Preview
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020
Adi Dagan
07/18/2019 1
3 1
2 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
3 COUNTY OF NEW YORK
4 Index No. 650884/2017
5 ------------------------------------------------
6 SPARX LOGISTICS HONG KONG LTD.,
SPARX LOGISTICS USA LIMITED,
7
Plaintiffs,
8
-against-
9
10 SHOE2, INC., BRANDS UNLIMITED,
GIF SERVICES, INC.,
11 DEEPAK RAMCHANDANI a/k/a DEEPAK PARIKH,
and GINA NAPOLITANO,
12
Defendant.
13 ------------------------------------------------
14 TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEOCONFERENCE
DEPOSITION OF
15
ADI DAGAN
16
17 TRANSCRIPT of the stenographic notes of
18 the proceedings in the above-entitled matter, as
19 taken by and before TAB PREWETT, a Registered
20 Professional Reporter, a Certified LiveNote
21 Reporter, Certified Shorthand Reporter and Notary
22 Public, held at THE OFFICES OF SAM P. ISRAEL,
23 P.C., 180 Maiden Lane, 6th Floor, New York, New
24 York 10038, on Thursday, July 18, 2019,
25 commencing at 9:01 a.m.
U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT
(877) 479-2484
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020
Adi Dagan
07/18/2019
1 1
2 A P P E A R A N C E S: 2
3 3
4 4
5 SAM P. ISRAEL, P.C. 5
6 BY: SAMUEL P. ISRAEL, ESQ. 6
7 DAVID HROVAT, ESQ. 7
8 180 Maiden Lane 8
9 6th Floor 9
10 New York, New York 10038 10
11 Attorneys for Defendants 11
12 12
13 13
14 14
15 15
16 LAZARUS & LAZARUS, P.C. 16
17 BY: YVETTE J. SUTTON, ESQ. 17
18 240 Madison Avenue 18
19 New York, New York 10016 19
20 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 20
21 21
22 22
23 23
24 24
25 25
U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT
(877) 479-2484
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020
Adi Dagan
07/18/2019 5
__
1 Adi Dagan
2 it -- I don't take it at but I
personally all;
3 have to ask you to just answer the questions to
4 the best of your ability without your son giving
5 you input into how to answer the questions
6 because he's not an official translator.
7 Okay.
8 A Okay.
9 Q So just do your best. If you don't
10 understand you will say it. I will rephrase the
11 question.
12 A If I need my son to tell me what to
13 answer -- thank you -- I appreciate it.
14 Q Okay. What is the relationship
15 between Life Logistics and Sparx Logistics?
16 A We -- Sparx Logistics used to be
17 for many years the handling agent for Life
18 Logistics. If you want me to go into details, it
will take some time to explain because it's --
19
20 the basic fundamentals of freight forwarding
21 business. So you want me to give you a lecture
22 about it now?
23 Q I don't want a lecture, but, if you
24 could just in -- in simple terms to explain
try
25 to me what the relationship is.
U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT
(877) 479-2484
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020
Adi Dagan
07/18/2019 7
1 Adi Dagan
2 So they can issue our BL and sign
3 it. And in the freight to the US, we use their
4 BL because have -- have the SMC
they they
5 [phonetic] license, which Life Logistics don't
6 have.
7 Q Okay. Let me ask you the names of
8 some other people and entities and ask you if
9 you -- if you know who are.
they
10 Who is Alice A-c -- A-r-c-e?
Arce,
11 A Who is she? She is the operation
12 lady in the Sparx office in Los Angeles.
13 Q Okay. Ravissant Limited?
14 A What?
15 Q What is Ravissant Limited?
16 A It used to be a company that not
17 exist anymore which unfortunately used to be
18 -- used to be our and are --
my customer, they
19 they were engaged in trading of garment
20 basically.
21 Q Okay. And who is Daisy Lee?
22 A Daisy Lee, she's my right hand and
23 operation manager of Life Logistics Limited.
