t 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ITED STATES DISTRICoO p FOR THE WESTE DISTRICT OF NORTH ÊROLINA STATESV ILLE DIVISIO N 325 UNITED STATES OF ERICA ) ) ) ) ) ) ) DOCKET NO. 5:99-cr-39 vs. GREGORY E. CAPLINGER, Defendant. VOLE II FILED CHARLOE, N.C. AUG 2 8 ߐJ ______________ ) U.S . DIS T RIC T C O U RT W . DIST . OF N.C. TSCRIPT OF TRIAL PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE HONOLE THOS WISEMAN ITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JUDGE LY 17 THROUGH JULY 25, 2000 ·� 13 APPEARANCES: '" 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 On Behalf of the Government: BRIAN L. WHISLER Assistant United States Attorney 227 West Trade Street, Suite 1700 Charlotte, North Carolina On Behalf of the Defendant: HAROLD J. BENDER R. DEKE FALLS Attorneys at Law 200 North McDowell Street Charlotte, North Carolina Cheryl A. Nuccio, RMR-CRR Official Court Reporter United States District Court Charlotte, North Carolina
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UNITED STATES DISTRICoO p '{ FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
STATESVILLE DIVISION
325
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ) ) )
) ) ) )
DOCKET NO. 5:99-cr-39
vs.
GREGORY E. CAPLINGER,
Defendant.
VOLUME II FILED
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
AUG 2 8 2000J
______________) U.S. DISTRICT COURT
W. DIST. OF N.C.TRANSCRIPT OF TRIAL PROCEEDINGS
BEFORE THE HONORABLE THOMAS WISEMAN UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JUDGE
JULY 17 THROUGH JULY 25, 2000
·�
13 APPEARANCES: '"
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On Behalf of the Government:
BRIAN L. WHISLER Assistant United States Attorney 227 West Trade Street, Suite 1700 Charlotte, North Carolina
On Behalf of the Defendant:
HAROLD J. BENDER R. DEKE FALLSAttorneys at Law200 North McDowell StreetCharlotte, North Carolina
Cheryl A. Nuccio, RMR-CRR Official Court Reporter
United States District Court Charlotte, North Carolina
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1 WEDNESDAY MORNING, JULY 19, 2000
2 (Jury not present.)
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THE COURT: Anything out of the presence of the
jury?
MR. WHISLER: Except one pending matter. I think it
was Government's SA which I think is with Your Honor. We
needed to make a decision on admissibility of that.
THE COURT: Here it is. Yes, sir.
MR. FALLS: We're trying to find it, Judge.
THE COURT: Yeah, here it is. You wanted an
opportunity to look it up last night. Want to be heard a�y
further on it?
MR. FALLS: No, I've already made my argument, Your
Honor.
. THE COURT: All right, then. Let it be admitted.
Your objection is noted. Here's your copy of it. Do you need
it back?
court.
All right. Bring the jury in, please.
(Jury entered the courtroom.}
THE COURT: All right, you may continue.
MR. WHISLER: Thank you, sir. May it please the
HARRY KAMPETIS
DIRECT EXAMINATION (Cont'd.)
BY MR. WHISLER:
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1 Q. Mr. Kampetis, remind you you're still under oath from
2 yesterday, sir.
3 A. I understand.
4 MR. WHISLER: May I approach this witness, Your
5 Honor?
6 THE COURT: Yes, sir.
7 Q. Mr. Kampetis, at the conclusion of your testimony
8 yesterday, we were talking about Government's BA which -- if
9 you would, just get us back on track. Tell us what that is.
10 A. This was a summary of an interview done by a newspaper
11 reporter from a newspaper called La Hoy.
12 Q.
13 A.
Whose handwriting is that?
This is Greg �plinger's handwriting.
And why is he sending that to you?
..
14 .Q.
15• A. It was an indication that they were interviewing him for
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his discovery. They were giving him some recognition as an
English doctor in the Dominican Republic.
Q. Okay. For what purpose, if any, did you use that
information?
A. An indication that there was an acknowledgment in the
Latin American press and it was getting out all across the
world.
Q. Did he tell you that that was going to be used in the
press?
25 A. Yes.
328
1 Q. Did you ever see evidence that that same information that
2 he provided you was later used in a press article?
No, I did not.
Okay.
3 A.
4 Q.
5 MR. WHISLER: Move admission of Government's SA at
6 this time.
7 THE COURT: Received.
8 (Government's Exhibit Number SA was received into
9 evidence.)
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THE COURT: Do you want to publish it now?
MR. WHISLER: Reserve publication.
THE COURT: . Ladies and gentlemen, when he says �
� ...
reserve publication, that means he's going to give it to you
14 later. You're going to get to see it, but he's going to put
15 it in at a different time. But it's now been received into
16 evidence.
17 Q. Let's step back for a minute, Mr. Kampetis. I'd like for
18 you, please, to outline kind of in a chronological way your
19 involvement in this case in terms of a timeline, when you got
20 involved with David Weekley first and then moving forward when
21 you got involved with the defendant, Gregory Caplinger .
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A. Late in '93 I met David Weekley; and then during the
course of '94, I had an involvement with David Weekley.
24 it wasn't until early '95, in April of '95 that I first
25 communicated with Dr. Caplinger.
But
329
1 Q. Okay. Now, when you got involved with David Weekley,
2 what was the purpose? What was the reason for your business
3 relationship?
4 A. My involvement was to help direct and help David with
5 identifying investments for his -- he had accumulated
6 investors and he was managing their money and I was searching
7 for different investments for him to put the money into.
8 Q. Okay. What was the name of the group of investors that
9 you and he were working with? Was there a name?
10 A. There was an incorporation in the state of North Carolina
11 by the name of Diamond Group.
12 Q. And was there a particular type of investment, a vehlcle �
13 or strategy that you and David Weekley were involved with ..
14 initially?
15 A. There was a variety of secure safe investments that a
16 document that had been given to the investors had identified
17 different types of securities.
18 Q. Okay. Was there one particular type of investment,
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though, that the two of you were working on or working
toward?
A. We were trying to get involved in bank related securities
and government related securities.
Q. Okay. What is a prime bank note?
24 A. A prime bank note is a large investment by a private
25 individual to a bank and it would tend to give a better return
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1 because of the size of the investment.
2 Q. And was that one of the vehicles that you used with the
3 Diamond Group?
4 A.
5 Q.
It was one of the vehicles we were searching for, yes.
Okay. And what efforts, if any, did you make toward
6 bringing that investment to fruition?
7 A. I had introduced David to a number of parties that
8 indicated that they had those types of investments available.
9 Q. Okay. And you and David pursued that together; is that
10 right?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Okay. Did that ·prime bank note program ever come to
13 fruition?
14 A. No.
15 Q. Okay. What did you do with the investors• money in the
16 meantime?
17 A. In the meantime, the investors' money was put into
18 certificates of deposit in a local North Carolina bank.
19 Q.
20 A.
21 Q •
22 A.
23 Q.
Did you pursue other investment opportunities?
Yes.
Did you tell the investors about that?
I had -- I had no communication with the investors.
Okay. But did you know whether or not the investors were
24 being told?
25 A. I had no knowledge of how many investors or what
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2 Q.
3 A.
Now, you've pleaded guilty in this case, have you not?
Yes, I have.
And what did you plead guilty to?
Mail fraud.
Why did you plead guilty to that?
4 Q.
5 A.
6 Q.
7 A. Because I put out hundreds of documents to many different
8 organizations and later felt that those documents were not
9 correct and I continued to put them out because of the fact
10 that I wasn't really -- I had only recopied those documents.
11 But I really felt that as a banker, that the evidence that I
12 was seeing showed that most of those documents could not be
13 correct. -�
. '
14 Q. Okay. Now, you've got to be clear for us. You're not
15 talking about spelling errors are you?
16 A. No.
17 Q. All right. What are you talking about?
18 A. I'm talking about the amount of dollars that were being
19 generated primarily at the clinic and the value of the
20 assets.
21 Q. Okay .. Now, let me step back for a minute. What, if
22 anything, involving the prime bank note did you plead guilty
23 to?
24 A. Nothing.
25 Q. Nothing?
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1 A. (Negative nod.)
2 Q. Now, you were in a conspiracy with David Weekley,
3 correct?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. All right. Were the investors told everything they were
6 supposed to be told in connection with that conspiracy?
7 A. I have no idea. Some of the investors were relatives of
8 David and they seemed to know what was going on, but I
9 basically had very little communication, if any, with any of
10 the investors.
11 Q.
12 A.
Okay. What is a Ponzi scheme?
A Ponzi scheme i� where an investment advisor will take
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dollars from investors and then repay interest or the returns
from the same funds that were collected if no dollars were
being earned.
Q. Were you involved with a Ponzi scheme?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. How so?
A. Well, I knew that there was very little if any returns
being generated by the funds, but the investors were being
paid in full according to what they were guaranteed and I knew
that some of their own money was being used or more money was
being raised to pay the investors the return they were
guaranteed.
Q. Okay. What is Binatone?
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1 A. Binatone was a vitamin product that was imported from a
2 European manufacturer to sell in the United States. One of
3 the investments was a plan to distribute Binatone in the
4 United States and it was directed towards -- initially towards
5 horses, race horses because it wasn't approved for
6 distribution to -- for human consumption. So monies were
7 invested in Binatone and the concept was to create a public
8 company out of that Binatone product.
9 Q. Were the investors informed that their
10 to Bina tone?
11 A. I have no idea.
12 Q. You don't have a�y way of knowing that.
13 A. No.
monies were
14 Q. All right. Now, when did you get involved with the
15 defendant, Gregory Caplinger?
going
. ....
16 A. It was early in 1995 when a Florida representative of
17 Greg's called me, Walter Schumacher, and had identified that a
18 doctor had found a very, very good medicine for cancer and I
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had a pretty serious interest in trying to pursue it.
Q. Okay. And when you say pursue it, what do you mean?
A. I had been trying to see the -- pursue it meaning trying
22 to invest in it. Trying to make the project succeed by
23 applying investor dollars to it.
24 Q. Okay. And you testified about a number of documents
25 yesterday. Where did you get those documents?
334
1 A. Those documents were given to me and delivered to me by
2 either Walter Schumacher or corning direct from the Dominican
3 Republic from Greg Caplinger.
4 Q. Okay. And who prepared those documents as far as you
5 know?
6 A. There was very little -- I had no idea where they were
7 corning from, but they were prepared by Greg or his staff.
8 Q. Okay. So did you give the defendant any money before you
9 received these documents?
10 A. No, the initial monies were sent after receiving a
11 business plan promoting the medicine and the identification of
12 a patent that was registered in the United States and in the
13 Dominican Republic. ..
14 Q. Show you what's already in evidence as Government's 2C.
15 What is that?
16 A. That is a Nonprofit Operation Basic Assets that were
17 showing -- a personal financial statement.
18 Q. Of whom?
19 A. Of Gregory Caplinger.
20 Q. And is that one of the documents you got initially from
21 him?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q.
24 A.
25 Q.
Okay. Did he prepare that document?
I don't know.
But you didn't prepare that; is that right?
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1 A.
2 Q.
No, I did not prepare this.
Okay. And it describes -- you said it describes his
3 financial profile, correct?
4 A. Yes.
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Q. Did you ever talk to him about his financial profile?
A. Yes.
Q. About some of these figures?
A. Yes.
Q. Did he confirm or deny these figures in 2C?
A. Confirmed.
Q. Okay. Now, the information that he provided you, then,
what did you do with it?
A.
·-...\
I reviewed it, analyzed it, saw that there was a
significant value, and I distributed it to a number of
different parties to try to enhance the chances of investors
and lenders to take the project to another level, to
distribute the medicine worldwide.
Q. Okay. Now, in the course of your dealings with the
defendant, did there come a time when you formed a U.S.
corporation to further this project?
A. Yeah. I found that it was probably much better that it
was a U.S. corporation rather than a Dominican corporation so
that any -- anybody that wanted to put a security interest or
put a mortgage on the property, the assets would be here in
the United States or owned in the United States.
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1 Q. And in simple terms, what benefit would that accrue by
2 incorporating in the U.S. in lieu of the Dominican?
3 A. It brought it more credibility that the assets were being
4 audited and being recorded in the United States and that tax
5 returns were being filed in the United States.
6 Q.
7 A.
8 Q.
9 A.
Did you discuss the incorporation with the defendant?
Oh, yes.
What did he say?
He agreed to the process.
10 Q. Okay. Now, in connection with that incorporation, was
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there a transfer of assets?
A. Yes.-�
Q. Tell me about that. ....
A. By board resolution and by agreement, the patent was
given to the U.S. corporation identified as Immune
Pharmaceuticals. The equipment was given to the corporation
as assets of ·that corporation. And the purchase orders were
assigned to that U.S. corporation.
Q. Okay. Mr. Kampetis, I want to show you what's marked as
Government's 47 and Government's 13. Ask you to take a look
at 47 first. Tell me if you recognize that document.
A. Yes, I do.
Q. What is it?
A. It is a document that was prepared by the State of
Pennsylvania, the first document, which was a standard
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1 incorporation, articles of incorporation registering the
2 company as a Pennsylvania corporation. It was done by a law
3 firm that I had an association with.
4 Q.
5 A.
Take a look at Government's 13.
The second document is a bill of sale which sold the
6 assets of Greg and his company, World Medical Services, to the
7 U.S. corporation.
8 Q.
9 A.
10 Q.
11 A.
12 Q.
13 A.
14 Q.
15 A.
16 Q.
17 A.
18 Q.
19 13?
