're full of B.S.
because I'm fifteen but I'm going into eleventh grade.
I grabbed my basketball, and I left the park.
9
10
Q.
We've been watching you
You seem to be a pretty good player.
And
And at that point I looked
And did you ever have any contact with
Mr. Fine again?
11
A.
No, I did not.
12
Q.
Why did you leave?
13
A.
Because I felt that this was just one of
14
those things that -- I felt very uncomfortable with
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Mr. Fine, and I felt that his approach and what he was
16
doing was not normal.
17
18
19
Q.
Did you believe that Mr. Fine was making a
sexual advance on you?

A.
I did at that time.
Let me rephrase that.
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Sexual advance, I don't know that it was a sexual
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advance.
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23
Q.
I felt that he was feeling me up.

Okay.
And looking back on it today, do
you still believe that?
24
A.
Yes.
25
Q.
Now, you mentioned that basketball is a
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game where people engage in hand checking and stuff on
defense?
A.
Yeah.
Q.
What was different about this than what
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6
one might call normal defensive hand checking?

A.
You -- it's an unwritten rule you don't
just linger for no reason.
And there is a physical
aspect of basketball, obviously.
Like I said, I played -- I had played for a long time.
This was not that.
10
I played for the JV team at State University of New
11
Paltz as well.
12
And even as a fifteen-year-old, I knew there was
13
something wrong.
14
15
Q.
Been playing basketball my whole life.
At that point in your life, was your
father alive?
16
A.
No, he was not.
17
Q.
When did your father pass away?
18
A.
I was seven years old.
19
Q.
So which members of your family were you
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21
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living with at that point?

A.
At that point it was just my oldest
brother and my sister and my mother in Syracuse.
23
Q.
And do you have any other brothers?
24
A.
Yes, sir.
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I have two other brothers.
My
middle brother, his name is Ivan, and my youngest
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brother, his name is Andres.
2
3
Q.
Andres.
Did any of your brothers ever
attend the Syracuse basketball camp?
A.
Yeah.
My youngest brother, Andres, looks
a lot like me.
Unfortunately, he didn't grow as tall
as I did.
outside shot.
wanted to pursue it more so than most other kids.
he was really serious about it.
But he was a pretty good player, had a great

And one time when I was at home, he
And
Again, he had a great
10
shot.
He was doing really well.
And I was home one
11
time, and he came home and said he had been at a
12
Syracuse University basketball camp.
13
Q.
And what was -- did you respond to him?
14
A.
Oh, I did.
15
Q.
What did you say?
16
A.
I said, If you ever go back over there,
17
I'm going to beat the crap out of you.
18
Q.
Why did you say that?
19
A.
Because I didn't feel comfortable with him
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going over there.
21
Q.
Why didn't you feel comfortable?
22
A.
Because of my experience.
23
Q.
With Mr. Fine?
24
A.
That's correct.
25
Q.
And did he ever return?
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2
3
A.
Absolutely not.
Even if he wanted, I
would not have allowed it.

Q.
At some point in or around 2011, did you
become aware that there were news reports that ESPN was
broadcasting about Bernie Fine?
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7
8
9
A.
I can't remember if it was 2011 or 2012,
but I did.
Q.
Did you have any reaction to those
reports?
10
A.
Well, that actually came from my brother,
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Andres.
12
Q.
And can you tell us about that?
13
A.
He called me and asked me about the reason
14
for our conversation when he was a young kid, and I
15
explained to him the whole thing.
16
clarify the point that when Andrew came to the States,
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at that point I believe I was a senior in high school
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at that point in time.
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sixth grade.
20
sixth.
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-- my oldest brother was already out of the house, and
22
basically I became the father figure to him
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essentially.
24
eye on him.
25
Q.
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Maybe I need to
And he was probably fifth or
I can't remember.
Maybe fourth, fifth or
I can't remember exactly when.
So I basically
So everything he did, I kind of kept an
And just so there's no confusion on the

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record, Andres and Andrew are the same person?
A.
Yes.
Q.
Where did your brother Andres work in or
around 2011?
A.
He was with ESPN.
Q.
Do you know what he did?
A.
Human resources or something.
Q.
So you mentioned that your brother called
Andres and Andrew.
you about it?
10
A.
Yeah.
11
Q.
And what did you discuss?
12
A.
He said, Hey, do you remember that
13
incident you talked to me about.
14
remember what -- you know, exactly what happened.
15
asked me what it was about, and I explained the whole
16
thing to him.
17
to talk to somebody over here in my office about that.
18
Q.
He said, Wow.
I said, Yeah.
He said, Well, I'm going
And describe any other interaction you had
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with him or anybody else, any conversations at that
20
point.
21
A.
He
I mean, to me at that point it was just he
22
was inquiring about it, and I was basically done with
23
that particular issue.
24
didn't think there was anything else to it.
25
point -- and I can't remember in detail because I'm
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I mean, that was it for me.

