And why did it—why did SNS Global cease operations?
A. Basically my partner and I had different ambitions for what we wanted to do. I wanted to have a brick and mortar office with more resources and staff. Basically I concluded that the work that we were doing required more infrastructure and resources. Basically in modern research you need to have access to a lot of different databases and there's a lot of aspects of the work that are administrative in nature that require things that I wasn't able to do. I prefer to spend my time doing the research. So I wanted to have more of an infrastructure where I could focus on that.
Q. What is Bean, LLC?
A. That's the LLC that is my current company.
Q. And what is your role in Bean, LLC?
A. I'm the majority owner. I guess, you know, we don't have official titles, but I'm generally referred to as the CEO.
Q. Bean, LLC registered Fusion GPS as a trade name in the District of Columbia; is that correct?
A. Yes, it's a DBA.
Q. Why did you choose to use a trade name for Bean, LLC rather than directly name the company Fusion GPS?
A. Because at the time that I was deciding what I wanted to do I was recruiting a new partner and I just needed to set up a holding company while I organized my new business. So I just picked a name. You know, a bean is a seed, a new thing. So I picked that name to begin the process of organizing a new business and didn't want to select an actual DBA, you know, a brand name until I consulted with my new partner. We wanted to mutually—I actually had two partners in the beginning, so there were three of us, and I wanted to make it a group decision.
Q. Is Bean, LLC currently registered in D.C. to conduct business under the trade name Fusion GPS?
A. To my knowledge it is. It should be.
Q. Have any other LLC's or business entities conducted business as Fusion GPS?
A. I don't think so.
Q. Have any other LLC's or business entities received payments for work conducted by Fusion GPS, its employees, or its associates?
MR. LEVY: Are you asking to include subcontractors or are you—
MR. DAVIS: Sure.
MR. LEVY: Does Fusion GPS have subcontractors?
MR. DAVIS: Right. I think that would be part of it, but the other part is: are there other LLC's associated with Bean direct-—with Bean or Fusion directly, not just subcontractors?
BY THE WITNESS:
A. Yes. I mean, the one I think that has come up in some of the correspondence or somewhere, I can't remember where, is another one called Kernel, K-E-R-N-E-L, and that was an LLC that was set up for a book project that never—we never finished—we never did the book. So it's inactive with the current time. Then there's another one that one of my partners manages that's for different types of work, technology, policy, and that type of thing.
Q. What's the name of that one?
A. I think it's Caudex, C-A-U-D-E-X.
Q. And are any other LLC's or types of business entities otherwise associated with Fusion GPS?
A. Those are the only ones I can think of.
Q. And have you been a registered agent, owner, or beneficial owner of any other LLC's or business entities?
A. I own an LLC in Maryland that holds some property that I own.
Q. And what's the name of that LLC?
A. As we sit here, I wasn't prepared for this question, I don't remember the name of it. It was registered fairly recently. Obviously we can get that to you.
Q. So is it correct that Fusion has at times worked with different LLC's based on by project?
A. For most of the history of the company Bean, LLC was the primary entity through which we did business. I'm not sure I totally understand your question. There's this other LLC I mentioned that's fairly recent and there may be other entities, but nothing that I, myself set up, at least not that I can think of.
Q. Anything that your partners would have set up?
A. Not that I can think of.
Q. Does Fusion GPS, Bean, LLC, Kernel, LLC, or any of these other related business entities have any bank accounts outside of the United States?
A. No.
Q. Domestically does Bean, LLC have an account at ?
A. Yes.
MR. LEVY: I don't know that we need to get into bank accounts.
MR. DAVIS: Are you offering a basis for that objection?
MR. LEVY: It's outside the scope of the interview.
MR. DAVIS: Part of the questions we've asked are actions Fusion has taken—interactions Fusion has had and we're trying to define the scope of what Fusion is as a predicate to understanding those answers.
MR. LEVY: Yeah, and he's answering those questions.
MR. FOSTER: He answered yes to the question.
BY MR. DAVIS:
Q. Where is Fusion GPS's physical office, if any?
A. DuPont Circle.
Q. Is it, if I recall correctly, 1700 Connecticut Avenue, Northwest?
A. That's the address, yes.
Q. Is it Suite 400?
A. It is.
Q. How many employees and associates does Fusion GPS currently have?
A. Roughly a dozen.
Q. Who are they?
A. Do you want their names?
Q. Yes, their names.
A. is a partner in the business; is a partner in the business; , , is a partner in the business. Another one of our managers is Another one of our manager is , and he is a l. We have several analysts whose names are ; ; whose previous position I don't recall; whose former position I don't recall; who previously was with I think ; who's our administrative person. There may be one or two others whose names I don't recall.
Q. Is anyone who was an employee or associate of Fusion GPS in 2015 or 2016 no longer with the company? And if so, who?
A. Not that I can think of.
Q. In general, what is Fusion GPS's business?
A. We primarily are a research, strategy, consulting firm.
Q. And what types of clients has Fusion GPS had?
A. It runs the gamut from corporations to law firms, various investment funds, people involved in litigation.
Q. And roughly how many active clients—
MR. LEVY: Did you finish? I don't know if he finished.
MR. DAVIS: I'm sorry.
BY THE WITNESS:
A. It's hard to categorize them all. Those are some of the main types of clients we have.
Q. And roughly how many active clients did Fusion GPS have in 2016?
A. That's difficult for me to answer. You know, over ten I would say, but it's hard for me—beyond that I would be guessing.
Q. Does part of Fusion GPS's business involve attempting to have media outlets publish articles that further the interests of your clients?
A. Yeah, you could—I mean, generally speaking, we are—generally we tend to respond to inquiries more than try to push things,