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Developer: missing FEMA dates on slide were a ‘formatting error,’ denies fraud
Summary
In deposition, developer Philip Ramirez said the dates missing from a FEMA screenshot on his slide were the result of an accidental formatting error and not an effort to mislead the council. Counsel pressed whether the missing dates could have been concealed with deliberate edits; Ramirez denied intent.
Developer Philip Ramirez testified under oath that he prepared the presentation slide in question and that the missing release dates visible on FEMA’s site were not intentionally hidden in the version shown to boards and council.
"It appears that it was just a formatting error of some sort… I would make the statement that this is not materially important… it was no intention to deceive anybody," Ramirez said during deposition questioning. Counsel for the petitioners disputed whether the omission could be produced by a simple formatting change, demonstrating in the hearing how a text box could be placed and filled to obscure text on a slide.
Ramirez acknowledged he gave the slide to local economic-development bodies and that the slide was used at a Type B presentation and during the city council first reading, but he maintained that if there were missing dates it was inadvertent. He told the tribunal he had met individually with multiple council members after concerns surfaced and said he provided an explanation to some council members ("I had individual meetings with Jim Klein… I talked to Sylvia Campos…").
The deposition record shows unresolved disputes about whether forensic review of native presentation files or phone-forensic downloads occurred; Ramirez and other witnesses invoked counsel for many questions about legal exposure.