20 A.
21 Q.
You said it sold the assets. Is that true?
Yes.
In
It was sold in exchange for stock in that corporation.
Okay. -�
. � . � A majority interest of that stock in that corporation.
Who would get a majority interest?
Dr. Caplinger.
Do you remember the percentage of the interest?
Yes, it was approximately 35 to 40 percent.
Whose signature does that document reflect, Government's
Greg E. Caplinger, president of World Medical Services.
All right, sir.
22 MR. WHISLER: Your Honor, Government's 13 is already
23 in evidence. I'd move Government's 47. Reserve publication.
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THE COURT: 47 will be received.
(Government's Exhibit Number 47 was received into
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1 evidence. )
What is Immuno Pharmaceuticals? 2 Q.
3 A.
4 Q.
5 A.
Immuno Pharmaceuticals was a corporation in Pennsylvania.
Is that the name of the corporation?
Yes, Immuno Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated.
6 Q. The incorporation document that you just talked about
7 pertains to Immuno Pharmaceuticals?
8 A.
9 Q.
Yes, it does.
Now, did you -- did there come a time when you turned to
10 other sources apart from Immuno Pharmaceuticals for funding?
11 A. Well, there was ability in Pennsylvania to privately. sell
12 ten additional invest:Qrs beyond the founders of the company, . '
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13 so we reserved some of the stock to sell to private
14 investors.
15 Q.
16 A.
Okay. Do you remember any of the investors' names?
No. All I knew is that they were in both North and South
17 Carolina.
18 Q. Okay. Now, apart from those stockholders, then, did you
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personally look for any other investment sources?
A. Yes.
Q. Tell me about those.
22 A. I pursued several, you know, private drug companies,
23 nonprofit organizations, religious organizations, government
24 organizations, internationally, a lot of people that were, you
25 know, in the medical profession that could give me some
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1 support, as well as my own dollars.
2 Q. Mr. Kampetis, I want to show you what I've marked as
3 Government's 48 and 49. Ask you to take a look at those,
339
4 sir. Tell me if you recognize Government's 48. Tell me what
5 it is.
6 A. This is a document which I prepared and probably a
7 hundred of them that was an accumulation of all of the
8 financial and medical information and affidavits from
9 patients, the articles, the financials, the purchase orders,
10 to give a bit of a prospectus of the entire request for
11 financing.
12 Q....,
Now, this partic�lar one, Government's 48, is directed ..
13 or prepared for what entity?
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A. For Duke Management. There was a request by a local
Duke University had a management company and it was sent
directly to them.
Q. Okay. And you said you used all the financial documents
that you've talked about here previously; is that right?
A. Yes.
Q. Take a look at Government's 49 for me and tell me what
that is, if you recognize that document.
A. This is a document that I wrote which was a letter to a
particular investor signed by me as the CFO of Immune
24 Pharmaceuticals, prepared by me, including the list of assets,
25 the bill of sale of the assets to the corporation, the patent,
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1 a registered government document showing that there was
2 recorded in the Dominican government a value of over $22
3 million worth of assets, laboratory reports showing the
340
4 manufacturing of the medicine, the equipment lists, affidavits
5 identifying the assets again by the minister of health of the
6 Dominican Republic identifying that they did not restrict the
7 licensing of the export of the medicine.
8 Q. Again, the same documents that are used in this type of
9 brochure as well.
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Now, take a look�t the date on Government's 48 there.
12 Tell me what that is.·�
13 A.
14 Q.
15 A.
16 Q.
It says December 29th, 1995.
Okay.
Addressed to our lenders.
Now, at that time did you have any reason to doubt the
17 veracity of the information that was contained in that
18 document?
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A. No.
Q. Okay. Take a look at this document, 49.
the date is on that.
22 A. August 1st of 1996.
Tell me what
23 Q. At that time did you have any reason to doubt the
24 veracity of the information that you attached to that
25 document?
1 A.
2 Q.
3 A.
4 Q.
5
I was skeptical as to the values.
In 1996?
Yeah. By the middle of '96 -
Hold that thought.
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MR. WHISLER: Move admission of Government's 48 and
6 49, Your Honor.
7
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THE COURT: Received.
MR. WHISLER: I'll reserve publication.
9 (Government's Exhibits Number 48 and Number 49 were
10 received into evidence.)
11 Q.
12 1996?
13 A.
Why were you skeptical, Mr. Kampetis, at that time in
Because the clinic was not generating the revenues that
14 were represented and basically we were funding all parts of
15 the operation.
16 Q. All right. You said the clinic was not generating
17 revenues being represented, represented by whom?
18 A. By Greg and his staff.
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Q. All right, sir. Did the defendant ever provide you with
any potential funding sources of his own?
A. There was some evidence that we could send packages to
certain people that he had identified that had an interest.
Q. Okay. List some of those people he told you.
A. Oscar de la Renta who was a Dominican citizen, some
celebrities here in the United States.
1 Q.
2 A.
Did he give you any names?
A few. I don't recall some -- one was a singer
342
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3 can't recall his name -- who was a supporter of an AIDS
4 program here in the states.
5 Q.
6 A.
Any other individuals?
Some world health organizations that we sent some
7 material to.
8 Q.
9 A.
10 Q.
11 A.
12 Q.
13 A.
14 Q.
15 A.
16 Q.
Did you send these materials to these individuals?
Yes.
Okay. Did you ever hear back from Oscar de la Renta?
No.
Did you ever try.�to contact him yourself personally?
No.
' ..
Did you ever meet him?
No.
Now, along with this information that you sent to -- this
17 documentation you sent to all these different individuals and
18 entities, did you ever send a video?
19 A.
20 Q.
21 A.
22 Q.
23 A.
24 Q.
25 A.
Yes.
Okay. Was the defendant in the video?
Yes.
Okay. Was he speaking?
Yes.
And you've seen that video?
Yes.
1 Q.
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Show you Government's 49A, I believe. Look at that and
2 tell me if you recognize that.
3 A. This was a video that was professionally prepared by an
4 advertising agency which was identifying the clinic and giving
5 basic information about the medicine.
6 Q. Okay.
7 MR. WHISLER: Your Honor please, at this time I'd
8 move admission of 49A. Ask if I can play the tape for the
9 jury.
it.
THE COURT: It will be received and you may play
(Government's Exhibit Number 49A was received into .....
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13 evidence .and played to the jury.)
14 Q. Mr. Kampetis, where is the location of that lecture
15 occurring, if you know?
16 A. I have no idea. It was represented as being down in the
17 Dominican Republic.
18 Q.
19 A.
20 Q.
21 A.
Okay. And do you know who the audience is?
No.
Do you know if there was an audience?
No.
22
23
Q. Now, there was a mention of a microscope in that video.
Did you hear that?
24 A.
25 Q.
Yes.
Do·you know the funding source of that microscope?
0 w IL
1 A. We bought that microscope.
Who is "we"?
The Diamond Group paid for that microscope.
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2 Q.
3 A.
4 Q. Okay. Now, as far as the beginning of that tape, there
5 was discussion about the discovery of this treatment protocol
6 and there was mention of an individual named Mark. Do you
7 know who Mark is?
8 A.
9 Q.
10 A.
No.
Did you ever talk to the defendant about Mark?
No, qnly identified as a medical student.
Did you ever get -a last name?
No.
11 Q.
12 A.
13 Q. Now, let me turn your attention to a fella named Bob
14 Zelle. Do you know who Bob Zelle is?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q.
17 A.
Who is that?
Mr. Zelle was a retired multi-millionaire that lived in
18 Tennessee who had invested some dollars into the clinic.
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Q. Do you know how much?
A. It was over a hundred thousand dollars, between a hundred
and three hundred thousand.
Q. Did you correspond with him during the course of your
dealings with the defendant?
24 A.
25 Q.
Several times.
Let me show you, Mr. Kampetis, what I've marked as
345
l Government's 51 and 52. Take a look at those, please. Tell
2 me if you recognize those documents.
3 A. Yes, both of these documents were prepared by me asking
4 for financial support from Mr. Zelle, and a general document
5 that we had, again, prepared by me, which was directed to
6 several funding sources.
7 Q. Okay. Let me turn your attention to Government's 52.
8 The last paragraph there mentions a wealthy Dominican
9 businessman and a commitment that•s being made. Can you tell
10 .me about that.
ll A.
12 had
13 Q.
14 A.
15 Q.
16 A.
17 Q.
This was identified as Oscar de la Renta•s investment who
supported the proiect.
And what type of dollar figure are you talking about?
$1.5 million.
Did he give $1.5 million to you folks for your project?
No.
Now, it says there that there is a commitment; is that
18 right?
19 A.
20 Q.
21 A.
22 Q.
23 A.
24 Q.
25 A.
Yes.
Why does it say that?
I was told
By whom?
that there was -
Told by whom?
By Greg that there was a commitment of 1.5 million and he
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wanted to have matching funds from our sources to double that
figure.
Q. All right, sir. Did that ever come to pass?
A. No.
Q. Why not, do you know?
A. No idea. It was identified that he had been involved in
other medical projects and couldn't get involved because of
conflicts.
MR. WHISLER: Move admission of Government's 51 and
52. Reserve publication.
THE COURT: .They will be received.
(Government�s Exhibits Number 51 and Number 52 were . � �
received into evidence.)
Q. Who is Vincent Khau?
A. Vincent Khau was a gentleman, a Chinese gentleman from
Arizona who had represented that he was interested in the
project and was interested in developing a market in the
Pacific rim in various countries over there where AIDS and
cancer was growing at astonishing rates and had given us a
commitment to go forward and signed a contrac.t with us in the
Dominican Republic to fund several million dollars.
Q. Did you meet him in the Dominican?
A. Yes.
24 Q.
25 A.
Did you sign the contract there?
Yes.
1 Q.
2 A.
3 Q.
4 A.
5 Q.
6 A.
7
8
And what was the dollar figure?
I can't recall. Three million. I can't recall.
Did he go forward with that commitment?
He did not.
Why not?
He had indicated that he had done -
MR. FALLS: Objection.
THE COURT: You're asking what Khau said? Is
9 that --
347
10 MR. WHISLER: Well, I asked if he went forward with
11 -- if Mr. Khau went forward with his investment. Witnesa
12 said no. I said why -�ot?
13 THE COURT: Don't say what he said.
14 Q. Did you have a conversation with him at some point about
15 the defendant?
16 A. No, David had conversations with him about the
17 defendant.
18 Q. Okay. And based upon those conversations, did you
19 correspond with -- subsequently did you correspond with Mr.
20 Khau?
21 A.
22 Q.
23 A.
Yes.
And for what purpose did you correspond with Mr. Khau?
To try to persuade him into going forward with his
24 commitment.
25 Q. Okay. Did you write him a letter?
348
1 A. Several.
2 Q. Show you what I've marked as Government's 53. Take a
3 look at that, please.
4 A.
5 Q.
6 A.
7 Q.
8 A.
9 Q.
Yes, this is a letter written by me.
To whom?
To Vincent Khau.
And for what purpose did you write that letter?
To ask him to consider the funding of the program.
Okay. And were you assessing the defendant at all in
10 that article -- or in that letter?
11 A.
12 Q.
13 A.
14 Q.
15 A.
Identifying Greg1
Yes ..
Yes.
''lo,
...
For what purpose?
To promote the ability oh, this -- Vincent Khau had
16 identified an article
17
18 A.
MR. FALLS: Objection.
that had been written --
19
20
Q. Wait a minute.
identified.
Don't talk about what Vincent Khau
21 A . Okay.
22
23
Q. Just tell us what you're doing in this letter, okay.
Read the letter so you can refresh your recollection. Tell us
24 what you're doing in that letter.
25 A. Again, trying to persuade him to change his mind to fund
*
349
1 the project.
2 Q. Are you making any claims about the defendant in that
3 letter?
4
5
MR. FALLS: Object to the leading.
THE COURT: Overruled.
6 A. Yes, I was promoting him.
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Q. All right. Very well.
MR. WHISLER: Move admission of Government's 53.
MR. FALLS: Objection.
Overruled.
THE COURT: Received. Objection is noted.
(Government's Exhibit Number 53 was received into . ...
evidence.)
Q. What is FINCOM, Mr. Kampetis?
...
A. It was identified as a financial lending institution in
the Dominican Republic.
Q. Okay. And what was your involvement with FINCOM?
A. FINCOM had agreed to fund a project, but I had no direct
communication with FINCOM. That was totally done by Greg.
Q. I'm sorry, could you repeat that.
A. I said FINCOM was an entity in the Dominican Republic. I
had no communication with them. And I had no direct ability
to say yes or no to any kind of loans being taken from
FINCOM. They were taken by Greg.
Q. Okay. Now, did you have occasion to -- let me ask you
,
*
350
1 this. Did the defendant request that you send funds to him?
2 A. Several occasions.
3 Q.
4 A.
Okay. How many occasions approximately?
Every day.
5 Q.
6 A.
Okay. Did you send him monies?
Yes.
7 Q.
8 A.
And how did you send him monies, by what form?
By form of Western Union, by form of bank wire transfers
9 and by form of delivery of cash myself in small amounts.
10 Q. Now, when you say "every day," .how many years did you
11 deal with him?
12 A. Two.
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Q. Are you being literal when you say every day or can you
narrow it down for us?
A. Each time we communicated there was always a request to
continue to fund the project and we did everything we could to
satisfy those needs.
