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1 2 3 4 5 anything. Any other types of contact that would not have anything to do with the litigation and the -- you know the enforcement action against him or against the Estate.¶

6 7 8 Q. Okay. So have you ever spoken with former Attorney General Frazer about Epstein?¶

9 A. No.¶

10 11 12 Q. Okay. Have you ever spoken with Governor -- former Governor Mapp about Epstein?¶

13 A. No.¶

14 15 16 17 Q. And we have already talked about you have spoken of course with Governor Bryan. We talked about that on Monday, correct?¶

18 A. Yes.¶

19 20 21 22 23 24 Q. Okay. You mentioned that as part of the process that you undertook when you assumed the position of AG was you were curious and you went looking for articles and information about Epstein, correct?¶

25 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Object to 1 form.¶

2 3 4 5 THE WITNESS: What I -- that is not entirely what I said, as I indicated. I didn't just start looking for articles on Epstein.¶

6 7 8 9 Once I came on board as Attorney General in April, there was a lot of media allegations or reports and everything from the media.¶

10 11 12 13 14 Even inquiries from the media with respect to allegations and reports of misconduct, sex trafficking and those things by Mr. Epstein on Little St. James island.¶

15 16 17 18 And that allegations had been going on for many years and a lot of victims of this sex trafficking and it's sex -- sexual exploitation.¶

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 These are reports that were coming from the media, even members of the media would be -- would have been calling, and even before I got there. And I was advised when I got there that this was -- that there had been a lot of inquiries with respect to that¶

1 2 3 4 issue about, you know, Epstein's misconduct in the sex trafficking operation occurring on Little St. James.¶

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 So having heard all of that of course it was all what I consider hearsay, because you know it comes from just reports from the media and everything. I was of course interested in looking because the allegations were really horrific.¶

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 So I then started to really not only inquire about whether we have solid complaints. But I started to really -- you know just research, read the news -- read the news articles, media. As well as reports from regarding Courts and Court documents that were available just to study and to get a background. And get a gist of you know just whether or not you know there's anything credible or anything that occurred with respect to this, to actually understand what went on.¶

1 2 E-mail, and then the second is the attachment to it.¶

3 A. II, okay.¶

4 5 6 7 8 ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN: In fact, Madam Court Reporter, if we could enter it as a single exhibit, that might be better, but defer to -- defer to you.¶

9 THE WITNESS: Okay.¶

10 (BY ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN):¶

11 12 Q. Do you know who Jason Marsh is?¶

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 A. Yes. Jason Marsh is a law enforcement officer. I think when I became Attorney General in 2019, he may have been acting police commissioner at the time before Governor Bryan appointed a police commissioner.¶

20 21 22 23 24 Q. Okay. So Jason Marsh is sending a PDF scan he's made of the Virgin Islands Daily News source with the title "Lawmakers issue call for investigation of Epstein deal."¶

25 Do you see that? 1 2 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Object to form, foundation.¶

3 4 5 THE WITNESS: Give me a second. Okay. I see the second - page 2?¶

6 ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN: Yeah.¶

7 8 9 THE WITNESS: I'm looking at page 2 in 9. That's -- that's dated Saturday, December 8th, 2019.¶

10 11 ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN: Yes. THE WITNESS: I mean 2018.¶

12 13 THE WITNESS: Okay. Yes, I'm seeing it.¶

14 (BY ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN):¶

15 16 17 18 Q. And there's a paragraph that's in the fourth column in from the left that starts with the words "The Herald's examination"?¶

19 20 A. Okay. It says, "The Herald's examination," yes.¶

21 22 23 24 25 Q. So it says, "The Herald's examination of thousands of court records, E-mails and FBI records also showed that after the deal was struck, it effectively shut down an ongoing¶

1 2 is, but I don't know her. I didn't even know her at this time.¶

3 4 5 6 Q. Okay. So this is the first this letter that you received is the first time you had interacted with her?¶

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 A. Yes. I believe though that I may have been introduced to her a couple of years ago, before I was even an AG at the -- but I'm not -- I'm not sure. I think she was in a group of people. But other than that, I've never had any contact with her or anything.¶

15 16 Q. Okay. And what was the reason for the outreach?¶

17 A. The reason for this?¶

18 Q. Uh-huh.¶

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. Well, as per Governor Bryan telling me that you know Jeffrey Epstein wants to have this waiver of the travel requirements, and that he said that his attorneys will be contacting me, and encouraged me to meet with the attorneys to consider¶

