4.Richard Busick — Direct/Cross
423 linesDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. KUDLA:
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, where do you currently work?
RICHARD BUSICK: I'm a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, also known as the FBI.
MS. KUDLA: And how long have you been a special agent?
RICHARD BUSICK: For over 21 years.
MS. KUDLA: And are you assigned to a particular unit at the FBI?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I'm a member of the Cellular Analysis Survey Team, also known as CAST.
MS. KUDLA: And how long have you been a member of the CAST unit?
RICHARD BUSICK: I've been a member of the CAST unit for approximately two years.
MS. KUDLA: Broadly speaking, what are your responsibilities and duties within that unit?
RICHARD BUSICK: As a member of the CAST unit, we——we locate cellphones and mobile devices in the context of investigations and also to assist in locating people in realtime. We do this by utilizing the business records provided by the service providers, such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, and by analyzing those records, we can determine which cell sites within the network a phone connected to at particular times, and then we can use that information to determine the approximate location of that phone at those times.
MS. KUDLA: And Agent Busick, have you received training related to the high-level cell site analysis you've just described?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I have.
MS. KUDLA: What types of training have you received?
RICHARD BUSICK: There's a pretty extensive training pipeline to become a member of the CAST unit. Begins, as you might expect, with a basic course called Basic Historical Cell Site Analysis, where we learn the basics of what I just described, using the business records to determine the approximate locations of phones based on the data kept by those service providers when those phones connect to the network.
MS. KUDLA: And after the basic level of courses, have you received any advanced coursework?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, following the basic course, I attended an advanced historical cell site course, where we delved into a bit more detail and got a lot of practical and hands-on experience, actually determining the locations of phones based on cellular records, producing maps and written reports, and just conducting general analysis, as well as developing an increased——an improved understanding of each of the providers' cellular networks and how they operate.
MS. KUDLA: And Agent Busick, as part of that training, does it ever require any completion of exams?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it does, and as it——as that training progressed, there were regular examinations that we were required to successfully complete.
MS. KUDLA: And are you required to conduct any ongoing training requirements, Agent Busick?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I am. So in order to become a member of the CAST unit, you have to complete a four-week certification course, which I did in fact complete. And that course involved more in-depth instruction and meeting with the representatives of each of the major service providers, so we met with custodians of records and cellular network engineers from AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, to discuss in greater detail how their own networks operate, the types of records they maintain, and so forth. We had a lot of practical and hands-on experience in conducting historical cell site analysis. We received 40 hours of instruction in radio frequency theory from the Florida Institute of Technology, where we learned, again, in greater detail about cellular network architecture, how cellphones work, and so forth, and we also received instruction and got hands-on practical experience conducting cellular network surveys or drive tests, where we can use some technology to actually determine the precise coverage areas of particular cell sites of interest.
MS. KUDLA: And approximately how many times have you performed a cell site analysis?
RICHARD BUSICK: Well over a thousand times.
MS. KUDLA: And have you ever testified in court before as an expert in cell site analysis?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I have, approximately 18 times.
MS. KUDLA: And is that in both state and federal courts?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it is.
MS. KUDLA: Your Honor, at this time the government offers Special Agent——
JUDGE KAPLAN: Not necessary. Go ahead.
MS. KUDLA: Special Agent Busick, were you asked to perform a cell site analysis in connection with a particular cellphone?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I was.
MS. KUDLA: And at a general level, what were you asked to do?
RICHARD BUSICK: At a general level, I was given a set of records for a particular phone——in this case it was an AT&T phone——and I was asked to determine initially whether the records indicated that the phone was located or using cellular architecture within Manhattan during a particular time frame; and then later on, I was given more specific time frames and particular locations and asked to determine whether those records were consistent with that phone being located in——at or in the vicinity of those locations at those times.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, can we please now show for the witness what is marked for identification as Government Exhibit 1080.
MS. KUDLA: And Agent Busick, do you recognize this?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, that's the cover page to my report.
MS. KUDLA: And does this report summarize your analysis?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it does.
MS. KUDLA: Now did you prepare Government Exhibit 1080 after examining AT&T cellphone records?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I did.
MS. KUDLA: And at this time, your Honor, the government offers, pursuant to stipulation 2004, a stipulation as to business record authenticities, and pursuant to that stipulation, the government also offers Government Exhibits 1118 and 1122 as authentic copies of records from AT&T?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Government Exhibits 2004, 1118, and 1122 are received.
(Government's Exhibits 2004, 1118, and 1122 received in evidence)
MS. KUDLA: Your Honor, may we publish Government Exhibit 1118?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
BY MS. KUDLA:
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, what is——now that the jury can see this, what is Government Exhibit 1118?
RICHARD BUSICK: This is a page from the cellular records from AT&T for cellphone 650-906-9179, which I used for my analysis in this case.
MS. KUDLA: And did you review more than one file type for your analysis?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes. AT&T provides the files in two formats. It provides a pdf file, which makes for easy viewing and reference; and they also provide the identical records in a text file, which is actually the file that we upload into the software that we use for mapping, but contains the same information as the pdf.
MS. KUDLA: And Agent Busick, which file type are we looking at here?
RICHARD BUSICK: So this here is the pdf file.
MS. KUDLA: And is Government Exhibit 1122 the text file?
RICHARD BUSICK: I believe it is, yes.
MS. KUDLA: Now, Agent Busick, did you prepare Government Exhibit 1080 after examining the AT&T records that we see in Government Exhibit 1118?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I did.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, how many——approximately how many pages of data are captured by Government Exhibit 1118?
MS. KUDLA: And we could take——Mr. Bianco, could we go to the last page of this document.
I think it's 14,941.
RICHARD BUSICK: That is about right.
MS. KUDLA: Okay. And is it fair to say, Agent Busick, that there are thousands of rows of data in this exhibit?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, there are.
MS. KUDLA: Now does Government Exhibit 1080 accurately summarize certain portions of these records?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it does.
MS. KUDLA: Your Honor, the government offers Government Exhibit 1080 pursuant to Rule 10006.
JUDGE KAPLAN: 1006.
MS. KUDLA: 1006.
JUDGE KAPLAN: But it's received. You just got carried away with the pages.
MS. KUDLA: Fair enough.
(Government's Exhibit 1080 received in evidence)
BY MS. KUDLA:
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, we'll turn back to your summary in a minute.
MS. KUDLA: And we can take down Government Exhibit 1118 at this time.
MS. KUDLA: First, I'd like to just discuss the basic concept involved in cell site analysis. At its most basic level, how does a cellphone make or receive a phone call?