Q. All right, sir. Mr. Kampetis, I'm going to show you
first of all what I've marked Government's SSA through let
me take a look at that -- A through D. Tell me if. you
recognize those documents.
A. Yes. These are Western Union receipts of funds that I
sent from Pittsburgh to the· Dominican Republic.
24 Q.
25 A.
Okay. Directed to whom?
To either Dr. Caplinger or one of his staff.
0 "' II.
351
1 Q. And take a look at Government's 16, 17 and 28 which are
2 already in evidence and tell me if you recognize those
3 documents.
4 A. Yes. The first document is a document again addressed to
5 David and myself identifying that there was some foreclosure
6 that may happen and Greg could be arrested if we didn't send
7 more money.
8 Q.
9 A.
10 Q.
11 more
12 A.
13 Q.
14 A.
15
Do you know -- first of all, what exhibit is that?
That exhibit is 16.
Do you know if he was ever arrested because he didn't
money?
No. ''lll,
. "
You don't know or ...
No, I don't think he was, no.
The ·second document was from Greg's accountant
get
16 identifying specific items that needed paid for: 12,000 for
17 telephone; 5,000 for rent; salaries of 3,000; and research
18 proceeds of about 15,000.
19
20
21
Q. Did you attempt to assemble monies to send down for that
purpose?
A. Yes.
22 Q.
23 A.
And what's the next-exhibit number?
The next exhibit number is Exhibit 28. It identified the
24 reference of ·the funds that were required showing a budget
25 to fund the entire project showing a budget of $2,170,000.
1 Q.
2 A.
3 Q.
4
Signed by whom?
By Gregory.
Okay.
MR. WHISLER: 16, 17 and 28 are already in.
352
S Government would move admission of Government's SSA through
6 D.
7 THE COURT: Received.
8 (Government's Exhibits Number SSA, Number SSB,
9 Number SSC and Number SSD were received into evidence.)
10 Q.
11 A.
Did you ever go to the defendant's house?
There was a premises in the Dominican Republic in the
12 center of the city t~t was -- yes, it was his house.
13 Q •.
14 A.
15 Q.
. ~ ~
So you did go to his house.
Yes, I did.
Tell me about that house. What did it look like? What
16 did you see?
17 A. It was a very nice estate. Completely surrounded by a
18 very large, twelve foot cement wall. There were -- it was a
19 nice
20 Q. Did you go inside?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. What did you see inside?
23 A. I saw, you know, limited amounts of furniture, but very
24 well -- you know, it was a very nice house.
25 Q. Who was living there?
•
353
1 A. Gregory was living there.
2 Q. Was anybody else living there?
3 A. At the time, yes. His wife.
4 Q. What was her name?
5 A. I can't recall. Claudia -- I can't recall.
6 Q. If you can't remember, that's fine. Was anybody working
7 there in the house?
8 A. Yeah, there were a couple of guards that were identified
9 as government employees.
10 Q.
11 A.
12 Q.
Who identified them as government employees?
Greg.
Why were the gov~rnment employees there at the house, do . '- ..
13 you know? Did he tell you?
14 A. No, just as servants. They were given to him by the
15 government.
16 Q.
17 A.
18 Q.
Okay.
Because of his military status.
Okay. Show you what's already in evidence as
19
20
21
22
23
Government's 21. Ask you to take a look at that. Tell me if
you recognize that.
A. This could be the house. There's a limited shot of it,
but it does look like the house.
Q. Fairly and accurately depict
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. -- your testimony about the house?
•
354
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Do you have an estimation based on your observation how
3 big the house was?
4 A. I imagine about, about four or five thousand squares,
5 square feet.
6 Q. Did the defendant have any other residences that you
7 saw?
8 A. No.
9 Q. Okay. Did you ever go to any other places with him, any
10 other residence with him?
11 A. No, not a residence, no.
12 Q. Now, how much mo~ey do you -- do you have an estima~ of
13 how much money you spent during the course of your dealings
14 with the defendant on business expenses?
15 A. All of my savings. Approximately maybe a hundred
16- thousand dollars.
17 Q.
18 A.
What did that go for?
Various items. Express mail, postage, computers, the
19
20
21
22
23
microscope, wire transfers, software for the computers.
Q. Okay. You talked about the purchase orders earlier.
you ever receive any instructions from the defendant
forbidding you to use those purchase orders?
A. No.
Did
24 Q. Show you what's marked as Government's 22 ·and 22A. Ask
25 if you can take a look at those documents. Tell me if you've
355
1 ever received either of those documents.
2 A. No.
3 Q. Okay. Thank you. Now, as time progressed how did your
4 relationship with the defendant come to a close?
5 A. It somewhat decayed when I wasn't able to continue to
6 fund the project.
7 Q.
8 A.
I'm sorry, repeat that, please.
The relationship decayed and ended early in '97 when I
9 couldn't continue to produce funds for the project.
10 Q. Now, did you ever receive any correspondence from the
11 defendant at the conclusion of your relationship?
12 A.
13 Q.
14 A.
After the conclu§ion of my --
At the conclusion of your relationship.
There was some correspondence every couple of months but
15 nothing material. I mean, there was some requests for an
16 affirmation of the relationship.
17 Q. Show you what I've marked as Government's 57. Take a
18 look at that document. Tell me if you recognize that
19 document.
20 A. August of 1997 I received this document. It was sent
21 from the Dominican Republic to my facsimile in Pittsburgh.
22 Q. Whose handwriting?
23 A. Greg's handwriting.
24 Q. And what's the import of that document?
25 A. Well, he asked for·an affidavit to identify with my name,
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356
1 age, social security number, telephone number to indicate that
2 I acted independently on all activities related to the monies
3 and that I directed the funds; that he and I did not have any
4 knowledge of investors or any kind of other knowledge related
5 to David and the Diamond Group's involvement.
6 Q. Did you furnish him with the affidavit that he
7 requested?
8 A.
9 Q.
10 A.
No, I refused.
Why did you not give that to him?
Because that wasn't the case. We had assigned the assets
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
of ImmuStim to the Diamond investors, the Diamond Group that
had provided the fund~.
Q. All right, sir.
MR. WHISLER: Move admission of Government's 57, if
Your Honor please.
THE COURT: Received.
(Government's Exhibit Number 57 was received into
evidence.)
THE COURT: Want to pass it now?
MR. WHISLER: I'm going to ·pass it in just a second,
Your Honor. I'm just about done. Last question.
Q. Now, the documents you had reflected Flavia Berroa.
A. Yes.
Q. And what was the defendant's relationship·with Flavia
Berroa?
m ~ ~
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357
1 A. There was a personal relationship and she was identified
2 as the accountant for the corporation in the Dominican
3 Republic.
4
5
6
7
8
Q.
A.
Q.
A.
Q.
Do you
Yes, I
Where
In the
Okay.
9 defendant?
Yes.
see her in the courtroom today?
do.
is she sitting?
seat behind the defense counsel.
Had you met her in your dealings with the
10 A.
11 Q. During the -- at the conclusion of your relationship, had -12 there been any commercialization or marketing of the product?
-~ ~ ~
13 A. The product was manufactured. The licensing was
14 approved, but there were no commercial sales.
15 Q. Okay. Did you have any discussions with the defendant
16 about personal monies he was going to invest at any time?
17 A. There was a lot of conversation about money that had been
18 invested.
19 Q. How much?
20 A. Millions·of dollars.
21 Q. Of whose?
22 A. Of Greg's invested in the project.
23 Q. Did he tell you that?
24 A. Uh-huh.
25 Q. Okay. Well, when you were unable to furnish any further
358
1 funds for the project, did or did not the defendant provide
2 any personal monies toward the project?
3 A.
4
I have no knowledge of that.
MR. WHISLER: That's all the questions I have, Your
5 Honor. I move to publish the new exhibits.
6
7
8
THE COURT: All right.
(Government's exhibits were published to the jury.)
THE COURT: You may cross-examine. We'll have to
9 interrupt your cross-examination for the morning recess, but
10 get a little of it in, if you will, please, Mr. Falls.
11 Mr. Falls, why don't you just wait about starti~g
12 your cross-examinati~. Let them look at these exhibits and .. 13 then we'll take our morning recess.
14 (Pause.)
15 THE COURT: Let's take our comfort recess at this
16 time. You can take the exhibits with you if you like back in
17 the jury room and continue to look at them during the recess.
18 We'll be in recess for twenty minutes.
19
20
21
22
(Short recess at 10:20 a.m.)
THE COURT: All right. You may cross-examine, sir.
HARRY KAMPETIS
CROSS-EXAMINATION
23 BY MR. FALLS:
24 Q.
25 A.
Good morning, Mr. Kampetis.
Good morning.
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359
1 Q. I want to go over a little bit of your testimony first
2 from yesterday. Yesterday do you remember being asked about a
3 Dr. Winters, Dr. Thomas Winters?
4 A.
5 Q.
Yes.
Do you remember testifying that you never talked to Greg
6 about Dr. Winters?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Okay. And you were also asked about the location of
9 Sussex College of Technology. Do you remember that?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Do you remember testifying that you never asked Dr.
12 Caplinger about that either?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Now, yesterday you also testified about certain
15 publications that you had seen from Dr. Caplinger; is that
16 right?
17 A. Yes, I did.
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Q. And you actually saw those publications, did you not?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And so did you also see the book written by Dr.
Caplinger?
A. No, I did not.
Q. You've not seen this book?
A. No.
Q. But you did see at least one publication, the Salud
1 Integral.
2 A. Yes, I did.
3 Q. You saw other publications as well, correct?
4 A. . One other.
5 Q. So he did publish.
6 A. Yes.
360
'7 Q. Now, you also testified that in August of 1996 you were
8 skeptical of the value of World Medical Services; is that
9 right?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. But you still pu~ money into the ImmuStim project after
12 that, correct?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Now, did there come a time -- now, you were affiliated
15 with the Diamond Group, with David Weekley, right?
16 A.
17 Q.
Yes, I was.
Did there come a time when the Diamond Group sent a wire
18 transfer down to the Dominican Republic in the amount of
19
20
21
$825,000?
A. Yes.
Q. And prior to sending that wire transfer down there, you
22 had instructed Dr. Caplinger to go ahead and take control of
23 about 1 or $2 million worth of the ImmuStim medicine, right?
24 A.
25 Q.
He already had control of that medicine.
Okay. But this $825,000 that was sent down there, that
0, 0)
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361
1 was to be used to pay for the medicine that had already been
2 brought over, right?
3 A.
4 Q.
As I understood, yes.
So that $825,000 was to be used to pay a debt that had
5 already been incurred.
6 A.
7 Q.
Yes.
Now, you testified about an audit that was provided to
8 you by Dr. Caplinger and this audit was one of the things that
9 provided the basis for you deciding to fund this project; is
10 that correct?
11 A. One of several.
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
. 21
22
23
24
Q. Okay. And you've already identified the audit, so if I -~ ... . "
handed you a copy of it, would you recognize it again?
A. Probably.
Q. I'm going to hand you what's been marked and entered as
Government's Exhibit 3.
MR. FALLS: May I approach, Your Honor?
THE COURT: Yes, sir.
Q. Now, looking on this page here, this audit is for the
years 1985 up and through -- to 1994; i~ that correct?
A. It's identified as such, yes .
Q. Okay. And the total receipts of World Medical Services
is about $12,575,000 during that fiscal ten year period; is
that right?
25 A. Yes.
1 Q.
2 A.
3 Q.
362
Okay.
As represented here.
And total disbursements is approximately $12,443,000; is
4 that what that shows?
5 A.
6 Q.
That's what this shows.
So if you'll hand me that, sir. So what that shows is
7 that over a fiscal ten year period, this company made about
8 $132,000 as shown in this audit; is that right?
9 A.
10 Q.
11 year.
12 A.
13 Q.
Yes.
So that comes out to an average profit of about $13,000 a
It was a nonprofit company. ., .. ~ ~
Okay. But that's what's showing the amount -- the
14 receipts over disbursements, correct?
15 A.
16 Q.
Yes.
So it's not a company that's making millions and millions
17 of dollars in profit as might be represented.
18 A. Yes.
19
20
21
Q. According to the information Dr. Caplinger provided to
you, this World Medical Services, it took ten years to make
$132,000; is that right?
22 A.
23 Q.
As represented, yes.
Okay. Now, you've also testified about purchase orders;
24 is that correct?
25 A. Yes, I have.
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363
1 Q. Would you recognize those same purchase orders if you saw
2 them?
3 A.
4 Q.
5 A.
Yes.
That you've already identified?
Yes, I would.
6 Q. Okay. Now, these purchase orders, they weren't exactly
7 firm purchase orders, were they?
8 A. Well, the one company was a distributor. They were to
9 distribute to other companies. They were a distributor of
10 other products and services. The firmness of the purchase
11 orders weren't that we were to receive a check for that amount -12 of money, only that there was a sincere interest in purchasing
13 the medicine.
14 Q.
15
Okay ..
MR. FALLS: May I approach
THE COURT: Yes, sir. 16
17 MR. FALLS: -- with Government's Exhibit 6, 7 and
18 7A.
19
20
21
22
23
Q. Sir, I'd ask you to take a look at those documents
again. Are those purchase orders?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, what does it say right there at the bottom of that
purchase order right beside the three stars?
24 A. "All is based upon production and to be purchased over a
25 reasonable period of time."
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364
1 Q. All right. So they were not going to give you the money
2 until you could actually give them the product.
