The greatest hits from Bryan Mineo's deposition
I get the feeling he doesn't like me.
I have sat for a deposition, and I can assure you they aren’t that much fun.
I think Bryan Mineo would agree with me on that, but that’s about all he would agree with me on.
Bryan Mineo, who runs a sketchy swimming non-profit from SoCal, sat for about six hours to answer many questions, but it’s clear the only important ones- I mean the most important ones- were about me.
My name came up only- I mean a total of- thirty-two times during the deposition. Approximately ten minutes of the six hours were dedicated to me.
I should only talk about me, but I’m a professional and definitely not a narcissist: as such, I will talk about parts of the deposition which had nothing to do with me as well.
That said, since the portions about me are the only important ones- I mean the most important ones- I will start with those first.
Most people who read articles don’t finish the entire thing, and I will be damned if anyone reads this and doesn’t read about me.
To sum up, Bryan doesn’t like me very much: I am baffled; I’ve given him no reason. Below is an example of the things I have written about him.
See, nothing but love.
Here is some of what he said about me.
Distortion, tabloid, fraud, and false statements: this sounds series. He should sue.
I can relate; there are so many things I’d like to do- yoga, mountain climbing, suing random people- if only I had the time.
Still, I think Mr. Mineo is being- in the words of Andy Dufresne- obtuse. In case, my audience includes the three people who have still not seen Shawshank Redemption- don’t admit it- here is the scene I am talking about.
Though Bryan never sued me, his divorce attorney, Raj Matani, did send me a threatening letter, followed by a threatening phone call, and then Bryan left me a message: all on the same day.
I think it’s possible that Bryan was being obtuse when he said it was only a lack of time which stopped him from suing, but Bryan had trouble recalling this.
Some may be thinking Bryan’s lack of recollection is convenient, but I think it’s more serious.
See, he didn’t recall a lot of things: in fact, I don’t recall was one of his favorite responses during the deposition.
Bryan answered “I don’t recall” over one hundred times during the deposition. Most curiously, he did not recall being accused of pointing a gun at his wife.
I can sympathize. The other day, I went to Mariano’s for groceries, and I couldn’t recall what I wanted to get either.
This may explain why Bryan rarely recalls the details of the finances of his non-profit: which is where the investigation started. See, his non-profit has not even raised $150,000, but somehow, he’s managed to draw a salarly of nearly $100,000.
In fact, he and his board agreed to give him a salary of $150,000 if he raised enough.
That was pretty exorbitant, in my estimation, and that’s what I have been investigating. Unfortunately, Bryan did not clear up just how much he made in this deposition: despite being his non-profit’s only paid employee.
Bryan complained that I targeted his tiny non-profit, “I saw countless articles, almost all of them on divorce proceedings of a guy living in Chicago that has no business ever knowing about a small nonprofit that makes $150,000 a year or less.”
Bryan’s non-profit has been featured in a puff piece by Bonnie Tsui, a best-selling author, in local newspapers, and in travelogues.
He’s even the global swim coach for Nike.
I previously reached out to Nike but received no response.
Beyond that, if this non-profit is so small, why can’t Bryan ever give a straight answer on its biggest expense: his salary?
As of today, the 990s, the taxes required for all 501(C)3 non-profits, are still not available on Guidestar, which lists them all.
I just don’t understand why simple questions- like the only salary- are so hard to answer. The full deposition is below.
Post-Script
Check out the previous articles in this series: Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Article 4. Article 5, Article 6, Article 7, Article 8, and Article 9
Check out the new fundraiser to help investigate more non-profits which don’t receive enough scrutiny.