RICHARD BUSICK: The important thing to understand about a cellphone is that it's basically a radio. It's——a good way to think about a cellphone and how it works would be to think about a pair of walkie-talkies that you may have played with as a child, or maybe your kids have played with, or if you have one and you give one to a friend, and you're within a short distance from each other, usually line of sight, you press the button and you can talk back and forth between those walkie-talkies. A cellphone is working on the same principle, that rather than talking directly to another cellphone, it's sending a signal out which is being received by a cell site that's been established by a service provider for the purpose of connecting with nearby cellphones.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, I think that was my next question. What is a cell site?
RICHARD BUSICK: So a cell site is nothing more than a particular location where the service provider placed antennas for the purpose of connecting with nearby cellphones. You might think of a cell tower, you may think of, on the standalone towers, that triangular structure on the top with the antenna that we see everywhere on the sides of highways and so forth. That's one example. Although it doesn't have to be on a tower. It may be on the sides of buildings, could be on lampposts or other poles on the street or even inside of buildings. The important thing is it's just a particular location where the service provider has placed those antennas.
MS. KUDLA: And how do cellphones interact with the cell site?
RICHARD BUSICK: So while your phone is off, before it's even connected to the network, it's scanning the signals from nearby cell sites looking for the cell site that provides it with the best signal, so that when you make or receive a call, you have a good quality connection and can make that call. So it's constantly scanning the network, looking for that best signal, as well as identifying itself to the network as to where it's located in the network, so if somebody calls your phone, the service provider can appropriately route it to your call, so that by the time you pick up your phone and punch in a number and press send to make a call, your phone already knows which cell site is providing that best signal, and when you press send, your phone is communicating with that nearby cell site and then it's being routed throughout the network to wherever its ultimate destination is, whether that's on the other side of the street, across the country, or around the world.
MS. KUDLA: Now you've mentioned the term "service provider." Who operates cell sites?
RICHARD BUSICK: So each cell site——each service provider operates their own network of cell sites. So AT&T operates a network of AT&T cell sites, T-Mobile operates T-Mobile cell sites, and Verizon operates Verizon cell sites. So if you——
MS. KUDLA: On that point, do service providers maintain data about certain cellphone interactions with cell sites?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, they do.
MS. KUDLA: And what type of cellphone interactions are captured?
RICHARD BUSICK: So in this case, where we're looking at an AT&T phone, AT&T maintains records for every connection between that phone and the network, to include when a call is made or received, when a text message is sent or received, or when that phone is utilizing data connection, data services. This might include using the internet, any types of apps, anything that's using cellular data to connect to the network.
MS. KUDLA: Now generally, what determines which cell site a cellphone will connect to?
RICHARD BUSICK: So the cell site is looking for that best signal. All things being equal, the best signal we would expect to be from the nearest cell site. The closer you are to an antenna broadcasting a signal, the better that signal and the stronger that signal is going to be. There are other factors that do determine which cell site a phone will connect to, especially in a very dense cellular environment like New York City, where there are a lot of cell sites everywhere, but distance is that most important factor.
MS. KUDLA: Speaking of density, how would you describe the density of the cell sites in New York City?
RICHARD BUSICK: Extremely dense, especially within Manhattan itself. Due to the volume, not just the density of population but the volume of AT&T customers, it's extremely dense. There are cell sites virtually everywhere. There's usually more than one on a block.
MS. KUDLA: And Mr. Bianco, can we please publish Government Exhibit 1080, slide 3, please.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, what is shown in slide 3?
RICHARD BUSICK: So this is an illustration of the AT&T network in the greater Manhattan area. Each of those blue dots represents the specific location of an AT&T cell site, and you can see Manhattan located in the center of the screen. Those dots are basically on top of each other to the point where we can't really discern the exact location of individual dots, again, owing to that density of usage in Manhattan. And you can see that as we leave Manhattan and we get further outside of the city, especially, say, if we travel west into New Jersey towards the left and upper left portion of the screen, where that population density and usage density is less, those cell sites are located a bit further apart because less architecture is needed to support the same——to support the customers in those areas.
MS. KUDLA: Focusing for a moment on the density of cell sites in the New York City metropolitan region, how does that assist, if at all, with your ability to identify a cellphone location?
RICHARD BUSICK: So each cell site is designed by the network or by the service provider to provide coverage to a specific coverage area within its immediate vicinity. Now the further apart those cell sites are located, the larger those coverage areas are going to be, and so what we're——what I'm doing when I'm conducting my analysis is looking at which cell site a phone connected to and, based on an approximation of the coverage area, determining an approximate location of where that phone would be. So therefore, the larger the coverage area, the less precise we can be about locating the phone. If cell sites are miles apart, that's going to be a much larger area. Now in somewhere like Manhattan and other parts of New York City where those cell sites are located very close together, that coverage area is going to be a bit more precise because the distance between cell sites is much less.
MS. KUDLA: Now, Agent Busick, you had mentioned cellphones typically connect to the strongest and clearest signals. What are some, if any, reasons that they may not do so?
RICHARD BUSICK: So there are several factors that might affect which cell site is actually providing that best signal that the phone connects to. One of those is geography or terrain. In New York City we could think of things like large buildings. An example I like to use is that if we were standing outside the front door of, say, the Empire State Building and just on the other side of the Empire State Building on the same block was a cell site that was the closest one to us, but between us and that cell site was the Empire State Building, however, on the same side of the building I'm on, say, three blocks away is another cell site that I can actually see with my own eyes and there's no obstructions, even though that one is slightly further away, I might actually receive a better signal from that one because there's just nothing obstructing it. So that's one of the——one of the typical factors that could affect where that better signal is going to come from. The important thing to know is that the phone has to be within the designated coverage area of that particular cell site. So if I'm in Manhattan near the Empire State Building, I'm not going to connect to a cell site down by the World Trade Center because there's hundreds, at least, if not thousands of cell sites between those two areas. So I'm going to need to be in the general vicinity of the cell site that I'm connecting to.
MS. KUDLA: At this time, Mr. Bianco, can you please turn to slide 4.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, are you familiar with the term "sectors"?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I am.
MS. KUDLA: And using slide 4, can you describe to the jury what a sector is.
RICHARD BUSICK: So many times, many cell sites are set up with what we call sectors. So what we're looking at on the screen here would be a bird's-eye view on the right of what I call a typical cellphone tower. Like I mentioned earlier, think of that standalone, you know, steel structure with a triangular-shaped thing on top with the antennas on it. This is looking directly over that. And you can see on each side of that triangle there are some things that are sticking out of it. Those are the actual antennas which are broadcasting signals. So what the networks will often do in order to provide better coverage and increased capacity within——from particular cell sites is they'll sectorize those, those sites, and what that means is, you can see on the top of this there's antennas that are facing the top of the screen, which is labeled as north. Those would be sector 1, and that's broadcasting a signal that's going to be radiating out in roughly this direction, within the red area depicted.
