1.Charles Fontanelli — Direct/Cross (Part 2)
441 lines(In open court; Jury not present.)
THE COURT: Good morning.
Appearances?
MS. PENZA: Moira Penza, Tanya Hajjar, and Mark Lesko for the United States. Good morning, Your Honor.
And also at counsel table is paralegal specialist Teri Carby, and Special Agent Michael Weniger with the FBI.
THE COURT: Good morning.
MR. AGNIFILO: Good morning, Your Honor. Marc Agnifilo, Teny Geragos, Paul DerOhannesian and Danielle Smith for Keith Raniere, who is with us this morning in court.
THE COURT: Good morning.
Let's bring in the witness, and let's bring in the jury.
(Whereupon, the witness resumes the stand.)
CHARLES FONTANELLI, recalled as a witness, having been previously first duly sworn/affirmed, was examined and testified further as follows:
THE COURT: All right. Let's bring in the jury.
(Jury enters the courtroom.)
THE COURT: Be seated.
Good morning, members of the jury.
JURORS: Good morning.
THE COURT: All right. Let's continue with the direct examination of Mr. Fontanelli.
MS. PENZA: Thank you, Your Honor.
Before I just begin questioning again, I just would ask for the PowerPoint that I was using yesterday, which -- that slides 1 through 54, be designated as GX176, which is already in evidence, but that that GX176 be slides 1 through 54.
THE COURT: All right.
MS. PENZA: And that slides 55 -- 55 through the end, which I will get Your Honor the final number in a moment, be designated as GX180A.
THE COURT: 180A?
MS. PENZA: Yes, Your Honor. And entered into evidence.
MS. GERAGOS: No objection.
THE COURT: All right. It's so ordered.
And let's continue.
MS. PENZA: Thank you, Your Honor.
THE COURT: I remind the witness that he is still under oath.
MS. PENZA: Thank you, Your Honor.
THE COURT: You may continue.
DIRECT EXAMINATION (Continued) BY MS. PENZA:
MS. PENZA: Good morning, Officer Fontanelli.
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Good morning, ma'am.
MS. PENZA: Okay. So when we last left off, the box that you recovered in evidence, that's item number four; is that correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. PENZA: Moving to slide 80, can you describe what we see in this room? Or what room this is?
(Exhibit published.)
CHARLES FONTANELLI: This is a utility room in a basement. It's a room where the water heater and boiler and the central air conditioner, things like that, were located.
MS. PENZA: Okay. And turning to the next slide, is this within that room?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, that is within that room. That's a safe that's located on the right-hand side of the room against the wall.
MS. PENZA: Approximately how big is that safe?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I would estimate that it's three feet by three feet.
MS. PENZA: And was that -- how many shoeboxes would you say would fit in that safe?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I would estimate that you could probably fit about 12 shoeboxes in there. Maybe four rows of three shoeboxes to stack up.
MS. PENZA: Okay. And there's -- is there a lock on the safe?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: No. The day of the search warrant, when we discovered the safe, it had been broken open.
MS. PENZA: Turning to the next slide, can you describe what this room is?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: This is a room on the second floor. When you come up the stairs from the first floor, this the first room that you enter.
There was a desk and some -- a couch in there.
MS. PENZA: Okay. Are there -- looking towards the middle of the room and the photograph of the room, are there pictures?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, there's several pictures on the wall. There's one of Albert Einstein above the desk and there's several of the defendant on that rear piece of furniture in the rear of the room.
MS. PENZA: And could you circle those, please.
CHARLES FONTANELLI: (Witness complying.)
MS. PENZA: Turning to the next slide, can you explain what this room is?
THE COURT: Could you state the number of the slide.
MS. PENZA: Yes, Your Honor. I'm sorry.
MS. PENZA: Turning to slide 83, can you describe what room this is?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: This is a room on the second floor of the residence. Off that room that we just previously looked at, there's a small hallway that leads to a bedroom in the rear of the residence. This particular room, if you enter that hallway, which is the first room on your right-hand side, there's like a walk-in closet.
MS. PENZA: Okay. I'm going to just go back to slide 82 for a second.
I know you can't see that room in this picture, but can you describe where it would be?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Sure.
