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the loans at issue to Radcliffe and to BOT that it had funded was
attributable to a desire to accommodate petitioner. In this
regard, the March 3, 1986 letter stated that Union Bank was
"pleased to have the opportunity to accommodate this valued Group
customer [petitioner] and will entertain all reasonable
requests."
Based on our review of the entire record in these cases,
petitioner has failed to persuade us that the Bank transactions
took the form they did because those transactions afforded the
U.S. banks in question an opportunity to earn a profit.88
With respect to petitioner's second contention (viz., the
U.S. banks in question preferred cash as collateral for loans
over tangible property located outside the United States because
it would have been difficult for them to protect their security
interest in and foreclose against such property),89 petitioner
88 Respondent contends that it is irrelevant whether the U.S.
banks in question earned or had an opportunity to earn a profit
on the Bank transactions. In view of our finding, we need not
decide whether respondent is correct. We note, however, that the
role of a person in a transaction has been ignored or recharac-
terized even where that person was allowed to make a profit with
respect to the transaction in which such person was involved.
See Estate of Weiskopf v. Commissioner, 64 T.C. 78, 96-98 (1975),
affd. without published opinion 538 F.2d 317 (2d Cir. 1976); see
also Davant v. Commissioner, 366 F.2d 874, 878, 881 (5th Cir.
1966), affg. in part, revg. in part on another issue South Texas
Rice Warehouse Co. v. Commissioner, 43 T.C. 540 (1965); Blueberry
Land Co. v. Commissioner, 361 F.2d 93, 98 (5th Cir. 1966), affg.
42 T.C. 1137 (1964).
89 It is noteworthy that petitioner's contention appears to be
at odds with his assertion on brief that Union Bank's security
interest in the cash deposits pledged by Pioneer and Mandalay
that secured the UB $1,300,000 loan was probably unenforceable
because the pledges of those deposits violated Hong Kong cor-
(continued...)
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