If we were to move clockwise around the cell site and more towards the lower right portion of the screen, we can see there are antennas on this side that's broadcasting signal out in this direction. That would be sector 2. And if we were in that general area of the——in relation to the tower, we'd expect to be receiving signal from sector 2. And so on as we continue around the tower.
Now why this is important or helpful is that within the records provided by AT&T and all the providers, they will indicate not just which particular cell site a phone connected to but if that site is sectorized and there are antennas broadcasting a specific direction, it will indicate that as well, which helps us to know approximately which direction from the tower the phone was located at the time it made that connection.
MS. KUDLA: So Agent Busick, you just referenced service provider records. So let's turn back to the AT&T records to put this all together.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, can you please publish what's in evidence now as Government Exhibit 1118. Let's turn to page 22.
And can we highlight the top portion of this page, including row 1.
MS. KUDLA: Okay. So Agent Busick, moving from left to right in row 1, I'm going to have you briefly identify just a few of these columns. In particular let's start with Conn. Date. What does that refer to?
RICHARD BUSICK: So that refers to the connection date or the date of this particular connection between the phone and the network.
MS. KUDLA: And then the next row is connection time, Conn. Time. What is that?
RICHARD BUSICK: That's the time of day that the phone connected to the network, given in military or 24-hour time, and it's also given in what's called UTC, or Universal Coordinated Time.
MS. KUDLA: And why is Universal Coordinated Time typically used?
RICHARD BUSICK: All the cellular providers typically use Universal Coordinated Time for consistency, because as a phone travels, say, you know, throughout the country or around the world, across time zones, it just keeps one consistent time zone that all records are kept in, and in conducting an analysis, we just need to convert UTC time to the local time to know what time that phone connected relative to where we are.
JUDGE KAPLAN: And the UTC time relates to Eastern Time how?
RICHARD BUSICK: So UTC time is either four or five hours ahead of Eastern Time, depending on whether we're in Eastern Standard or Eastern Daylight Time. Currently we're in Eastern Daylight Time, which is generally the summertime months, and so UTC time is four hours ahead of the current time. So in the record that we're looking at here, this was actually February 11th, so that would be Eastern Standard Time, which is five hours behind UTC time, so we would subtract five hours from the given time, which would give us 1803:47, which would be 6:03 p.m.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Thank you.
BY MS. KUDLA:
MS. KUDLA: Now let's move to the right to Originating Number. Let's look at that column for a moment. What is the originating number?
RICHARD BUSICK: So the originating number is the number that originated the particular call that we're looking at. So you can see just above that line is a——something that says Voice Usage For and this is our target number here, that 650-906-9179. If this was an outgoing call made by that phone, we would expect to see that number in the Originating Number column. Because this was an incoming call, the number that is displayed there is the number of the phone which called our target phone.
MS. KUDLA: And that leads us to the Terminating Number.
RICHARD BUSICK: The Terminating Number is just the opposite. So here we can see that that terminating number ends in 9179. That's because it was an incoming call to our target phone. Again, if it was an outgoing call placed by our target phone, we would see the number there that our phone called.
MS. KUDLA: And then finally, let's look at the last column, Cell Location. Can you describe what's in this row, or column.
RICHARD BUSICK: The cell location provides information about the particular cell site that the phone connected to at the beginning of this call. So we see a long string of numbers there, separated by colons. The first long number is the unique identifier within the entirety of AT&T network of the particular antenna that that phone connected to on the cell site that it connected to at the time, and the next number is the number of the cell site itself. So each cell site will often have numerous antennas within that particular site so we get the identifiers for both of those.
Next, we have the latitude and longitude——think GPS coordinate——of the actual cell site itself, so that's the location of the antenna——not the phone but the antenna that the phone connected to at the time.
And then as we scroll over, the next column, which is really the last column that's important, which says 0, that gives us the azimuth or direction from the tower that that signal is being broadcast. So 0-degree azimuth would correspond to a signal being broadcast at 0 degrees or due north. If we think back to that previous slide, that was that red area towards the top of the page.
MS. KUDLA: And Agent Busick, what do you do with the data that you've just described when performing your cell site analysis?
RICHARD BUSICK: So I do a couple things. First of all, I take the text version of this file with the identical information, I upload it into some mapping software we use, which assists us in visualizing the data on a map, so I import that, and then within, you know, the particular time frames of interest, I can determine which connections were made and the approximate location of the phone at that time based on that cell location information. I also take this information here from this pdf and I correlate it with a cell site list from AT&T, which is a list that provides the information for all of the cell sites within the AT&T network, and I verify that the cell site identifiers here and the location that are provided are in fact accurate and do accurately correspond to what is displayed on the map itself.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, we can take this down now.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Is this a good place for our break?
MS. KUDLA: Yes, your Honor.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Fifteen minutes, folks.
COURT CLERK: Will the jury please come this way. Please bring your notebooks.
(Recess)
MS. SASSOON: Your Honor, I think the parties would like to discuss scheduling at the end of the today day so either 4:30 or ending five minutes early, whatever.
JUDGE KAPLAN: I would love to discuss it too.
(Jury present)
JUDGE KAPLAN: The record will reflect that the defendant and the jurors all are present, as they have been throughout.
You may continue, Ms. Kudla.
MS. KUDLA: Thank you, your Honor.
BY MS. KUDLA:
MS. KUDLA: Before the break, Agent Busick, we were looking at some AT&T records. I would like to now focus on the analysis that you performed in this case.
You had called out the number 650-906-9179, is that correct?
RICHARD BUSICK: That is correct.
MS. KUDLA: Who provided you with that number?
RICHARD BUSICK: That number was provided to me by the government.
MS. KUDLA: And is that the number that you used to conduct your cell phone analysis?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it was.
MS. KUDLA: At this point, your Honor, the government offers Government Exhibit 342, pursuant to Government Exhibit 2003, a stipulation as to authenticity, and this is a true and correct email.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibit 342 received in evidence)
MS. KUDLA: May we publish, your Honor?
JUDGE KAPLAN: You may.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, can we please zoom in on the bottom portion of page 1 and the top of page 2.
On September 4, 2022 at 8:42 a.m., pdavis51@gmail wrote: Sam, my son Christopher is being engaged as a consultant for an NFT entity that is considering your platform. Grateful if you were to take a call to discuss. My son is copied on this email. Thanks.
And the reply, on September 4, 2022, at 12:38 p.m. from Sam Bankman-Fried, sam@ftx.com wrote: I'd be happy to. Christopher, I'm 650-906-9179.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, is the number that's highlighted on the screen the same number that you analyzed?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it is.
