Michael Hunter Deposition
In a three hour deposition given to Lebedev defense lawyer Konstantin Rivkin, Michael Hunter, a retired US international banker and former employee of Dart Management, discussed Dart's investment in YUKOS as a former minority shareholder. Hunter described in detail why he believes the prosecution's charges of embezzlement are "incomprehensible". He noted that YUKOS became "Russia's leader on issues of transparency, financial reporting and corporate governance". He goes on to state that based on his experience, he has concluded that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev's conduct was far more transparent than the Russian authorities' actions in their attack on the two men and YUKOS itself.
He concludes by expressing his willingness to appear in the proceeds by video conference to attest and confirm his deposition, but based on security concerns was not prepared to give testimony in Russia.
On June 30, 2010, the court ruled to withdraw Hunter's deposition from the case materials after objections from the prosecution that the deposition took place abroad (despite being certified by a Washington DC notary public).