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At some
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also the media coordinator here in this field office.
On or about that same time, we had issues with Auburn
University where there was a big shooting incident.
I had media outlets reaching out to me to try to see
what kind of information they could obtain from the FBI
as it related to that particular investigation.
the media outlets was ESPN as well.
remember, you know, exactly when it was.
did reach out to me at some point about the Bernie Fine
10
One of
So I can't
But somebody
issue.
11
12
So
Q.
And did you have a -- do you recall what
they said?
13
A.
No, I do not.
Probably something to the
14
effect of, you know, I know your brother Andrew.
15
explained it to us or something like that.
16
have any particular recollection of it.
17
He
But I don't
Q.
Okay.
19
A.
I don't recall.
20
Q.
Okay.
21
A.
I think at some point they wanted to run a
18
Did you ever go on the record with
ESPN?
I don't think so.
Why?
22
story, and basically we had -- any time an FBI agent is
23
going to talk to the media, they're not allowed to.
24
You've got to actually get clearance from either the
25
division point of contact for media matters or you
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reach back to headquarters through our Office of Public
Affairs and speak to them about it.
to them to say, Hey, this is what's going on.
said, Well, it's got nothing to do with the FBI or
anything like that, and there's no need for you to talk
to them.
Q.
Okay.
So I reached out
And they
So is it fair to say that your
superiors preferred that you not go on the record about
this to the media?
10
A.
Yeah.
And basically they asked my opinion
11
as to, you know, the basis for this conversation, and I
12
provided them the input that I felt that it was
13
unnecessary for me to get involved in anything related
14
to that at this point in time.
15
16
MR. SIEGEL:
MR. FISHER:
18
20
21
I have no further
questions but reserve the right to redirect.
17
19
Okay.
Sure.
I have a few questions.
EXAMINATION
BY MR. FISHER:
Q.
You mentioned that you grew up in Syracuse
on Mariposa Street?
22
A.
Yeah.
23
Q.
Do you recall the proximity of Mariposa
24
25
Street to Wilson Street?

A.
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I know it was very near there.

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I can't.
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2
3
That's it.
Q.
My wife, obviously.
Yes.
You mentioned earlier that you -- that you
did not want to give an interview in this case to --
A.
Correct.
Q.
-- ESPN; is that correct?
A.
(Witness nodding head in the affirmative.)
Q.
And why did you not want to give an
8
9
interview to ESPN?
A.
Because I didn't want it to go out that
10
here's an FBI agent and, you know, this is an
11
individual.
12
from a fifteen-year-old kid, and that's as far as it
13
needs to go.
14
Q.
You know, the facts to me are the facts
Do you believe that the facts that you
15
possessed as a fifteen-year-old kid support an
16
allegation that Bernie Fine is a pedophile?
17
A.
Support an allegation that he's a
18
pedophile.
That's a pretty high standard.
Support the
19
allegations that he's a pedophile.
20
answer that.
21
being a pedophile versus somebody that's acting in an
22
improper way to me are quite different.
I really can't
It's a -- the legal ramifications of
23
Q.
So you see a big distinction between that?
24
A.
Sure.
25
Q.
And so in this case, you're only willing
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to go so far as you say you think he acted in an
improper way?
A.
I thought he acted in a fashion with a
fifteen-year-old that was extremely improper.
correct.
6
7
Q.
That's
But he did deny any improper intent when
you confronted him, correct?
A.
Yeah.
Q.
Did you speak to your brother about the
10
Oh, yeah.
He did.
fact that you were going to give this deposition --
11
A.
Sure.
12
Q.
-- today?
13
A.
Sure.
14
Q.
Have you communicated with him in writing
15
about that?
16
A.
No.
17
Q.
What was the nature of your conversation
18
19
20
with your brother about today's deposition?

A.
Hey.
Guess what?
I'm going to be deposed
on this thing.
21
Q.
And what did he have to say?
22
A.
Oh, really.
23
24
25
That was basically it.
said, Yeah.
Q.
Okay.
Do you have any reason to believe
that this has a bearing on his -- on his work?
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A.
Oh, God yeah.

MR. FISHER:
3
4
That's all the questions I have.

