-20- petitioner argues, the consents which Steele signed after July 1991 were invalid because respondent should have removed Steele as TMP on account of the grand jury investigation. According to petitioner, respondent’s failure to remove Steele as TMP by sending the notices referenced in section 301.6231(c)-5T, Temporary Proced. & Admin. Regs., 52 Fed. Reg. 6793 (Mar. 5, 1987), was an abuse of discretion. We reject both of petitioner’s arguments. As to the first, i.e., a claimed disabling conflict of interest, we are not persuaded that Steele’s interests as to the Leatherstocking audit differed from the interests of the Leatherstocking limited partners, so as to constitute a breach of any fiduciary duty that he owed to them. Nor does the record establish more specifically that a conflict of interest was present as to Steele’s granting of the consents, or that respondent ever perceived that a conflict existed between Steele’s interests and those of his partners. Indeed, while petitioner called three limited partners to testify at trial, none of them testified that he would have objected to the consents had he known about them when they were signed.5 5 Moreover, as to the reasons proffered by petitioner, we do not find as a fact that Steele granted the consents to avoid his criminal referral for failing to file his Federal income tax returns, or that he granted the consents to conceal any theft from the Leatherstocking limited partners. To the contrary, given the number of consents Steele signed during the (continued...)Page: Previous 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Next
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