- 40 -
investment, such as the tax shelter department. Even though
Farrell was comfortable with the due diligence efforts at Smith,
Barney, he testified that he "very rarely offered" the tax
shelter investments to his clients because he "did not consider
himself knowledgeable enough" in the subject areas of the
investments. Similarly, Farrell testified that he did not rely
on Becker for general investment issues because he did not think
that was Becker's area of expertise. Farrell knew that Becker's
area of expertise was taxation, and he explained that he would
not discuss investments with Becker if they did not have tax
benefits.
c. Becker's Limited Investigation and Technological
Knowledge and His Emphasis on Disclosure and on
Protection Against Liability
In evaluating the Plastics Recycling transactions and
organizing the SAB recycling partnerships, Becker supposedly
relied upon: (1) The offering materials; (2) a tour of the PI
facility in Hyannis; (3) discussions with insiders to the
transactions; (4) Canno; and (5) his investigation of the
reputation and background of PI and persons involved in the
transactions.
Becker possessed no education, special qualifications, or
professional skills in plastics engineering, plastics recycling,
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