Golding Testifies Silberman Said Nothing to Her

San Diego County Supervisor Susan Golding took the witness stand Wednesday and said that her husband, Richard T. Silberman, did not tell her before he was arrested on money-laundering charges about anything connected with the case.

Testifying as the final witness for the defense, Golding also said that Silberman, who once served as a top aide to former Gov. Jerry Brown, was tense at home during the months immediately before his April, 1989, arrest.

Golding, who has attended court daily during the six-week trial, was composed and assured while discussing matters she obviously found sensitive--such as her home life with Silberman--and displayed a ready sense of humor.

But her testimony had little detail supporting Silberman’s account of the activities that resulted in his arrest.

Silberman, 61, is standing trial on seven felony counts. He is accused of laundering $300,000 in cash purportedly described to him as narcotics profits by an undercover FBI agent, Peter Ahearn, posing as Pete Carmassi, a front man for Colombian drug lords.

If convicted, Silberman could be sentenced to up to 75 years in prison. Closing arguments in the trial before U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving are set for Friday, after which the case will go to the jury.

Silberman contends that he was pressured into one of the money-laundering deals by threats aimed at Golding and their children by government informer Robert Benjamin.

Golding said Wednesday that, before his arrest, Silberman never mentioned anything to her about Benjamin, the alleged threats, the names Ahearn or Carmassi, a purported stock sale or the purchase of Treasury bonds--or anything or anyone else involved in the case.

She said she knew only that Silberman’s San Diego-based gold mine company, Yuba Natural Resources, was having trouble paying its bills.

That testimony was consistent with Silberman’s, who said last week that it was no secret Yuba had cash-flow problems, but that he had not told his wife about the two deals with Ahearn.

Silberman also testified that Benjamin called him at home on Feb. 4, 1989, and threatened his family, a charge Benjamin denied Tuesday from the stand and called “ridiculous.” Golding said Wednesday that she remembered her husband receiving a strange phone call at home, while she and Silberman were dressing one morning in either January or February, 1989.

Golding said Silberman “dropped his voice and turned part way away from me,” so she never heard any details of the conversation. The call was brief, and Silberman never told her who was on the line, but the call left him tense, she said.

Golding said she noticed that, in the first months of 1989, Silberman “became very difficult to live with” and “there was tension in the household.”

Silberman became “short and impatient with the children” and “short and withdrawn to me as well,” Golding said.

Silberman and Golding, who were married in 1984, live in La Jolla with her two children from a previous marriage.