24 Q Okay. GIF Services?
25 A This is custom office, sales, Shoez
U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT
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FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM I INDEX NO. 650884/2017
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020
Adi Dagan
07/18/2019 11
1 Adi Dagan
2 you talking about?
3 I missed -- I missed the first part
4 of that.
5 A I am telling you the practice. The
6 practice is that I gave the BL to Ravissant; and,
7 at the same I am to Sparx -- I told
time, telling
8 Sparx standing instruction:
9 "All this cargo you release upon
10 arrival. You are not waiting for GIF to
11 surrender the BL," which should be based on the
12 basic and the -- and the -- and the -- and
very
13 the pure law of shipping.
14 Okay. once I -- I -- I ask to
Now,
15 release without the BL -- I told them:
16 "Instead of I tell you each time,
17 this will be the practice with this shipment."
18 That's all. You ask for this
19 practice. This was the practice. Of course, I
20 expected that I would collect the BL within few
21 days after the arrival, one week, two weeks.
22 Q I understand. I understand.
23 A Any other idea is just ridiculous.
4 Why I would release the cargo if I don't expect
to collect the BL.
U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT
(877) 479-2484
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020
Adi Dagan
07/18/2019 28
1 Adi Dagan
2 Q Okay. Are these the goods that are
3 at issue in this case?
4 A Yes -- again?
5 Q Are these the goods that are at
6 issue in this case?
7 A I don't know -- I don't know if
8 it's the particular BL, BL out of the seven BLs.
9 As I said before, there was a practice that I
10 introduced from day one. And this practice was
11 applied to all the cargo, including the seven
12 BLs.
13 We didn't communicate about each
14 cargo separately.
15 Q How many cargos weren't paid for?
16 How many shipments?
17 A How many cargo?
18 Q How many shipments weren't paid
19 for?
20 A The freight, they pay for all
21 shipment. I don't know if that's what you ask.
22 Q Shoez, what did Shoez not pay for?
23 A Shoez did not pay for the seven BL
24 we are talking now.
25 Q All seven?
U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT
(877) 479-2484
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020
Adi Dagan
4 07/18/2019 47
1 Adi Dagan
2 with Shoez as my claim is against Ravissant"?
3 A Listen, Ravissant is the customer.
4 Ravissant should make sure that I will get the BL
5 from the other side.
6 Okay. He's my customer. He asked
7 me to release the BL. He -- I release the BL
8 first of all because of he ask me. Then I also
9 assume -- I took assumption that Ravvi -- that
10 whatever -- Shoez is a decent -- decent
11 businessman which pays bills.
12 Okay. And a few other assumption
13 about Gina, we don't repeat, again, okay.
14 But listen -- and then -- and then
15 I tried to -- and that's all. What else you ask?
16 I don't -- that's what I understand.
17 Q Okay. Okay. If you go forward a
18 couple of pages, middle of the E-Mail that is
19 from you to Devyani and Gina dated December 3rd
20 at 7:17 p.m., where it says:
21 "For your information" -- in the
22 middle of the E-Mail -- "For your information the
23 fact that we will" -- "we will sue both Ravissant
24 and Shoez will be a public knowledge and I
25 suggest you consider if that is what you want to
U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT
(877) 479-2484
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020
Adi Dagan
07/18/2019
1 Adi Dagan
it."
2 go into
3 What do you mean by that?
What is happening now, I sued him,
5 I sued Shoez. There is no point to sue
6 Ravissant.
What -- what did you mean
Q by saying
8 that?
That I tried to settle with them in
10 good. And if we will not settle in good, we will 1
11 go to court, which we did. We are now in the 1.
12 course of a court case against Shoez. Ravissant 12
13 was right a few years back. There's now -- it's 13
14 a dead interest, a dead equity. 14
15 Q All right. Three paragraphs above, 15
16 it says it: 16
l'7 "Yet, it is Ravissant that is 17
deception."