MS. KUDLA: We can take that down now.
MS. KUDLA: Now, earlier you testified the type of analysis that you conducted with respect to the location of this cell phone number. Was there a particular time period you were asked to analyze?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes. Generally speaking, I was asked to analyze a time frame between roughly June of 2021 through November of 2022.
MS. KUDLA: What was the first thing that you were asked to do with respect to this time period?
RICHARD BUSICK: I was initially asked to analyze the records to determine if there were dates within those records in which the phone utilized cell sites located within Manhattan.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, at this time can we please publish Government Exhibit 1080, slide 5.
MS. KUDLA: What's shown on slide 5, Agent Busick.
RICHARD BUSICK: This is a list of the dates within that time frame in which the phone number ending in 9179 utilized cell sites, AT&T cell sites located in Manhattan, which would also be consistent with the phone being located within Manhattan during those times.
MS. KUDLA: Were these dates determined use the cell site analysis that you just described to the jury?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it was.
MS. KUDLA: You also testified earlier to a second portion of your analysis.
Agent Busick, were you asked to determine approximate vicinity, location of the cell phone during particular dates and times during this time period?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I was.
MS. KUDLA: And is that analysis also contained in Government Exhibit 1080?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it is.
MS. KUDLA: Before we turn to that, let's orient the jury on some of the items that they will see.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, can we please turn to slide 6 now at this time.
MS. KUDLA: Starting on the left of slide 6, can you please describe what is shown in the three-sector illustration.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Is this slide 6 or slide 5?
MS. KUDLA: I apologize, your Honor. It's slide 5. No. It is slide 6.
JUDGE KAPLAN: OK.
RICHARD BUSICK: In the upper left, where it says three-sector illustration, you'll see a map. On that map are blue dots which, again, are those AT&T cell sites. Dots is a location of a AT&T cell site. You can see how many there are just in that small area. You can see a red wedge where the two arms of that wedge meet in the center in one of those blue dots. It's a cell site that was utilized for this particular connection. And we can see that there is a shaded circle, which is facing roughly to the upper right portion of the map that indicates the direction of that sector or the direction that that signal was being broadcast from that cell site during that connection.
Now --
JUDGE KAPLAN: Go ahead.
RICHARD BUSICK: I'm sorry, your Honor.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Go ahead. A. Just to make it clear, the red circle doesn't denote the extent of the coverage area. That's just a visual aid to help illustrate which direction that signal is being broadcast, especially when there is more than of these on a page. The phone may be located within that circle, but it could be just as likely located outside of that circle or arc area.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Just for the sake of clarity, in the binder you gave me, it's page 5.
MS. KUDLA: Your Honor, I believe you had an older binder of Agent Busick last week, and we provided a more recent copy today.
JUDGE KAPLAN: That's encouraging, but it's different.
Anyway, I have the same page. It's just numbered differently.
MS. KUDLA: Your Honor, we discovered the problem. There is a cover page. This is slide 5 in your binder.
Can we move down to the bottom portion.
MS. KUDLA: You described the three-sector illustration.
MS. KUDLA: Can we go to the omni directional antenna illustration.
RICHARD BUSICK: Sure. So we previously discussed a sectorized antenna, but there is also another type of antenna or cell site that service providers use. That's called omni directional. That's where there was just a single antenna broadcasting in 360 degrees. Good way to think about this would be if we were to think about a pole, a sectorized antenna would have say three flood lights on the top, each one pointing out in a different direction illuminating a different direction around that particular pole. An omni directional site would be more like a table lamp uncovered with just the bulb on there that was broadcasting in 360s. They are generally used to provide coverage to smaller areas.
The differences is that we don't know which direction from the phone or from the cell site that the phone was located at the time that it made a connection, so we illustrate that with a circle.
However, like the illustration up above, the circle is not a hard boundary of the coverage area of that cell site. While an approximation, the phone could be located within the circle or it could be outside of the circle.
MS. KUDLA: Let's turn to the description on the right, the event box illustration. What are the items that we see here?
RICHARD BUSICK: The event box is the information from the records which corresponds to the display on the map, such as at the left. The event book we are looking at here actually corresponds to the three-sector illustration in the upper left.
So what it indicates up in the blue header band there, where it says CID, that's the unique identifier of the cell site, along with the sector that that phone connected to during that particular connection. And then down below is the information about what that connection was, so we see a date and time. The time has been converted into local time. This is Eastern Daylight Time on August 12 of 2022 at 12:00 p.m. This was an incoming call to the target phone, which is our phone ending in 9179. It was a voice call. And the phone on the other end of the line was 750-748-9222.
MS. KUDLA: For clarity, Agent Busick, in response to a couple of questions today, what time zone did you use during your analysis?
RICHARD BUSICK: All of the maps that I prepared are in local time, in this case that is eastern time. It will vary between Eastern Standard or Daylight Time, depending on the time of the year, but all times have been converted from the original records to local time.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, we can take Government Exhibit 1080 down now.
And at this time, your Honor, the government offers Government Exhibits 221, 223, and 224, 281, and 282, 285 through 287, 290 through 293, and 302.
JUDGE KAPLAN: 297, did you say?
MS. KUDLA: No, your Honor. 290 to 293. And, finally, 302. We offer those pursuant to government stipulation 2003-A2 as true and correct emails.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Government Exhibits 221, 223, 224, 281, 282, 285 to 287 inclusive, 290 to 293 inclusive, and 302 all are received.
(Government Exhibits 221, 223, 224, 281, 282, 285-287, 290-293, and 302 received in evidence)
MS. KUDLA: Your Honor, may we publish Government Exhibit 293 at this time?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
MS. KUDLA: Can we zoom in on the top portion of this.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, prior to your testimony today, have you reviewed Government Exhibit 293?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I have.
MS. KUDLA: And did you review similar appointment-type documents marked in Government Exhibits 281 through 282, 285 through 287, 290 through 293, and 292?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I have.
MS. KUDLA: Did you review these documents before or after you conducted your initial cell site analysis?
RICHARD BUSICK: I reviewed them afterwards.
MS. KUDLA: Let's focus for a moment on the middle portion of this appointment of Government Exhibit 293, where it says start on September 21, 2022, 11 p.m. and ends 9/22/2022 at 1 a.m.
Is any particular time zone listed there?
RICHARD BUSICK: There is no time zone listed.
MS. KUDLA: Based on your review of Government Exhibit 293 and the other exhibits that we have just listed, did you form an opinion about what time zone is listed in this appointment start/end time?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes.
MS. KUDLA: What was that opinion?
MR. EVERDELL: Objection.
JUDGE KAPLAN: What's the objection?