EXAMINATION
BY MR. SIEGEL:
Q.
Just a couple.
A.
Sure.
Q.
This -- the two workouts that you
described with Mr. Fine, were those one on one?
A.
Yes, they were.
10
Q.
Okay.
11
A.
Yes.
12
Q.
Was there anybody else on the basketball
13
So it was just you and Mr. Fine?
court?
14
A.
Not a soul.
15
Q.
To your knowledge, was there anyone else
16
17
watching?
A.
Not -- basically at Sunnycrest Park things
18
wouldn't start moving until after everybody got out of
19
work, and that's when it really got really good
20
basketball is when everybody showed up.
21
that, it was pretty much empty.
22
Q.
But prior to
In response to Mr. Fisher's question about
23
pedophilia, you mentioned that it's a pretty high sort
24
of legal standard?
25
A.
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Sure.
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Q.
What did you mean by that?
A.
Well, I mean, there are certain advances
and actions in order to be a pedophile.
there's -- that I don't have any of those facts in
front of me as it relates to whether or not he is or
not.
fifteen-year-old kid and the perception I now have
sitting here as far as what he did.
I mean,
What I can tell you is the perception I had as a
Q.
Using I guess more laymen's terms, would
10
your experience with Mr. Fine in your view support the
11
contention that he was someone who engaged in
12
inappropriate sexual advances on teenage boys at that
13
time frame in the 1980's?
14
A.
As far as sexual, what I could tell you is
15
that it was to the point where I was uncomfortable
16
enough to very quickly leave, never to come in contact
17
with him ever again, making sure that that never ever
18
happened under any circumstance, whether I was going to
19
a basketball game to the point where I sternly warned
20
my brother to stay away from there.
21
Q.
And where does your brother work today?
22
A.
The NFL.
23
Q.
So he's not currently working with ESPN?
24
A.
No.
25
MR. SIEGEL:
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That's all I have.

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CERTIFICATE
2
3
STATE OF ALABAMA
ELMORE COUNTY
I hereby certify that the above and foregoing
deposition was taken down by me in stenotype and the
questions and answers thereto were transcribed by means
of computer-aided transcription, and that the foregoing
represents a true and correct transcript of the
10
testimony given by said witness upon said hearing.
11
I further certify that I am neither of
12
counsel, nor of kin to the parties to the action, nor
13
am I in anywise interested in the result of said cause.
14
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Virginia Denese Barrett, CCR
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CCR #458, Expires 9/30/2015
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Commissioner for the
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State of Alabama at Large
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My Commission Expires:
9/16/2015
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212-279-9424

www.veritext.com
212-490-3430

Astralaga Testimony in Laurie Fine Suit

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Case 5:12-cv-00836-DEP Document 98-20 Filed 09/30/15 Page 1 of 22

Case 5:12-cv-00836-DEP Document 98-20 Filed 09/30/15 Page 2 of 22

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Civil Action Number: 5:12-cv-00836(LEK)(DEP)

VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF DOUGLAS H. ASTRALAGA

AUGUST 28, 2014

VERITEXT REPORTING COMPANY

Case 5:12-cv-00836-DEP Document 98-20 Filed 09/30/15 Page 3 of 22

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Civil Action Number: 5:12-cv-00836(LEK)(DEP)

VIRGINIA DENESE BARRETT, Commissioner

LAW FIRST, by Mr. Lawrence H. Fisher, One

Oxford Centre, Suite 4300, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

15219, appearing on behalf of the Plaintiff.

LEVINE, SULLIVAN, KOCH & SCHULZ, LLP, by

Mr. Nathan Siegel, 1899 L Street, NW, Suite 200,

20036, appearing on behalf of the

VERITEXT REPORTING COMPANY

Case 5:12-cv-00836-DEP Document 98-20 Filed 09/30/15 Page 4 of 22

Nathan Siegel for the

Our court reporter, Denese

Barrett, representing Veritext, will now swear in the

witness and we can proceed.

The witness, having been first duly sworn or

And will we have the usual

Why don't you state your name for the

And what city do you live in?

And what is your current job?

Chief division counsel for the FBI in

VERITEXT REPORTING COMPANY

Case 5:12-cv-00836-DEP Document 98-20 Filed 09/30/15 Page 5 of 22

And where were you born?

Columbia, South America.

And when did you come to the United

I believe it was 1978.

eighth grade, I think.

And did you come with a family?

Actually my brother, and then

my mother came a short time thereafter.

How many siblings did you have?

We are five in total.

three brothers and a sister.

And when you came to the United States,

where did you come?

And how long did you live in Syracuse?

From -- let's see -- eighth grade through

Obviously, I graduated from Henninger

And on and off through college basically

Syracuse was my residence.

Where did you live in Syracuse?

101 Mariposa Street, Syracuse, New York.

VERITEXT REPORTING COMPANY

Case 5:12-cv-00836-DEP Document 98-20 Filed 09/30/15 Page 6 of 22

And where did you go to college?

State University of New Paltz.

And what post graduate education did you

Where did you go to law school?

Thomas Cooley Law School in Michigan.

And do you have family here in Alabama

My wife and kids, yes.

Do you know who Bernie Fine is?

And how do you know him?