Louis Bronstein — Direct/Cross
130 linesLOUIS BRONSTEIN: My name is Louis Bronstein. L-O-U-I-S, B-R-O-N-S-T-E-I-N. I'm a special agent with FBI Miami.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And is that how you were employed back on April 20th of 2016?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And did you participate in a surveillance operation at a restaurant by the name of Dolce Vita?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: I did.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Where is that location?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: 18288 Collins Avenue.
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Sunny Isles, just north of Miami Beach.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And what was the objective of that operation?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: That was to surveil a meeting between Charlie Adelson and Katie Magbanua.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Do you know the date?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Well, we talked about 2016.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Do you know the time of this meeting?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: It's approximately 3:45 to roughly 4:45.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And what efforts were made to record the meeting?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Prior to entering the restaurant, I was handed an audio-video recording device by another agent near the restaurant, took up a seat near Charlie and Katie, and set up the device — that was in a sort of a messenger bag — in such a way that it would be able to record the audio and video.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And have you had an opportunity to review State's Exhibit 154, a disc of that meeting?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And is this a fair and accurate copy of the recording that was made inside the restaurant that day?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And the quality of the recording is very poor — would you agree with that?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: I do agree with that.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. And is that — that's not something that — let me ask — were you able to overhear the conversation that was occurring between Mr. Adelson and Ms. Magbanua in the restaurant?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: There was a lot of background noise in the restaurant.
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: The one fragment of a sentence that I could clearly hear, I authored a — it's called an FBI 302 form — regarding that.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. And what was that fragment?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: If I remember correctly, it was a sentence to the effect of "and then he turned and said, Mrs. Adelson," or "and then Mrs. Adelson, and she turned," and that was regarding an event that had happened earlier that day.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Who was making the statement?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: This was Charlie Adelson making that statement to Katie.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And he was saying something about somebody turning?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. And were you able to visually observe the meeting that was attempted to be captured on State's 154?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. And who were the people that were involved in the meeting?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Charlie Adelson and Katie Magbanua.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And are you able to recognize either of them in the courtroom here today?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: I recognize Katie.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Could you please point out what she's wearing?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Uh, gray suit, striped shirt, glasses.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right, let the record reflect the witness has identified defendant Magbanua.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Judge, at this time I'd ask to move into evidence State's 154.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Any additional objection?
MR. DECOSTE: No objection, Your Honor.
JUDGE HANKINSON: All right, not really be the same.
JUDGE HANKINSON: 154 will be admitted.
JUDGE HANKINSON: With the understanding that a significant part of this is not understandable.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Yes, sir. My request is to publish just a portion so the jury can get an idea of what the video is like.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Mr.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Bronstein, is that Charlie Adelson that we're able to see in the camera view?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: And the legs of the woman seated across from him — is that Ms. Magbanua?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. Let's play a few more.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Is the quality from the portion we published pretty consistent with the quality throughout this meeting?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: No further questions.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Cross.
MR. ZANGENEH: Your involvement in this investigation was limited to this portion of it?
MR. ZANGENEH: Just this?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: No. Were you part of the team that made investigations — investigative decisions — with regards to what to do after the bump?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Decisions, no.
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Action, yes. At that time I was a very junior special agent.
MR. ZANGENEH: But still special?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Still special.
MR. ZANGENEH: So, just — okay. So you were in essence following instructions, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: At no point were you instructed to see if — and my client, Mr. Garcia, were to meet at a restaurant, to attempt to record their conversations, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: To be clear, you're asking if I was instructed to watch Ms. Magbanua?
MR. ZANGENEH: No, I'm — Mr. Garcia. Garcia, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Not that I can recall.
MR. ZANGENEH: Because what you were asked to do in this part of the investigation was — you guys knew where they were going, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: I was informed where Charlie had recently been spotted. I don't know that I knew where he was going.
MR. ZANGENEH: Well, there was an active wire intercept, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: It's my knowledge that there was, but I had no involvement with it.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, so you don't know how you got information, but you were instructed to go someplace, and Mr.
MR. ZANGENEH: Adelson and Ms. Magbanua showed up, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: So my question is, were you instructed to go anyplace to look to see if Ms. Magbanua and Mr. Garcia would show up together?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Not that I can recall.
MR. ZANGENEH: And these would be instructions that you would have gotten from either a prosecutor or a higher-ranking federal agent, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: It would have come from another FBI agent.
MR. ZANGENEH: And how long is this — is this video shy of an hour? And the recording device that you had, was it like a little camera, or what was it?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: I think it could best be described as a messenger bag, with the device itself roughly the size of a laptop. It has numerous holes for microphones on one side of it, and a small camera lens, and I believe just one button — an on-off button. And the idea is you hold it as if it's a messenger bag with a laptop in it, and whatever way it's facing is whatever audio-video it's going to capture.
MR. ZANGENEH: Does the FBI have other technology that has more compact types of surveillance?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Certainly.
MR. ZANGENEH: Like button cams. You know what that is, right?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: You agree with me that — is it a button camera? Is it a camera that's strategically placed in a little button like this, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: I'm familiar that that exists, but I've never used one.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, but you're familiar that they exist, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: I mean, at least in movies and TV. I've never actually used one.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, well, my question is this. You're aware that they have them in the FBI, right?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: They might.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay, so the only type of surveillance that you know about is the one that you used here?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Technical surveillance?
MR. ZANGENEH: Yes, sir.
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: In terms of audio-video device — right, like I did.
MR. ZANGENEH: So you said that what you had was about the size of a laptop, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: Like this? Yeah, this is a laptop, right?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Correct.
MR. ZANGENEH: About that size. And so the FBI used a surveillance recording device roughly this size to capture this video. Correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: Thank you. No further questions.
MR. DECOSTE: You wrote a report?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: And in that report you put what somebody said, right?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: That's part of your training.
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: Whether there's a recording or not, to do a report to memorialize it, right?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Correct.
MR. DECOSTE: That's important for many different reasons. Some of them would be for you to be able to testify later on in time, accurately.
MR. DECOSTE: Correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: And also for the defense and the prosecution to know what happened during the course of an investigation.
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: That's correct.
MR. DECOSTE: And it's policy to do that. That's the FBI's policy to do that.
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. DECOSTE: You testified that you couldn't hear things, but you could obviously see them, right?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes. I'm familiar with the bump.
MR. DECOSTE: A piece of paper was given to Donna Adelson.
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: I vaguely remember a piece of paper, but I don't know what it might have been on it.
MR. DECOSTE: I'm putting on the overhead what has been entered in as government's 120. You can't say that you saw Charles Adelson show Katherine Magbanua a piece of paper that had printing consistent with that on it. Can you?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: No.
MR. DECOSTE: Nothing further.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Redirect.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: No, sir.
JUDGE HANKINSON: All right. Did you ever have a question? I won't forget this time — last time it was just so long I'd forgotten to ask for questions. Anybody have questions? All right, you can step down. Do we need to keep this witness in person, do we need him for any reason? All right, you're excused. Call your next witness.