JULY 13, 1994:
Doug Sages was the first witness of the day. He is currently an executive vice president and chief financial officer with Titan Sports and has been since October 1985. Sages started out without much credibility as when he was asked if Terry Bollea was the top money-maker for Titan Sports, he said, “One of the top.”
Sages testified that McMahon told him to get money for steroids in a quiet way. In front of the grand jury, he used the word “untraceable,” but said that was his wording, not Vince’s. He said he told Vince a bank check is harder to trace than a personal check and makes the transaction unrelated to your name. He testified there were three transactions, May of ’88 (which he believed to be cash), June of ’88 (bank check), and October ’89 (bank check).
O’Shea: “McMahon told you he wanted to buy steroids for himself and Hogan?” Sages: “In substance.” Sages agreed that according to documentary, Feinberg asked him to draft a bank check again in June of ’88 for payment to Dr. Zahorian. He said he assumes it was for steroids. He said he marked the outflow as medical expenses.
O’Shea pressed Sages for financial figures for Titan Sports. Sages said profits have been several million per year from 1985 to ’89, but not more than $100,000 million during those years. He said the highest net income before taxes in one year was $6 million.
On McDevitt’s cross examination, Sages said he didn’t know for sure steroids were purchased with those checks. He said the total of the two bank checks was $1,180 and there is no record of the cash expenditure. McDevitt established that McMahon used Titan funds for his personal steroids because Titan is incorporated under sub chapter S, meaning he has to pay taxes on company earnings before he takes out his personal income, and then has to pay taxes on his income. By purchasing steroids from Titan funds, he didn’t have to pay personal taxes on that money. Sages also said the I.R.S. has audited the WWF the six years leading to 1991 and that the I.R.S. “looked at documentation and did not raise any challenges” concerning Titan classifying its wrestlers under contract as “independent contractors.”
In detailing the May ’88 cash transaction, he said he asked Vince what the money was for and he told him steroids. He told him steroids were lawful for his personal use. He concluded by saying no one asked him to destroy records related to Dr. Zahorian.
Brevetti cross-examined Sages. Sages said Feinberg did not tell him the $650 check was for steroids. He said McMahon’s philosophy on accounting is “to do it right and take the proper approach.”
On O’Shea’s redirect, he asked Sages if McMahon said the May ’88 steroid purchase was for personal use. Sages said it was. O’Shea: “But he said they were for him and Mr. Bollea?” Sages: “Yes.” O’Shea: “Mr. Bollea is a different person?” Sages: “Yes.” O’Shea: “Thank you.”
At this point, three key witnesses remained – perhaps the most important three for the government’s case against Vince McMahon. First, Emily Feinberg, McMahon’s personal secretary, then Terry Bollea, and then Dr. Gary Wadler, who would testify as an expert witness that there was not a legitimate doctor-patient relationship between Zahorian and the wrestlers, thus making all distribution illegal from ’85-’91.
·Emily Feinberg took the stand at 10:35 a.m. and finished at just past 5 p.m. O’Shea’s direct questioning began with the basics. Feinberg said she had a professional relationship with McMahon and they were friends. She worked for Titan from July ’87 to Sept. ’91 with her first year being spent as secretary to Dick Glover and the rest as executive assistant to Vince McMahon. O’Shea entered into evidence four steno notebooks. Feinberg said McMahon gave her a list of things to do each day and she would date each page. Feinberg said she had responsibilities when it came to drug testing and said wrestlers needed to take drugs to take life on the road, control roid rages, and do their jobs. The judge instructed the jury, “Titan was not required to give these tests or reveal the results.” Feinberg said she heard of wrestlers tearing up hotel rooms while in Europe, either due to cocaine or roid rages. She said she talked to Patterson about the roid rages.
Feinberg said Hogan was the number one money-maker, the number one star, the most important wrestler in the company. She said he had complete special treatment. “He was treated with kid gloves,” she said. “We were scared to bother him. He was always driven in a limousine, he had bodyguards, he had planes chartered to get back with his family.
She said she first learned of steroids when she began working for Vince. She said slang for steroids was “gas” and “juice” and slang for needles was “riggs.” She said usually Vince used those terms, but Patterson did also. She said Patterson was one of her husband’s closest friends and Patterson came over to their house for family picnics. She said Patterson knew and used slang terms for steroids (something Patterson denied in his testimony).