18 responsible for the
19 Do you see that?
20 A Which? 20
21 It says -- the same -- the same 21
Q
22 E-Mail, it says above it: 22
23 "Ravissant is responsible for the 23
24 deception." 24
25 A Which page? 25
U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT
(877) 479-2484
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020
Adi Dagan
07/18/2019 49
Adi Dagan
December -- December 3rd at
Q
7:17 p.m.
MS. SUTTON: In that same E-Mail,
5 it's on the last page.
6 A Okay. Which paragraph?
7 Q Where it says:
8 "Ravissant is responsible for the
deception."
9
10 A Ravissant -- what Ravissant did to
11 Habib Bank is --
exception, okay obtaining
12 property by deception, that's what he did.
13 Okay. He went -- when he went to
14 them and sell them the BL, it was after he asked
15 me to release the BL, so it's like selling
16 that not exist. So this is the -- in
something
17 my dictionary is a deception.
18 Q Ravissant asked you to release the
19 BL? I don't understand.
20 A Release the goods, release the
21 goods.
22 Q Release the goods.
23 So Ravissant asked you to release
24 the goods. Then it asked you for the BL.
25 Is that right?
U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT
(877) 479-2484
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020
Adi Dagan
07/18/2019 53
1 Adi Dagan
2 A Never.
3 Q Did you ever speak to him at all
4 before the -- there was a problem with not
5 getting paid?
6 A No, the only communication I had
7 about it is with his and it was -- I
assistant,
8 think one phone call -- I'm not sure -- and some
9 E-Mails.
10 And this was after -- this was
Q
11 after there was already a problem, right?
12 A That's what I understand. This
13 was -- the problem we had before is the problem
14 that he wants a few months ago for the one BL
15 68, 000. This was the first problem.
16 So I think this was a short --
very
17 but then I hear that -- short
nothing
18 communication time to understand it. Nothing
19 will happen out of this. And I knew that it will
20 go to the legal channel. And that's all. And I
21 try not to spend too much energy about it.
22 Q Did Deepak Devyani ever tell you
23 that he was going to give you an original bill of
24 lading?
25 A Of course.
U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT
(877) 479-2484
Preview
FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020 Adi Dagan 07/18/2019 1 3 1 2 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 3 COUNTY OF NEW YORK 4 Index No. 650884/2017 5 ------------------------------------------------ 6 SPARX LOGISTICS HONG KONG LTD., SPARX LOGISTICS USA LIMITED, 7 Plaintiffs, 8 -against- 9 10 SHOE2, INC., BRANDS UNLIMITED, GIF SERVICES, INC., 11 DEEPAK RAMCHANDANI a/k/a DEEPAK PARIKH, and GINA NAPOLITANO, 12 Defendant. 13 ------------------------------------------------ 14 TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEOCONFERENCE DEPOSITION OF 15 ADI DAGAN 16 17 TRANSCRIPT of the stenographic notes of 18 the proceedings in the above-entitled matter, as 19 taken by and before TAB PREWETT, a Registered 20 Professional Reporter, a Certified LiveNote 21 Reporter, Certified Shorthand Reporter and Notary 22 Public, held at THE OFFICES OF SAM P. ISRAEL, 23 P.C., 180 Maiden Lane, 6th Floor, New York, New 24 York 10038, on Thursday, July 18, 2019, 25 commencing at 9:01 a.m. U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT (877) 479-2484 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020 Adi Dagan 07/18/2019 1 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S: 2 3 3 4 4 5 SAM P. ISRAEL, P.C. 5 6 BY: SAMUEL P. ISRAEL, ESQ. 6 7 DAVID HROVAT, ESQ. 7 8 180 Maiden Lane 8 9 6th Floor 9 10 New York, New York 10038 10 11 Attorneys for Defendants 11 12 12 13 13 14 14 15 15 16 LAZARUS & LAZARUS, P.C. 16 17 BY: YVETTE J. SUTTON, ESQ. 17 18 240 Madison Avenue 18 19 New York, New York 10016 19 20 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 20 21 21 22 22 23 23 24 24 25 25 U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT (877) 479-2484 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020 Adi Dagan 07/18/2019 5 __ 1 Adi Dagan 2 it -- I don't take it at but I personally all; 3 have to ask you to just answer the questions to 4 the best of your ability without your son giving 5 you input into how to answer the questions 6 because he's not an official translator. 