Silberman Money-Laundering Trial Under Way in San Diego

Richard T. Silberman laundered cash he had been told was Colombian cocaine profits and was pressing for more business when he was arrested and confessed his guilt, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday.

Upon his arrest last year, Silberman, a prominent San Diego businessman and one-time top aide to former Democratic Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., said he knew that running a money-laundering ring was a “stupid thing to do,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles F. Gorder Jr. said as trial began in the complex case.

Defense lawyers, however, said there was no truth to any of those contentions. There was no confession because Silberman had no reason to confess, defense attorney James J. Brosnahan said in his opening statement.

Silberman, Brosnahan promised, would take the witness stand to say that an initial deal between Silberman and a government undercover agent was legitimate, but that he was coerced into a second deal by a government informer who threatened his family.

And though the FBI taped thousands of hours of phone calls and meetings in the investigation, there was no videotape or audiotape of the first key meeting involving Silberman or of Silberman’s alleged confession, Brosnahan said.

As the long-awaited trial kicked off Wednesday with the delivery by the lawyers of the conflicting--and lengthy--sketches of what they planned to prove over the six weeks the trial is expected to run, Silberman appeared relaxed and confident. He said he felt “real good.”

Silberman, 61, is standing trial on seven counts stemming from allegations that he laundered $300,000 that an undercover FBI agent portrayed as the proceeds of Colombian drug trafficking.

If convicted, Silberman faces up to 75 years in prison.

Four other men also were charged in the alleged money-laundering scheme. Two of the four have pleaded guilty over the past month, each to a single criminal count.