She said in June of ’88 Vince called her and asked her to send a check to Zahorian, but to make sure it wasn’t a company check. He gave me money and wanted me to call Zahorian to check for a dollar amount. Then I went to Benny (Morales, Titan account supervisor) for (untraceable checks.)
After a sidebar, Brevetti was allowed to question Feinberg about the stenopads before they were admitted into evidence. Brevetti established that the books were meant mainly for her eyes and that she would occasionally put personal notes in them. She established that Feinberg had them in her personal possession 12-18 months before giving them to the government. Brevetti then tried to establish that pages might have been ripped out and there would be no way to tell unless one counted the pages and the judge got angry at Brevetti for her approach. The notebooks were then entered into evidence.
Feinberg testified that McMahon wanted her to buy a new small refrigerator to store cold sodas in his office. She did so, but later found vials stored in there which required refrigeration.
She testified that she was asked to provide steroids to Hulk Hogan. “A shipment arrived from Zahorian. He (McMahon) dumped the package on his desk, separated some of them, and asked me to get them to the driver who would give them to Hulk at a local building – MSG, the Meadowlands, or Nassau Coliseum. She said this occurred more than once. She said steroids were delivered to Hogan via the driver or Federal Express. She said she didn’t have first-hand knowledge of Hogan picking them up in the office. She did say Vince was not secretive of this activity. She said Vince began using steroids with Hogan when Vince was producing the movie “No Holds Barred” in Atlanta. She said Vince said he started using steroids with Hogan that summer (’88).
O’Shea then pointed to several entries in her notebooks and asked her to explain them. First, a Dec. 7, 1988 entry “needles and stuff.” Feinberg: “That means Vince needed more needles and steroids. ‘Stuff’ was my indication for steroids.” A Dec. 20, 1988 entry “B12 and Riggs.” Feinberg: “That meant Vince wanted more B12 and more steroids and needles.” Ditto for Dec. 29. A Dec. 30 entry “riggs at TV?” Feinberg: “That was a reminder for me to see whether Vince wanted me to get him an envelope. He was one day on, two days off and he needed a package if he was going to be away at TV. A Mar. 20, 1989 entry “Get Hulk stuff.” Feinberg: “Get Hulk steroids.” An Apr. 10, 1989 entry said “riggs” again. An Apr. 11, 1989 entry “call Hulk riggs.” Feinberg: “Call to see if he needed steroids.” An Oct. 11, 1989 entry: “Zahorian 1 1/2 inch riggs, deca, 4 bottles HCG personal.” Feinberg: “Vince wanted me to order a certain gauge and more steroids and four bottles of HCG because often when you take steroids for a while your testicles shrink and need HCG to get back to regular size.”
She said that later in 1989, McMahon told her that he and Linda heard of a dinner party tip-off that there was an ongoing investigation of Zahorian, so he said to get the word out to the boys not to use Zahorian anymore. She said Jan. 25 entry “check FedEx, roids” meant Vince wanted her to check FedEx records for Zahorian-Titan transactions.
O’Shea then had her read a letter dated Jan. 25, 1991 sent to all wrestlers stating that if they use steroids to overcome an injury, they are responsible for carrying a prescription at all times and to please see information on steroid laws in the United States and Canada. She said that memo was typed the same day she was asked to destroy records. A Jan. 28, 1991 entry said “check roids correspondence” which she said indicated McMahon didn’t want anything in his office related to Zahorian. She said McMahon was angry at some wrestlers for continuing to use Zahorian for FedEx shipments of steroids.
She said as part of the office-evacuation of Zahorian-related material, Vince asked her to take an envelope of steroids home with me. Eventually, I threw them away. She said much later she went through the chest and found buried under her ski clothes (where she originally hid the envelope) a vial of steroids. She said she turned that over to the government, which the government found contained Deca.
McDevitt began cross-examination by establishing she began talking to the government in Nov. ’92, which was within a few weeks of her 52 weeks of severence pay from Titan expiring. She said she had met with the government five times and had 15 phone calls with them. She said while she was seeking out the government, the government was seeking her out. She said she met with O’Shea the previous morning for about 40 minutes talking about general subjects.
