In his Brentwood mansion two years in the past, Rick Caruso sat down in entrance of his iPad, raised his proper hand and swore to inform the reality. Over the subsequent 9 hours, attorneys for a whole bunch of USC college students and alumnae grilled the developer, then chair of the college’s governing board, about who was in charge for sexual abuse and harassment they stated they suffered by the hands of a campus gynecologist.

The solutions Caruso gave in late October 2020 at a remotely held deposition had been sealed from public view by a protecting order within the case and have remained secret since, even because the billionaire launched into a mayoral marketing campaign premised partly on his efficiency at USC.

A transcript of the deposition just lately reviewed by The Instances confirmed Caruso refusing to reply many questions, on the recommendation of USC’s authorized workforce. With greater than half a dozen college attorneys monitoring his testimony, he invoked attorney-client privilege many times in declining to disclose discussions with directors about Dr. George Tyndall or the conclusions of an investigation into the gynecologist’s troubled historical past at a campus clinic.

“Primarily based on the recommendation of counsel, as we’ve talked about, I can’t launch the knowledge. I’m sorry,” Caruso replied after being requested whether or not girls suing would ever know “who was liable for their being sexually assaulted within the stirrups by their physician.”

5 months after his testimony, Caruso and different trustees signed off on a landmark $852-million settlement that introduced the whole compensation for Tyndall’s former sufferers to greater than $1.1 billion — the most important sex-abuse payout in schooling historical past.

Caruso, who took over as chair of USC’s board shortly after revelations about Tyndall grew to become public, has lengthy positioned his steering of the college out of disaster for example of the management he would provide in Metropolis Corridor. The election is three weeks away, and early voting has begun.

His opponent, U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), has argued that he bears some accountability for Tyndall as a result of he served on the board through the gynecologist’s remaining decade treating sufferers. In a single advert, Bass’ marketing campaign accused him of failing girls through the “ugliest chapter within the faculty’s historical past.”

In his testimony, Caruso stated he had by no means heard Tyndall’s identify till March 2018, when The Instances started asking former and present staff concerning the gynecologist. The Instances’ investigation prompted the college’s president and normal counsel to temporary the board’s govt committee in a telephone name. Directors had quietly compelled Tyndall out the earlier yr after many years of complaints, however they didn’t alert trustees or college students.

“Had been you upset as a board member you didn’t learn about Tyndall earlier?” requested John Manly, the lead legal professional for the sufferers, through the deposition.

“Sure. … It was incorrect,” Caruso stated. “The board ought to have been instantly notified.”

What then-president C.L. Max Nikias advised Caruso and different trustees about Tyndall within the preliminary telephone name and in quite a few conferences that adopted was an space of urgent curiosity to the attorneys questioning Caruso. However he testified that he couldn’t disclose any a part of these conversations with out violating the attorney-client privilege between the varsity and attorneys who participated within the discussions.

A number of the most contentious traces of questioning centered on an investigation into Tyndall by the regulation agency O’Melveny & Myers. Caruso advised reporters in 2018 and 2019 that he deliberate to make the agency’s findings public. To at the present time, the conclusions stay confidential.

Caruso’s failure to ship on that promise has been some extent of assault for Bass, who this month requested in a radio debate, “What concerning the victims? If that’s what they wished, they need to have had it.”

Caruso countered that the choice was based mostly on concern about victims. Consultants, he has stated, advised the trustees the main points might retraumatize Tyndall’s sufferers.

In his testimony, Caruso provided a distinct rationalization. He stated that after O’Melveny’s attorneys laid out their conclusions in personal shows to him and different trustees, USC’s authorized workforce suggested the board to not launch the knowledge.

Requested Tuesday in an interview concerning the discrepancy, Caruso denied that his causes had been inconsistent.

“You bought to take the evolution of the time,” he stated. “As soon as we bought to a settlement that everyone had agreed to, I don’t need to trigger any extra hurt to anyone. Why would I?”

