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all aspects of the transactions.
Fred has claimed that Bucci, on behalf of Machise, engaged
in hard bargaining in striking a deal to lease the employees and
independent contractors. We can find no substantiation for
Fred's self-serving claims. Bucci appeared at the trial of this
case, but it was soon obvious that he was not competent to
present an accurate description of the events at issue. Medical
evidence submitted after the trial suggests that, prior to and
during the trial, Bucci was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
The record lacks any indication that Bucci had been fully
cognizant of the facts of the employee leasing transactions when
they occurred. If Bucci were the tough negotiator Fred claimed
him to be, we believe that there would be at least some written
records reflecting his active participation in the employee
leasing negotiations. There are none. We would also expect that
other responsible officials of Machise would be familiar with the
transactions that their corporation had entered into. The
testimony of Crescenzo, the controller, and Peretti, the
operations manager, tells a different story. They plainly did
not understand the specifics of the employee leasing programs.
We are left with the conclusion that Bucci, and the rest of
Machise's personnel, left everything to Fred, relying on his
representations that the employee leasing arrangements were too
good to pass up. Fred purported to explain to the Court that
Machise fell into a "gold mine. * * * they didn't have to pay
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