Page:Simpson-transcript-redacted.pdf/185

Glenn SimpsonPage 185 A. We did not believe that was being done on behalf of the Russian government.

Q. What do you understand Prevezon's relationship, if any, to be with the Russian government?

A. Prevezon was introduced to me as the client and Denis Katsyv was the owner of Prevezon. Generally speaking, when we take on a new case, you know, from a respected law firm part of the, you know, discussion is who's the client, and, you know, Mark Cymrot said they've checked out Denis Katsyv and he has — he's a legitimate businessman. He's got a real estate company, it's a successful company, and he has an explanation for how he makes his money and appears to be legit. To some extent whenever you enter a new case that's part of what you're being hired to determine is whether that initial due diligence stands up, but in any event, he was presented to me as a successful real estate investor.

As I say, I worked with Baker Hostetler for a number of years and it's a conservative midwestern law firm with a lot of respected people in it, and part of the obligations of lawyers in this country and now in a lot of other countries is to determine 1-800-FOR-DEPO