He reiterated that he thought-about Tyndall’s conduct abhorrent and asserted that the board was sure by the obligations of attorney-client privilege.

“The trustees are usually not going to go overrule the overall counsel in the course of a lawsuit, proper? It’s by no means going to occur, nor frankly ought to it occur, from a enterprise best-operating practices” standpoint, he stated.

Manly, the legal professional who did a lot of the questioning of Caruso, refused to debate the deposition and didn’t present it to The Instances.

“Mr. Caruso didn’t create George Tyndall. Possibly he had nothing to do with it,” Manly stated Tuesday. “However the truth that he’s working for mayor and hasn’t known as for the report’s launch is troubling, given the variety of victims.”

Each USC and Caruso pointed to the archive of data about Tyndall posted on the college’s web site, which has greater than 600 pages of complaints, inner memos and a once-confidential report on Tyndall’s medical practices. A choose ordered USC to launch “all accessible nonprivileged data” about Tyndall’s time on the college after The Instances petitioned for entry to the data.

In the course of the questioning in 2020, Manly steered at one level that Caruso’s pledge of transparency was nothing greater than a “public relations stunt,” in line with the transcript.

“Is it true that … there was by no means an intent to make the report public?” requested Manly.

“No,” Caruso replied, including, “I take nice delight in my phrase.”

“However you broke your phrase right here,” Manly stated.

“No, I didn’t,” Caruso insisted.

He stated he had contemplated releasing data over the objections of the attorneys.

“Many occasions I’d have favored to have executed that, however I’ve a broader obligation, and it’s past satisfying myself,” Caruso stated.

“I used to be a bit naive and possibly a bit too keen as the brand new board chair,” he stated at one other level. “Sadly, I couldn’t fulfill … my promise of full transparency the best way I had hoped and meant to.”

At occasions within the deposition, Caruso appeared to be strolling a tightrope between his public picture of empathetic reformer and his fiduciary duties as chief of a multibillion-dollar establishment embroiled in high-stakes litigation.

Although he had issued a public apology to Tyndall’s sufferers and helped oust Nikias as president, Caruso dismissed a query about whether or not the college was at fault.

“I actually can’t reply that,” he replied. “It’s going to be closely litigated by you and others in entrance of a jury, in entrance of a choose, and I cannot presuppose any of that.”

He equally declined to put blame on particular supervisors or directors.

“Counselor, I’ve a powerful criticism of the system that allowed this to occur. … I’ve apologized for it. I stated it’s unacceptable,” Caruso stated. “However I’m not going to call anybody individual on this deposition.”

Caruso stated he didn’t obtain details about Tyndall outdoors of conferences the place USC attorneys had been current. Attorneys for the ladies queried him about whether or not he had mentioned the difficulty with an intriguing listing of people: Lakers president Jeanie Buss, former Los Angeles Police Division Chief Charlie Beck, famous litigator Daniel Petrocelli or anybody within the Trump White Home. Caruso denied every of them.

Because the deposition slogged into the late afternoon, the attorneys saved asking Caruso to reveal data, and he continued invoking attorney-client privilege, prompting USC’s attorneys to complain at size that their counterparts had been “badgering” and “harassing” the witness.

Caruso, who holds a regulation diploma and stated he had sat for a dozen depositions in numerous issues, appeared unflappable. Requested whether or not he had handed the bar examination, Caruso quipped, “Amazingly so.”

Questioned about donations to the candidates for L.A. County district legal professional on the time — Jackie Lacey and George Gascón — Caruso acknowledged sending cash to each campaigns.

“I’m being a pure pragmatist,” he stated.

Within the remaining stretch of testimony, because the attorneys appeared more and more annoyed, one accused Caruso of wanting down at his telephone to ship textual content messages relatively than taking note of questions.

He denied it, explaining, “My canine is down right here. Do you need to see an image of my canine? I’m leaning down, and I’m wanting down at him.” Caruso added, “He’s my buddy.”