7 Okay. 8 A Okay. 9 Q So just do your best. If you don't 10 understand you will say it. I will rephrase the 11 question. 12 A If I need my son to tell me what to 13 answer -- thank you -- I appreciate it. 14 Q Okay. What is the relationship 15 between Life Logistics and Sparx Logistics? 16 A We -- Sparx Logistics used to be 17 for many years the handling agent for Life 18 Logistics. If you want me to go into details, it will take some time to explain because it's -- 19 20 the basic fundamentals of freight forwarding 21 business. So you want me to give you a lecture 22 about it now? 23 Q I don't want a lecture, but, if you 24 could just in -- in simple terms to explain try 25 to me what the relationship is. U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT (877) 479-2484 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020 Adi Dagan 07/18/2019 7 1 Adi Dagan 2 So they can issue our BL and sign 3 it. And in the freight to the US, we use their 4 BL because have -- have the SMC they they 5 [phonetic] license, which Life Logistics don't 6 have. 7 Q Okay. Let me ask you the names of 8 some other people and entities and ask you if 9 you -- if you know who are. they 10 Who is Alice A-c -- A-r-c-e? Arce, 11 A Who is she? She is the operation 12 lady in the Sparx office in Los Angeles. 13 Q Okay. Ravissant Limited? 14 A What? 15 Q What is Ravissant Limited? 16 A It used to be a company that not 17 exist anymore which unfortunately used to be 18 -- used to be our and are -- my customer, they 19 they were engaged in trading of garment 20 basically. 21 Q Okay. And who is Daisy Lee? 22 A Daisy Lee, she's my right hand and 23 operation manager of Life Logistics Limited. 24 Q Okay. GIF Services? 25 A This is custom office, sales, Shoez U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT (877) 479-2484 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM I INDEX NO. 650884/2017 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020 Adi Dagan 07/18/2019 11 1 Adi Dagan 2 you talking about? 3 I missed -- I missed the first part 4 of that. 5 A I am telling you the practice. The 6 practice is that I gave the BL to Ravissant; and, 7 at the same I am to Sparx -- I told time, telling 8 Sparx standing instruction: 9 "All this cargo you release upon 10 arrival. You are not waiting for GIF to 11 surrender the BL," which should be based on the 12 basic and the -- and the -- and the -- and very 13 the pure law of shipping. 14 Okay. once I -- I -- I ask to Now, 15 release without the BL -- I told them: 16 "Instead of I tell you each time, 17 this will be the practice with this shipment." 18 That's all. You ask for this 19 practice. This was the practice. Of course, I 20 expected that I would collect the BL within few 21 days after the arrival, one week, two weeks. 22 Q I understand. I understand. 23 A Any other idea is just ridiculous. 4 Why I would release the cargo if I don't expect to collect the BL. U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT (877) 479-2484 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020 Adi Dagan 07/18/2019 28 1 Adi Dagan 2 Q Okay. Are these the goods that are 3 at issue in this case? 4 A Yes -- again? 5 Q Are these the goods that are at 6 issue in this case? 7 A I don't know -- I don't know if 8 it's the particular BL, BL out of the seven BLs. 9 As I said before, there was a practice that I 10 introduced from day one. And this practice was 11 applied to all the cargo, including the seven 12 BLs. 13 We didn't communicate about each 14 cargo separately. 15 Q How many cargos weren't paid for? 16 How many shipments? 17 A How many cargo? 18 Q How many shipments weren't paid 19 for? 20 A The freight, they pay for all 21 shipment. I don't know if that's what you ask. 22 Q Shoez, what did Shoez not pay for? 23 A Shoez did not pay for the seven BL 24 we are talking now. 25 Q All seven? U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT (877) 479-2484 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020 Adi Dagan 4 07/18/2019 47 1 Adi Dagan 2 with Shoez as my claim is against Ravissant"? 