HOUSTON -- Prosecutors say the 1980s were a high-rolling time of conspiracy, fraud and bribery at Calumet Farm -- disguised by a screen of fast horses and international acclaim.

The trial against former Calumet president J.T. Lundy and former chief financial officer Gary Matthews got under way Wednesday morning in federal court in Houston.

Lundy and Matthews are accused of the lavish spending and faulty borrowing that eventually drove the celebrated stables into bankruptcy.

Both Lundy and Williams face five counts of bribery, fraud and making false statements. Prosecutors say the pair tried to steel the farm's crumbling financial fortunes by defrauding and bribing a now-defunct Houston bank.

After decades of breeding some of the finest stallions in the world and gathering armloads of trophies, Calumet slid into bankruptcy in 1991. Shortly thereafter, First City Bancorporation failed.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Tomala painted a picture of Lundy and Williams as savvy businessmen who shuffled millions to fool both their creditors and the government.

"This is the case of a beautiful farm," she told jurors. "But it is also a case of fraud and corruption."

Defense attorneys glossed over Calumet's financial dealings. They described the alleged conspirators as unsophisticated country men who moved uncomfortably in the high stakes world of horse racing.

"This is the scale of things," said Matthews' attorney, Dan Cogdell, holding aloft an enlarged photo of Calumet's emerald expanses. "We're not talking about a 20 acre patch."

Arguing for Lundy, David McGee blamed any mysterious financial machinations on First City vice chairman Frank Cihak. Convicted on fraud and money laundering charges, Cihak was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison in 1994.

"It was the bank that fooled the farmer," McGee said. "It needed a sucker and it found that sucker in J.T. Lundy."

The trial in U.S. District Judge Sim Lake's court is expected to take about three weeks.