**PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL — ATTORNEY-CLIENT COMMUNICATION — ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT**
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From: Devon Archer To: Fiona Blackwood Cc: Bernard Crawford Date: Friday, June 30, 2023 Subject: Privileged & Confidential — Interim Status Update: Workplace Investigation (Matter No. 1017-00005)
Dear Fiona,
I hope this finds you well. As discussed during our last check-in, I wanted to provide you with an interim status update on the independent workplace investigation into the allegations concerning Marcus Hale, President of Aurelius Pacific Studios Inc. As you know, the investigation was formally opened on May 2, 2023. We have made substantial progress across all workstreams, and I have summarized the current status below.
**1. Witness Interviews**
As of today, 22 of the 27 planned witness interviews have been completed. Interviews commenced on May 22, 2023, and the breakdown by category is as follows:
- *Complainants:* All three complainant interviews have been completed. - *Subject Interview:* Mr. Hale's interview was conducted on June 15, 2023 at our Los Angeles office (1999 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 2800). The interview lasted approximately four hours and twenty minutes. Mr. Hale's personal counsel, Graham Thornfield of Thornfield & Associates LLP, attended. Mr. Hale denied all allegations, consistent with the written position statement submitted by Mr. Thornfield on June 5, 2023 (the 14-page submission that was previously logged and shared with you). - *Current Employees, Former Employees, and Third-Party Production Contractors:* Interviews across these categories are ongoing. - *Former Executive Assistant:* The former executive assistant who made the prior informal complaint in July 2021 was interviewed on June 22, 2023. That interview provided additional context regarding the prior complaint history and the verbal counseling issued on August 2, 2021. - *Remaining Interviews:* The five remaining interviews have been scheduled and are expected to be completed by mid-July 2023.
All interviews have been preceded by the Upjohn/corporate admonition consistent with the protocol established at the outset of the investigation.
**2. Document Review**
The document review is approximately 80% complete. As a reminder, Linden Forensics Group Inc. collected data from the nine identified custodians during May 10–12, 2023. The collection yielded approximately 847,000 documents, which were reduced to approximately 214,000 unique items after de-duplication and further narrowed to approximately 38,600 items after the application of agreed-upon search terms and date-range filters.
Of those approximately 38,600 filtered items, the review team has to date identified approximately 3,400 documents coded as relevant or responsive. A meaningful number of "hot" or highly relevant documents have been identified, including recovered text messages and email communications that bear directly on the key allegations.
The review team — consisting of myself, Nadia Petrov, and two contract review attorneys — is on track to complete the review by approximately mid-to-late July.
**3. Key Observations (High-Level)**
While we will reserve our detailed findings and analysis for the preliminary investigation report, I want to flag the following at a high level for your awareness:
- The documentary evidence reviewed to date is generally consistent with the accounts provided by the complainants. - Corroborating witness testimony has been obtained from multiple individuals across different categories of witnesses. - The investigation continues to examine the three categories of allegations: (1) sexual harassment allegations involving the VP of Development; (2) allegations of inappropriate comments involving the Senior Director of Talent Relations at the company off-site held at Monarch Valley Resort in Ojai, California on February 17–18, 2023; and (3) retaliation allegations involving the SVP of Physical Production concerning the reassignment of two major production projects on February 6, 2023. - The team is also examining potential policy and procedural deficiencies, particularly around complaint-handling and documentation practices, which will be addressed in the report.
**4. Correspondence with Outside Counsel**
We continue to manage correspondence with Thornfield & Associates LLP (Mr. Hale's personal counsel) and Nakamura Reeves LLP (counsel for the primary complainant, Jenna Morales). We have been in communication with Sandra Reeves of Nakamura Reeves LLP since our May 10, 2023 letter acknowledging their demand letter, and we anticipate potential follow-up inquiries from Ms. Morales's counsel regarding the pace and timeline of the investigation. We will keep you apprised of any developments on that front.
For the record, Mr. Hale remains on paid administrative leave since May 3, 2023, and his system access remains suspended.
**5. Timeline and Next Steps**
Our anticipated timeline for the remaining phases of the investigation is as follows:
- *Remaining Witness Interviews:* Expected to be completed by approximately July 14, 2023. - *Document Review Completion:* Expected by approximately the third week of July. - *Credibility Assessment and Legal Analysis:* To be prepared following the completion of all interviews and the document review. - *Preliminary/Draft Investigation Report:* Targeted for delivery in early August 2023. - *Board Committee Presentation:* Following Board review of the draft report, we anticipate a presentation to the People & Culture Committee (chaired by Dame Cordelia Ashworth) and the Audit & Risk Committee (chaired by Raymond Okoro). We would recommend a joint session, likely conducted via secure videoconference, with an anticipated duration of approximately two to three hours. We suggest targeting mid-August for this presentation.
Fiona, it would be helpful if you could begin coordinating availability with Dame Cordelia and Mr. Okoro for the joint committee session so that we can lock in a date as soon as the draft report is ready for circulation.
**6. Cross-Border Privilege Coordination**
We continue to coordinate with Pendleton & Warwick LLP in London on privilege protocol matters, consistent with the joint memorandum dated May 12, 2023. No issues have arisen to date.
**7. Insurance Matters**
The EPLI notice to Northbridge Mutual Insurance Co. (Policy No. NM-EPLI-2023-00417) and the precautionary D&O notice to Castlemaine Underwriters Ltd. (Policy No. CU-DO-2023-11283) were submitted on May 5, 2023. No substantive response requiring action has been received from either carrier to date, but we will continue to monitor. I also want to flag that investigation costs are accumulating and will need to be tracked against the $500,000 self-insured retention under the EPLI policy. We are happy to discuss cost tracking and reporting in greater detail at your convenience.
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Please let me know if you would like to schedule a call early next week — Bernard and I are both available and happy to walk through any of the above or address any questions you may have. We will provide another update upon completion of all witness interviews.
Thank you, Fiona. We appreciate the continued collaboration.
Best regards,
**Devon Archer** Associate Calderwood & Harkness LLP 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 2800 Los Angeles, CA 90067 Direct: (310) 555-4871 Email: devon.archer@calderwoodharkness.com Matter No. 1017-00005
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