San Diego

There were “numerous differences” between J. David & Co. records and documents obtained from the brokerage house, said an Internal Revenue Service agent who testified Friday in the fraud and tax evasion trial of Nancy Hoover Hunter.

Paul T. Perry, who compared the company’s financial statements with documents seized after the collapse of J. David, said that actual trades were omitted, changed or added to records being maintained at the La Jolla investment house.

Records that showed huge profits being made by J. David (Jerry) Dominelli were used by J. David salespeople to encourage people to become investors. Previous testimony in the trial indicated that Hunter provided information that led to the creation of the so-called performance records.

Hunter is charged with 234 counts related to the giant Ponzi scheme at J. David, which defrauded about 1,200 people out of nearly $90 million when the well-known firm was forced into bankruptcy in February, 1984.

Perry said that he analyzed a number of accounts overseen by Dominelli, and that most of them lost money over the course of a year, even though other records shown investors indicated the trading led to a substantial profit.

Perry said an interbank account, which started with a $30,000 value and dealt with foreign currency, was reported to have made $28,024 over the year. However, his audit showed that the account actually lost more than $28,000, a difference of more than $56,000, Perry testified.

This 1980 performance record omitted six losses, showed six losses as profits and contained trades that were actually made in another account, he said.

Perry’s testimony will continue when the trial resumes Tuesday in federal court.