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petitioners' income tax returns: "petitioner Edward Kelly
justifiably relied upon the expertise of his Certified Public
Accountant and, taking the matter far beyond normal prudence and
care, counsel for the taxpayer in the Groetzinger case."
The record does not disclose the details of Mr. Kelly's
consultation with Baymiller. We know from Auerbach's testimony,
however, what information Auerbach elicited from Mr. Kelly, and
how it influenced the accountant's advice. In concluding that
ordinary loss treatment was warranted, Auerbach apparently
attached decisive importance to Mr. Kelly's statement that
registration as an options principal qualified him to establish
his own business as an options dealer. The petition in docket
No. 28233-91 contains a similar allegation: "Kelly is a licensed
options dealer". Considering the importance of this allegation
to Mr. Kelly's theory of the case, one would have expected him to
present evidence verifying its accuracy. He did not. When
Mr. Kelly was asked as a witness to explain what the status of
registered options principal entails, he described
responsibilities for reviewing customer accounts and monitoring
compliance with institutional rules. On brief Mr. Kelly asserts
only that he was "licensed in the securities business", and in
his account of how Auerbach formed his opinion based on the
information Mr. Kelly supplied, we find a curious qualification:
"Mr. Auerbach decided that, in view of (A) Mr. Kelly's ROP
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