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Mr. Zapara’s declaration attached to that same motion. In his
declaration, Mr. Zapara declares that following a June 2000
meeting with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, special agents asked
petitioners to leave and asked Mr. and Mrs. Spirtos to remain and
that “Mr. and Mrs. Spirtos informed us that they were being
investigated and the agents wanted to question them about that
investigation.”
We do not rely on Mr. Mather’s and Mr. Zapara’s declarations
for the truth of the matters asserted therein. Petitioners
provided no independent evidence to establish their allegations.
Mr. Zapara did not testify, petitioners did not call Mrs. Spirtos
as a witness, and although Mrs. Zapara testified, she did not
testify regarding Mr. Spirtos’s alleged conflict. In addition,
even if we were to assume that the declarations are true and that
Mr. Spirtos was under investigation by the Government,
petitioners introduced no evidence as to how this purported
circumstance influenced Mr. Spirtos’s representation of
petitioners, and prejudiced them, in their signing the Form 4549-
CG. We also point out that the District Court, which presumably
reviewed these declarations in issuing its February 28, 2002,
order, found Mr. Zapara’s arguments (other than his argument
regarding the loss calculation) to be “without merit”.
3. Conclusion
Petitioners have not shown that they signed the Form 4549-CG
under duress or coercion. Consequently, petitioners are
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