NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

MICHAEL A. TRICARICHI, Transferee, 

Petitioner-Appellant, 

 v. 

COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL 

REVENUE, 

Respondent-Appellee.

No. 16-73418 

Tax Ct. No. 23630-12 

MEMORANDUM*

Appeal from a Decision of the

United States Tax Court

Argued and Submitted February 7, 2018

Pasadena, California

Before: W. FLETCHER, BEA,** and OWENS, Circuit Judges.

Taxpayer Michael A. Tricarichi appeals from the tax court’s decision on his 

petition challenging a notice of transferee liability regarding West Side Cellular, 

Inc.’s (“West Side”) unpaid taxes. Specifically, Tricarichi challenges the tax 

 

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent 

except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

** Judge Bea was drawn to replace Judge Reinhardt on the panel 

following his death. Ninth Circuit General Order 3.2h. Judge Bea has read the 

briefs, reviewed the record, and listened to oral argument.

FILED

NOV 13 2018

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
2 

court’s conclusion that he is liable for West Side’s unpaid taxes under 26 U.S.C. 

§ 6901 and the Ohio Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (“UFTA”).1 We have 

jurisdiction under 26 U.S.C. § 7482. We review the tax court’s conclusions of law 

de novo and its factual findings for clear error. Hongsermeier v. Comm’r, 621 

F.3d 890, 899 (9th Cir. 2010). As the parties are familiar with the facts, we do not 

recount them here. We affirm. 

Contrary to Tricarichi’s contentions, the tax court did not clearly err in its 

factual findings regarding the structure and timing of the stock sale. See Shea 

Homes, Inc. & Subsidiaries v. Comm’r, 834 F.3d 1061, 1067 (9th Cir. 2016) 

(stating that when reviewing the tax court’s underlying factual determinations for 

clear error, this court may reverse only if it finds that “the [t]ax [c]ourt’s 

conclusion was ‘(1) illogical, (2) implausible, or (3) without support in inferences 

that may be drawn from the facts in the record” (citation omitted)). There is 

sufficient support in the record for the tax court’s characterization of the 

transaction.

The tax court properly held that Tricarichi is liable for West Side’s unpaid 

taxes under § 6901 and the Ohio UFTA. See Slone v. Comm’r, 810 F.3d 599, 604 

(9th Cir. 2015) (Slone I) (setting forth two-pronged Stern test). Under the state-law 

 

1 We resolve Tricarichi’s challenge to the tax court’s conclusion that Tricarichi is 

also liable for the “pre-notice interest” component of West Side’s tax liability in a 

concurrently filed opinion.
3 

prong, the tax court properly determined that West Side’s cash was “transferred” to 

Tricarichi under the Ohio UFTA. See Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 1336.01(L)

(defining “transfer” as “every direct or indirect . . . method of disposing of or 

parting with an asset”). And, under the federal-law prong, the tax court properly 

determined, looking through the form of the stock sale to consider its substance, 

that it lacked a non-tax business purpose or any economic substance other than the 

creation of tax benefits. See Slone I, 810 F.3d at 605-06; see also Slone v. 

Comm’r, 896 F.3d 1083, 1086 (9th Cir. 2018) (Slone II).

AFFIRMED.