MR. EVERDELL: Basis for the opinion.
JUDGE KAPLAN: I imagine we will hear that in a minute.
MS. KUDLA: What was the opinion, first?
RICHARD BUSICK: Well, in this particular case and in this email we can see up above in the subject line an invitation with a date and time listed, which is September 21, 2022, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. EDT or Eastern Daylight Time. That would be 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. from the 21st to the 22nd in UTC time, which would indicate to me that in this email here the start and end time are given in UTC time.
MS. KUDLA: In your analysis, did you see similar examples in the other exhibits that you reviewed?
RICHARD BUSICK: I did, yes.
MS. KUDLA: And the UTC time as you described before, is that a common unit for -- in the AT&T records? Is there any relationship to what you see here?
RICHARD BUSICK: UTC time is often a common reference time zone that can account for travel between time zones and so forth, and local time can be converted directly from UTC time.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, can we please publish Government Exhibit 281 on the left. We can take down 293 now at this time. Publish 281 on the left and Government Exhibit 1080, slide 7 on the right.
Your Honor, you are right, it will show slide 6 in your presentation.
Let's zoom in right now on Government Exhibit 281. It says: Appointment from eric.bai@Binance.com to, among others, sam@ftx.com and cz@binance.com. The subject is Binance investment, FTX sync-up. The start is June 8, 2021 at 2 p.m. End time June 8, 2021 at 3 p.m.
Agent Busick, is 10 to 11 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time equivalent to 2 to 3 p.m. UTC on June 8, 2021? A. Yes.
MS. KUDLA: Now, is that the time period that you analyzed with respect to the cell site analysis?
RICHARD BUSICK: It is, yes.
MS. KUDLA: Can we now focus on Government Exhibit 180, slide 7, and zoom in on that.
MS. KUDLA: Briefly describe what we see in slide 7 to the jury.
RICHARD BUSICK: This displays two particular cell sites utilized by the 9179 phone on June 8 of 2021. The first connection is the lower -- on the lower center part of the screen at 10:13 a.m. That's a data connection between a phone and the network when cellular data was utilized. And then, at 10:59 a.m., in the upper center portion of the screen we see a second connection, again data connection, both of these connections utilizing cell sites located within Manhattan.
MS. KUDLA: Did you apply the same type of cell site location analysis that you described to the jury for this analysis here?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I did.
MS. KUDLA: Is that consistent throughout?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes.
MS. KUDLA: We will try to speed it up a little bit.
Mr. Bianco, can you please publish Government Exhibit 282 on the left and slide 8 of Government Exhibit 1080 on the right, and Government Exhibit 1471 also on the right.
And Government Exhibit 1471, your Honor, is in evidence.
Let's zoom in on Government Exhibit 282. It's from natalie@ftx.com to sam@alameda-research.com. Subject: Invitation: Quick photoshoot for Forbes story at Equinox Hotel, Friday, September 17, 2021, 8:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m (HKT). And then start and end, we can highlight those. That's September 17, 2021, 12:30 a.m. to 12:45 a.m.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, is 8:30 to 8:45 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on September 16, 2021 equivalent to the start and end times that we see here?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it is.
MS. KUDLA: Let's take that down now.
Can we zoom in on Government Exhibit 1080, slide 8.
MS. KUDLA: What is the green dot that we see here?
RICHARD BUSICK: The green marker in the upper center portion of the screen denotes the location of the Equinox Hotel, 33 Hudson Yards, New York, New York.
MS. KUDLA: Now, based on your analysis, what opinion did you form about the location of the cell phone at approximately 8:27 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time?
RICHARD BUSICK: The records are consistent with the phone being located at or in the vicinity of the Equinox Hotel during this time.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, can we please zoom in on Government Exhibit 1471.
At this time now, Mr. Bianco, can we please publish Government Exhibit 285 on the left and Government Exhibit 1080, slide 9 on the right.
Can we please zoom in on Government Exhibit 285. It's from pauline@thesaltfund.com to sam@ftx.com, among others. The subject: Updated invitation: SALT fund. And then the start and end time, September 17, 2021, 2:30 p.m.; September 17, 2021, 3:30 p.m.
Agent Busick, is 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time equivalent to the time shown here? A. Yes, it is.
MS. KUDLA: Let's take that down now.
One thing that I forgot to mention. In Government Exhibit 285, the location is shown as Bluestone Lane, 55 Hudson Yards, 55 Hudson Yards, New York, New York.
Let's take that down and focus on Government Exhibit 1080, slide 9.
MS. KUDLA: First off, Agent Busick, what is the blue dot that we see the little square dot?
RICHARD BUSICK: That marker denotes the location of 55 Hudson Yards, New York, New York.
MS. KUDLA: Based on your cell site analysis, what, if anything, did you determine about the location of the phone between the time period of 10:43 a.m. and 11:11 a.m. on September 17, 2021?
RICHARD BUSICK: At 10:43 a.m., the phone utilized a cell site, the lower center portion of the page, within the vicinity of Pennsylvania Station. And at 11 a.m., there were two text messages to the 9179 phone, which would be consistent with the 9179 phone being located at or in the vicinity of 55 Hudson Yards at that time.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, can we now publish what's in evidence as Government Exhibit 286 on the left and Government Exhibit 1080, slide 10 on the right. Let's zoom in on Government Exhibit 286.
MS. KUDLA: This is from Antony Lewis to, among others, sambankman-fried@ftx.com. Subject: Temasek/FTX. The location: 375 Park Avenue, 14th floor, New York, New York. And the start and end time is listed here.
Agent Busick, is 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. east coast standard time on November 16, 2021 equivalent to 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. UTC time?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it is.
MS. KUDLA: Now let's turn to slide 10 of Government Exhibit 1080. Let's zoom in on that.
MS. KUDLA: Between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. east coast standard time, what, if anything, did you determine about the cell site location during that time period?
RICHARD BUSICK: So as we can see in the inset on the left, at 6:14 p.m., the phone utilized the cell site in the vicinity of Teterboro, New Jersey, displayed up here where we circled on the screen, and the records are consistent with that phone traveling into Manhattan from that time. We can see, at 6:53 p.m., utilizing a cell site just to the west of the Lincoln Tunnel. And then, at 7:10 p.m., utilizing a cell site on the Manhattan side of the Lincoln Tunnel. We last see it at 7:30 p.m., under the dark blue flag there, which denotes 375 Park Avenue, New York, New York. And then the zoomed-in map includes that 7:30 p.m. interaction along with several other interactions between the phone and the network, all of which would be consistent with the phone being located at or in the vicinity of 375 Park Avenue.
MS. KUDLA: What period of time was the cell phone in the vicinity of 375 Park Avenue, New York, New York?
