Agent Tells of Silberman Confession : Trial: San Diego financier reportedly admitted upon his arrest that laundering cash was a ‘stupid’ thing to do.

Upon his arrest, San Diego financier Richard T. Silberman confessed to laundering cash he had been told was the proceeds of Colombian drug dealing and said it was a “stupid” thing to do, the FBI agent in charge of the case said Friday.

Silberman, a one-time aide to former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., also offered FBI agents the names of three people who he said he had helped set up foreign corporations to secretly move money out of the United States, said the agent, Charles Walker.

Walker did not identify any of those three people in his testimony Friday at Silberman’s money-laundering trial. But, in a closed-door hearing last year in the case, lawyers disclosed that the names included two area businessmen and California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, according to a transcript of the hearing now on file in the federal court.

Defense lawyers sharply attacked Walker’s testimony, suggesting that the notes and records he kept of the alleged confession were inaccurate and misleading. But Walker insisted Friday that he was telling the truth.

Silberman, whom Walker described as composed in the hours immediately after the arrest in April, 1989, listened calmly Friday and displayed no emotion as he watched Walker on the witness stand.

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

If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 75 years in prison. His trial, which began two weeks ago before U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving, is expected to last six weeks.

Over the past two weeks, prosecutors put on 26 witnesses to detail the two deals at the heart of the case--the first, a November, 1988, swap of $100,000 for stock; the second, a February, 1989, exchange of $200,000 for U.S. Treasury bonds.

Walker was the prosecution’s final witness. His testimony centered almost entirely on events after Silberman was arrested April 7, 1989, at a Mission Bay hotel, after leaving a room where prosecutors contend he was negotiating a third deal.

Immediately after he was arrested, Silberman was read his constitutional rights and even signed a form signing away those rights, Walker said. Later in the three-hour interview, Silberman again was read his rights but at no time asked for an attorney, the agent said. Silberman began the interview by expressing “some concern” about press interest in his arrest, Walker said. Then, according to the agent, Silberman “began to tell us about some individuals who were not related to the case for which he was arrested.

“He said these were individuals he assisted in setting up foreign corporations for the purpose of moving money out of the country without any transaction records,” Walker said.

Silberman volunteered three names, one of which Walker said he recognized. Silberman said he was willing to secretly record meetings with any of the three and “would be willing to help us obtain specifics of how these companies were set up and how they would work,” Walker said.

According to a transcript of a closed-door hearing Dec. 11, 1989, lawyers in Silberman’s case told Irving that an FBI report of the April 7 interview contained Brown’s name, along with those of Carlos Bustamante and Christopher Sickels.

Bustamante is a prominent Tijuana businessman whose family is politically active in Mexico and has extensive real estate holdings. Sickels, a real estate developer, is perhaps best known for a costly renovation of the historic U.S. Grant hotel in downtown San Diego.

Last February, after Brown’s name first surfaced in connection with the FBI’s investigation of Silberman, Brown declined comment on the report. He could not be reached Friday for comment. Silberman’s son, Craig, works for Brown in San Diego.

Silberman spent about 30 minutes discussing the three other names before detailing his involvement in the two deals in the case, Walker said. Silberman said he “became aware” that the undercover agent, Peter Ahearn, who was posing as Pete Carmassi, the representative of Colombian drug dealers, “had been involved with drugs,” Walker said.

Silberman, who was seeking investors in his San Diego-based gold mining firm, Yuba Natural Resources Inc., became involved with Ahearn after being introduced by reputed mobster Chris Petti in October, 1988, Walker said.

The two deals--in reality an FBI sting operation--followed after Silberman indicated that he “was looking for individuals who would be interested in investing in his gold mining ventures and who would be willing to move money out of the country without any records,” Walker said.

“He said he realized it was a stupid thing to do,” Walker said. “But he did it because he wanted to avoid the humiliation that would have resulted if his company had gone under.”

Defense attorneys contend that Silberman was coerced into the second deal by threats against his family made by a government informer in the case, Robert Benjamin. But Walker said Silberman never spoke of any threats.

Lead defense lawyer James J. Brosnahan wondered how Walker could remember so many details about the three-hour meeting when he took only a page and a half of notes. Brosnahan also suggested that the agent made a critical addition to the notes long after the meeting had ended.

Brosnahan charged that Walker added the words “no records” to the notes. According to Brosnahan, the change was designed to enable Walker eventually to be able to say to a jury that Silberman had told him the two deals were supposed to be secret.

Walker said, however, “I took those notes when we were there.”

Walker did concede that he did not write down explicit phrases expressing Silberman’s purported guilt, such as one Brosnahan suggested Silberman would have said if prosecutors’ theory of the case was to be believed: “I knew this was drug money.”

But, Walker said, he was not a stenographer and did not intend to write down everything he heard that he considered important.

Prosecutors are expected to officially rest their case Tuesday, though Irving has several issues to consider Monday without the jury. Once prosecutors rest, the defense case will begin.