- 24 -                                         
        held all 100 authorized units of Mercury Solar PTO.  Inasmuch as              
        there is no evidence that Sparkman made any separate contribution             
        to Mercury Solar PTO or gave HEH any consideration for its                    
        purported 100 units of Mercury Solar PTO, this paper shuffling of             
        Mercury Solar PTO units to HEH and then to Sparkman further                   
        evidences the lack of economic reality of these arrangements.                 
             According to the purported certificate, in “4/98” William                
        Montgomery and William Bright were each “Assigned” one unit of                
        Mercury Solar PTO, and these units were also “Released” on “4/98”.            
        Porter and Sparkman acknowledged in their testimony that these                
        entries were erroneous and that Montgomery and Bright never                   
        received any Mercury Solar PTO units.                                         
             The only other entry on the purported certificate record                 
        shows that on December 31, 1999, Thompson was “Assigned” one unit             
        of Mercury Solar PTO, which was “Released” on January 20, 2000.               
        Porter, the nominal “trustee” of Mercury Solar PTO, was unable to             
        explain this entry.25  The Mercury Solar PTO minutes indicate that            
        it was not until January 20, 2000, that Porter communicated with              
             24(...continued)                                                         
          the theory that “the signing a release doesn’t mean they are                
          gotten rid of, they are just handed out to the particular party”.           
          Sparkman’s theory is incompatible with the terms of the Mercury             
          Solar PTO formation document, which authorized the issuance of              
          only 100 units in total.                                                    
               25 With regard to this matter, Porter testified:  “I can’t             
          explain that * * *  It’s the first time I’ve seen the document.”            
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