This the pillar here (indicating), next to the left of that pillar, is a hallway that leads down to a bedroom at the back of the hallway. And this room is the first door on your right as you enter into the hallway.
MS. PENZA: So before you get to the bedroom, this is a closet to your right?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. PENZA: And then what is this -- turning to slide 84, what is this view?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: This is an interior picture of that closet. That door leads to a crawl space.
MS. PENZA: Okay. And turning to slide 85. What is this a picture of?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Again, that's a picture of that door that we just looked at. Now it's open and you could have a view into the crawl space that I mentioned.
MS. PENZA: We'll talk about the details in a second, but what was found in the crawl space?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: We found --
MS. PENZA: Just generally.
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Generally there was insulation that you could see there. There was a few boxes. And then to the right there was a bag containing a few other boxes.
MS. PENZA: And what was -- what was in those boxes?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: In those boxes to your right was large sums of U.S. currency.
MS. PENZA: Before we go on to the next pictures, can you describe the general procedure for processing cash recovered during a search.
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Sure.
Small amounts of currency that are located during a search, that are manageable to count, are counted on the scene and secured.
Large bulk currency, which we feel that we can't count accurately at the scene, we'll secure. We'll heat seal it.
Heat sealing is a process when you take the evidence, in this particular instance, the money, we'll put it into plastic, and then we have a machine that will melt the edges of the plastic so it's, you know, it's secure around the evidence.
In this particular case, that's what we did on that day.
MS. PENZA: For the large sums of cash?
MS. PENZA: And were there smaller sums of cash that were also found?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes. There was approximately $8,000, a little bit over $8,000 of loose cash that we also recovered that day of the search.
MS. PENZA: And those amounts you counted on site?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Correct.
MS. PENZA: Once the money is counted, is it then counted back at the FBI?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: The money that was secured from this room, we heat sealed while at the house. We transported it from the house to 26 Federal Plaza, which is the New York FBI field office. The money was secured in the rear of a vehicle, in the trunk.
In the vehicle there's two agents that drive the money to Federal Plaza, as well as a vehicle that follows that vehicle to safeguard the evidence.
MS. PENZA: And then once you're in New York, is that money then counted?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That money was secured in a vault in the New York FBI field office, and the next day it was counted with a money counter. It was counted twice. And then deposited.
MS. PENZA: Okay. And are there always multiple witnesses whenever the money is being handled or counted?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes. Whenever you deal with any evidence, there's always two officers or agents assigned to be present during that time.
MS. PENZA: Turning to slide 86. What is this view?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: This is a picture again of that crawl space. If you entered through that door that we had just viewed, if you looked to your left, this is the view that you would see.
MS. PENZA: And turning to slide 87.
I think it's oriented -- it may be oriented incorrectly, but...
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I believe that this is the view, if you came into the -- through that door and you look to the right, this is the view.
MS. PENZA: It's still within the same crawl space?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: It's the same area, that's correct.
MS. PENZA: Okay. And then what is this -- turning to slide 88, what is this?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: If you came in that door, immediately to your right on the floor we located these boxes. You can see that it was a tagged as evidence item number 63.
It's an All Saints, some type of shoebox. It's a larger box, like a boot box.
MS. PENZA: So this wasn't a regular-sized shoebox, it was larger than that?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Correct. I got the impression that it was for like a large pair of boots.
MS. PENZA: Turning to the next slide, what is this image?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: This is a picture of that box that we had just viewed. Now the top is opened, and this is the contents of the box that we had discovered.
MS. PENZA: And look -- this is slide 89.
Is the number 63 present on the left?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes. You can see it here in the slide (indicating).
MS. PENZA: And so that matches up with the number 63 that we just looked at on the closed box?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct.
MS. PENZA: Officer Fontanelli -- excuse me, Investigator Fontanelli, there's a number of bands around the money.
Are those bands that the FBI put there?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: No, ma'am. Those bands are preexisting. They were there.
The photo that you see is exactly the way it was when we opened the top of the box. Those bands were already there, and each group of bills was broken down, and the amount of money in each stack is recorded on those bands.
