"Things are real tough down here in Texas," said Gilbert Rogers, a Dallas developer.

Host's Father Is Big Ross Mr. Perot, 35, heads a newer generation of Dallas developers who are more cautious, or at least more cautious sounding.

Rapid Growth By 1986, Western's loans had grown to $2 billion from $34 million in 1982, the year it was acquired by Jarrett E. Woods Jr., a Dallas developer.

Northpark is a retail and commercial bank owned by Raymond Nasher, a Dallas developer.

Their host, Clifton S. Harrison, a Dallas developer who made millions selling real estate partnerships through Prudential's retail network, told them money was no object on the all-expenses-paid trip to London.

But Dallas developers say the Government has cast too wide a net.

More than 125,000 people have flocked to the museum so far to see the 66 sculptures collected by Mr. Nasher, a 75-year-old Dallas developer, and his wife, Patsy, who died in 1988.

Talmadge Wayne Tinsley, a Dallas developer, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 1996 after he incurred $60 million in debt, largely bank loans.

But plaintiffs' lawyers involved in the Prudential litigation said that clients were also misled into joining class-action settlements involving real estate partnerships assembled with Watson & Taylor, a Dallas developer.

While the lawyers and politicians work things out, some well-known Dallas developers are scouting Frisco.