- 236 - respect to the Embarcadero Hotel project and that, although Hyatt Corp. had full-time tax counsel representing it, there were some isolated tax questions with which he was involved. He testified that, at that time, his office did not do anything but tax work and he had no involvement with any other part of the project or contract. Kanter also claims that Weaver gave IRA 4 years to buy the stock for two reasons: First, because Weaver needed the money, and, second, because Hyatt was attempting to become privately owned and Hyatt would not want to disclose the agreement. Kanter claimed that the reason Hyatt would not want to disclose the agreement was because others might expect similar fee-splitting arrangements in negotiating for other projects. Again, Kanter's explanation is implausible. If Weaver needed the money, we do not think he would agree to put the sale off for up to 4 years. Furthermore, Hyatt's contract with KWJ Corp. already existed. Hyatt either had to disclose its contract with KWJ Corp. in accordance with the securities laws or it did not. We fail to see how the sale of the stock to IRA would affect the disclosure requirement unless IRA was somehow considered an interested party or an insider with respect to Hyatt Corp. We think it more likely that Kanter did not want to disclose the purchase to Hyatt Corp. or the Pritzkers. In fact, Kanter did not disclose the purchase of the stock, thePage: Previous 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011