- 13 -
1964 until 1972 he worked for the accounting firm of Touche, Ross
& Co., and in 1972 he joined the accounting firm of Richard A.
Eisner & Co. as the partner in charge of the tax department. In
1977, Becker founded Becker Co.
Becker had considerable experience with tax shelter
transactions before he organized the SAB Recycling Partnerships.
He prepared opinions regarding tax shelters' economic and tax
projections, advised individuals and companies with respect to
investments in tax shelters, lectured extensively about tax
shelter investments generally, and lectured and published with
respect to leveraged tax shelters. Becker described a leveraged
tax shelter as "a transaction where [the ratio of] the effective
[tax] writeoff, which includes the value of the tax credit, * * *
[to the amount invested] exceeds one to one." Becker Co.
specialized in tax advantaged investments. From 1980 to 1982,
approximately 60 percent of the work done by Becker Co. involved
tax sheltered and private investments. Becker has owned minority
interests in general partners of numerous limited partnerships.
Prior to organizing the SAB Recycling Partnerships, Becker owned
5 percent of the general partner of partnerships involved in
approximately 14 transactions concerning river transportation
(such as barges, tow boats, and grain elevators).
Although investment counseling was related to his firm's
line of business, Becker did not consider himself in the business
of providing investment advice. Becker did not normally hire
Page: Previous 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011