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automobiles; (3) petitioner provided Mr. Harley with certificates
of title to four of the automobiles; (4) Mr. Harley was acting at
the express direction of petitioner when he wired the $3 million
in sale proceeds to the Julius Baer account at Banker's Trust in
New York; (5) approximately 10 days after the sale proceeds were
deposited into the Julius Baer account at Banker's Trust,
$453,375 was wired from this account to the Indian Head Bank in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in satisfaction of an outstanding
mortgage on property owned by petitioner; (6) approximately 2
months later, petitioner provided his wife with $2.5 million in
satisfaction of his divorce settlement obligation; and (7) in
connection with the divorce, petitioner had included the
automobiles in question on a three-page list that he compiled of
the couple's marital assets.
The principal issue for decision is whether petitioner owned
the automobiles in issue and, therefore, realized gain on their
sale on or about July 8, 1988. Petitioner argues that he sold
the automobiles on behalf of the late Abdul Aziz Ben-Jabr, and
then borrowed a total of $2,953,000 from the Ben-Jabr family to
satisfy an outstanding $453,375 mortgage on property he owned in
Maine, as well as a $2.5 million divorce settlement obligation.
Respondent, on the other hand, contends that petitioner was the
owner of the five automobiles in question and used almost all the
sale proceeds to satisfy the above obligations.
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