3 A.
4 Q.
Correct.
All right. So they were contingent purchase orders. You
5 had to give them the product before they were going to give
6 you the money.
7 A. The purchase orders were for the product so naturally
8 there would have to be product delivery.
9 Q. And Laboratories Ameripharma had the same sort of
10 agreement.in their purchase order down there at the bottom,
11 didn't they?
12 A.
13 Q.
Yes. I met wit~the gentleman who signed this document. ~ ~
Okay. Let's speak about that. Mr. Jaime -- how do you
14 say that?
15 A. Aristy.
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Q. Jaime Aristy. He is from Ameripharma. You met him,
right?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. You spoke with him, correct?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, were you representing to investors that these
purchase orders were firm; that this money had already been
committed?
24 A.
25 Q.
No.
Now, you testified yesterday that you went down to the
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365
1 Dominican Republic and you saw approximately 500 bottles of
2 ImmuStim product. Do you remember that?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q.
5 A.
Okay. Where did you see it?
In Dr. Caplinger's office.
6 Q. Let's go to Government's Exhibit 8. Do you remember
7 talking about the news release?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. The foreign angel thing?
10 MR. FALLS: May I approach, Your Honor?
11 THE COURT: Yes, sir.
12 Q. Now, tell me SOtn'ithing. What's the letterhead that that ... • 13 news release is on?
14 A. Immune Pharmaceuticals.
15 Q. And at that time what was the status of Immune
16 Pharmaceuticals?
17 A. Immune Pharmaceuticals was a Dominican corporation for
18 profit and World Medical Services was a Dominican corporation
19
20
21
not for profit.
Q. Okay. Now, what does this say about where this document
was sent from and who it was sent to?
22 A. From myself to David Weekley.
23 Q. Okay. And this news release, it was never actually
24 released, was it?
25 A. I have no idea.
.-. ;~
• 0 w I&.
2
~
1 Q.
2 A~
You wrote this news release, didn•t you?
No, it was a translation I retranscribed from a
3 handwritten document that I had received.
4 Q.
5 A.
A handwritten document in Spanish.
No, it was translated.
366
6 Q. Okay. So you didn't write this news release; is that
7 what you're saying?
8 A. No, I copied -- anything that is in the package was never
9 produced by me. It was only a recopy and put in better form
10 to be distributed.
11 Q. · Okay. Well, y~u_wrote a lot of things for Immuno
12 Pharmaceuticals and ~e Diamond Group, didn't you?
13 A.
14 Q.
. ._ ... Yes, I did.
Do you remember calling and telling David Weekley when
15 you write things, people want to write you checks?
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
A. At times, yes. I mean --
Q. You're pretty good at that, aren't you?
A. At what?
Q. At writing.
A. Yes.
Q. You're pretty good at manipulating people into giving you
money, aren't you?
A. In circumstances, yes. Loans. I had done that all my
24 career.
25 Q. Now, Government's Exhibit BA, this is something that you
•
367
1 testified that Dr. Caplinger sent you in September of 1995.
2 Government's Exhibit SA, have you hold that. Is that what he
3 sent you, the summary of ImmuStim or sort of a summary of it?
4 Is that what that is?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Okay. What does the first line say, the very first
7 line?
8 A. "ImmuStim is an alternative, it's not a panacea, it's not
9 a cure, it's not a miracle. It's just another possibility."
10 Q.
11 A.
12 Q.
13 A.·
14 Q.
15 cure.
16 A.
17 Q.
Just another possibility.
Possibility.
As stated by Dr.~Caplinger, right?
Correct.
So Dr. Caplinger is not holding this thing out as a
No.
Eventually you were holding it out as a cure to potential
18 investors, weren't you?
19
20
21
22
23
A. No.
Q. We'll get to.that later. Let's go to Government's
Exhibit 9, the curriculum vitae of Dr. Caplinger. Do·you
remember identifying that yesterday?
A. Yes.
24 Q. Do you remember the documents that you said were
25 submitted to you by Dr. Caplinger?
ii ~ ~
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2
368
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. This is one of the documents that's in that exhibit and
3 this is a document from Metropolitan Collegiate Institute,
4 correct?
5 A. I don't recall this document specifically, but, yes,
6 that's where it is identified from.
7 Q. And that was one of the places Dr. Caplinger told you he
8 had gotten his degree.
9 A. I really didn't look into anything of his degree, just
10 that there was a license on the wall.
11 Q. You didn't look at anything about his degree. -12 A. Only that -- no. No, I did not look into his degree. He ,-.
" ~ 13 was practicing medicine.
14 Q.
15 say?
16 A.
What does it say there about the "P.S. 11? What does that
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
"Our institute due to the 'Educational Reform Act of
1988' has ceased to function. However, archives are
maintained at: Medical College, 7-11 Kensington High Street,
London, England."
Q. Thank you. So Dr. Caplinger furnished you with
information showing that the place he had gotten his medical
degree, due to the Educational Reform Act, didn't even exist
anymore. He gave you that information right here in the
packet, right?
A. Okay, yes.
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369
1 Q. Now, we just looked at a video a minute ago. Do you
2 remember playing that video up here?
Yes. 3 A.
4 Q. Can you tell me where in that video Dr. Caplinger says
5 anything about his credentials?
6 A. No where.
7 Q. Can you tell me where in that video you heard anything
8 about Dr. Caplinger bragging about himself?
9 A.
10 Q.
No.
Can you tell me where in that video you heard anything
11 about Dr. Caplinger making money?
12 A. No.
13 Q.
14 A.
15 Q.
16 A.
17 Q.
. .... " No, he's just talking about ImmuStim.
Correct.
The focus of this whole thing is ImmuStim, is it not?
Yes.
You're marketing -- this whole -- your whole decision to
18 fund this project is to market ImmuStim.
19
20
21
22
23
A. Correct.
Q. You're not going to cut Dr. Caplinger up into a thousand
pieces and sell him across the world. You want to sell
ImmuStim, right?
A. Yes.
24 Q.
25 A.
Your focus is the product.
Yes.
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370
1 Q.
2 A.
Your focus is the profits to be made from the product.
And the benefit that the product would bring.
3 Q. Now, let me just back up. I wasn't sure I got this.
4 Yesterday you testified at the time you met Dr. Caplinger,
5 you'd been laid off from your job, right?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Now, you also testified about a lady named Susan Brana,
8 right?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. All right. And she ripped you off, you and David off for
11 about $2 million.
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. But about
·-~ ..
out of that $2 million, she. sent back about
14 570,000, right?
15 A. No, she paid interest.
16 Q. Well, 570,000 was sent back to you and essentially
17 transmitted to the Diamond Group, right?
18 A.
19 Q.
20 A.
21 Q.
22 A.
23 Q.
That was her interest payments.
Okay. Except for the 180,000 you kept for yourself.
Didn't keep any money.
Okay. You pled guilty, didn't you?
Yes, I did.
All right. Are you saying when you pled guilty, you
24 didn't know what you were doing?
25 A. Knew precisely what I was doing.
•
371
1 Q. You knew precisely what you were doing. Let's go over
2 your indictment.
3 MR. FALLS: Your Honor, if I may approach the
4 witness
5
6
7
8 Q.
9 A.
10 Q.
THE COURT: Yes, sir, you may.
MR. FALLS: -- with Defendant's Exhibit Number 9?
THE COURT: Yes, you may.
Now, you pled guilty to sixteen counts of fraud, right?
Yes.
Paragraph 10 of the indictment -- you recall going
11 through this indictment? I'm sure you did.
12 A.
13 Q.
Yes.
Okay. You recall that between March -- or February '94
14 and March of '95, Kampetis received approximately $570,000 in
15 original ,Diamond Group funds of which you returned 390,000 to
16 Weekley and kept $180,000 for yourself.
17 A. I have receipts to show more than $200,000 worth of
18 expenditures.
19 Q.
20 A.
21 Q •
22 A.
23 Q.
That's not what I'm asking you.
Yes.
You kept $180,000 for yourself.
No, I kept it for the expenses of the project.
So when you pled guilty to this indictment, you weren't
24 pleading guilty to what they charged you with. They got it
25 wrong; is that right?
1 A.
2 Q.
372
No, they got it right.
Okay. Now, by the time you all met up with Dr. Caplinger
3 or actually, you say you met up with Dr. Caplinger for the
4 first time in 1995, right?
5 A.
6 Q.
Uh-huh.
So if you sent letters out to investors saying you knew
7 Dr. Caplinger in '93 and '94, you'd be lying, wouldn't you?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q.
10 A.
Okay. Did you do that?
Well, there was communication of Dr. Caplinger's
11 existence. Walter Schumacher communicated with me earlier. -
12 Q. But you never wrote -- you never sent out any letters ·,--.,
13 about you being invol;ed since '93 or '94 or anything lik~
14 that.
15 A.
16 Q.
This many years, I don't recall.
Okay. Well, by the time you all got up with Dr.
17 Caplinger, y'all were running out of money, the Diamond Group,
18 you and David Weekley, right?
19
20
21
22
23
A. The Diamond Group, not I. I mean, I wasn't the Diamond
Group.
Q. Now, when y'all first got up with Dr. Caplinger, we've
heard testimony that the interest was just providing him with
a loan. Is that accurate?
24 A. Correct.
25 Q. The interest wasn't more than just providing him with a
0, co ; ~ ~ ~ C, z w Q.
• Q w ... ::i a: 12
373
1 loan?
2 A. The interest or the funds?
3 Q. Your interest in terms of what you wanted to do. Did
4 just want to give the man a loan or did you want to get a
5 piece of the pie?
6 A.
7 Q.
8 A.
9 Q.
Oh, I wanted to get a piece of the company.
Okay. You and Weekley both.
Yes.
Now, while this is going on and your contacts with Dr.
you
10 Caplinger, sort of fleshing that out, you're still in contact
11 with Susan Brana, right?
12 A.
13 Q.
14
She had ceased cQmmunicating. . ..
She had ceased communicating, all right.
MR. FALLS: Your Honor, may I approach with
15 Defendant's Exhibit 10?
16 THE COURT: Yes, sir.
17 Q. Now, you got up with Dr. Caplinger in March and April of
18 1995; is that correct?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. What's the date of the fax on that letter?
21 A. April 16th of 1 95.
22 Q. All right. Who's it to?
23 A. To myself.
24 Q. Who's it from?
25 A. Sue Brana.
374
1 Q. All right. Now, in this letter y'all are talking about
2 note deals, gold deals and truck stop deals. Do you see
3 that?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Okay. So you are still in contact with Susan Brana.
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. All right. And these Diamond Group investors, do they
8 know what's going on with these gold deals and truck stop
9 deals?
10 A.
11 Q.
I have no idea.
Okay. Now, when you got up with Dr. Caplinger, you and
12 Weekley started fleshing things out with Dr. Caplinger. Did ~ .
13 y'all tell him about che financial situation that the Diamond
14 Group was in?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. You did. So Dr. Caplinger was always informed about what
17 was going on with the Diamond Group or the funds, ·the state of
18 the funds.
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
A. He knew that we were trying to collect funds from Ms.
Brana.
Q. If you heard a conversation going on between yourself and
Mr. Weekley, would you recognize your voice?
A. Most probably.
Q. Would you recognize Mr. Weekley's voice?
A. Most probably.
•
375
1 MR. FALLS: Your Honor, at this time I would ask
2 permission to play Defendant's Exhibit 11.
3 THE COURT: Yes, sir, you may.
4 (Defendant's Exhibit Number 11 was played to the
5 jury.)
6 Q. What do you mean by telling Greg that you're giving him
7 such a false sense of security, it's ridiculous?
8 A. I don't know what that's referencing. I didn't hear
9 enough of the conversation.
10 Q. So you have no idea what that's talking about, a false
11 sense of security.
12 A.
13 Q.
No. ~ .
Now, were y'all doing other things down in the Dominican
14 Republic without Dr. Caplinger knowing about it?
15 A.
16 Q.
17 A.
No.
What's WMS Banking Group?
Dr. Caplinger had introduced contact to the bank
18 administration in the Dominican Republic and we felt that it
19
20
21
would be best to start our own bank.
Q. "We" meaning who?
A. David, myself and Greg.
22 Q.
23 A.
24 Q.
25
Okay. And Greg.
Yes.
All right.
MR. FALLS: Your Honor, I'd like to approach the
•
376
1 defendant.
THE COURT: Approach the witness? 2
3 MR. FALLS: Approach the witness with Defendant's
4 Exhibit Number 11.
5
6
7
THE COURT: Yes, sir, you may.
THE CLERK: Judge, 11 is the tape.
THE COURT: You got your exhibit numbers wrong.
8 Check with the clerk.
9
10
11
12 Q.
MR. FALLS: What number?
THE CLERK: Exhibit Number 11 was the tape.
MR. FALLS: .Okay. 12, I 'm sorry.
Sir, I'd ask you~to take a look at this and see if you . ' ...
13 can identify that document.
14 A.
15 Q.
I prepared this document.
You prepared that document. That relates to WMS Banking
16 Group; is that right?
17 A.
18 Q.
19
20 Q.
21 A .
That is correct.
Would you flip up to the next page.
(Witness complied. )
Whose names appear on that document?
Mine and David's.
22
23
Q. All right.
document?
Where's Dr. Caplinger's name on that banking
24 A.
25 Q.
Dr. Caplinger provided the contacts.
That's not what I'm asking you.
•
1 A.
2 Q.
377
His name is not on this document.
