-3- $2,816,540 theft loss. Respondent disallowed that loss in a notice of deficiency sent to petitioner on May 17, 2001. B. Petitioner’s Investment in HPI Stock Petitioner began investing in stock in or about 1990. At or about that time, he started receiving unsolicited phone calls from Jeffrey Weissman (Weissman), Andrew Bressman (Bressman), and other brokers with the brokerage firm of D.H. Blair & Co., Inc. (Blair). Weissman suggested to petitioner that he invest in the initial public offering of a company managed by Weissman’s father, Martin (Martin). Weissman guaranteed to petitioner that he would double his money. Petitioner invested $25,000 in the company and later realized from his investment a profit of approximately $20,000. Afterwards, Weissman and Bressman persuaded petitioner to invest in the publicly traded stock of Health Professionals, Inc. (HPI), a corporation for which Martin served as the chairman from its (and its predecessor’s) founding in the 1970s until May 1992. In August 1992, Weissman and Bressman left Blair and founded A.R. Baron & Co., Inc. (Baron), a brokerage firm of which Bressman was the president. Weissman and Bressman continued to persuade petitioner to invest in HPI without disclosing the fact that HPI’s predecessor had previously been convicted of fraud. From February 12 through June 8, 1993, petitioner purchased 307,900 shares of HPI stock at a total cost of $3,527,002. OnPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
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