MS. PENZA: Okay. Are you able to read any of the amounts of money?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. PENZA: Can you read a couple of the ones that you see?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Some of them are hard to see, but the one that jumps out to me here is this says 10,000 (indicating.) And this one says 2,000.
MS. PENZA: Okay. Thank you.
Now turning to slide 90, can you describe what this is?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: This is the money from the box that we had just discovered.
When I had spoken about heat sealing it, this is what it looks like as heat sealed.
This is the plastic. It's sealed all around. It's closed at the top with evidence tape. And it's broken down into four bags.
But this is the contents of the shoebox that we had discovered in that crawl space.
MS. PENZA: And, again, I know it's a little bit difficult to see on this picture, but can you see the same item number that we have been looking at in the previous slides?
On like the bottom left bag, do you see item number -- I'm sorry --
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I see the item number 63.
MS. PENZA: And would that have been the same on all -- is this all four bags from --
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct.
That shoebox that we had labeled in the previous slides as evidence, item number 63, this is the contents of that box. It's broken down into four bags and they're all labeled as item -- evidence item number 63.
If you could look closely here, you'll see on that bag it says 3 of 4. The first bag would have been 1 of 4; 2 of 4; 3 of 4 and 4 of 4.
MS. PENZA: Okay.
MS. PENZA: May I have the Elmo, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Is this in evidence?
MS. PENZA: Yes. I'm sorry.
MS. PENZA: I'm showing you, Investigator Fontanelli, what is in evidence as Government Exhibit 1483.
And I'm going to walk through the first four pages of GX1483.
Showing you the first page, are you familiar with this document?
THE COURT: I'm sorry.
(Exhibit published.)
THE COURT: Go ahead.
MS. PENZA: Are you familiar with this document, Investigator Fontanelli?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. PENZA: And are you familiar with this document?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, I am.
This is a sheet that was used -- it's called United States Currency Count. It's a sheet that we use to account for the money in that photo.
MS. PENZA: Okay. And at the top right where it says item 63, bag 1 of 4, can you explain what that means?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Of course. That box that we had located was marked as evidence item number 63, and in then broken down into four bags. We did a sheet for each bag.
This particular sheet corresponds to bag number 1. You can see at the top it says item number 63, bag 1 of 4.
So the information contained on the sheet, pertains to bag number 1 of that evidence item.
MS. PENZA: And if we look -- can you explain how the form works?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Sure.
If you look here to your left, the left-hand column has currency. The next center column is quantity. And then the third column is amount.
So what you do is when you go through the money and it's counted and accounted for, you note how many bills of each denomination there were in each bag.
In this particular instance, with the currency $100, there was 1 -- 1,500, 100-dollar bills in that particular bag. The amount would be $150,000.
The next denomination was $20. There was 401, 20-dollar bills located within bag 1 of item 63. And a total $8,020.
Then at the bottom, after you tally up all the different bill denominations, you tally at the bottom for a total currency. In this particular instance, the total currency in bag number 1 was $158,020.
At the bottom you see the sealing official. And a witnessing official.
Before I had mentioned whenever we deal with evidence, there's always two agents or officers assigned. In this particular instance, the sealing officer was Special Agent Michael Lever. And the witnessing officer was Special Agent Elliot McGinnis, both agents assigned to squad C2.
MS. PENZA: And so that first bag from item number 63 that we looked at contained $158,000 -- $158,020?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. PENZA: Turning to the next page.
What -- can you describe what this is?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Again, here, this is the same form. But this time instead of talking about bag number 1, we're talking about bag number 2 of item number 63.
Again, we have our three columns; the currency, the quantity and the amount.
We tally all the different denominations of the bills that we had. In this particular instance, we had 1,601, 100-dollar bills. We had 100, 20-dollar bills, for a total of $162,100.
And again, at the bottom of the page, as we mentioned, there's always two officials present when we deal with evidence. And, again, it was Special Agent Mike Lever and Special Agent Elliot McGinnis, who I dealt with this evidence on that day.
MS. PENZA: Okay. Let's turn to bag number 3.
Can you walk you through this one.
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes.
Again, this is the same type of page that we had before. It's United States currency.