1 it.¶

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 I -- this must be the follow-up letter. In this letter in their is a letter where she is requesting on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein for a waiver and for -- as she indicated, a reinstatement of the waiver that Attorney Vincent Frazer had entered years ago, years before. And I suppose a revocation of what did. So she went through that whole thing about what was done.¶

14 15 16 Q. Were you aware of what the previous conditions granted by Attorney Frazer were?¶

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 A. At this point I was, because in anticipation of -- you know after speaking with the Governor, I had gotten -- as I indicated, I went to the Deputy Attorney General, Attorney, to get that briefing, the background.¶

24 25 And it was in getting that from Attorney, that yes, that 1 answer.¶

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 A. II, okay. I said that I'm not looking for any specific documents because I'm not. I don't know what to look for. You need to know what the proof is. You know, because I looked at this, and it seems sort of silly to me because, you know, it's like you're making a motion -- it's like making a motion before the court and then asking the judge, Can you tell me, judge, what I need to produce in order to prove this so you can grant it.¶

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 I mean, it's -- whatever is the proof that they have, only they can have it. I don't have it. But if they can't find proof that he has engaged, or he has to be engaged in legitimate business, or for legitimate business purposes internationally to the -- to the level that he is going to need a waiver of the travel requirements. It's only for them to know what that is.¶

25 And if they don't have it,¶

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 then they don't have it. But I just wanted to make it clear that that's the only way that I'm going to consider a request if they submit that proof. And if you don't know what that -- those documents are to prove that, that's -- it seemed to me that, well, maybe you don't have it.¶

9 10 11 12 13 14 But I'm not going to answer that question like what specific things that you need when I don't know. That's for her to do. That's for the -- for Jeffrey Epstein to do --¶

15 Q. And --¶

16 A. -- submit that proof.¶

17 18 19 20 21 22 Q. And prior to receiving this E-mail, you had looked through Epstein's sex offender registration file to see if there was any reasonable and reliable proof; correct?¶

23 A. Based on what was in there.¶

24 25 Based on what was in there, I saw nothing that convinced me that there 1 was any reasonable or reliable proof.¶

2 You know, nothing satisfied me with¶

3 respect to that that would have¶

4 warranted or justified any waiver.¶

5 So as it was, that's why my¶

6 decision was no, that I would not do¶

7 it unless proof is shown. But nothing¶

8 was shown there. And I just had to¶

9 make it clear that unless they show¶

10 that, show proof and submit proof, I'm¶

11 not going to even consider it much¶

12 less act favorably on the request¶

13 irrespective -- and I said I realized¶

14 there was some political maneuvering¶

15 that he was doing. Just the fact that¶

16 he as a sex offender got the Governor¶

17 to come to me for that request, which¶

18 is unusual. Which I imagine is¶

19 unusual because a sex offender just¶

20 goes and applies to the Attorney¶

21 General directly if they want some¶

22 kind of a waiver.¶

23 So I know that was in play,¶

24 and I just wanted to again let them¶

25 know and reiterate that the only thing¶

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 it is not so much a problem. Using his political influence is what it appeared to me that Jeffrey Epstein was doing, was trying to use political influence that he may have had with the Governor in order to boost or help me to rule favorably. And that's what I was thinking at the time.¶

9 10 11 12 13 And so it just -- my position was just to make sure that he knows that is not happening. I would not be a part of that, and to let him know what he'll need to submit.¶

14 (BY ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN):¶

15 16 17 Q. What led you to think that Epstein was exerting political influence?¶

18 A. Well, I think --¶

19 20 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Object to form.¶

21 22 23 24 25 THE WITNESS: Well, for me what -- what led me to think that is just the fact that the Governor approached me on behalf of him requesting -- about this request¶

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 saying that he requested it, that - that alone. Because not every sexual offender or any person, you know, are in the position to have the Governor make the request to the Attorney General rather than just coming and making it on their own directly to the Attorney General.¶

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 That by itself indicated to me that he was flexing his political influence over or with the Governor in an effort to get a favorable result in what I considered to be definitely a law enforcement issue by the Attorney General.¶

