- 40 -
himself as unsophisticated or careless with respect to
recordkeeping. The evidence, however, belies the notion that
petitioner was an unskilled or indifferent recordkeeper. The
bookkeeper for his condominium development company credibly
testified that when she raised questions concerning whether the
company should pay what were clearly invoices for yacht expenses,
she was not only specifically ordered by petitioner to pay them,
but was further instructed as to the specific ledger accounts in
which to record the expenditures so that they would appear to be
expenses incident to the construction or maintenance of the
condominiums. The evidence shows that petitioner was a
knowledgeable, but deceitful, recordkeeper. Cf. Korecky v.
Commissioner, supra (rejecting claim of recordkeeping
inexperience as fraud defense).
Petitioner also claims that he was distraught and mentally
impaired during 1995 and 1996, due to the breakup of his marriage
and his conviction for felony forgery. Putting aside the fact
that this claim does not address 1994 or 1997, we reject it
because it is contradicted by substantial evidence. During the
claimed impairment, petitioner was operating three successful
businesses in two States, generating more than $3.5 million in
revenue.23 During the years in issue, he also negotiated the
23 WDI reported gross receipts of $1,342,216 and $1,624,352
in 1995 and 1996, respectively. Petitioner admitted to gross
(continued...)
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