I failed to mention that this was counted on March 28th of 2018, the day after the search in Clifton Park. The day after that we had recovered the money, and that this funds was counted and accounted for at 26 Federal Plaza.
This particular sheet here, again, is the same as before. This time it pertains to bag 3 of evidence item number 63.
In this particular bag we had 100, 100-dollar bills for a total of 10,000. We had 100, 50-dollar bills, for a total of 5,000. And we had 900, 20-dollar bills, in amount of 18,000.
And you total that at the bottom, the total currency in bag number 3 was $33,000.
It was processed, again, by Special Agent Michael Lever and Special Agent Elliot McGinnis.
MS. PENZA: Turning to the next page.
Can you describe this?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: This is the same sheet. This time it pertains to bag 4 of 4, evidence item number 63.
In this particular bag, we had 51, 100-dollar bills, in the amount of $5,100. We had 200, 50-dollar bills, in the amount of $10,000. We had 1,098, 20-dollar bills, in the amount of 21,960, which gives us a total currency in bag number 4, evidence item number 63, of $37,060.
Again, sealed and processed by Special Agent Michael Lever and Special Agent Elliot McGinnis at 26 Federal Plaza.
MS. PENZA: And turning to Government Exhibit 1483, page 8.
I'll start with Government Exhibit 1483, page 11, which is already in evidence.
Is this a deposit slip for that -- for the amount of money in the first bag?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct.
MS. PENZA: And it's a little difficult to see, but I'm going to move on to Government Exhibit 1483-8.
And does this list the total amount from those bags?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct.
MS. PENZA: And what was the total amount from those bags?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: $390,180.00.
MS. PENZA: Your Honor, may I have the PowerPoint back, please.
MS. PENZA: Turning now to slide 91.
Can you describe what we see in this image?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: This is evidence number 64.
MS. PENZA: And this bag that we see, can you describe how what we just looked at as evidence item number 63, and evidence item number 64, how those were arranged in the crawl space?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: As you see, they were both within this bag. And one box was on top of the other.
MS. PENZA: Okay. So is it fair to say that the item we just looked at, item number 63, was also in this bag?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct. Both boxes were located within this bag.
MS. PENZA: Turning to slide 92.
Can you describe what we see in this image.
CHARLES FONTANELLI: In this particular imagine you see an UGG shoebox, which is labeled as item number 64.
MS. PENZA: And is this a view into the bag?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's the view into the bag. You can see at the bottom of the bag the previous shoebox.
MS. PENZA: Okay. So the shoebox -- the boot box that we looked at as item number 63, is actually underneath this UGG box?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Correct.
MS. PENZA: Turning now to slide 93.
What is depicted here?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: This is the contents of the interior of the shoebox.
MS. PENZA: Okay. And turning to slide 94.
What is this?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Again, just as we did before. We heat sealed this money on the scene. We took it back to 26 Federal Plaza to be processed. So this is the evidence bag being ready to be transported.
MS. PENZA: And as with when we looked at bags of money before, is this bag of money identified as corresponding to the UGG box that we just looked at?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct. You can see over here it says item number 64, which corresponds to the photo of that UGG box, which was labeled evidence item number 64.
MS. PENZA: Your Honor, may I have the Elmo again please.
(Continued on next page.)
BY MS. PENZA:
MS. PENZA: Investigator Fontanelli, I'm showing you what is in evidence as Government's Exhibit 1483, page five. Can you describe what this paper is?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Again, this is similar to the previous sheet we looked at, United States currency count. This is a sheet that we complete to correspond with that evidence.
You can see on the top it was also completed on March 28, 2018, the day after the search in Clinton Park, counted for in 26 Federal Plaza, New York, New York, FBI field office.
This particular sheet we deal with item number 64. Item number 64, that Ugg shoe box, 58 $100 bills; 57 50-dollar bills; 160 20-dollar bills; 216, 10-dollar bills; 270 5-dollar bills; two 2-dollar bills, 273 1-dollar bills. Total that up to $50,637. You see on the bottom of the page it was processed, secured by sealing official Special Agent Michael Lever and witnesses official Elliot McGinnis.
