Entrapment Trial Defendant Testimony Transcript
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157 1 ESKANDAR MOLAVI, 2 having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: 3 DIRECT EXAMINATION 4 BY MR. KAWI: 5 Q. Mr. Molavi, where do you live? 6 A. I live in -- 7 THE COURT: He's going to have to speak 8 up. It's just -- 9 Q. (By Mr. Kawi) Mr. Molavi, you're going to have 10 to speak louder -- 11 A. All right. 12 Q. -- than you think you should be speaking. 13 A. All right. 14 Q. Okay. And just try and stay close to that 15 microphone. 16 A. Okay. Can I have some water, please? 17 Q. Yeah, absolutely. 18 THE COURT: Okay. 19 Q. (By Mr. Kawi) And I know -- so I know you are 20 wearing the earphones to help you with hearing. So 21 if there's any problem with the audio, you will have 22 to just tell me. 23 A. Yes, sir. 24 Q. Okay. Thank you. 25 Mr. Molavi, where do you live? SHAWNIE ARCHULETA, CSR/CRR FEDERAL COURT REPORTER - 214.753.2747 158 1 A. I live in Frisco, Texas. 2 THE COURT: Okay. Please speak louder 3 than that. Please. 4 Q. (By Mr. Kawi) For you, Mr. Molavi, it's going 5 to almost feel like you are almost kind of almost 6 yelling into the microphone. 7 A. Okay. 8 MR. KAWI: Was that better? 9 THE COURT: Yeah. 10 Q. (By Mr. Kawi) So we will keep the volume, all 11 right? 12 A. All right. 13 Q. Did you say you live in Frisco? 14 A. Yes, sir. 15 Q. And is that a suburb of Dallas? 16 A. Yes, sir. 17 Q. All right. How long have you lived in Frisco, 18 Texas? 19 A. I live in Frisco, Texas since 2003. 20 Q. Okay. So a long time. We have already met 21 your son, Arya. Do you have any other children, 22 sir? 23 A. Yes, Donna. 24 Q. Donna Molavi? 25 A. Donna Molavi. SHAWNIE ARCHULETA, CSR/CRR FEDERAL COURT REPORTER - 214.753.2747 159 1 Q. And she's in the courtroom here today? 2 A. Yes, she's there. 3 Q. Who is she sitting next to, sir? 4 A. My wife. 5 Q. What's your wife's name? 6 A. Maryam Molavi. 7 Q. How long have you been married to Maryam 8 Molavi? 9 A. Around 28 years. 10 Q. Twenty-eight years? 11 A. Yeah. 12 Q. Did you become a citizen of this country at 13 some point? 14 A. Yes, sir. 15 Q. Okay. So you were born somewhere else, but you 16 moved to the United States? 17 A. Yes, sir. 18 Q. Okay. And about how long ago did you become a 19 full United States citizen? 20 A. A few years ago. 21 Q. Was it about ten years ago? Would that be fair 22 to say? 23 A. Maybe a little bit less. 24 Q. Okay. Did you go to like a ceremony where 25 they -- you raise your hand and swear to be a SHAWNIE ARCHULETA, CSR/CRR FEDERAL COURT REPORTER - 214.753.2747 160 1 citizen? 2 A. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. 3 Q. Okay. All right. Now, Mr. Molavi, I just want 4 to ask you a few questions about the lawsuit that we 5 have all heard so much about. All right? 6 A. All right. 7 Q. And we have heard about the details of it, and 8 you have been in the courtroom the whole time of 9 course; is that right? 10 A. Yes, sir. 11 Q. Do you know someone named Hossain Makvandi? 12 A. Yes, sir. 13 Q. How long have you known this person? 14 A. I know him since probably 1980-something. 15 Q. Okay. And did you end up going into business 16 with him? 17 A. Yes, sir. 18 Q. All right. It was a gas station business? 19 A. Yes, sir. 20 Q. Okay. And obviously we've heard about the 21 lawsuit. Whenever there's a lawsuit, things did not 22 go as planned. Fair to say? 23 A. Would you please repeat it? 24 Q. Sure. So we know that when there's a lawsuit, 25 that means things did not go well, right? SHAWNIE ARCHULETA, CSR/CRR FEDERAL COURT REPORTER - 214.753.2747 161 1 A. Yes, sir. 2 Q. You-all got into a dispute, and lawyers had to 3 come and be involved, right? 4 A. Yes, sir. 5 Q. All right. Did he have a lawyer? 6 A. Yes, sir. 7 Q. And did you have a lawyer? 8 A. Yes, sir. 9 Q. Okay. Now, Mr. Molavi, did you think that what 10 happened -- what was happening to you during the 11 lawsuit was fair? 12 A. No. 13 Q. Okay. And in fact, did you think that what was 14 happening during the lawsuit when it was going on 15 was very unfair to you? