The "R" Rated C.E.O.

Unlike trial testimony, witness depositions take place outside of public view, usually in the office of the lawyer for the other side. The rules of evidence are very much relaxed, and while lawyers lodge objections, it's a pretty free-ranging affair.

More often than not, these days, they are recorded on videotape, and images from them can be used to devastating effect: Think about Bill Gates slouched in his chair staring at a can of diet soda, or quibbling over the meaning of basic English, during his deposition. Snippets later played in open court and, via the cable networks, to the world during the Microsoft antitrust trial.

Well, Gates has nothing on Aron Wider, the chief executive of HTFC, an independent mortgage investor that takes loan applications and sells residential mortgages to lenders, such as GMAC Bank, which is suing HTFC, claiming the company sold loans that weren't properly underwritten.

Wider's 12-hour deposition was videotaped, and we'd certainly like to see it. His performance, under questioning by the opposing counsel, reads like a tryout for a remake of the movie Goodfellas or a test for the Sopranos, should the series come back.

Let's take a look, shall we?

Q: This is your loan file. What do Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald do for a living?

A: I don't know. Open it up and find it.

Q: Look at your loan file and tell me.

A: Open it up and find it. I'm not your fucking bitch.

Q: Take a look at your loan application.

A: Do it yourself. Do it yourself. You want to do this in front of a judge. Would you prefer to [do] this in front of a judge? Then, shut the fuck up.

Q: Sir, take a look—

A: I'm taking a break. Fuck him. You open up the document. You want me to look at something, you get the document out. Earn your fucking money, asshole. Better get used to it. You'll retire when I'm done.

This little exchange is the first outtake cited by U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno in a ruling levying sanctions of $29,000 against Wider and his attorney, who mainly sat mum while his client said the F-word, according to Robreno's count, 73 times.

(For the record, that's nothing compared with Goodfellas: According to a website called Listology, the F-word is uttered 246 times during the movie's 145 minutes.)

Robreno counted the times that the word "contract" was used during Wider's deposition. It came up only 14 times. The judge also notes that Wider repeatedly referred to himself as "the professor" and a "doctor of law" and called the opposing lawyer "a joke" and "a fucking idiot."

There is, as you might imagine, a lot more. This is a small gem:

Q: My question is where are you currently employed.

A: I' m not. I just told [you] I work for free.

Q: OK. You're not employed by the HTFC Corporation?

A: Hit That Fuckin' Clown. That's what it means.

Or how about this, the tail end of a long exchange about "flipping property.":

Q: Were you involved in flipping 207 North Rutherford?

A: I can't recall. I'm involved in flipping you.

Wider's lawyer, Joseph R. Ziccardi of Chicago, argued that his client's countenance at the deposition was justified owing to the opposing side's provocative and accusatory questions—claims Robreno found "simply astonishing." In fact, the videotape shows that Ziccardi "snickered" at his client's conduct at one point on the videotape.

At a hearing on the sanctions motion, Wider's lawyers argued his behavior at the deposition was the result of his mental condition. He suffers from an "anxiety disorder" and takes medication. But Wider made light of his psychiatric problems at several points in the deposition, something the judge called "a dubious defense."

Herewith, a parting shot:

Q: We're adjourning this deposition. We're going back to the judge. We're going to let the judge decide if this is an appropriate way for anybody to behave at a deposition. I'm not going to continue—

A: Don't point you're fucking fingers at me. Don't raise you're fucking voice at me. And I'm going to spit right back at you.

Let's call Central Casting.

by Karen Donovan