become a sponsor and to donate Christmas trees and decorations, Knips consistently declined. He did, however, offer to sell Christmas decorations "at cost," and gave Ellisor 10,000 Christmas Palace brochures, believing that Ellisor would enclose them in University of Miami alumni mailings. Ellisor then ordered 35 artificial Christmas trees through Knips. Although Knips duly procured the trees, Ellisor never paid for or took possession of them.
On a subsequent visit, Ellisor showed Knips the glossy flier indicating that the Christmas Palace was presenting the evening shows. Ellisor explained that because the daytime shows had already sold out, he was "going to have corporate sponsors for the parents to go at nighttime and do the same event and that was selling out fast also." Knips replied that he was stillshortly before the show was to begin and judged from its appearance that no show would be occurring. He asked Ellisor for his money back, but Ellisor told him to wait until after the show. Schott never set *1264 up anything at the convention center because he and Ellisor never planned the menus nor discussed what would be appropriate to serve.
A financial auditor from the United States Attorney's office testified as to his review of Ellisor's Bank of America records in connection with the University Diplomatic Trust Account. That review revealed that although both Ellisor and his friend, Mark B. Weiser, were signatories to the account, there is no record of any account activity by Weiser. According to the records, Ellisor wrote checks to himself, Angela Saiza Bailey,