This was a promise to Harry Reid

A jury began deliberations on Tuesday in the case of a former Nevada developer and political powerbroker who was called a greedy "ultimate insider" by prosecutors accusing him of illegally funneling nearly $150,000 in campaign money to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid

Harvey Whittemore, 59, a former lobbyist and head of a billion-dollar real estate company, faces four felony counts tied to claims that he gave money to family members and employees to make contributions he had promised to Reid without revealing himself as the source.

"He kept his promise and he broke the law to do it," Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Olshan said during final arguments before the case went to the jury.

"This wasn't just any old promise. This was a promise to Harry Reid, the most powerful man in the U.S. Congress," Olshan said. "When he made these contributions, he was the ultimate insider. He was making millions of dollars and getting personal thank-you notes from the most prominent politicians in the country. Harvey Whittemore was the king of the hill."

Whittemore's lawyers said he broke no laws by giving $5,000 checks as gifts to family members and as gifts or bonuses to 29 employees and their spouses, who then wrote checks for the maximum allowable $4,300 to the campaign group Friends of Harry Reid.

The lawyers said Whittemore, former chief of the Wingfield Nevada Group, suggested the employees and family members contribute to Reid, but made it clear that was voluntary.

"None said they were coerced," Dominic Gentile, Whittemore's lead defense counsel, said in his closing argument. "All knew him as a man of integrity. All said they trusted him."

Whittemore has pleaded not guilty to making excessive campaign contributions, making contributions in the name of another, causing a false statement to be made to the Federal Election Commission, and making a false statement to the FBI. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.

U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks gave the jury of six men and six women 36 specific instructions before the two sides made closing arguments.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre said Whittemore used "straw donors" or conduits to contribute illegally to Reid. He said that while most claimed they couldn't recall details of their encounters with Whittemore, federal investigators pieced together a detailed paper trail of the transactions.

"The beauty of this case is the documents don't forget," Myhre said. "He paid the conduits extra money. He solicited the contributions and added a little sweetener. ... And everybody worked in lock step. There is no deviation. This is a highly orchestrated, planned event that shows he was up to no good."

Gentile told the jury it was an important distinction that Whittemore wrote the checks to employees out of his personal account entitled H. Harvey Whittemore attorney fund, not Wingfield Nevada Group, because the law at the time forbid employers from reimbursing workers for such contributions.

"Wingfield Nevada Group was their employer. He was their boss, but he was not their employer," he said. He said Whittemore encouraged them to become politically involved and helped make it possible for some to do so financially.

"Some could not have made the size of contribution they made. He empowered them to do it," Gentile said. "But did he use them as conduits? They don't think so."

Gentile said Whittemore's motive was to help re-elect Reid and other Congress members who helped secure federal funding for a university medical research center that Whittemore and his wife Annette helped found to seek cures for diseases, including one their daughter has.

"Does it make sense he would throw Annette Whittemore and his other children and his father and his employees under the bus?" he said. The man is either smart or he's not. He's either honest, or he's not."

But Myhre said Whittemore was driven solely by greed.

"Not to get more money but greed in the sense of more power. It's about trying to be on the short list that senators and congressmen call when they need money," he said. "It's about him, it's about his power, his prestige. That's why he did it."