3 A Listen, Ravissant is the customer. 4 Ravissant should make sure that I will get the BL 5 from the other side. 6 Okay. He's my customer. He asked 7 me to release the BL. He -- I release the BL 8 first of all because of he ask me. Then I also 9 assume -- I took assumption that Ravvi -- that 10 whatever -- Shoez is a decent -- decent 11 businessman which pays bills. 12 Okay. And a few other assumption 13 about Gina, we don't repeat, again, okay. 14 But listen -- and then -- and then 15 I tried to -- and that's all. What else you ask? 16 I don't -- that's what I understand. 17 Q Okay. Okay. If you go forward a 18 couple of pages, middle of the E-Mail that is 19 from you to Devyani and Gina dated December 3rd 20 at 7:17 p.m., where it says: 21 "For your information" -- in the 22 middle of the E-Mail -- "For your information the 23 fact that we will" -- "we will sue both Ravissant 24 and Shoez will be a public knowledge and I 25 suggest you consider if that is what you want to U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT (877) 479-2484 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020 Adi Dagan 07/18/2019 1 Adi Dagan it." 2 go into 3 What do you mean by that? What is happening now, I sued him, 5 I sued Shoez. There is no point to sue 6 Ravissant. What -- what did you mean Q by saying 8 that? That I tried to settle with them in 10 good. And if we will not settle in good, we will 1 11 go to court, which we did. We are now in the 1. 12 course of a court case against Shoez. Ravissant 12 13 was right a few years back. There's now -- it's 13 14 a dead interest, a dead equity. 14 15 Q All right. Three paragraphs above, 15 16 it says it: 16 l'7 "Yet, it is Ravissant that is 17 deception." 18 responsible for the 19 Do you see that? 20 A Which? 20 21 It says -- the same -- the same 21 Q 22 E-Mail, it says above it: 22 23 "Ravissant is responsible for the 23 24 deception." 24 25 A Which page? 25 U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT (877) 479-2484 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020 Adi Dagan 07/18/2019 49 Adi Dagan December -- December 3rd at Q 7:17 p.m. MS. SUTTON: In that same E-Mail, 5 it's on the last page. 6 A Okay. Which paragraph? 7 Q Where it says: 8 "Ravissant is responsible for the deception." 9 10 A Ravissant -- what Ravissant did to 11 Habib Bank is -- exception, okay obtaining 12 property by deception, that's what he did. 13 Okay. He went -- when he went to 14 them and sell them the BL, it was after he asked 15 me to release the BL, so it's like selling 16 that not exist. So this is the -- in something 17 my dictionary is a deception. 18 Q Ravissant asked you to release the 19 BL? I don't understand. 20 A Release the goods, release the 21 goods. 22 Q Release the goods. 23 So Ravissant asked you to release 24 the goods. Then it asked you for the BL. 25 Is that right? U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT (877) 479-2484 FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/30/2020 08:34 PM INDEX NO. 650884/2017 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 80 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 01/30/2020 Adi Dagan 07/18/2019 53 1 Adi Dagan 2 A Never. 3 Q Did you ever speak to him at all 4 before the -- there was a problem with not 5 getting paid? 6 A No, the only communication I had 7 about it is with his and it was -- I assistant, 8 think one phone call -- I'm not sure -- and some 9 E-Mails. 10 And this was after -- this was Q 11 after there was already a problem, right? 12 A That's what I understand. This 13 was -- the problem we had before is the problem 14 that he wants a few months ago for the one BL 15 68, 000. This was the first problem. 16 So I think this was a short -- very 17 but then I hear that -- short nothing 18 communication time to understand it. Nothing 19 will happen out of this. And I knew that it will 20 go to the legal channel. And that's all. And I 21 try not to spend too much energy about it. 22 Q Did Deepak Devyani ever tell you 23 that he was going to give you an original bill of 24 lading? 25 A Of course. U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT (877) 479-2484