- 163 -
authority over the matter and that his only remaining
responsibility was to assist the OIG with its investigation.
Upon receipt of the referral, OIG assigned Senior Special
Agent Leland D. Halleck (Mr. Halleck) to investigate the matter.
Mr. Sanchez directed Mr. Dombrowski to provide Mr. Halleck with
all documents in respondent's possession that Mr. Halleck might
request and to answer Mr. Halleck's questions. As part of his
investigation, Mr. Halleck considered whether there had been any
bribery in violation of 18 U.S.C. section 201. A violation of
this section had not been included in the Internal Revenue
Service referral but was added by the OIG. Mr. Halleck was not
restricted from investigating any other possible violations
relating to the Thompson and Cravens settlements.
Mr. Halleck interviewed Messrs. Sims and McWade in October
1992. Messrs. Sims and McWade told Mr. Halleck that they would
not allow any of the Kersting test case petitioners to settle
because: (1) They did not want the test case litigation
delayed;66 (2) they would have had to find replacement cases with
66 As indicated supra pp. 41-42, removal of the Thompson
and Cravens cases from the test case array in January 1987 would
not necessarily have caused a delay in the trial of the test
cases insofar as the Kersting programs in which the Thompsons and
Cravenses had participated during the years in issue were before
the Court in other test cases. On the other hand, removal of the
Cravens cases might have caused the remaining test case
petitioners to argue that the Cravens cases should be replaced
because Mr. Cravens was the only test case petitioner to report
capital gains upon the termination of his Kersting program. In
any event, the nearly 2-year delay in the trial of the test cases
after Chicoine and Hallett were allowed to file amendments to
petitions raising evidentiary issues provided ample time for
(continued...)
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