And where anywhere throughout this entire brochure is the
3 name Dr. Gregory Caplinger even mentioned?
4 A.
5 Q.
6 A.
Not at all.
Not at all. This was you and David's baby, wasn't it?
No, it was not. I had no contact with any of the
7 Dominican bank officials. I didn't know any of them. They
8 were introduced to us by Greg. I didn't know any of them.
9 Q. I'm not asking about introducing; I'm asking about who's
10 trying to form this bank. Whose name appears on it?
11 A.
12 Q.
13 A.
14 Q.
15 A.
16 Q.
17 A.
18 Q.
My name appears ~nit.
And David Weekley. . .... . '\
And David Weekley's.
And not Dr. Caplinger.
No.
Thank you.
Do you want this back?
No. If you will flip up to page 5 of that document,
....
19
20
21
please, sir. If you'll go down to where it says, "Uniqueness
of the Professional Service."
A. Yes.
22 Q.
23 A.
24 Q.
Do you see that first paragraph there?
Uh-huh.
Does it show -- do you see there where it says, "The
25 banks's management is well represented by the latters'
378
1 financial commitment of $25 million of capitalization and U.S.
2 currency cash deposits." Do you see that?
3 A.
4 Q.
5 A.
Yes.
That's a total lie, isn't it?
No. At the time we were searching out for those kind of
6 funds.
7 Q. I'm not asking you what you were searching for. You said
8 you had a commitment of $25 million.
9 A. That's what it says, yes.
10 Q. Now, a moment ago you testified that your first contact
11 with Dr. Caplinger was in March or April of 1995; is that~
12 right?
13 A.
14 Q.
15
It's been a lot of years. Yes, that's what I recall.
Okay.
MR. FALLS: Your Honor, may I approach with
16 Defendant's Exhibit 13?
17 THE COURT: Yes, sir.
18 Q. Sir, I'm showing you Defendant's Exhibit 13 and I'd ask
19
20
21
you if you can identify that?
A. This is from me. A facsimile to a gentleman from David
and myself.
22 Q. Okay. And in this document you indicate that "David
23 Weekley and I have worked on Dr. Caplinger's ImmuStim V since
24 October of 1994."
25 A. As I said, we did start working with Dr. Caplinger
379
1 earlier, but we didn't send any funds until May of '95.
2 Q. I thought that you testified that David Weekley didn't
3 even learn about Dr. Caplinger until March or April of 1995.
4 A. Well, he didn't have direct -- he knew everything I was
5 working on. David knew everything I was working on, but he
6 didn't have any direct material or any kind of correspondence
7 at all with Dr. Caplinger.
8 Q. Let's nail it down. When is the first time you even
9 caught wind of Dr. Caplinger?
10 A. When I first was contacted by Bernard Veloit, then later
11 Walter Schumacher. My correspondence shows that on April_ 17th
12 of 1995 was the o~~ of the first direct correspondence with ~ ~
13 Dr. Caplinger.
14 Q.
15 A.
Okay.
Could have been earlier. There was several projects I
16 had been trying to promote.
17 Q. Okay. Let me see this again. And you also state to this
18 gentleman that it has always been a humanitarian effort; is
19
20
21
22
23
that right?
A. Yes.
Q. That's not exactly true either, is it?
A. Well, every humanitarian effort requires huge amounts of
capitalization.
24 Q. Let's cut to the chase. You're trying to·make a bunch of
25 money off this project; is that right?
~ ~ i;i
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•
380
1 A. As well as other things, yes.
2 Q. Now, sometime in May of 1996, did things start to get
3 real bad for the Diamond Group?
4 A. They weren't too good through the whole process, but May
5 '96, yes, I would imagine they were pretty bad.
6 Q. All right. Do you recall getting a fax from David
7 We~kley stating to you how in the world are we going to
8 control all these problems we got?
9 A.
10 Q.
Yes.
And do you recall in that fax Mr. Weekley telling you
11 that he can't talk to-Greg about it?
12 A.
13
I don't recall ~at specifically.
MR. FALLS: Your Honor, permission to appr_oach with
14 Defendant's Exhibit 14.
15 THE COURT: Yes, sir.
16 Q. I'm showing you what's been marked Defendant's Exhibit 14
17 and ask if you .can identify that document?
18 A. It was to me from David.
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Q. Okay. At the top what's the date on that document?
A. 5/30 of 1 96, but that date should not be considered exact
because David's fax machine never had the right date on it.
Q. So it could have been a day before, day later, week
before, week later.
A. Could have been -- this is May of '96.
Q. Okay.
381
1 A. Yes, it could have been in that range.
2 Q. Ask you to look at this first two lines and if you will,
3 please, read that.
4 A. "I believe in miracles in prayer. I'm not trying just to
5 be negative to bring you down or to cause you to want to avoid
6 contact. I can't talk to Teresa about it," which was David's
7 wife. "I can't talk to Greg about it."
8 Q. Okay.
9 A. "I don't have anyone down here to confide in because of
10 the embarrassment, the potential financial losses to my
11 father, my clients, the rumors that will start."
12 Q. And it further ~es on in the next sentence to state that ~ ~
13 he doesn't trust anybody with the information.
14 A. "I don't trust anyone with the information. I hate I am
15 having to even share this kind of stuff with you but I really
16 do not know what to do."
17 Q. Okay. And does he talk in there, in paragraph 9, does he
18 talk about breaking rules when the goal is within reach?
19 A.
20 Q.
21 A.
Where?
Number 9.
"Breaking the rules only when your goal is within reach.
22 Rules broken out of compliance previously were sustainable
23 with new cash infusion to carry us. Punitively the effect has
24 now proven disastrous."
25 Q. Okay. Thank you, sir. Now, in late July or August of
382
1 1996, you and David Weekley learned that Dr. Caplinger had
2 been convicted of practicing medicine without a license in
3 North Carolina. Do you remember that?
4 A.
5 Q.
6 A.
That was the second -- yes. Yes.
Do you remember that happening?
I didn't know there was any kind of conviction. All I
7 knew there was an article written on Dr. Caplinger from Boone,
8 North Carolina.
9 Q. And after that you continued to send money to the
10 ImmuStim project, didn't you?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Now, let me ask -you this. Did you and David Weekley . ~ ~
13 immediately get on the horn with all your investors and tell
14 them about this thing that had happened with Dr. Caplinger?
15 A. They weren't my investors. I didn't communicate with
16 investors.
17 Q. Okay. So far as you know, nobody told the investors
18 about that.
19 A.
20 Q.
21 A.
Well, I knew David's father knew about it.
Okay.
Because he had communicated. I didn't know about any of
22 the other investors.
23 Q. So is it your testimony that David Weekley was the point
24 man with the investors?
25 A. He had always been -- I had no investors. He had the
~-
I w a.
•
383
1 money before I even met him.
2 Q. So the communications that were given over to investors,
3 those were made by David Weekley.
4 A. Correct. Except for the stock .investors in Immune
5 Pharmaceuticals which did communicate with David and Greg.
6 Q. I want to move forward a little bit now. Now, again,
7 I've gone. over this before. Do you remember telling people in
8 1996 that you'd been involved with the ImmuStim project since
9 1993 this time?
10 A. Not so much the ImmuStim project but in the search for
11 cancer medicines. I don't recall if that's specifically what
12 I had said about Dr. ~aplinger. ' ....
13 MR. FALLS: May I approach the witness with
14 Defendant's Exhibit 15?
15 · THE COURT: Yes, sir.
16 Q. Showing you what's been marked Defendant's ~xhibit 15.
17 Ask you if you can identify that?
18 A. Yes. This was a board member of one of the major drug
19 companies in the United States.
20 Q. And you sent him that letter on October 1st, 1996?
21 A. Y~s.
22 Q. Or this is a letter that you sent?
23 A. Yes, it is.
24 Q. Okay. I· want you to look at the last paragraph.
25 A. "It is truly a revelation in immune system therapy. I
384
1 have tracked the progress for thirty months."
2 Q. Okay. Thirty months, that's two and a half years. That
3 would knock it back to sometime around 1993 that you're
4 representing that you've been tracking the progress of
5 ImmuStim.
6 A. This may have been a misprint or an exaggeration on my
7 part, but it was never intended to indicate the exact date.
8 Tracked the progress for thirty months because of the fact
9 that we had evidence of the information of what had transpired
10 prior to the work, the testing that had been done for many
11 years even prior to thirty months. But we tracked the
12 progress because of the fact that we saw the evidence of the --~ .
13 animal testing and the patient studies. So that tracking was
14 part of some of the representation that was given to us.
15 Q. Okay. And you also state in this letter that ImmuStim is
16 ready for world distribution and that many scientists and
17 doctors feel the same way.
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Okay. David Weekley know you were sending out all these
20 letters to people?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. He did?
23 A. He knew I was marketing, yes. He· knew I was sending as
24 many as I possibly could.
25 Q. Okay. Were you sending out packets of information
"' '° "' ~
~
! ~ 0 z w Q.
• 0 w II.
::E
ls II.
I 385
1 without Dr. Caplinger's knowledge?
2 A. He knew we were sending material. He never asked for any
3 kind of confirmation of where we were trying to raise funds.
4 Q.
5 A.
That's not what I asked you.
Yes.
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Q. Were you sending out stuff without his knowledge?
A. No, he had knowledge of he didn't know specifically
who I was sending it to, but he knew what I was sending.
MR. FALLS: Your Honor, I have Defendant's Exhibit
16 which is a tape provided in discovery by the government.
May I play it at this time?
THE COURT: . .,Ye-s, sir, you may. •
{Government's Exhibit Number 16 was played to the
jury.)
Q. · Can you explain that?
A. I was disclosing the information that -- what I was
engaged to do.
Q. You were disclosing it after the fact.
A. They knew I was sending them out.
Q. Now, your goal this whole time is to raise money to get
the project off the ground so eventually you can make money;
is that right?
A. Yes.
Q. And you're making these solicitations in these letters
after Dr~ Caplinger has sent you information about his medical
i g
' ~ 0 z w Cl.
e
1
2
3
4
386
school not even existing anymore, and you're sending these
solicitations out after you know about Dr. Caplinger being in
trouble for practicing medicine without a license in North
Carolina, correct?
5 A. The project -- the information was not about Dr.
6 Caplinger. It was about ImmuStim.
7 Q. That's right, the focus was not on Dr. Caplinger, was
a. it? It was on ImmuStim; is that right?
9 A. Correct, yes.
10 Q. You weren't trying to market the doctor; you were trying
11 to market the product.-
12 A.
13 Q.
Correct. -~ . "'
So if you could get the product to market and you could
14 sell it and you could make millions and millions of dollars,
15 the fact that Dr. Caplinger had been practicing medicine
16 without a license in North Carolina, that wouldn't really
17 matter, would it?
18 A. No.
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Q. No, it wouldn't. And the fact that again, if you were
making millions and millions of dollars, the fact that he had
gotten a medical degree from a school that didn't even exist
anymore, that wouldn't matter either as long as you're making
the money.
A. It wasn't about the money because I didn't take a salary
through this process.
1 Q.
2 A.
387
It wasn't about the money. Why were you in this?
I had tried to do the right thing for -- you know, to
3 produce this medicine. Again, one of the outcomes would be to
4 earn a living, to make a lot of money. But I had done this
5 for many years prior to Dr. Caplinger.
6 Q. Are you saying your primary goal was to save lives; your
7 primary goal wasn't to make money?
8 A. I think it was both.
9 Q. Do you recall soliciting Pat Robertson of the Christian
10 Broadcast Network in October of 1996?
11 A.
12 Q.
Yes.
Do you recall asking Mr. Robertson, you wanted him to be ·~
13 God's megaphone to all the people?
14 A.
15 Q.
I suppose, yes.
And if he could give you some money, you would share the
16 blessing that you'd been gifted with.
17 A.
18 Q.
19 A.
20 Q.
21 A.
We would, yes.
You're stretching it, aren't you -
Well --
-- with these kind of solicitations. Come on.·
I was a salesman.
22
23
Q. Now, did there come a time when you started making
representations about the product that absolutely were 100
24 percent false?
25 A. Anything I might have represented was told to me before I
•
388
1 ever represented it.
2 MR. FALLS: Your Honor, may I approach with
3 Defendant's Exhibit 18?
4 THE COURT: Yes, sir.
5 Q. Sir, I'm going to ask you to look at Defendant's Exhibit
6 18 and ask you if you recognize that?
7 A.
8 Q.
9 A.
10 Q.
A letter written by me.
What's the date?
October 30th, 1996.
I want you to look down on the fourth line and see where
11 it says 100 patients out of 100 patients are now showing an
12 HIV negative status ~at have been given the vaccine. Do you . ' ~
13 see that?
I was told that, yes. 14 A.
15 Q. You .were told that. Where does Dr. Caplinger's name
16 appear anywhere on this document?
17 A. He was also a shareholder in the company. It does not
18 appear anywhere on this document.
19 Q.
20 A.
21 Q •
Who wrote the document?
I did.
Who signed it?
22
23
A. I did.
patients.
But I wasn't a doctor. I wasn't treating
24 Q. How about this? How about this? Look down here at this
25 last paragraph here. What does that say? "Billions of
• 0 w I&.
!
389
1 dollars are in the balance."
Yes. 2 A.
3 Q. Are you saying Dr. Caplinger's now telling you he had
4 billions of dollars?
5 A.
6 Q.
No, the market --
You're making this stuff up as you go along with each
7 letter, aren't you, Mr. Kampetis?
