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were interested they could participate as well." (Emphasis
added.) Alter reiterated this point on cross-examination in the
following exchange:
Q Did you suggest that your clients consult with
others who were plastics experts?
A No. I told them that I was investing and that it
seemed like a sound investment to me, and if they were
interested they could participate as well.
Q Did you recommend the investment?
A To the extent that I just stated.
Feinstein recalled Alter's presentation of the transactions as
follows: "It is my recollection and based on how I was and he
was with clients, that it was a possible investment. He thought
it would work for them and would work as an investment with no--
no pressure at all. * * * Most certainly not pressure." With
respect to what Feinstein himself advised petitioners, Feinstein
could not recall if he was asked for a recommendation, and could
only venture that "I probably would have said that it's--it's a
type of situation".13
Petitioners maintain that they reasonably inferred that
Alter's personal decision to invest was a tacit recommendation of
the Plastics Recycling transactions, particularly given his
history of rejecting tax shelters that had been suggested to them
13 In answers to interrogatories, incorporated into a
stipulation, petitioner Zimmer indicated that in his view Alter
and Feinstein had recommended the Plastics Recycling investment
to him. The testimony of Alter and Feinstein clarifies this
limited and qualified stipulation.
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