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criminal trial, he did not investigate the oil partnership as he
would have investigated a regular investment because he "did not
consider it an investment." Rather, he purchased the interest
"for one reason, and that was to clear [his] debt" with
petitioner. He never asked petitioner the value of the oil
partnership interest; however, he thought it to be worthless
because South Texas Drilling had no intention of improving its
operations, and there had been no checks coming in on the wells
for quite some time.
In late 1978, petitioner again called Nelson at Commerce
Bank and told him that he wanted to pay off his bank debt because
the "interest was eating him alive". Petitioner indicated that
he had found someone to purchase his interest in the oil
partnership. Nelson was pleased because the cash-flow from the
oil wells was not sufficient to service the debt, and therefore
the bank was concerned about the loan's stability.
On November 20, 1978, Jack Ham met with James D. Harris
(Harris), a commercial loan officer and vice president at
Commerce Bank. Jack Ham told Harris that he and petitioner were
close friends, that he owed petitioner some favors, and, that he
along with some other friends of petitioner, wanted to see
petitioner's debt at the bank cleared up before petitioner left
office. Jack Ham, who knew the debt was around $38,000, told
Harris that he and Redi-Built, his nephew's company, would like
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