QUID PRO: QUOTED FROM YOUR E-MAILS

The new governor of Nevada, Jim Gibbons (R-Nevada), is being investigated by the FBI because of alleged gifts and payments from Warren Trepp, a defense contractor whose Nevada firm received tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts. The FBI wants to know if Gibbons, while a member of Congress, improperly used his influence to help Trepp get those contracts.

Days before the cruise, Trepp's wife e-mails her husband: "Please don't forget to bring the money you promised Jim and Dawn on the trip." Hours later, Trepp e-mails back: "Don't ever send this kind of message to me! Erase this message from your computer now!" There also is a paper trail showing Gibbons helped Trepp's company, eTreppid, get government contracts. In a 2003 e-mail, an eTreppid executive tells Trepp that Gibbons helped secure a contract and "we need to take care of him like we discussed." Two years later, the same executive writes, "He [Gibbons] has always been really good to us."

Sources close to the investigation say a key focus is a lavish week-long Caribbean cruise in March 2005 by Gibbons, his wife and son, and Trepp, who paid for almost everything. Software designer Dennis Montgomery was also on that cruise with Gibbons. In an exclusive interview with NBC, Montgomery — who's now at war with his former partner — makes an explosive charge. He says that near the end of the cruise, he saw Trepp pass money to the congressman. INCIDENT NUMBER ONE:

Montgomery: He took a hundred thousand out of his desk, two $50,000 bundles, and asked me to get a briefcase, which I did. 15 minutes later, Jim came in, picked it up and left.
Myers: Did you see the Congressman with the briefcase?
Montgomery: Yes.
Myers: And you're sure the money was in there?
Montgomery: Yes

INCIDENT NUMBER TWO:

Dennis Montgomery: There was a lot of alcohol and a lot of drinking. And that's when I first saw Warren give Jim Gibbons money.
Lisa Myers: How much?
Montgomery: Close to $100,000.
Myers: How can you know?
Montgomery: Because he gave him casino chips and cash.
Myers: Are you sure about what you saw?
Montgomery: I'm absolutely, positively sure.

Montgomery's credibility will be put to the test, but so will Trepp's. He was chief broker for junk-bond trader and convicted felon Michael Milken. The Securities and Exchange Commission tried to bar Trepp from the industry for what a judge called "egregious, recurring and intentional" misconduct. The case against him eventually was dismissed because the government waited too long to bring charges. The FBI now is trying to sort out who's telling the truth. It's always possible that no charges will be brought. But grand-jury subpoenas have gone out and a governor's reputation hangs in the balance.