Chronology of Money-Laundering Case

A chronology of the money-laundering case against Richard T. Silberman:

April 7, 1989: Silberman is arrested on charges that he laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars that he believed was illegal Colombian drug money, but actually was FBI cash used in a sting operation.

April 8: Silberman is released from the federal Metropolitan Correction Center on a $500,000 bond and ordered to turn over his passport. It was unclear Friday night whether he had surrendered the passport.

April 10: Silberman is replaced as executive officer of the financially troubled Yuba Natural Resources Inc. after federal records show that Yuba is deeply in debt and facing lawsuits from creditors.

April 21: Silberman is named in a grand jury indictment charging him with laundering $300,000 in the bogus drug money, and he pleads not guilty.

May 3: Three shareholders in Yuba Natural Resources file a lawsuit to have the company placed under the control of a court-appointed receiver and dissolved. They accuse Silberman and others of racketeering, mismanagement and misuse of corporate assets.

June 12: The federal judge presiding over the money-laundering case announces that he will declare the matter a complex case, meaning the trial is delayed as defense attorneys and prosecutors begin the lengthy process of sorting out the allegations in the money-laundering indictments.

Oct. 6: A new federal grand jury indictment is returned in the case, adding charges against the defendants and raising the ante: If convicted, Silberman now could draw 75 years in prison and a $2.75-million fine.

Nov. 14: Prosecutors reveal during a court hearing that, when the case against Silberman and four alleged accomplices goes to trial, they will not call as a witness mobster-turned-informant Robert Benjamin, considered the government’s key player in drawing Silberman to the FBI undercover sting operation.

Jan. 16, 1990: Wiretap tapes are made public showing that Silberman, in meetings with an undercover FBI agent posing as a drug-money launderer, repeatedly urged “bigger money” deals to help him out from under his increasing financial obligations.

Feb. 7: Silberman’s attorney claims that his client stayed with the laundering deal only because Benjamin had threatened his life and the safety of his family.

Feb. 15: Silberman is seen at Lindbergh Field purchasing a USAir ticket to Los Angeles International Airport, reportedly after having told his family he was going to a business meeting in Orange County.

Feb. 16: Silberman’s wife, San Diego County Supervisor Susan Golding, files a missing-person report on her husband. His car is found parked at Lindbergh Field. Several hours later, an FBI report is released in which Silberman allegedly confessed his involvement in the money-laundering case and worried that his arrest would humiliate his family.