2.Louis Bronstein — Direct/Cross
161 lines(jury enters.)
JUDGE HANKINSON: Everybody be seated, please, except the witness. If the witness would face the clerk and be sworn, please, sir.
whereupon, LOUIS BRONSTEIN, was called as a witness, having been first duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows:
JUDGE HANKINSON: Have a seat and slide up to the microphone, please, sir.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. CAPPLEMAN:
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Please introduce yourself and spell your name.
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: My name is Louis Bronstein, L-O-U-I-S, B-R-O-N-S-T-E-I-N. I am 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, Sunny Isles, just north of Miami Beach.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. 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 -- well, we talked about 4-20-16. Do you know the time of this meeting?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: It was approximately 3:45 to roughly 4:45.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. 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, entered the restaurant, took up a seat near Charlie and Katie, and set up a 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 disk 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. The one fragment of a sentence that I could clearly hear I authored a -- what'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, she turned. And that was regarding an event that had happened earlier that day.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay.
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: This was --
MS. CAPPLEMAN: who was making the statement?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: This was Charlie Adelson making that statement to Katie.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Okay. 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: All right. Could you please point out what she's wearing?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Gray suit, striped shirt, glasses.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: All right. Let the record reflect the witness has identified defendant Magbanua.
Judge, at this time I'd ask to move into evidence State's 154.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Any additional objection?
MR. DECOSTE: No new objection, Your Honor.
JUDGE HANKINSON: All right.
MR. ZANGENEH: No, Your Honor.
JUDGE HANKINSON: All right. My ruling will be the same. 154 will be admitted with the understanding that a significant part of this is not understandable.
(State's Exhibit No. 154 received in evidence.)
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.
JUDGE HANKINSON: YOu may.
(Portion of video recording published in open court. Transcription is not possible due to audio quality.)
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Can you pause it for a minute?
BY MS. CAPPLEMAN:
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Agent 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 moments, please.
(Portion of video recording published in open court. Transcription is not possible due to audio quality.)
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Pause it, please.
BY MS. CAPPLEMAN:
MS. CAPPLEMAN: Is the quality from the portion we've published pretty consistent with the quality throughout this meeting?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MS. CAPPLEMAN: No further questions.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Cross?
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. ZENGENEH:
MR. ZANGENEH: Good afternoon, Special Agent.
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Good afternoon.
MR. ZANGENEH: Your involvement in this investigation was limited to this portion of it?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Just this?
MR. ZANGENEH: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: were you part of the team that made investigative decisions with regards to what to do after the bump?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Decisions, no. Action, yes. At that time I was a very junior special agent.
MR. ZANGENEH: But still special?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Still special.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. So you were, in essence, following instructions, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: At no point were you instructed to see if Ms. Magbanua and my client, Mr. Garcia, were to meet ata restaurant to attempt to record their conversations, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: To be clear, you are asking if I was instructed to watch Ms. Magbanua and Mr. --
MR. ZANGENEH: Garcia.
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: -- Garcia?
MR. ZANGENEH: 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: That is 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. Adelson and Ms. Magbanua showed up, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: Okay. So my question is, were you instructed to go any place 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 video?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Shy of an hour, I would say.
MR. ZANGENEH: 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 is roughly the size of a laptop. And 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 is a messenger bag with a laptop in it, and whatever way it's facing is whatever audio and 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: And you'll agree with me that a button camera -- is it a camera that's strategically placed in like 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 moved into -- like I did?
MR. ZANGENEH: Right. So you said that what you had was about the size of a laptop, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: Like this?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yeah.
MR. ZANGENEH: This is a laptop, right?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Correct. About that size.
MR. ZANGENEH: And so the FBI used a surveillance recording device roughly this size to capture this video, correct?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Yes.
MR. ZANGENEH: No further questions.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Magbanua?
MR. DECOSTE: Yes, Your Honor.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. DECOSTE:
MR. DECOSTE: Special Agent, good afternoon. How are you?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: Good afternoon. well. How are you?
MR. DECOSTE: Doing well. Thank you. 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, 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.
MR. DECOSTE: You can't say -- do you know anything about what's been called the bump in this case?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: I'm familiar with the bump.
MR. DECOSTE: That a piece of paper was given to Donna Adelson?
LOUIS BRONSTEIN: I vaguely remember a piece of paper, but I don't know what might have been on it.
MR. DECOSTE: I'm putting on the overhead what's been entered in as Government's 120. Let me zoom out for you.
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?
MR. DECOSTE: One brief second, Your Honor?
JUDGE HANKINSON: You may.
MR. DECOSTE: Nothing further.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Redirect?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: No, sir.
JUDGE HANKINSON: All right. Any juror have a question? I won't forget this time. Last time it was just so long I had forgotten to ask for questions. Anybody have a question?
All right. You can step down. Do we need to keep this witness any further?
MS. CAPPLEMAN: No, sir.
JUDGE HANKINSON: Anybody need him for any reason?
MR. DECOSTE: No, Your Honor.
MR. ZANGENEH: No, Your Honor.
JUDGE HANKINSON: All right. You are excused. Call your next witness.