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fact that, when faced with the prospect of putting these various
explanations through the crucible of sworn testimony and cross-
examination, petitioner opted to avoid trial.
Finally, petitioner’s pattern of inaction and delay in this
proceeding is evidence of fraud. He took 5 months to perfect his
petition. Notwithstanding multiple attempts by respondent’s
counsel, petitioner made no effort to complete the stipulation
process or otherwise prepare the case for trial. He waited until
just before the 30-day window preceding trial to seek a
continuance, failed to appear for trial, ignored our order to
respond to respondent’s motion to dismiss, and then, on the last
day for filing a brief regarding the fraud issue, insisted on a
trial. Taken together, the actions evince an effort to avoid any
final reckoning on his tax liabilities and are evidence of fraud.
Accordingly, on the basis of the entire record, we find that
respondent has shown clearly and convincingly that petitioner’s
underpayments of tax in 1995 and 1996 were due to fraud. The
entirety of petitioner’s actions persuade us that he was aware
that taxes were owed on the income that was not reported. As
noted, the magnitude of the unreported amounts rebuts any
realistic possibility that the omissions were due to inadvertence
or error, as do petitioner’s various inconsistent attempts to
explain the discrepancies. Those explanations were an effort to
conceal and mislead. Finally, petitioner has not shown that any
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