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 And so that's what - certainly just that alone raised that red flag. And then the subsequent reminder coming from the Governor, not by Attorney Kellerhals and not by Jeffrey Epstein. But coming from the Governor to remind me that I have to make or I need to make a decision on Epstein, that also indicated to me definitely that they're using that¶

1 2 3 4 5 political influence or that there - that there is or there exists some degree of political influence that Epstein is willing to use through the Governor.¶

6 7 8 9 10 Because even then, you know, the question is why is this a priority? Well, maybe to show that this is the Governor's priority or some for some reason.¶

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 But to answer your questions, those are what was in my mind that made it clear to me that he is exercising some kind of political power in order to get a certain result from me with respect to applying the laws here.¶

18 (BY ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN):¶

19 20 21 Q. Did you think that the outreach by the Governor on behalf of Epstein was improper?¶

22 23 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Object to form.¶

24 THE WITNESS: I do.¶

25 (BY ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN): 1 Q. Why?¶

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 A. My thoughts about that even then, in particular then, it did not sit right with me. Because my thing is, first of all, why is the Governor, you know, getting involved in this matter that is a law enforcement matter. Or only the Attorney General to make based on law, and that he was doing so on behalf of a convicted sex offender, a sexual offender, child predator, this person, Jeffrey -- Jeffrey Epstein.¶

14 15 16 That was troubling to me. I didn't go much further than that, but that was definitely troubling to me --¶

17 Q. Were there --¶

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A. -- that he made -- he said it will come in, and I would definitely the request came in, and then I did just as any request would come. I waited until the request came from the attorney, and then I responded once that -- a request came, properly came.¶

1 2 3 4 Q. You testified on Monday that there were several other outreaches by the Government -- by the Governor involving Epstein, correct?¶

5 6 7 8 9 10 A. Pre-litigation there was just that additional reminder on May 14th that was a text reminder regarding the sex offender registry where he said you must -- you need to make a decision on Epstein.¶

11 Q. So were --¶

12 A. So I -- but yeah.¶

13 14 15 Q. So were there any other outreaches of a similar nature from the Governor?¶

16 17 18 19 20 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Object to form. And hold on because there's privilege issues here. Are you talking about pre-litigation or post-litigation?¶

21 22 ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN: Pre-litigation.¶

23 24 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Yeah, pre-litigation, okay.¶

25 THE WITNESS: And you're 1 2 3 4 complete my testimony with respect to the communications with the Governor regarding the sex offender registry issue.¶

5 Q. Okay.¶

6 7 8 9 10 11 A. So that letter -- the date that letter was sent, that E-mail correspondence was sent to Attorney Kellerhals and Attorney Rivers, I also sent one to Governor Bryan, a similar one.¶

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 But just explaining to him the what the laws are, and that there is a requirement that he comply with providing proof. And that my decision was until that proof was provided, that I would not be able to consider -- I would not consider, you know, any waiver.¶

20 21 22 23 24 25 I also indicated to him that the reasons for it and the reasons the reasons -- that the reason or the purpose behind the statute. And that it's there to protect the community and the importance of that.¶

1 2 3 4 5 And I did that just so that, you know, that he can have an understanding. I felt that he needed an understanding as to the importance and the magnitude of that requirement.¶

6 7 8 9 10 11 And then he just responded, well, thank you for your -- well, I'm seeing what his response is. But he was just -- he just said, Well, thank you for your work on this. And after that, there was nothing.¶

12 13 14 Q. And the response from the Governor, was that in E-mail form as well?¶

15 16 me. A. Yes. That was E-mailed to¶

17 18 Q. Okay. Was anyone copied on that E-mail?¶

19 A. No.¶

20 21 Q. Do you still have a copy of that E-mail?¶

22 23 A. I might have a printed version, but -- I might.¶

24 25 Q. Okay. Was this request that you received from the Governor, were¶

1 2 3 occurred soon after I came on. So in that sense, probably around the same time.¶

4 (BY ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN):¶

5 6 7 8 9 Q. And so did that background research and investigation you were doing into Epstein impact the way in which you viewed the Governor's request to you?¶

10 11 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Object to form.¶

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 THE WITNESS: No, I wouldn't say that impacted it. Just the fact that the request was made on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein, a sex offender, through the Governor instead of the regular channels was -- was mainly what was concerning with respect to that.¶

