Deposition of Scott Rothstein re - Trustee Services

1 don't recall whether I had specific conversations
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2 with both him and Mr. Lipsitz together. We may have.
3 But I do not want to guess. I have no documentation
4 in that regard.
5 BY MR. SALIM:
6 Q. All right. As a former lawyer you are aware
7 that the avoidance of taxes is not necessarily illegal
8 versus tax evasion, correct?
9 A. That's correct.
10 Q. All right. So if theoretically you had this
11 conversation regarding mechanisms to avoid or minimize
12 taxes with Mr. Tonacchio, theoretically there's
13 nothing illegal about that, is there?
14 A. What I was talking about was the pulling of
15 cash from a business and hiding it, not declaring it.
16 I wasn't talking about legitimate taxes avoidance
17 mechanism.
18 Q. Is it your testimony that he told you he was
19 taking cash out of his business in order to avoid
20 taxes?
21 A. He told me that he had taken a substantial
22 amount of cash out of his business back when he had
23 the plumbing business and that him and certain other
24 partners had been, from time to time, able to get
25 their hands on substantial amounts of cash through