- 19 -
Petitioner learned of the Plastics Recycling transactions
from Noel Tucker of Becker Co. in 1981. Petitioner had been
referred to Becker Co. in 1980 by Richard Snyder (Snyder), who at
the time was the chief executive officer of Simon & Schuster,
Inc. Petitioner and Snyder frequented the same fitness center
and often talked while exercising. While "bemoaning * * * [his]
financial status" on one such occasion, petitioner told Snyder
that he "would love to increase" his income and that his "taxes
[were] all screwed up". Snyder was a client of Becker Co. and he
recommended the firm to petitioner. Petitioner contacted Becker,
who "almost immediately turned * * * [him] over to Noel Tucker."
Tucker serviced petitioner's account for approximately 1 year,
and then it was turned over to a new member of the firm, Harry
Shuffrin.
Tucker suggested the Plastics Recycling transactions to
petitioner in 1981 and provided him with a copy of the SAB
Recovery offering memorandum. Petitioner claims that he and his
wife Mary devoted several evenings to the offering memorandum and
"read it very carefully". The "possibility of being audited" and
"a statement about there being some risk" concerned petitioner,
and he raised these concerns with Tucker. According to
petitioner, Tucker indicated that such warnings or caveats are
routine and that the venture was sound. Petitioner recalled
believing that Tucker had not visited PI but that Becker had
visited PI several times, "often with experts in tow," and that
Page: Previous 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011