MS. PENZA: Was this money from item 64 also deposited in the bank?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. PENZA: I'm showing you what is in evidence as Government's Exhibit 1483-9. Is this the deposit slip for item 64?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am. As you can see the amount corresponds to the previous sheet $15,670.
MS. PENZA: That's on the bottom?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Correct.
MS. PENZA: I'll go back to for a second to 1483-11 to give you a better view there at item number 6359 at bottom, can you see the amount from the item number 63 that we looked at first?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am, $390,180.
MS. PENZA: Then going back to the record of the deposit of item number 64, is this a printout of that deposit?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct.
MS. PENZA: It has the total amount $15,670?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. PENZA: Your Honor, may I have the Power Point again, please?
MS. PENZA: Turning now to slide 95, can you describe where we are in this image?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Sure. As I was speaking before, that hallway that led from that main landing on the second floor, this is the rear bedroom in the back of that hall, the closet would be on your right-hand side. We walk pasted the closet now and into the rear bedroom.
MS. PENZA: Slide 96?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's a photo of the interior of the rear bedroom.
MS. PENZA: Slide 97?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: A closet located in that same bedroom.
MS. PENZA: Slide 98?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's a photo of the interior of the closet located in that bedroom.
MS. PENZA: Slide 99?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's a bag that we had located in the rear of the closet located in that bedroom. You can see that it's marked as evidence item number 65.
MS. PENZA: And turning to slide 100?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: This photo is a photo taken of the interior of the bag of the money that we had discovered.
MS. PENZA: Slide 101?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: This is a photo of the money taken out of the bag and put onto the bed to be photographed.
MS. PENZA: And slide 102?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Again, this is a photo of that money this time processed and secured. We concealed it in this plastic and prepared to transport it back to the New York field office.
MS. PENZA: Your Honor, may I have the Elmo again please?
MS. PENZA: Showing you what is in evidence as Government's Exhibit 1483, page six, can you describe what this is?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Like before, this is a United States currency count form that we used to account for the funds of that particular evidence item. This particular instance, evidence item number 65 was counted at Federal Plaza on March 28, the day after the search in Clifton Park.
We'll account for the currency that we had discovered. In this particular instance, we had 973 $100 bills; 186 50-dollar bills; one 20-dollar bills; 293 10-dollar bills; 28 5-dollar bills; no 2-dollar bills; and 37 1-dollar bills. Again this is corresponding to that bag of money that we found in the bedroom and total $109,727. Again, processing agents assigned to this, Special Agent Elliot McGinnis and Special Agent Michael Lever.
MS. PENZA: Showing you in evidence as -- was that money deposited in a bank?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: It was.
MS. PENZA: Showing you what is in evidence as Government's Exhibit 1483-7. Is this the deposit slip for item number 65, money found in item number 65?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct. As you can see the amount of this deposit slip is consistent with the form, total amount of $109,727.
THE COURT: All of these deposits were where? Where do you deposit this money? It would appear, it says Federal Reserve, is it in the Federal Reserve Bank?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I believe so, your Honor. I didn't personally deposit it. I just know that it was deposited.
THE COURT: All right.
BY MS. PENZA:
MS. PENZA: Turning to what is in evidence as Government's Exhibit 1483-12, is that a printout from the same deposit?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: It is. This particular page here it tells where it was deposited. It was deposited in Bank of America U.S. Treasury in Lindhurst, and this corresponds with the previous deposit, $109,727.
MS. PENZA: Turning finally to Government's Exhibit 1483-13. Is this a summary of the three deposits that we looked at from the three different evidence numbers?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct, of all three evidence numbers. We can see the totals on the side. From that one bag we had $109,727; from the box we had $15,670, that was from that Ugg box; from the larger shoe box $390,180. In total we seized from that search warrant $515,577.
MS. PENZA: So over half a million dollars in cash was found in Nancy Salzman's house on the day you executed the search warrant?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. PENZA: No further questions.
THE COURT: Cross-examination?
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MS. GERAGOS:
MS. GERAGOS: Good morning, Officer Fontanelli. My name is Teny Geragos. I don't think we officially met. We we've seen each other in court.
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Nice to meet you.
