- 54 -
Q. Did you give a tax opinion to the trust in
this case?
A. No I wasn't asked for an opinion from the
trust. When I came to the trust it was as
an investor.
Mr. Gerver further testified it was not necessary for him
to render a separate opinion regarding the tax consequences
of the investment because he "felt that everything was
covered more than adequately by the opinion that had been
provided by Austrian."
As we understand Mr. Gerver's testimony, he approached
the subject investment "as an investor" and, while he dis-
cussed the investment with petitioner, he did not undertake
to render professional advice to petitioner. He never put
his analysis of the investment in writing, and the record
does not suggest that petitioner paid Mr. Gerver to advise
him.
Moreover, there is no evidence in the record that
Mr. Gerver raised with petitioner or anyone else the
problems with the documentation of the investment that are
described above. To the contrary, he testified at trial
that he read the Tax Opinion "carefully" and that he also
read the Appraisal, the Projections, and the Investment
Memorandum. Despite the obvious problems and questions
that readily appear from a review of these documents,
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