Joseph A. and Sari F. Deihl - Page 49

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          far greater stretch.  Hence, these amounts would appear to be               
          business gifts subject to the strictures of section 274 and not             
          substantiated as required therein.                                          
               With respect to purchases made at Neiman Marcus, Mr. Deihl             
          testified:  “we purchased items there and gifts for all the                 
          advisory boards and for the Crowns at all the conventions and               
          things of that nature.  We also purchased the--some Christmas               
          gifts for the employees from Neiman Marcus every year.”  He                 
          offered additional details in the following colloquy on direct              
          examination:                                                                
                    Q    For what purpose did you use Neiman Marcus,                  
               what kinds of purchases?                                               
                    A    Well, it would be three separate things.  One                
               would be gifts from their gift gallery to the                          
               individuals.                                                           
                    Q    Stop there.  Gift from their gift gallery to                 
               be used as gifts or to be used as rewards?                             
                    A    To be used as, the purchase could be either                  
               one, for rewards or gifts.  I cannot determine what                    
               that is from there.  But they also supplied some of the                
               gowns for the ladies in question that would come from                  
               Neiman Marcus also.                                                    
                    Q    To your knowledge any personal expenditures?                 
               I should say expenditures in Neiman Marcus for personal                
               use?  Without looking at the documents, just a general                 
               question, Mr. Deihl, just a general question.                          
                    A    Well, most of the time when we did things at                 
               Neiman Marcus on behalf of the company we used the                     
               company’s credit card, an American Express card.  In                   
               private uses we’d use our Neiman Marcus charge card                    
               which is a separate structure entirely.                                







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Last modified: May 25, 2011