MS. GERAGOS: I believe on direct examination with Ms. Penza you testified that you have been involved in this investigation since October of 2017?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: With balancing your duties to the New York State Police, you've also been involved in pretty much every aspect of this investigation starting in October 2017 until the present day?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Well, as I said, at times I wasn't present for all aspects of the investigation due to my responsibilities with the State Police. At times I was present; and at time I wasn't present.
MS. GERAGOS: But since 2017 you've been involved, of course --
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Right.
MS. GERAGOS: -- given that you have other responsibilities?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: And you conducted a number of interviews since you've been involved in this investigation?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I've assisted in numerous interviews, yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: And preparing reports based on those interviews?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: You also testified that you have executed several search warrants associated with this case including, the search warrant at 3 Oregon Trail, right?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I assisted that day at 3 Oregon Trail.
MS. GERAGOS: So if you can for a moment, I know we talked about how you processed cash; when you seize devices, how do you process that at the FBI?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: When we seize devices they are put into evidence. Then they are secured in a vault. Then the CART unit, which is the FBI's computer evidence team, processes that evidence.
MS. GERAGOS: What does CART stand for?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: The Computer Analysis Response Team, but don't hold me to it.
MS. GERAGOS: I think it's it. They load it so you're able to view what is in the device, say a laptop or a phone, you're able to then view what is on that device, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Correct. Myself I had no involvement in processing those items. They were turned over to the computer evidence team. They do support and they provide it to the team.
MS. GERAGOS: So we looked at I think some maps of Clifton Park within Government's Exhibit 176, I'm going to come back to a few of them.
This one would be 176, slide 16. This is a 1, 2, 3 Flintlock Lane, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: Can you describe who lived at 1, 2, 3 Flintlock Lane at various times during the course of your investigation -- or before that, who lived at 1 Flintlock?
MS. PENZA: Objection, your Honor.
MS. GERAGOS: If he knows.
THE COURT: Do you know?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I don't.
BY MS. GERAGOS:
MS. GERAGOS: This is 1 Flintlock, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Correct.
MS. GERAGOS: This is 2?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: This is 3?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: They are all pretty much connected?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: Going to slide number 41, this is the Sports Barn, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: If you know, what took place in the Sports Barn? Why did members of NXIVM or ESP use the Sports Barn?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I'm not fully familiar with it, but to the best of my knowledge it's location utilized to play volleyball.
MS. GERAGOS: And they would play volleyball there many times a week, if you know?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I don't know.
MS. GERAGOS: Moving on to Government's Exhibit 179, my photo quality is not as good as the Power Point. Is this another angle of the room you testified to yesterday on direct examination, where Mr. Raniere would sit at this table and you viewed videos of him sitting at this table?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct.
MS. GERAGOS: He would sit in this chair at the left?
MS. GERAGOS: There were several other seats, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: And the videos you viewed -- was it just one video or you viewed multiple videos of him sitting at this table?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: One video.
MS. GERAGOS: Was it of a Jness disposition?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I don't recall.
MS. GERAGOS: Who was sitting at these two chairs?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I don't recall.
MS. GERAGOS: You only recall Mr. Raniere sitting at this chair on the left?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am. The reason I do is because there is a pillar behind that chair. It coincides to the shot of the photo of Mr. Raniere sitting in that chair. You can see the pillar, there is a particular power outlet in it, that's how I recognize it.
MS. GERAGOS: That's this pillar, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct.
MS. GERAGOS: You also testified on direct examination about this room, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: And what was this again, a gym?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I don't know if you would classify it as a gym, but there was gym equipment in it.
MS. GERAGOS: There were also other photos on the wall?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: And there is some photos on the ground here?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Correct.
MS. GERAGOS: Yes?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: I didn't hear that.
CHARLES FONTANELLI: No problem.
MS. GERAGOS: I don't believe we viewed this photo yesterday. On my copy it's Bates numbers 1718, can you describe where this was in the house?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am. This is in that utility room in the basement where they had the water heater and different various components that run the house. That's another part of that room. That was the room that was located with that safe.
MS. GERAGOS: There is six boxes there, right, that I just pointed to?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: And there is two boxes underneath these boxes of six, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: And several storage cabinets right here?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Correct.