McDevitt established that McMahon started using steroids while with Hogan was in Atlanta in 1989, that Feinberg never ordered steroids from Zahorian, and that she didn’t know what the contents of the packages were that were to be sent to Hogan at MSG, Nassau, or the Meadowlands or even if they were delivered.
She said she never called Zahorian to order steroids except for once (10-24-89) when she ordered deca. McDevitt: “Did you tell prosecutors you ordered for Hulk Hogan and Vince was just paying.” Feinberg: “Maybe. There were times I called Zahorian for prices without having placed an order.” She said she destroyed drug testing summaries for Vince when things got hot early in ’91.
Brevetti began by asking Feinberg if she had been paid to be an actress in the past. Feinberg said no, but she had been paid to model. Brevetti asked if she had been handed a script by a producer to read from in the filming of a video. Feinberg said no. Brevetti continued to refer vaguely to a video that appeared on cable. The questioning didn’t seem to end up anywhere.
Brevetti then asked if Feinberg was wearing attire typical of her style while at Titan. Feinberg said it was and that the outfit she was wearing she wore while working for Titan.
Brevetti established Vince told Feinberg that Hogan taught him about steroids while in Atlanta. Feinberg said McMahon never asked her to order steroids for any other wrestler. She said she never heard McMahon encourage another wrestler to use steroids. She said the last time she saw Vince’s driver, Jim Stuart, was in May of ’91 and that about four months ago she spoke with Stuart on the phone when he by chance answered her call to a limo service. Brevetti said, “So he was alive as of then.” (No one seemed to know what that meant.)
Brevetti established that Feinberg believed McMahon was concerned about bad publicity when news of the Zahorian investigation reached Titan and she had no knowledge of McMahon wanting to cover up a crime by destroying records. Brevetti: “Is it fair to say during the Zahorian investigation, the media attention was intense?” Feinberg: “Yes.” (This was during the time the WWF received its first bad press as a result of its Gulf War angle with Sgt. Slaughter and Hulk Hogan.)
She said that, before helping Vince draft the memo where he advised wrestlers to carry prescriptions with them when they carried steroids. she believed steroids were legal “in some respects.” Brevetti tried to establish the memo as McMahon alerting the wrestlers to a change in the law.
Brevetti began trying to establish McMahon’s whereabouts on certain dates. During the questioning, Brevetti said McMahon got a haircut once every ten days. Brevetti began to delve into Feinberg’s schedule, asking “Were you in L.A. in April of ’89 with Vince McMahon?” Feinberg said, “No.” At this point, Linda McMahon began crying (although it was not obvious to anyone not looking at her because she didn’t make a spectacle out of it and wasn’t necessarily clear why she began crying) and Vince looked at her with a concerned, caring expression. Brevetti then pinpointed that Feinberg filmed a promotional video on Apr. 21-24, 1989 in California.
Feinberg talked about Hogan requesting charter planes: “There were times when Vince was generous with Hogan and other times it seemed like Hulk should pay himself. He was always asking to have his flights paid for.”
A good 15 minutes after she first began crying, Linda was still welled up and McMahon continued to look at her with what appeared to be an apologetic smile, asking for reassuring eye contact, as Brevetti went over some dates in Feinberg’s book where she had no notes concerning Vince’s whereabouts. A few minutes later during a sidebar, Vince walked over to Linda, sighed, and talked with her. He returned to his seat after the sidebar with a very distressful look on his face.
Brevetti then established that Feinberg’s husband worked at Titan and earned $130,000 a year while she earned $63,000. Brevetti established that Feinberg and her husband attempted to receive payments beyond Oct. ’92 before going to the government. Brevetti established that by testifying, Feinberg and her husband were granted immunity for any statements made. Feinberg said neither she nor her husband have plans to write a book.
By the time Brevetti concluded her cross-examination, a lot had been alluded to, but it seemed nothing was outright said that the jury could consider imperative to deciding the case.
On redirect, O’Shea established that Feinberg didn’t write down every steroid purchase in her notebook. He also established that McMahon was using steroids to build his physique, not repair injuries.