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. All right. During the lawsuit, before it 18 settled and you got money, were you, in fact, very 19 angry about what was happening in the lawsuit? 20 A. Yes, sir. 21 Q. Okay. And was there a time when you signed an 22 agreement called a mediation agreement? 23 A. Okay. Yeah. 24 Q. Do you remember signing a document called a 25 mediation agreement? SHAWNIE ARCHULETA, CSR/CRR FEDERAL COURT REPORTER - 214.753.2747 162 1 A. Yes, sir. 2 Q. Okay. Now, we heard -- do you remember when 3 David McCue testified I think yesterday? 4 A. Yes, sir. 5 Q. Or maybe the day before. Okay. 6 And he explained to us that the first mediation 7 agreement had a bunch of handwriting on it. Right? 8 A. Yes, sir. 9 Q. So was it like an official typed-out document? 10 A. No. 11 Q. Okay. Did you feel -- did you sign it? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. All right. Did you feel upset and confused by 14 signing it after you signed it? 15 A. Yes, sir. 16 Q. All right. How long had you been in business 17 at that point when you signed it? I mean, I don't 18 need an exact year, just about how many years or 19 decades had you been in business? 20 A. Business with him or totally? 21 Q. Total business. 22 A. Oh, almost all of my life. 23 Q. Okay. 24 A. Except 15 years, 16 years, I work for oil 25 company. And during that time, I was a project SHAWNIE ARCHULETA, CSR/CRR FEDERAL COURT REPORTER - 214.753.2747 163 1 manager of like three hospital. I made two bridge 2 over the river and 78 kilometer high tension 3 electric tower and something like this. 4 Q. Okay. You've had a long life of work. 5 A. Yeah. 6 Q. Okay. That's fine. I'm just asking, you were 7 in business for a long time, making business deals. 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. Okay. Have you ever in your life remembered 10 signing a document that you thought you didn't 11 understand after? 12 A. No. 13 Q. Okay. Did this worry you, that this had 14 happened? 15 A. Yes, very much. 16 Q. All right. And how old are you right now? 17 A. I was -- 3rd of March was my birthday for 18 70-something years. 19 Q. 70-something? 20 A. Yeah. 21 Q. When this case was going on, had you noticed 22 that you were maybe forgetting things or having 23 problems -- 24 A. I said 70-something. I was 70. I'm 71 two 25 days, three days now. SHAWNIE ARCHULETA, CSR/CRR FEDERAL COURT REPORTER - 214.753.2747 164 1 Q. Okay. Thank you. So when you signed this 2 document but afterwards thought you didn't 3 understand it, were you worried about your own 4 health? 5 A. Yes. 6 Q. All right. And so did you go get evaluated 7 somewhere, like with doctors? 8 A. Yes, sir. 9 Q. All right. Now, we were all in the courtroom 10 when Mr. McCue was reading a document. Mr. McCue, 11 the lawyer, read something, and it seemed to say 12 that you, Mr. Molavi, had told the doctor that you 13 just needed to find a doctor to get them to say that 14 there was a problem with you. That's how -- when 15 Mr. McCue read it, those were the words on the page. 16 A. Yeah. 17 Q. Were you listening to that? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. Okay. Even before this trial, did you have a 20 problem with how they had written that? Did you 21 disagree with how they had written that even before 22 the trial? 23 A. Yes, of course, yeah. 24 Q. Well, let's explain to the jury why. What did 25 you tell that doctor when you went in to be SHAWNIE ARCHULETA, CSR/CRR FEDERAL COURT REPORTER - 214.753.2747 165 1 evaluated about why you were there. 2 A. Yeah. When I went to doctor, I told doctor, 3 "I'm almost 70 years old." 4 THE COURT: I'm sorry, you're going to 5 have to speak into the microphone. 6 THE WITNESS: Excuse me. 7 A. I was in the business, and I never had happened 8 to me like this, and I'm worried about myself.