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not go on this trip, and the $318 charge for his ticket was
refunded by a credit on the American Express August invoice.
Thus, the $318 that was later refunded is not properly part of
the cost of this Lake Tahoe trip.
Check No. 1896, Debit Memo--Hawaii. The American Express
July invoice includes charges totaling $2,014.69 for
miscellaneous hotel and airline expenses on a trip to Hawaii by
petitioner, Betsy, and the children. Petitioner charged all of
these expenses on his Markette American Express credit card. The
primary purposes of this trip were (1) for petitioner to appear
as a panelist on a video conference to be broadcast from Hawaii
by satellite, (2) to meet Howard Ruff (hereinafter sometimes
referred to as Ruff) in person, and (3) to take a family
vacation. These charges were paid for by Markette check No.
1896.
Petitioner was invited to be a panelist by a radio talk show
host, H.I. “Sonny” Bloch, hereinafter sometimes referred to as
Bloch. Bloch’s brother, a Washington, D.C., attorney, was a
client of petitioner. Bloch also became a client of petitioner.
Ruff, a well-known financial adviser, described by petitioner as
“the greatest guru”, was the other panelist. On the video
conference, Ruff spoke about financial aspects of investing, and
petitioner spoke about tax aspects of investing. The video
conference was a segment of “Investor’s Action Line”, a
nationally syndicated television program for investors and
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