- 44 -- 44 -
opinion; (2) Ulanoff was not an economics or plastics expert; (3)
Becker did not know whether Burstein was an engineer; and (4)
Burstein was a client of Miller's and was not an independent
expert. In addition, Ulanoff and Burstein each owned an interest
in more than one partnership that owned Sentinel recyclers as
part of the Plastics Recycling Program.
Becker explained at trial that in the course of his practice
when evaluating prospective investments for clients, he focuses
on the economics of the transaction and investigates whether
there is a need or market for the product or service. With
respect to the Partnership transactions, the records indicate
that Becker overlooked several red flags regarding the economic
viability and market for the Sentinel EPE recyclers. The
offering memoranda for the Partnership transactions warned that
there was no established market for the Sentinel EPE recyclers.
Becker never saw any marketing plans for selling the pellets or
leasing the recyclers. He accepted representations by PI
personnel that they would be marketing the recyclers to clients
and that there was a sufficient base of end-users for the
machines; yet he never saw PI's client list. At the time of the
closing of the Partnerships, Becker did not know who the end-
users were or if there were any end-users actually committed to
the transaction.
Becker purportedly checked the price of the pellets by
reading trade journals of the plastics industry. However, he did
Page: Previous 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011