MS. GERAGOS: And then this was the safe that you just testified to on direct, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct.
MS. GERAGOS: With the lock?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: You also -- I don't think we were shown this on direct examination, but you pointed out a photo of Albert Einstein, can you see him there?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, I can.
MS. GERAGOS: This was at the top the stairs?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Correct. That's that room when you come up the second floor at the top of the landing there is that big, open room. There was a couch and that particular desk.
MS. GERAGOS: Who is that right there, is that Gandhi?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: We went over a little bit about this on direct, with Ms. Penza, this is where you recovered Government's Exhibit 204, which is the box, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Item number four?
MS. GERAGOS: Yes.
MS. GERAGOS: Which is now Government's Exhibit 204.
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Thank you.
MS. GERAGOS: And there is something else here, right?
MS. GERAGOS: That's a box, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct.
MS. GERAGOS: What else is in that box?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: From what appears in the photo here it appears to be computer equipment, but I don't recall specifically.
MS. GERAGOS: You don't recall seizing the computers that were inside the box right next to Government's Exhibit 204?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: We seized many items from this room, I'm sure that we did seize those.
MS. GERAGOS: You did seize them as items number 27, 28, and another number that I can't see; is that correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: Just to be clear, those laptops are just placed in a box that were next to Government's Exhibit 204, item number four, right?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: One of these items is a Dell laptop?
MS. GERAGOS: And another Dell laptop?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: You also seized one Blackberry, an old Blackberry?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: You would characterize this or would you characterize this as an old model of a Blackberry phone?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: It appears that way to me.
MS. GERAGOS: And another old model of a Blackberry phone as number 34?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: I think you testified yesterday on direct examination that there were a lot more devices than you guys expected when you searched the residence, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct. In that particular room where you showed the picture, that canine dog that we brought in was going crazy.
MS. GERAGOS: This is a receipt of the property that is in evidence. It's two pages. And it has all the devices and the cash that you seized from are the residence, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's correct. That's a receipt that we leave for the home owner. When we leave the search, we leave a receipt to show what was taken.
MS. GERAGOS: So you, you took an external hard drive as one thing that you seized?
MS. GERAGOS: Another external hard drive?
MS. GERAGOS: Another Dell computer?
MS. GERAGOS: Another western digital passport hard drive?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: And many more thumb drives, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: This was much more than you were expecting to see, did I have that, right?
THE COURT: Could you just identify that exhibit?
MS. GERAGOS: That is part of 176 -- part of 180, the last two pages.
THE COURT: Thank you.
BY MS. GERAGOS:
MS. GERAGOS: Is it fair to say that during the course of your investigation you've learned that people in NXIVM pretty much recorded, either through audio tape or video, pretty much every aspect of any type of intensive?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's my understanding.
MS. GERAGOS: And anytime Mr. Raniere would speak, they would record it?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I believe that's the case.
MS. GERAGOS: And anytime Mr. Raniere would speak or do Jness disposition or SOP dispositions at Ms. Salzman's house, they would record or audit tape that as well?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I can't say for certain, but I understand that to be true.
MS. GERAGOS: You recovered many, many audit tapes and videotapes of Mr. Raniere speaking at Nancy Salzman's house, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: There was a lot of evidence recovered, yes, from that particular search.
MS. GERAGOS: We just spoke a lot about the amount of cash that you seized from the residence. Having cash in itself is not illegal, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: No, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: It's whether or not you pay taxes on income. And if you don't do that, that may be illegal; is that correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: I suppose that's one particular aspect of it.
MS. GERAGOS: And during the course of your investigation I think you testified a little bit earlier that you interviewed many people in connection with the case, right?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: It's been many, many people interviewed in this particular investigation.
MS. GERAGOS: And you interviewed Ms. Kristin Keefe at least three times?
MS. PENZA: Objection, your Honor.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MS. GERAGOS: You know that Ms. Keefe served as an --
MS. PENZA: Objection, your Honor.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MS. GERAGOS: May I have the box?
MS. GERAGOS: So we looked at some of the folders that were recovered in 204 yesterday, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: One of the people, one of the folders that we looked at, is titled Steven Herbits, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Correct.
