Opinion ID: 352530
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Silver Slipper incident.

Text: 45 Next, Summa claims that the evidence establishes that Maheu committed theft by taking $59,000 from the Hughes-owned Silver Slipper casino in December, 1969. Maheu responds that he received the $59,000 as a loan in an arms-length transaction with Robert Morgan, a Summa employee. The only factual dispute is whether Robert Morgan was Maheu's subordinate who merely wrote out a check for Maheu on Maheu's orders or whether Morgan had authority on Summa's behalf to approve or reject Maheu's loan request. 46 Maheu testified that he had never done anything to exercise control over Morgan. Summa maintains that Maheu contradicted himself by testifying at one point, I was not in a position where I had to explain anything to Mr. Morgan. (R.T. 10,447) Taking that statement in the context within which it was made, it is not clear whether Maheu was referring to his relationship with Robert Morgan in general or to his opinion of his responsibility to report one particular business deal to him. In addition, while the statement implies that Maheu never had to explain what he did to Robert Morgan, it does not clearly state that Morgan was under his authority on all matters. At most, it simply says that he was generally not under Morgan's authority. 47 Morgan testified that he took all his orders in Nevada from Maheu. But Collier, Summa's principal fiscal officer in Houston, testified that he had sent Morgan to Nevada and that Morgan was responsible for compiling financial statements for the Nevada casinos. Holliday, the executive vice president of Summa, stated that, to his knowledge, Morgan reported to Collier and was not under Maheu's supervision or direction. 48 Overall, Maheu's role in the Hughes organization was ambiguous at best. At some points, Summa executives seemed to be in control (e. g., the day to day operation of the casinos); and at other times, Hughes relied on Maheu (e. g., land acquisition, political contributions, etc.). On the basis of the evidence presented, Summa failed to establish conclusively that Maheu stole the $59,000. Again, this is a question of fact for resolution by the jury. 49