RICHARD BUSICK: From roughly 7:30 to 8:51 p.m.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, can we please publish now Government Exhibit 287 on the left and Government Exhibit 1080, slide 11 on the right.
Now, this is from natalie@ftx to sam@ftx.com. Subject: Updated invitation with the mayor at Thursday, March 3, 2022, 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Location: Osteria La Baia, 129 West 52nd Street. Start and end time here.
MS. KUDLA: Is the start and end time that we see here on March 4, 2022 equivalent to 8:30 to 11 p.m. east coast standard time on March 3, 2022?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes.
MS. KUDLA: Now, let's turn to government Exhibit 1080, slide 11.
MS. KUDLA: What is the pink dot that we see here?
RICHARD BUSICK: The pink marker in the center of the screen denotes 129 West 52nd Street, New York, New York.
MS. KUDLA: What was the time period of your analysis for here?
RICHARD BUSICK: 8:37 p.m. to 9:56 p.m. on March 3, 2022.
MS. KUDLA: Based on your cell site analysis, what opinion did you form about the location of the cell phone during this date and time period?
RICHARD BUSICK: The records are consistent with the phone being located at or in the vicinity of 129 West 52nd Street during this period.
MS. KUDLA: Your Honor, pursuant to Government Exhibit 2001, a stipulation as to authenticity, the government offers Government Exhibit 873.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Is 2001 in, Andy?
MS. KUDLA: It is in evidence, your Honor.
JUDGE KAPLAN: It is?
MS. KUDLA: Yes.
May we publish Government Exhibit 873, page 12 of that exhibit?
JUDGE KAPLAN: It's received, the whole exhibit.
(Government Exhibit 873 received in evidence)
MS. KUDLA: On March 4, 2022, at 12:04 p.m., SBF retweeted from Ryne Miller: Fantastic dinner with at New York City mayor. New York City is in great hands, hashtag Eric Adams.
We can take that down.
Mr. Bianco, can we please publish what's in evidence as Government Exhibit 302 on the left and Government Exhibit 1080, slide 12 on the right.
Let's first start with Government Exhibit 302, page 1, and let's zoom in on the portion from the message from Ali Baltrusaitis on July 1, 2022 at 11:32 a.m.
Ms. Baltrusaitis sends a message to Natalie Tien at FTX writing: Hi, Natalie, happy almost 4th of July. Hope you have some fun plans for the long weekend. Please find the latest requests from 32 investment firms for the upcoming group dinner on July 19. If there are any firms that FTX team would like us to prioritize a seat for, please let us know.
We can take that down and zoom in now on the response from Ramnik Arora.
Ramnikarora@ftx.com writes to Natalie Tien regarding the FTX group dinner July 19 in some decreasing order of priority: Standard investments, Coatue, D1 Capital, and a list of names.
We can take that down.
Can we zoom in now on the map and Government Exhibit 1080, slide 12.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, what is shown in slide 12 with respect to the cell phone location on July 19, 2022 between 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. east coast standard time?
RICHARD BUSICK: This slide depicts the cellular connections between the 9179 phone and the AT&T network during that 6:16 p.m. to 9:28 p.m. time frame, located in the vicinity of 11 Madison Avenue in New York, New York, which is denoted by the maroon flag in the center right portion of the screen.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, we can take that down now.
Can we please publish Government Exhibit 290 on the left and Government Exhibit 1080, slide 13 on the right.
Let's focus on Government Exhibit 290 first. This is from jasmin.lee@iextrading.com to, among others, sam@ftx. Subject: FTX/IEX. Location: 3 World Trade Center. Start, August 17, 2022, 3:30 p.m.; end, August 13, 2022, 5:30 p.m.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, is 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time the equivalent of the UTC time you see here?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it is.
MS. KUDLA: Let's turn to the map in Government Exhibit 1080, slide 13.
MS. KUDLA: What is the date and time that was analyzed here?
RICHARD BUSICK: August 17, 2022 between 11:39 a.m. and 1:15 p.m.
MS. KUDLA: What's shown in the yellow dot?
RICHARD BUSICK: This shows connections between the 9179 phone and the AT&T network in the vicinity of 3 World Trade Center, New York, New York, denoted by the bright yellow flag in the center of the screen.
MS. KUDLA: What did your cell site analysis show?
RICHARD BUSICK: The records are consistent with the phone being located at or in the vicinity of 3 World Trade Center during this time frame.
MS. KUDLA: Let's now turn to Government Exhibit 291 on the left and let's do Government Exhibit 1080, slide 14 on the right.
Mr. Bianco, can we zoom in. Thank you.
This is from Mike McKay to, among others, sam@ftx.us. Subject: SBF meeting with New York Governor Hochul. Location: LTBD. Most likely, Capital Grille on East 42nd Street, but waiting on the governor's schedule to confirm the location. Start, September 16, 2022 at 9 p.m.; end, September 16, 2022 at 9:30 p.m.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, is this 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it is.
MS. KUDLA: Let's look at slide 14.
MS. KUDLA: Did you analyze the location of the phone on September 16, 2022 between 5 and 6 p.m. at that time?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes.
MS. KUDLA: What opinion did you form about the location of the cell phone between that time period on that day?
RICHARD BUSICK: Between 4:58 p.m. and 5:48 p.m., the phone utilized two cell sites located within Manhattan, generally the east Midtown area, which would be consistent with the phone being located in the Midtown East area during this time.
MS. KUDLA: Can we now publish Government Exhibit 292 on the left and Government Exhibit 1080, slide 15 on the right.
And zoom in on Government Exhibit 292. This is from natalie@ftx.com to sam@ftx.com. Subject: Updated invitation. Meeting with President Clinton at Tuesday, September 20, 2022, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Location: New York Hilton Midtown, 1335 Sixth Avenue, New York, New York. Start and end that we have here is September 20, 2022, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, is this 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it is.
MS. KUDLA: Let's turn to Government Exhibit 1080, slide 15 now, and zoom in on that.
MS. KUDLA: Did you analyze the location of the cell phone during this same time period for the date and time?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I did.
MS. KUDLA: And what is the purple dot that we see here?
RICHARD BUSICK: The purple marker in the center of the screen denotes a location of 1335 Sixth Avenue, New York, New York.
MS. KUDLA: What opinion did you form about the location of the cell phone on September 20, 2022 between 3:16 and 5:02 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time?
RICHARD BUSICK: The records are consistent with the phone being located at or in the vicinity of 1335 Sixth Avenue during that time frame.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, can we please publish Government Exhibit 221 on the left and Government Exhibit 1080, slide 16 on the right.
Let's zoom in on Government Exhibit 221.