8 A. No.
9 Q. No. Do you recall writing a letter in November of '96,
10 again, after you knew everything about Dr. Caplinger, writing
11 a letter in '96 saying that it was ready for general
12 publication since it.~as been scientifically confirmed u~er
13 the strictest international standards that have been met.
14 What in the world are you talking about?
15 A. I was told that the tests that were done on the patients
16 were under the strictest scientific controls at a military
17 laboratory.
18 Q. "We're in the process of taking it to the United
19
20
Nations."
A. Which I did.
21 Q • Do you recall November of 1996 talking about projects
22
23
with $500 million of Brazilian granite to make money?
A. Yes.
24 Q.
25 A.
How about the Mexican trust in gold mines?
Yes.
•
390
1 Q.
2 A.
How about the anonymous man from Zimbabwe?
He was a health minister.
3 Q. Now, all these investors, all these letters that you're
4 sending out to investors, are you telling any of these
5 investors in this correspondence, Dr. Caplinger got in trouble
6 for practicing medicine without a license in North Carolina?
7 A. Dr. Caplinger refuted all of that information.
8 Q. Well, you got the newspaper article.
9 A. It was a - -10 Q. David Weekley knew he had been convicted.
11 A. I didn't know he was convicted. I just said there was an
12 article against him .. ·~r had no idea of the conviction until ... 13 later.
14 Q. Did David Weekley know about the gold trust, Brazilian
15 graninte and the investor from Zimbabwe?
16 A. Well, the granite, Mr. Zelle was in the granite busin~ss
17 so I was trying to enroll his efforts and knowledge in the
18 granite industry because he had a granite mine, so, yes, David
19 knew some of these projects.
20 Q. Okay. Did he pass those on to the Diamond Group
21 investors?
22 A. I don't know.
23 Q. How many clients have you stolen from in the past?
24 A. Beg your pardon?
25 Q. How many clients have you stolen from in the past, stolen
m ;
; i c:, z w n.
• 0 w IL
2 !§ IL
391
1 their money?
2 A. There is no stealing. I didn't steal any money.
3 MR. FALLS: Your Honor, I'd like to play Defendant's
4 Exhibit 19, a tape turned over by the government during
5 discovery.
6 THE COURT: You may.
7 (Defendant's Exhibit Number 19 was pl~yed to the
8 jury.)
9 Q. Why don't you explain what you mean in that tape about
10 being a mercenary, ste_aling money, people wanting to knock you
11 off.
12 A. Yes. I was a bank officer when I was describing those. ~
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~ ~
I was a liquidator for a bank. I was a mercenary for the bank
to collect their funds. I -- that was totally as an officer
of a major bank. Those audits that I referred to were audits
of bank clients. Specifically bank clients. I was engaged to
go collect the bank's money any way possible.
Q. What about the stealing from -- stealing, what's that
about?
A. We would steal their inventory. We would steal their
receivables. We would --
Q. What bank?
A. Bank of America.
Q. Bank of America is out there stealing money from people?
A. When they're -- when they find the borrowers in default,
1 yes.
They go steal their money?
Yes.
392
2 Q.
3 A.
4 Q. Okay. Now, the money that was used to take out a loan on
5 the ImmuStim product, or that had been bought, y'all actually
6 had to refinance that loan through a company called FINCOM,
7 right?
8 A. I have no idea. That was not my -- I was not in control
9 of FINCOM. I didn't know FINCOM. I was told what was
10 happening with FINCOM.
11 Q.
12 A.
13 Q.
Okay. You didn't know anything about FINCOM at all?
After the fact.-~ .. I mean, didn't you have a conference call with those guys
14 when you were on the phone with them and you were talking to
15 them?
16 A. I was asked to be put on the conference call with them.
17 At that time Greg had indicated that he was going to use his
18 house, his plane and all the assets to get the loan from
19 FINCOM.
20
21
Q. So Dr. Caplinger put up everything he had; is that
right?
22 A.
23 Q.
24 A.
25 Q.
As did I, yes.
And he lost everything.he had.
I can't confirm that.
Do you recall sending a letter on February 16th of 1997
•
1 to Fundacion Manos de Esperanza? Those were the FINCOM
2 people, right?
I have no idea.
You don't know what I'm talking about?
393
3 A.
4 Q.
5 A. No, I don't know who they were. I was just told that Los
6 Manos was a nonprofit humanitarian group in the Dominican
7 Republic.
8 Q. Well, do you remember having a conference call with them
9 stating that this call was held from Dr. Caplinger's office
10 and the members of your organization attending were this fella
11 and.Maria Laura, the treasurer?
12 A.
13 Q.
I couldn't identify who those people were. -~ .
Now, as late as February of 1997, were you still keeping
14 Dr. Caplinger in the dark about what was going on?
15 A. No.
16 MR. FALLS: Your Honor, permission to approach with
17 Defendant's Exhibit 20?
18
19
20
21
THE COURT: You may.
Q. Sir, I'd ask you to take a look at what's been marked as
Defendant's Exhibit 20 and ask you to identify that document,
who it's addressed to.
22 A. It's addressed to me. International Profit Associates, a
23 management consulting firm in Illinois that came to my home in
24 Pittsburgh and had indicated that they would do the project,
25 would try to find money for the project without any -- without
•
394
1 any money. And then later they asked -- they wanted to hold a
2 check in their possession for future ability to collect on
3 their services, and then told me that they were going to
4 submit the check to the district attorney's office for
5 collection as being a bad check being written.
6 Q.
7 A.
8 Q.
Bad check, right?
Yes. I told them ahead of time that there was no funds.
They also told you that not only will Dr. Caplinger know
9 what you're doing to his name and his work, but the D.A.'s
10 going to know and come to your residence. See where it says
11 that?
12 A. Yes. I went th~ after this document and went to th~
13 D.A. 's office myself.
14 Q. Okay. And do you see at the very first line of the
15 document that it's apparent that your conduct should be
16 reported not only to Dr. Caplinger in the Dominican Republic,
17 but also to the prosecutor and district attorney of Allegheny
18 County?
19
20
21
22
23
A. Yes. This is the attorney for this operation that I
thought at first was going to do it for free.
Q. So these people were threatening to have you prosecuted,
right?
A. Yes.
24 Q. They were also threatening to tell Dr. Caplinger about
25 what you were doing, right?
•
395
1 A. But this had been no other different process than I had
2 been doing all along.
3 Q." Let's talk about some other deals that you engaged in.
4 What's the black money deal?
5 A. The black -- a group of gentleman indicated that there
6 was funds that were received by a group of Chinese generals
7 for the sale of weapons and they wanted to -- it was coated
8 with some kind of black chemical and they wanted to spend
9 them.
Okay. 10 Q.
11 A. I never got any information. That was just a, you know,
12 a verbal from another~broker.
13 Q. Okay. How about this? You were going to take -- for $5
14 million, you were going to send in a mercenary troop of ex-
15 marines who had done a job about a week ago, right? Do you
16 recall this?
That's what I was told. 17 A.
18 Q. Okay. And the marines had been doing this for over
19
20
21
22
23
twenty-six years; is that right?
A. That's what I was told.
Q. And you said, "We can handle this job.
last night and they're willing to proceed."
A. As they did.
Who's we?
We talked to them
24 Q.
25 A. There was a gentleman in Florida who was trying to help
,
• C w u. :I
~
396
1 me raise funds for the ImmuStim project.
2 Q. So you put -- this letter that you're sending about this
3 is on Immurio Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated letterhead.
4 A.
5 Q.
6 A.
Yes.
Dr. Caplinger know about this black money deal?
No. It's called black money, but it was only chemically
7 treated.
8 Q. And the formula for treating it is better protected than
9 Coca-Cola's; is that right?
10 A. That's what was described to me.
11 Q. And for $80,000 for a half gallon of the formula, yo~ can
12 create $100 million in U.S. currency; is that right? -~ .. ~
13 A. That's what I was told.
14 Q. Okay. And you also told the investor, for doing this,
15 you'd also want a 5 percent commission for the ImmuStim
16 project, please.
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. How would this money be made? I mean, what's going on?
19
20
21
A. They were unable to move the money as it was represented
so they wanted somebody to chemically treat it and to
distribute it. They owned it.
22 Q.
23 A.
You represented to them that you'd done it before.
I represented that they had done it before, what was
24 represented to me.
25 Q. Why are you saying we have done this before?
,
397
1 A. At the time I was selling the project and hopefully not
2 allowing them to go to those people directly.
3 Q.
4 A.
5 Q.
You're a scam artist, aren't you?
No.
Now, you testified earlier that it was always Dr.
6 Caplinger. Every day he was asking you for money, trying to
7 get money out of you; is that right?
8 A. It was also me asking for money to keep operations going
9 because I had no job.
10 Q.
11 A.
David Weekley went to the FBI in May of 1997, right?
Yes.
12 Q. You recall as late as May of 1998, after he sent you the -~
. ·, ~
13 information about his college, where he got his degree, after
14 you know about the North Carolina episode, after David Weekley
15 has gone to the FBI, you are still writing letters to Dr.
16 Caplinger trying to get him going on the ImmuStim project.
17 A. I had introduced -- yes, yes, I did continue.
18 Q. Nothing would deter you in your quest for making money,
19
20
21.
22
23
would it?
A. Nothing was confirmed to me to such a degree that it
affected the project if there were people to buy the
medicine.
Q. I have just a couple more questions for you. What do you
24 think is going to happen to you after this is over with?
25 A. My life has changed dramatically.
1 !
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18 ! ~ 19 ~
' 20 ~ <' z 21 w a.
• Iii 22 II.
:I 0:
I? 23
24
25
398
Q. You going to go to jail?
A. I hope not.
Q. In fact, you're banking on getting probation, aren't
you?
A. I hope so.
Q. In fact, this prosecutor has agreed that once you assist
the government, he's going to stand up and recommend that you
get probation.
A. No, I understand there's no guarantees.
Q. I didn't ask you about a guarantee. I asked that's what
he's going to do.
A. No, I go to a s~tencing hearing in six months. .. Q. Do you remember pleading guilty?
A. Yes, I do.
Q. Do you remember being there at that hearing with your
lawyer?
A. Yes, I do.
Q. And were you listening to what was going on?
A. Yes.
defendant?
MR. FALLS: Your Honor, may I approach the
THE COURT: Yes, sir.
MR. FALLS: The witness, I'm sorry.
THE·COURT: Yes, sir.
MR. FALLS: The witness. Exhibit Number 21.
•
399
1 Q. Now, sir, I'm approaching you with a transcript of your
2 plea hearing wherein you pled guilty. I want you to read
3 starting with this -- just this paragraph here.
4 A.
5 Q.
Okay.
I want you to read that paragraph and you tell me if that
6 refreshes your recollection about what the prosecutor is going
7 to do when you assist the government.
8 A. "The United States informs the court that if the
9 defendant's assistance rises to the level of substantial
10 assistance, that the United States will recommend a sentence
11 within zone A, a nonincarceration sentence, for this
12 defendant. Again, however, such recommendation is only a -~ . ' ~
13 recommendation and the defendant acknowledges that the final
14 decision remains within the discretion of the court."
15 Q. Okay. The prosecutor is going to stand up and recommend
16 nonincarceration. Do you know what nonincarceration means?
17 A.
18 Q.
19 A.
20 Q.
21 A .
22 Q.
23 A.
Doesn't change the yes.
Means you don't go to jail.
No jail, but I --
Now, who went to the FBI first, you or David Weekley?
David David probably did, yes.
David went to the FBI way before you did.
No -- well, I was subpoenaed for records a year or so
24 before David went to the FBI.
25 Q. But he started cooperating with the FBI way before you
400
1 did, right?
2 A. I wasn't asked to.
3 Q. And you've been offered probation. Do you have any idea
4 what David is going to be getting out of this?
5 A.
6 Q.
7 A.
8 Q.
No idea.
You guys hadn't talked about it at all?
We don't communicate.
Your pleading guilty wasn't conditioned on you getting
9 the same deal that Mr. Weekley gets?
10 A.
11 deal.
12 Q.
13 A.
I don't know what Mr. Weekley's deal is or if it's a
Last question. How are you currently employed? ~
. \
As a mortgage broker in the state of Pennsylvania
14 building homes and doing development transactions and --
15 Q.
16 A.
17
18 A.
19
20
21
You're still handling people's money.
No, I'm a broker.
MR. FALLS: No further questions.
I just pass that on to banks.
THE COURT: Redirect examination.
MR. WHISLER: Yes, sir. Thank you.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION
22 BY MR. WHISLER:
23 Q. The paragraph that Mr. Falls just went over with you had
24 the word recommend and it was contingent upon your assistance
25 being substantial, correct?
•
401
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Apart from that, have you received any oral promises or
3 guarantees from the government about your sentence?
4 A.
5 Q.
No.
And who has the ultimate sentencing decision that
6 pertains to you?
7 A. The court. The judge. But my sentence is, you know, a
8 lifetime of, you know, not being able to· be a banker.
9 Q.
10
11
12 Q.
Show you
MR. WHISLER: Approach this witness, Your Honor?
THE COURT: .Yes, sir.
Government's 58 ,.~Mr. Falls talked to you about. Do you ~ ~
13 remember that?
14 A.
15 Q.
16 A.
Yes.
What is it?
That was the peer review publication Salud Integral which
17 identified the treatment of HIV/AIDS, and it is in Spanish.
18 Q.
19 A.
20 Q.
21 A .
22 Q.
Did you ever see a translation of that?
