In closing arguments today, the prosecutors and the defense moved on from last week's contest over who can stuff more cash into an envelope, to rival musical metaphors.

Park is charged with laundering money and acting as an unregistered agent of Iraq, as part of an alleged conspiracy from 1992-2002 which prosecutors have described as aiming to mold the U.N. Oil-for-Food program to fit Iraq's terms, and ultimately to get rid of U.N. sanctions on Saddam's regime. One of the issues is whether the evidence suggests one long-running conspiracy, or a number of smaller ones, some of them old enough so that all evidence relating to Park, whose lawyer says he is "absolutely not guilty," might in any event fall safely outside the five year statute of limitations.

Prosecutor Stephen Miller told the jury that a conspiracy is like "an orchestra," and barring a clear defection, anyone who plays a part has joined the performance until the curtain falls (in this case, what finally fell was Saddam). Defense lawyer Michael Kim countered that by the time the real conspiracy began, Park had already bowed out, and any conspiratorial activities still within reach of prosecution were "like another season at the Metropolitan Opera altogether."

Whatever the metaphor, it's time to face the music. The jury begins its deliberations Thursday morning.