On September 20, 2022, at 12:20 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, ascaramucci@skybridge.com wrote: Connecting you here. Sam, I am also joining Thomas at a Steelers game November 20. Let us know if you want to come. Hope he will invest in our latest FTX round.
On September 21, 2022 at 3:34 a.m., Sam Bankman-Fried sends an email to Anthony Scaramucci and thomas9@tulinvest.com: Thanks.
Let's take that down.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, first of all, is 11:34:09 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on September 20, 2022 equivalent to 3:34 a.m. UTC on 9/21/22?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it is.
MS. KUDLA: Let focus and zoom in on slide 16 in Government Exhibit 1080.
MS. KUDLA: Did you analyze that time period and date with your cell site analysis?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I did.
MS. KUDLA: What opinion did you form about the location of the cell phone during that date and time period?
RICHARD BUSICK: During that time period, specifically between 11:17 p.m. and 11:48 p.m. on September 20, 2022, the phone was located roughly in the midtown Manhattan area utilizing the cell sites depicted.
MS. KUDLA: Let's please publish Government Exhibit 293 on the left and Government Exhibit 1080, slide 17 on the right.
This is from natalie@ftx.com to sam@ftx.com. Subject: Updated invitation. New York small group dinner with H.E. Yasir Al Rumayyan, September 21, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The location is The Pierre A Taj Hotel, New York, 2 East 61st Street. There is the start and end time shown here.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, is this consistent, the 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. time period shown here, consistent with 7 to 9 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time?
RICHARD BUSICK: 7 to 9 p.m. on the 21st, yes, correct.
MS. KUDLA: Let's turn to slide 17 in Government Exhibit 1080.
MS. KUDLA: Did you analyze this 7 to 9 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time period on September 21, 2022?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I did.
MS. KUDLA: And what is the red dot that we see here?
RICHARD BUSICK: The red marker roughly in the center of the screen denotes the location of 2 East 61st Street, New York, New York.
MS. KUDLA: And what opinion did you form about the location of the cell phone on this date and time period?
RICHARD BUSICK: The records are consistent with the phone being located at or in the vicinity of 2 East 61st Street, particularly between 7:42 and 9:42 p.m.
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco -- just so everybody is aware, we are nearing the end of the number of slides.
Let's please publish in evidence Government Exhibit 223 on the left and Government Exhibit 1080, slide 18 on the right.
On September 21, 2022, at 7:16 p.m., okharif@bloomberg.net wrote: Hi, Sam. How are you? I saw the CNBC story that you are trying to raise 1 billion. Could you please confirm if this is true on background.
Let's focus now on the response from Sam Bankman-Fried to Olga Kharif on September 22, 2022 at 3:34:47 a.m. On background: Potentially true, though not a hundred percent that we'll do it. If we did, it would likely be in the next few months. Not yet confirmed who invested would be.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, is 3:34 a.m. UTC equivalent to 3:34 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on September 21, 2022?
RICHARD BUSICK: 11:34 p.m. on the 21st.
MS. KUDLA: Thank you.
MS. KUDLA: Let's turn to slide 18, Government Exhibit 1080.
MS. KUDLA: Based on your analysis, Agent Busick, was the cell phone located in Manhattan on this date and during this time period?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, it was. Utilizing the cell site depicted at the center of the screen at 11:08 and 11:53 p.m. on September 21.
MS. KUDLA: So let's please publish Government Exhibit 224 on the left and Government Exhibit 1080, slide 19 on the right, and let's focus on the middle message, September 22, 2022 at 8:02 a.m.
The message: We now have a meeting penciled in with the Saudi Minister of Investment, Khalid Al Falih, at 5:10 to 5:30. Hopefully that works for Sam. His session at the event with Alfred Chuang is scheduled for 3:50 to 4:05.
Let's focus on the response now. It's from Sam Bankman-Fried -- a little bit higher, Mr. Bianco, the top portion of the email -- Sam Bankman-Fried, on September 22, 2022, 3:33 to Anthony Scaramucci, among others: Follow-up from dinner. Mr. Bankman-Fried replies: I'm flexible.
Let's turn to slide 19, Government Exhibit 1080 at this point in time.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, were you asked to analyze the location of the cell phone between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on September 22, 2022?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I was.
MS. KUDLA: And what did your analysis show with respect to the location of the phone during that time period?
RICHARD BUSICK: The phone utilized the cell sites depicted at the center of the screen located roughly the southeast corner of Central Park in Manhattan between 3:28 and 5:28 p.m.
MS. KUDLA: We will turn to our last one at this point in time.
The government offers, subject to connection, Government Exhibit 527, and it's subject to connection through a later witness.
MR. EVERDELL: Your Honor, we do object on hearsay grounds, understanding this is subject to connection, but we object on hearsay grounds.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received subject to connection.
(Government Exhibit 527 received in evidence)
MS. KUDLA: Mr. Bianco, can we please publish Government Exhibit 527 on the left and Government Exhibit 1080, slide 20 on the right.
Mr. Bianco, on Government Exhibit 527 can we zoom in at the bottom of page 2. It's from Curtis Ashton on September 24, 2022 at 11:15. There you go.
From Ashton Curtis to robertboroujerdi@thirdpoint.com. Subject: FTX/Sam BF. Bob, I'm putting together a very small investor lunch with Sam Bankman-Fried on October 14 from 12 to 2 p.m. in NYC.
We can take that down now.
MS. KUDLA: Agent Busick, were you asked to analyze the location of the cell phone on October 14, 2022 between 12 and 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, I was.
MS. KUDLA: Let's zoom in on Government Exhibit 1080, slide 20.
MS. KUDLA: What opinion did you form about the location of the cell phone on that date and time period?
RICHARD BUSICK: The phone was located within Manhattan between 12:06 p.m. p.m. and 1:26 p.m. on November 14. And more specifically, between approximately 12:26 p.m. and 1:26 p.m., the phone was located at or in the vicinity of 11 Madison Avenue in New York, New York, depicted by the maroon flag in the lower center portion of the screen.
MS. KUDLA: Your Honor, no further questions.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Is there any cross-examination?
MR. EVERDELL: Just briefly, your Honor.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. EVERDELL:
MR. EVERDELL: Good afternoon, Special Agent Busick.
RICHARD BUSICK: Good afternoon.
MR. EVERDELL: Special Agent Busick, you were asked to create your cell site analysis by the government, is that right?
RICHARD BUSICK: That's correct.
MR. EVERDELL: This is what you've been testifying to here today, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: Correct.
MR. EVERDELL: And the government specified which phone number they wanted you to analyze, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: They did.
MR. EVERDELL: That was the 650-906-9179 number, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: That's correct.