Yes.
And is the defendant the author of that article?
Yes. And Dr. Claudio Pena.
And you didn't have anything to do with writing that
23 article, did you?
24 A.
25 Q.
I'm not a scientist.
Defendant give you that?
402
Yes. 1 A.
2 Q. What's the volume number on this peer review journal that
3 he gave you?
4 A.
5 Q.
Volume 1, Number 1, Mayo-Augusto 1995.
Volume 1, Number 1. All right, sir.
6 Show you Government's 8 that's already in that you talked
7 about with Mr. Falls.
8 A.
9 Q.
Mr. Who?
Defense attorney that spent some time with you this
10 morning.
11 A.
12 Q.
13 A.
14 Q.
15 A.
Oh, yes.
Do you remember -that?
News release September 19th, 1995, yes.
Whose address is that right there?
Centros de Otorrinolarengologia y Especialidades. That
16 is the clinic address in the Dominican Republic as well as
17 identifying the Pittsburgh address of Immuno Pharmaceuticals.
18 Q. So to be clear, who provided you with the information
19 about the defendant's award of the foreign angel?
20 A.
21 Q.
22 A.
23 Q.
24 A.
The defendant. Greg provided it.
Did you talk to him about it?
Yes. I was happy for him.
What did he tell you about it?
Said it was a great honor. That
25 for foreigners.
I --
monuments weren't built
•
403
1 Q.
2 A.
He authorize you to disclose that information to others?
Yes. It was getting into -- he didn't have to. It was
3 presumably on the UP American press. It was published in the
4 Latin American press.
5 Q.
6 A.
7 Q.
8 A.
9 Q.
10 you
11 A.
12 Q.
Did you see it in the press?
Just - - it was referenced that it was in the press.
Did he tell you that?
Yes.
Let me show you Government's 48 that's already in.
remember this document?
Yes, sir. I made hundreds of them.
Okay. And this. -~s l;i prospectus you sent to Duke
13 Management Foundation.
Yes.
What·does this first sentence say here?
Do
14 A.
15 Q.
16 A. "Item 8, Reliance on the Representatives of the Company.
17 The company's success with respect to this loan depends on, to
18 a great extent, the skills and experience of Dr. Caplinger and
19
20
21
the U.S. domestic professional corporation."
Q. Okay .. Was that a true statement?·
A. Yes.
22 Q. Would you have dealt with Gregory Caplinger if he wasn't
23 who he said he was?
24
25
MR. "FALLS: Objection to leading.
THE COURT: Overruled. Go ahead.
0 w ... :Ii
~
404
1 A. No.
2 Q. You said a minute ago to Mr. Falls that the defendant
3 refuted the information about his North Carolina conviction.
4 What specifically did he say to refute that?
5 A. He said that his practice was a huge success and that the
6 medical community in North Carolina were jealous. He was
7 taking away business from them and they were out to stop him
8 any way they could and it was false statements.
9 Q.
10 A.
11 Q.
12 A.
13 Q.
14 A.
15 Q.
16 A.
17 Q.
Okay. Did you believe that?
Yes.
Did you convey
At the time --
I'm sorry, go ahead.
At the time I did believe it, yes.
Did you convey that information to other people?
Several occasions. That the article had no merit.
Let me show you Government's 53. It's already in
..
18 evidence.
19
20
21 Q.
MR. FALLS: Objection, outside the scope of cross.
THE COURT: Overruled.
Do you remember that article -- or that letter?
22
23
A. Letter written by me August 5th, 1996, to Mr. Vincent
Khau, SCMV, Ltd.
24 Q. Did you convey that information to him regarding the
25 defendant's explanation?
•
405
1 A. Yes. "I'm asking you to consider the medical profession
2 in the United States, especially doctors. Eight years ago an
3 article, one article, was written on our friend. This was
4 many years ago. Greg grew very sick of the persecution of
5 naturopathic practices in the United States. We must
6 immediately talk together."
7 This was after Mr. Khau had indicated he was not going
8 forward with his commitment.
9 Q. Now, Government's Exhibit 9, Mr. Falls spent some time
10 with you. Do you remember that?
11 A. Yes.
Okay. What is i$ just for the record? ~
12 Q.
13 A. This was the curriculum vitae or resume and experience of
14 Dr. Caplinger.
15 Q. ·okay. And who provided you with all the information in
16 that CV?
Dr. Caplinger. 17 A.
18 Q. Okay. And the -- did he tell you he went to Metropolitan
19
20
21
22
23
Collegiate?
A. I didn't know about the Metropolitan Collegiate, just
that there was Harvard Medical School as well as other
institutions. I wasn't a doctor so it had no I had no, you
know, I didn't think one way or another. I was more
24 interested in selling the medicine and getting·it
25 distributed.
• 0 w IL
:I
~
1 Q.
2 A.
3 Q.
4 A.
Okay. But you read through the CV, right?
Yes.
Does it reflect a medical degree?
Yes.
What's that institution?
406
5 Q.
6 A. MCBC Institute, Great Britain, British West Indies Health
7 Medical College, Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, all
8 receiving an M.D.
9 Q. Okay. And this letter that Mr. Falls went over with you
10 a minute ago referenced the Education Reform Act of 1988. Do
11 you remember him talking to you about that?
12 A. Yes. ·~
13 Q. Okay. Do you kndw what the Education Reform Act of !988
14 is or was? Do you have any idea?
15 A.
16 Q.
17 A.
18 Q.
No idea whatsoever.
Okay.
Again, I have no science background.
Do you have any idea why reference to that 1988 act
19
20
21
appears in a 1984 letter?
A. No. How could it have been?
Q. And do you see any other references to any other acts
22 talking about any other degrees of the defendant in this
23 document?
24 A. Again
25 Q. Do you recall any?
•
407
1 A. No, I didn't scrutinize this document that closely. But
2 I do recognize the fact that a Sussex license is on the wall
3 in the office in the Dominican Republic.
4 Q.
5 A.
6
He went to Sussex and got a degree there as well.
There was a medical license on the wall.
MR. WHISLER: That's all the questions I have.
7 Thank you, Your Honor.
8 THE COURT: All right, sir. You may come down. You
9 may be excused.
10 (Witness was excused.)
11 THE COURT: -Let 's take our 1 unch hour at this time,
12 ladies and gentlemen.-~ Come back at 1: 15. We' 11 be in . ... ...
13 recess.
14 (Lunch recess at 12 o'clock p.m.)
15 WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 19, 2000
-16 (Jury not present.)
17 THE COURT: Anything out of the presence of the
18 jury?
19 MR. BENDER: Yes, Your Honor. I believe the
20 Government's next witness is a witness that we talked about on
21 Monday that was -- we needed a short voir dire on .
22
23
24 Honor.
25
THE COURT: All right. Bring him around.
MR. WHISLER: That would be LaGena Greene, Your
THE COURT: All right.
408
1 LaGENA LOOKABILL GREENE,
2 being first duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows:
3 THE COURT: All right, sir. You may conduct your
4 voir dire. Ask her anything you want to.
5 MR. BENDER: Thank you.
6 VOIR DIRE EXAMINATION
7 BY MR. BENDER:
8 Q. Ms. Greene, my name is Harold Bender.
9 You traveled to Santo Domingo for treatment by Dr.
10 Caplinger, did you not?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. And how many ti~s? . '1,
13 A. Twice.
14 Q. And that was at the insistence or suggestion of David
15 Weekley?
16 A. I'm confused about the word insistence.
Okay. 17 Q.
18 A. Or suggestion.
19
20
21
22
23
Q. All right. Did you go down there because David Weekley
asked you to or
THE COURT: Just tell us how it came about in your
own language.
A. I went down there as a result of a conversation that I
24 had via conference call with David Weekley and-Mr. Caplinger.
25 Q. Dr. Caplinger.
-,
409
1 A. Dr. Caplinger.
2 Q. And when you went down there, what representations, if
3 any, were made to you by Dr. Caplinger as to his background?
4 A. I was told that he had a Ph.D from a university in Great
5 Britain, his undergraduate work was done in a university in
6 Indiana, and he had continuing graduation continuing
7 education work at Harvard. And there were a number of
8 certificates hanging on his wall when I got there.
9 Q.
10 A.
And were there any other representations made to you?
Yes. There were representations made in a brochure that
11 I received regarding this treatment. There were several pages
12 of resumes on the par.� of Dr. Caplinger.
13 Q. And was David Weekley and Harry Kampetis there at the
14 same time you were there the first time?
Yes. 15 A.
16 Q. And describe your opinion of Harry Kampetis and the way
17 he acted.
18 THE COURT: How is that relevant? How is that
19 relevant, Mr. Bender?
20 MR. BENDER: I think it goes to Harry Kampetis and
21 his desire --
22 THE COURT: What's the purpose of this voir dire?
23 MR. BENDER: To find out if all they're going to ask
24 is similar to the questions I have asked and not go into
25 treatment protocol or anything like that or any other--
•
410
1 MR. WHISLER: Stipulate that, Judge. I said that in
2 the beginning. We're not going into treatment. I mean -- if
3 I would have known that, I could have saved some
4
5
6
7
MR. BENDER: If that's it, Judge, I got no problem.
THE COURT: All right.
MR. BENDER: Okay.
THE COURT: All right. Bring the jury in, please.
8 We'll have to swear you again in the presence of the
9 jury.
10
11
THE WITNESS: Okay. Should I leave?
THE COURT: No, you don't have to leave. Just come
12 around here so the jury can see you sworn. That's all. ·~ ~ ~
13 (Jury entered the courtroom.)
14 THE COURT: All right. Swear the witness in the
15 presence of the jury.
16 LaGENA LOOKABILL GREENE,
17 being first duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows:
18 DIRECT EXAMINATION
19
20
21
BY MR. WHISLER:
Q. Good afternoon, ma'am.
A. Hi.
22 Q.
23 A.
24 Q.
25 A.
Please state your name for the record.
My name is LaGena Lookabill Greene.
And where do you live?
In Indian Trail, North Carolina.
I 0,
'9
~
~ i 0 z w Q.
• 0 w .... :::E a: ~
411
1 Q. All right. And.have you had occasion to meet an
2 individual named David Weekley?
Yes.
And what occasioned that?
3 A.
4 Q.
5 A. On May 7th, 1995, I was giving my testimony at the church
6 that I belong to, Forest Hill Church, and I was approached by
7 David Weekley, who I didn't know who he was at the time. He
8. was in a group that was surrounding me after I was giving my
9 testimony at church about living with AIDS and how the Lord
10 had helpe~ sustain me. And he reached through the crowd and
11 in a very dramatic tone handed me what appeared to be a script
12 and said, "Don't take,....this unless you intend to read it." And . " ..
13 I took it not wanting to hurt his feelings and not knowing who
14 he was and took that home and put it away and didn't do
15 anything with it.
16 Q. Did there come a time when you read the script, as you
17 called it?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. And what was it? What did it contain?
20 A. Well, I actually thought that it was going to be a movie
21 of the week script because that's what it looked like, but it
22 turns out it was a medical treatment.
23 Q. Okay. For your illness?
24 A. For AIDS and --
25 Q. Okay.
'~ J( 1
1 A.
2 Q.
412
-- cancer, but ...
All right. Did you ever meet an individual named Harry
3 Kampetis?
4 A. Yes, I did.
5 Q. And where did you meet him?
6 A. I met him in the Dominican Republic.
7 Q. Do you remember when?
8 A. Yes. I met Harry Kampetis and David -- well, I met Harry
9 Kampetis for the first time on my first trip to the Dominican
10 Republic for treatment.
11 Q.
12 A.
13 Q.
14 A.
15 Q.
16 A.
17 Q.
18 A.
Do you know when that was?
Yes. That was August of 1995. -~ \ ~
And did you meet an individual named Gregory Caplinger
Yes, I did.
-- in that first trip?
Yes.
Do you see him in the courtroom here today?
Yes.
19
20
21
Q. Okay. For the record, if you would point him out and
just tell us what he's wearing.
A. He has dark hair and a mustache and is wearing a dark
22 gray suit and a dark tie and a white shirt.
23 MR. WHISLER: Your Honor please, I'd ask the record
24 reflect the witness has identified the defendant.
25 THE COURT: The record will so reflect.
,
Now, for what purpose did you go to Santo Domingo?
Pardon me?
For what purpose did you travel to Santo Domingo?
413
1 Q.
2 A.
3 Q.
4 A. I traveled with the purpose of receiving an alternative
5 treatment for AIDS that was supposed to either eliminate the
6 disease or help my health considerably.
7 Q.
8 A.
9 Q.
10 A.
Okay. Did you pay for your way?
No, I did not.
Okay.· Who paid for your way?
I'm not really sure except that David Weekley took care
11 of the arrangements.
12 Q. Okay. And apart~from the script that you've describtd,
13 did you receive other literature pertaining --
14 A.
15 Q.
16 A.
Yes.
-- to Gregory Caplinger?
I received some other brochures and a videotape on
17 ImmuStim and photographs showing the clinic where he worked,
18 or hospital, whatever the medical facility was.
19
20
21
22
23
Q. Okay. And were there descriptions of the defendant,
Gregory Caplinger, in those brochures?·
A. There were photographs and there were resume type
material.
Q. Okay. Do you recall anything about his resume in
24 connection with that?
25 A. I was very impressed that his background was supposedly
414
1 in oncology, study of cancer, and immunology which would be
2 the study of the immune system, which AIDS is a disease of the
3 immune system.
