In a 12/8/2008 memo decision, the Tax Court denied a theft loss to Dominick Vincentini for 2001 because he had not proved that at the end of 2001 he had no hope of recovering the money he had paid to participate in the Andersom Ark schemes.
Dominick asserted that he knew that he had been robbed after the 2001 arrests of Anderson Ark promoters. The Court noted an inconsistency in that position.
Dominick v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2008-271, page 21/20/ Although we evaluate whether or not a reasonable prospect of recovery existed at the end of the year of discovery, we note that petitioner reported the theft loss deduction for the first time in 2006 when he sent respondent a Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, for 1999. At that time, the Washington District Court had already issued the amended judgments in a criminal case ordering the Anderson Ark defendants to pay petitioner $ 511,500 in restitution.
The Court did not, but I will, conjecture that Dominick didn't know he'd been robbed until it became clear in 2006 that the Tax Court was not going to allow his bogus $907,470 Anderson Ark partnership loss.