MR. EVERDELL: I am just going to refer to that as the 9179 number for convenience. Is that OK?
RICHARD BUSICK: Of course.
MR. EVERDELL: The government also provided you with the data that you used to create your analysis?
RICHARD BUSICK: They did, yes.
MR. EVERDELL: They gave you the records from the phone company AT&T that were related to that phone number, is that right?
RICHARD BUSICK: That's correct.
MR. EVERDELL: And those records included the cell site data that you used to create your analysis, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes.
MR. EVERDELL: I think you said the government asked you to analyze the cell site data to determine where that particular phone was located at certain dates and times, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: Correct.
MR. EVERDELL: And they provided the dates and times that they wanted you to analyze, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: That's correct.
MR. EVERDELL: Now, the records from the phone company, from AT&T that you used to do your analysis, they showed that the phone with the number we just discussed was connecting to cell towers at various locations at various times, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes.
MR. EVERDELL: The goal of your analysis was to locate the cell phone to the best of your ability in relation to those cell towers, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: Correct.
MR. EVERDELL: You said a few things that might affect that analysis, the accuracy of that analysis, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: I don't think I said the accuracy of it. Could you be more specific?
MR. EVERDELL: Sure. Your ability to locate the cell phone in a particular spot would depend on things like, you said, density of cell towers?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, correct.
MR. EVERDELL: Might also depend on, you said, terrain, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: Correct.
MR. EVERDELL: If there were a big building, I think you mentioned, that was potentially blocking a signal, the phone wouldn't necessarily signal off of the closest tower next to it, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: It's possible, correct.
MR. EVERDELL: It might have to seek out a signal for a cell site that's further away, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: Slightly. But it would have to be within the coverage area of whichever cell site it connected to.
MR. EVERDELL: When we look at your analysis that you did, which was GX-1080, it shows instances where that cell phone, the 9179 cell phone, was active near a particular cell tower, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: Correct.
MR. EVERDELL: But the phone records you used to create your analysis don't contain any information about who was using that phone at those times, correct?
RICHARD BUSICK: That's correct.
MR. EVERDELL: It just gives you information about where the device itself may have been located, correct?
RICHARD BUSICK: That's correct.
MR. EVERDELL: So your analysis doesn't say anything about who is using that cell phone at those dates and times on those pages we just looked at, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: Correct. I cannot determine that via the records.
MR. EVERDELL: I just want to take a look at one quick example from the page.
If we go to slide 13. This is Government Exhibit 1080 in evidence. If we go to slide -- I believe it's 13.
MR. EVERDELL: This is one that you discussed on your direct examination, is that right?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes.
MR. EVERDELL: And so this is a page that shows the 9179 cell phone or it shows cell sites in the vicinity of 3 World Trade Center, is that correct?
RICHARD BUSICK: Correct.
MR. EVERDELL: On August 17, 2022, correct?
RICHARD BUSICK: That's correct.
MR. EVERDELL: You testified that this seems to show the 9179 cell phone interacting with the cell towers on the side here, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes.
MR. EVERDELL: On that date it appears that it was an incoming call at 11:39, correct?
RICHARD BUSICK: That is correct.
MR. EVERDELL: So this shows that that cell phone was interacting with these towers in the vicinity of 3 World Trade Center on that date, right?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes.
MR. EVERDELL: But, again, it does not say who is using the phone at that time?
RICHARD BUSICK: Correct.
MR. EVERDELL: And it does not say what was discussed on any calls that may be reflected in the records?
RICHARD BUSICK: That's correct.
MR. EVERDELL: That is true for all of the instances that you put in your analysis on Government's 1080, correct?
RICHARD BUSICK: It is, yes.
MR. EVERDELL: Nothing further, your Honor.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Thank you.
Anything else?
MS. KUDLA: No, your Honor.
JUDGE KAPLAN: I have one question. I think it's one question.
The government provided you with the AT&T records for the entire period, roughly June of '21 through November of '22, is that right?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes. And the records did extend a bit beyond that.
JUDGE KAPLAN: A bit beyond.
So the dates you looked at were the dates on which the records indicated that the cell phone was connecting with towers in Manhattan, is that right?
RICHARD BUSICK: I first looked throughout the records to determine when the records indicated that the phone was connecting with cell sites in Manhattan and then, in regards to the specific dates and times, those were provided to me by the government.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Did the dates and times that the government provided you coincide with dates you had identified from telephone company records that the phone had been used in Manhattan?
RICHARD BUSICK: Yes, that's correct.
JUDGE KAPLAN: I have no further questions.
Do counsel have any?
MS. KUDLA: None from the government, your Honor.
MR. EVERDELL: No, your Honor.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Thank you. You're excused, Agent Busick.
(Witness excused)
JUDGE KAPLAN: Folks, we are going to quit very early tonight, 4:26. We will see you tomorrow at 9:30.
Counsel remain.
(Jury not present)
JUDGE KAPLAN: Scheduling.
MS. SASSOON: Yes, your Honor.
Tomorrow we are going to be calling Shamell Medrano, Peter Easton, Cory Gaddis, Eliora Katz.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Slow down. You're outpacing me.
The third person was?
MS. SASSOON: Cory Gaddis, Eliora Katz. I will just read through the witnesses that will take us through Thursday: Paige Owens, Bob Boroujerdi, and Can Sun.
Now, the government is not confident that that's going to take us to the end of the trial day on Thursday, but we have two to three people scheduled for the following Thursday, when trial picks up, who have travel booked from either out of state, and one witness, who is a customer victim, who was here in court last Friday, but we ended early, and he didn't get to testify, but he is not available this week.
What we would propose is, if the Court is amenable, if our witnesses don't take us through the day on Thursday, ending early, which will give the parties an opportunity to work on the jury instructions your Honor has asked for by the end of the day Thursday, and then we would complete our case the following Thursday morning.
The defense has rebuttal expert notice, if any, due to us three days before we rest, so this will also give them a little more time beyond having to give us that notice today if we were to rest this Thursday.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Thank you.
What's the state of play, Mr. Cohen, with you, bearing in mind I am not holding you to anything?
MR. COHEN: Yes, your Honor.
We would agree with the schedule that the government proposed, subject to your Honor's approval. We are still working through whether we are going to put a case on and, if so, of what nature. But I continue to believe that if we do put on a case, it won't be more than a week, week and a half at the max.
JUDGE KAPLAN: That suggests to me we are done the first week in November, worst case, right?
MR. COHEN: Yes. It might be sooner, your Honor.
JUDGE KAPLAN: I think I'm as informed as I can be about now.
Thank you. I'll see you all in the morning.
(Adjourned to October 18, 2023, at 9:30 a.m.)