20 (BY ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN):¶

21 22 23 24 25 Q. Right. But weren't you finding through your own research that he wasn't just a registered sex offender. There seemed to be a lot more information out there about his¶

1 misconduct, correct?¶

2 A. Well --¶

3 4 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: form. Object to¶

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 THE WITNESS: Well, there were allegations, yes, definitely. Allegations of what happened before. Remember, he's not just a registered sex offender. He's a convicted child -- a child molester, a predator. I don't -- you know, so that was in and of itself sufficient to raise concern for me.¶

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 The fact that all of this other stuff was coming in, I'm still in the process of processing it, actually, and looking it up and all of that. It may have -- you know, at the time maybe it was part of why I wanted to make sure that it's legitimate business.¶

22 23 24 25 And I didn't see that, you know, anything -- any proof that the business would have -- was legitimate. And that's why I was looking for that¶

1 2 3 specific information that there would be legitimate purposes for him to want to go to these countries.¶

4 (BY ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN):¶

5 6 7 8 9 10 Q. So you were particularly sensitive to a request regarding Epstein from the Governor because at the same time you were seeing all of this reporting through your own investigation, correct?¶

11 A. I wouldn't say --¶

12 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Objection¶

13¶

14 THE WITNESS: -- that it was¶

15¶

16 17 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Hold on, Attorney¶

18 19 Objection to form, misstates prior testimony, argumentative.¶

20 21 22 23 24 25 THE WITNESS: Yeah, I didn't say I was particularly sensitive with respect to that. It was just -- just that just coming from the Governor a request of Jeffrey Epstein that was - that should have come directly to the¶

1 Attorney General.¶

2 3 4 5 6 But going towards him, he gave me the impression that he was using political influence to try to get a result, a favorable result that he wanted.¶

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Any other -- even if it was another sex offender and the Governor came to me, I would have been like um, you know, because it -- the correct channels would be, well, go and, you know, you make your request to the Attorney General's Office.¶

14 (BY ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN):¶

15 16 17 18 Q. Were there any other instances of the Governor reaching out regarding Epstein through what you viewed as the incorrect channels?¶

19 20 21 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Object to form and -- object to form. You can answer.¶

22 23 24 25 THE WITNESS: Yeah. This sounds like the question you asked me before we went on break. I don't know if it's any different. But as I was¶

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 saying, that there was -- I don't recall any conversation or anything where the Governor reached out since that, you know, last communication. And which is why I indicated there was a response to my letter to him that ended the communication. Nothing else after that pre-litigation.¶

9 (BY ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN):¶

10 11 12 13 14 Q. Did the position that you took in response to the Governor's request regarding Jeffrey Epstein's sex offender monitoring impact your standing with the Governor?¶

15 16 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Object to form.¶

17 18 19 20 21 THE WITNESS: At that time I don't know with respect to how he perceived it, but his response to my decision was just thank you for the work you did on it, and that's it.¶

22 (BY ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN):¶

23 24 Q. Knowing what you know now, do you think it impacted your standing?¶

25 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Objection 1 to form.¶

2 3 THE WITNESS: I believe at the beg- I believe it's likely.¶

4 (BY ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN):¶

5 Q. Why?¶

6 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN:¶

7 Objection.¶

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 THE WITNESS: It's likely that it did because I was doing something where I was, you know, doing my work and doing my job without respect to any political interference or anything. And he did not ask -- he did not tell me what decision to make, but at the same time for whatever -- I don't know how it would have impacted him.¶

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 But I think that it could have because I am always determined to stand for what it is that I believe is right based on my -- on my position as to having make law enforcement decisions. And I make them irrespective of anything as far as who the people are or what -- or whatever¶

1 2 political influence or power they may have.¶

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 And maybe that might have been the first time that he might have been faced with that. I don't know what his response was, but I will say that it could be very well the beginning of of that and it could have impacted it.¶

10 (BY ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN):¶

11 12 13 14 Q. Do you think that your approach of standing for what is right impacted your career as the Attorney General of the USVI?¶

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Objection. No. Objection. This is well outside the scope. This has no relation to the topics. I am instructing the witness not to answer. This has nothing to do with the sex offender registry.¶

22 ATTORNEY O'LAUGHLIN: Okay.¶

23 Let's go to the Court, David.¶

24 25 ATTORNEY ACKERMAN: Let's go what?¶

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EXHIBIT 262¶