MS. GERAGOS: Another folder Frank Parlato?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: You understand that NXIVM engaged in litigation with Frank Parlato because he stole money from Ms. Bronfman?
MS. PENZA: Objection, your Honor.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MS. GERAGOS: Sidebar, your Honor?
THE COURT: No.
MS. GERAGOS: Did you look at publicly available sources, not including interviews, such as court records, throughout this investigation?
MS. PENZA: Objection, your Honor.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MS. GERAGOS: Have you looked at David Soaros as well, right?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, that folder was located in the box.
MS. GERAGOS: Did you have an understanding that David Soaros is the Albany --
MS. PENZA: Objection.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MS. GERAGOS: Do you know who David Soaros is?
MS. PENZA: Objection.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MS. GERAGOS: Your Honor, could we please have a sidebar?
THE COURT: No.
MS. GERAGOS: We looked at Mr. Charles Schumer, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: That's another folder which was located in that box?
MS. GERAGOS: Your Honor, may I get one of the binders from our table?
THE COURT: Sure.
MS. GERAGOS: I understand that you didn't look through the contents of this box, correct, you just simply categorized it or seized it but you didn't look through the contents?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: No, not at all.
MS. GERAGOS: Nevertheless it's in evidence, so I'm going to show you --
MS. PENZA: Objection, your Honor.
THE COURT: I'm sorry, does this have to do with the contents of the box?
MS. GERAGOS: It's a page of the content inside of the box.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MS. PENZA: Thank you.
MS. GERAGOS: I'm showing him what is already moved into evidence.
THE COURT: If it's in evidence you can show it to him.
MS. GERAGOS: Thank you.
MS. PENZA: Your Honor, may we have a sidebar please?
THE COURT: All right.
(Sidebar conference.)
THE COURT: What does this have to do with his direct? That's what I want to know.
MS. GERAGOS: Ms. Penza showed him folders with people's names on him and didn't show him any content, which is fine, but she moved the entire box into evidence. For me to not to show what is already moved into evidence -- it's allowable, it's admitted.
MS. PENZA: This is beyond the scope of his direct. If they want to call -- we already represented that we're going to call somebody else to talk about the contents of the box, the contents of e-mail accounts. This is totally beyond the scope of his direct. It's disingenuous with what we agreed to before we called this witness.
MS. GERAGOS: I'm not talking about Kristin Keefe.
MS. PENZA: She tried to talk about Kristin Keefe.
MS. GERAGOS: This is Kristin Keefe's box. She brought out Edgar Bronfman. She showed a folder of Edgar Bronfman. I can show what has also been admitted into evidence as a check from Edgar Bronfman to the Ross Institute. She brought out a folder of this box and then laid it there after Steven Herbits had already testified. And I can't bring out that it -- that the Kristin Keefe's notes or the fact that she put in a check of Edgar Bronfman to the Ross Institution? It's in evidence.
MS. PENZA: Your Honor, I believe this is totally inappropriate and beyond the scope of his direct. If they want to call -- if we don't do what they think I'm going to do and they don't cross-examine sufficiently about the box, then they can call somebody.
MS. GERAGOS: I have only five pages to show him.
THE COURT: We're not doing it now. He only testified what this is, what he observed this in the box, these names. That was it. There will be another witness. Let's just keep going.
(End of sidebar conference.)
(Continued on the next page.)
(In open court.)
BY MS. GERAGOS:
MS. GERAGOS: I'm showing you one of the other folders in the box, does that say Ross Institute on it?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: That's written in handwriting, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: Just one more, this is Correspondence E-mails, correct?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Correct.
MS. GERAGOS: And can you tell if there is handwriting underneath the printed tab here?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, ma'am.
MS. GERAGOS: Can you read, if you're able to see, it does it say Correspondence E-mails below that in someone's handwriting?
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Yes, I believe it does.
MS. GERAGOS: Nothing further, your Honor.
THE COURT: Thank you.
MS. PENZA: No redirect, your Honor.
THE COURT: Very well, the witness is excused. You may stand down.
CHARLES FONTANELLI: Thank you, sir.
(Whereupon, the witness was excused.)
THE COURT: The Government may call its next witness.