4 Q. Okay. Did you ever talk to him in person -- or did you
5 ever talk to him about his credentials at any time in person
6 or otherwise?
7 A. Yes, the very first time we spoke via conference call
8 with David Weekley making that call, we spent at least an hour
9 on the telephone with him answering every question that I had
10 regarding he had credentials as well as any questions that I
11 had regarding this very thick brochure that I read about the
12 proposed treatment. ·-....'
13 Q •. Okay. What did he tell you about his credentials?
....
14
15
16
A. That he had done his undergraduate work in the United
States at a university in Indiana and that he had received
his Ph.D from a university in Great Britain and that he had
done 17 continuing education work at Harvard, among other things.
18 Q. Did he tell you where he got his medical degree?
19
20
21
A. He did, but I don't recall.
Q. Okay. Do you remember if that information was in any of
the documents you received?
22 A.
23
Yes, it's in the brochure.
MR. WHISLER: May I approach this witness, Your
24 Honor?
25 THE COURT: Yes, sir.
415
1 Q. Ms. Greene, I'm going to show you first of all what's
2 marked as Government's 12A through D. Ask you to take a look
3 at those. They're already in evidence. Tell me if you
4 recognize those documents.
5 A. Yes, I recognize the biographical sketch.
6 Q.. Okay.
7 A.
8 Q.
9 A.
10 Q.
I recognize this. And I do recognize ImmuStim.
All right.
I recognize all of these.
Okay. Let me turn your attention to 12A. You said
11 biographical sketch. Did you read over that when you got_ it
12 at some point in timei ~ .
13 A. Yes, I did.
14 Q. And does it describe the defendant's training as a
15 physician?
16 A.
17 Q.
18 A.
19 Q.
20 A.
21 Q.
22 A.
Yes, it does.
Okay. Do you recall that?
Yes.
Reading that information?
Yes.
Okay. What's it say?
He i's a British and U.S. trained physician with his
23 medical residency in internal medicine and further
24 subspecialties of clinical oncology/immunology.·
25 Q. Okay. Did you talk to him about that or did he --
1 A.
2 Q.
3 A.
4 Q.
Yes.
-- in that phone call?
Yes.
All right. And take a look at Government's -- well,
416
5 let's look at 58 first. Tell me what that is. Do you
6 recognize that?
7 A.
8. Q.
9 A.
10 Q.
11 A.
12 Q.
13 A.
Yes, I do.
What is it?
This is well, I recognize the cover.
Okay~ Let me see if I can save you some time.
Okay.
Do you recognize~that? . ' ..
This, I believe, is an article that he wrote and this is
14 also included in other materials that I've seen.
15 Q. All right. And did this impress you to receive
16 treatment?
17 A. Well, yes, because any time a researcher or doctor has
18 published articles, it seems impressive.
19 Q.
20 A.
21 1.
22 Q.
Did you notice the volume number associated with that?
No, not until you just pointed it out. Volume 1, Number
Okay. Now, how about Government's 46, are you familiar
23 with it?
24 A.
25 Q.
This is -- this is what I was handed by David Weekley.
What you called the script?
1 A.
2 Q.
3 A.
What I called the script.
Okay. And it contained what type of information?
Well, it contained detailed information about the
417
4 treatment, things such as interleukin 2 and interferon 2 being
5 included in the treatment. It described that it would be
6 through intravenous infusion, and then it gave his resume and
7 copies of certificates of~-
8 Q.
9 to
10 A.
11 Q.
Did you read over that information before you traveled
Yes.
- - receive your t.reatment?
12 Now, what, if a~~' agreement was there between you a~d
13 David Weekley and Harry Kampetis and Greg Caplinger in
14 connection with your receiving this treatment?
15 A. Well, I was approached with David -- by David Weekley
16 initially with him telling me how much the treatment cost in
17 hopes that I apparently would pay for this treatment. And
18 when I was told that it would -- the first two weeks would be
19 $15,000 and the second week would be· 10,000 and 10,000 more
20 per each week, I told him there was absolutely no way I could
21 ever afford that type of treatment.
22 Q.
23 A.
24 Q.
25 A.
Okay.
And
I'm sorry, go ahead.
Okay. And at some time later, apparently he talked with
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418
1 Dr. Caplinger and got back to me and asked would I be willing
2 to -- in trade for the free medical treatment, would I be in
3 turn a spokesperson for this treatment. And I said
4 specifically that I would not be a spokesperson for any
5 treatment until I had received it for at least six months and
6 I knew that it in fact proved to lower my viral load and raise
7 my T cell count which are the only two legitimate tests done.
8 Q. Let me ask you this. Did you ultimately ever become a
9 spokesperson?
10 A. No.
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Q. Okay. Was there --- did you ever receive any pressur~
from any of those three? '
A. I received enormous pressure from both David Weekley and
Harry Kampetis. In fact, probably about the fourth or fifth
day that ·I was down there for my very first treatment, David
Weekley and Harry Kampetis flew in and immediately began
telling me about how they were so excited. That they wanted
me to travel to conferences around the world and tell people
about this treatment. And I told them -- I repeated what I
told them from the beginning, that there is no way I will say
anything positive about this treatment until I know for a fact
that it has proven to help me and so they may as well just
drop it, but they continued.
Q. How about the defendant, did you ever receive any
pressure from him in any form?
•
419
1 A. The pressure that I felt possibly came later when I had
2 already had two treatments in the Dominican Republic. I was
3 told that
4
5 Q.
6
7
8
9 Q.
10 A.
11 Q.
12 A.
13
14
15 Q.
MR. BENDER: Objection, Your Honor.
Who told you?
MR. BENDER: Nonresponsive.
THE COURT: Who told you?
THE WITNESS: Who told me?
You said "I was told." Who's telling you -
Okay. I was told by David Weekley --
Okay.
that
MR. BENDER: Objection, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Sustained.
Okay. Only talk about what the defendant told you or
16 what he did or what you observed about the defendant.
17 Did the defendant make any statements to you about your
18 treatment, what you should or shouldn't do?
19
20
21
A. I was told that my first treatment -- after my first
treatment ended, I should be back in a month for the second
treatment, and I accepted that. I went down for my second
22 treatment and I was told that I wouldn't need to come back for
23 at least two months. But then David Weekley called and told
24 me
25 MR. BENDER: Objection.
•
1 Q.
2 A.
3 Q.
Don't worry about what David Weekley said.
All right.
420
Now, in your time down in Santo Domingo, were you in the
4 presence of the defendant as well as David Weekley and Harry
5 Kampetis?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. And were these discussions that you've described
8 occurring in all three of their presence?
9 A. No.
10 Q.
11 A.
Okay. Were different people present at different times?
Yes. It was most1y Harry and -- Harry Kampetis and David
12 Weekley. ~ ...
13 Q. All right. But you ultimately, of course, met with the
14 defendant; is that right?
15 A.
16 Q.
17 A.
18 Q.
Oh, yes.
And how many times did you go down for treatment?
Twice.
Okay. And how much time did you spend with the defendant
19
20
21
22
23
when you were down there?
A. Well, I was down there for two weeks the first trip and
one week the second trip, so I saw him every day.
Q. Saw him every day. Now, these credentials that you
talked about, did you see anything in the office on the walls
24 depicting defendant's degrees?
25 A. Yes, there were at least two walls full of degrees and
•
1 certificates.
2 Q.
3 A.
4
What impression did that make on you?
Well, it made me think he was legitimate.
MR. WHISLER: Thank you, ma'am. That's all the
5 questions I have.
6 THE COURT: Cross-examine.
7 CROSS-EXAMINATION
8 BY MR. BENDER:
421
9 Q. Did you believe· that Dr. Caplinger was very serious about
10 his treatm~nt protocol?
11 A.
12 Q.
Yes, I did.
Okay. And did h~ treat you kindly and was he very ' ~
13 patient with you?
14 A. Yes, he was.
15 MR. BENDER: Thank you. That's all.
16 THE COURT: Any redirect?
17 MR. WHISLER: No redirect. Thank you.
18 THE COURT: Thank you, ma'am. You may come down.
19 You may be excused, Ms. Greene.
20 (Witness was excused.)
21 THE COURT: Call your next witness .
22
23
24
25
MR. WHISLER: United States calls John Bear.
MR. FALLS: Your Honor, may we be heard?
THE COURT: Yes. Come up here.
(Side-bar conference as follows:)
m "' '9
a
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• 0 u.l IL :::E
~
1
2
THE COURT: Okay. Who is this?
MR. WHISLER: This is an expert witness, Your
422
3 Honor. We filed a notice on this expert, expert in
nontraditional degrees. 4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
MR. FALLS: We filed a motion.
THE COURT: Okay. I'll have to give him a 104
hearing on this.
MR. WHISLER: Okay.
(End of side-bar conference.)
THE COURT: Ladies and gentlemen, step back to your
jury room, please.
(Jury exite~ the courtroom.)
THE COURT: Come around, please, Mr. Bear.
JOHN BEAR,
being first duly sworn, was examined and testified as follows:
THE COURT: All right. You may have voir dire, Mr.
Bender.
MR. FALLS: Thank you, Your Honor. I'll be handling
the voir dire.
VOIR DIRE EXAMINATION
BY MR. FALLS:
Q. Good afternoon, Dr. Bear.
A. Yes.
Q. Dr. Bear, what is your education in? Your degrees,
formal education.
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423
1 A. Bachelor of arts in psychology, University of California,
2 Berkeley; a master of journalism, University of California,
3 Berkeley; and a Ph.Din communication, Michigan State
4 University.
5 Q. Do you have any formal education in the areas of
6 education itself?
7 A. I do. As part of my master's work, I took a number of
8 actual teacher training courses since I had thought that might
9 be a field I would go into. And my doctoral work in
10 communication is defined at Michigan State as a very broad
11 area encompassing edu~~tion, psychology and other social
12 sciences. ·~
. ' .. 13 Q. And let me just ask you, you've been qualified as an
14 expert in other places, right?
15 A.
16 Q.
17 A.
18 Q.
Yes.
Other trials.
Yes.
And your opinion, do you consider your opinion to be an
19
20
21
22
23
objective opinion based on your research and expertise?
A. Yes, I do.
Q. Okay. Now, have you - - is this your book, Bears' Guide
to Earning Degrees Nontraditionally?
A. You've got an old edition, but that is a book my daughter
24 and I wrote, yes.
25 Q. Well, in the thing it says about the author --
OI C0
~ 13
~ 51 i ~
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424
1 MR. FALLS: Your Honor, should I -- I'll just
2 approach the witness.
3 THE COURT: You may.
4 Q. On page 5 when it talks about the author, the author is
5 you and your daughter; is that correct, sir?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. I'll just show this to you. If you need to get your
8 glasses, that's fine.
9 Now, where it t'alks about biases, it says, 11As you read
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
this book, you will note that it is biased. The authors have
strong opinions about which schools and programs are good:and
which are not and do mot hesitate to say so. Bear has been ~ .
sued three times for millions of dollars by people who operate
what he calls illegal diploma mills. None has ever won a
cent. While the research and experience are largely John's,
the opinions are shared by both authors. 11
Now, how do you say exactly that you have an objective
opinion when in the works that you published you say I'm
biased?
A. The objectivity is in the way I do the research and I
always start with an open mind. If I am checking out a
school, I go in objectively, open-mindedly. Then when I form
an opinion on it, this is a good school, this is a bad school,
then I am clear in stating my views always with the facts that
back up the views. So I am biased in the sense that I, unlike
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425
1 almost every other reference book out there, I offer strong
2 opinions about how I feel about schools.
3 Q. Certainly. Now, when you say, "The research and
4 experiences are largely John's," your views are not derived
5 from what your peers have investigated about these. According
6 to your book, your opinions come from your experiences alone.
7 A. It says the opinions are mine; but as with any research,
8 it is based on my own investigations and those of others. If • 9 I read an FBI report' on the raid of a school in Oklahoma, you
10 know, I don't need to go and see where that school once
11 operated. I accept that kind of opinion from respectable
12 investigators.
13 Q. ·-...
Do you know if there are a lot of experts in the are~ of
14 nontraditional education?
15 A. Expert, of course, is a word that you can get a lot of
16 argument on how to define.
17 Q.
18 A.
Sure.
I know that when other people who have invited me to be
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
an expert witness have done so, it has been a relatively short
list of people that they considered. But whether that means
tens or hundreds, I truly can't say.
Q. So would you say, though, that there's not a whole lot of
people to test your opinions against?
A. Oh, goodness, no. There are a great many because in
you say nontraditional higher education--·
~ ~ ; s ~ ~ ~ z w ~
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2
~
1 Q.
2 A.
3 Q.
4 A.
How about experts.
Yes.
Qualified experts who have testified in court.
426
Well, I can't -- I don't know the testimony history of
5 people. I know that when I search the Amazon database for
6 nontraditional higher education and distance learning, I find
7 more than two hundred books out there.
8 Q.
9 A.
Okay.
Writing a book doesn't necessarily make one an expert,
10 but it certainly gives one a higher level of knowledge than
11 the professor on the street.
12 Q. Are you familiar with the Autonomous University of Santo ~
' 13 Domingo? ... 14 A. By reputation I am, yes.
15 Q. Okay, by reputation. What have you heard about that
16 school?
17 A. I don't spend much time looking into schools that meet
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
what I consider the standard accepted accreditation
principles. When a school such as Santo Domingo does by their
listing in the International Handbook of Universities and
several other sources and they don't do, to my knowledge,