Judge Orders Silberman to Pay $50,000 : Crime: The fine is in addition to the 46-month prison sentence the former financier was given for his part in a money laundering scheme.

Richard T. Silberman, sentenced last week to 46 months in federal prison for his role in a money-laundering scheme, was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine Tuesday amid disclosure that the once-wealthy San Diego financier owes more than $1.5 million in legal fees.

Despite Silberman’s whopping debts, which total at least $2.1 million, U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving imposed the fine because he was not convinced Silberman was unable to pay a fine required under rigid new federal sentencing guidelines, according to court documents.

The fine should finally resolve the long-running prosecution against Silberman, a one-time governor’s aide.

“We are satisfied with the judge’s ruling and I think this closes the book on Richard Silberman,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles F. Gorder, the lead prosecutor in the case.

It closed even further Tuesday as Darryl Nakatsuka, a West Los Angeles security guard charged with taking part in the laundering scheme with Silberman, reputed mobster Chris Petti and two other men, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a sole felony count.

The two others--Los Angeles-area investment brokers--also have pleaded guilty to felony counts over the past few months.

However, the complex case is far from over. Petti is due to go to trial beginning today.

Silberman, Petti, Nakatsuka and the two other men were indicted on charges of laundering $300,000 in cash that an undercover FBI agent portrayed as the proceeds of Colombian drug trafficking.

Silberman, who once had served as a top aide to former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., was arrested April 7, 1989, at a Mission Bay hotel room.

When he was arrested, prosecutors contended, he already had directed two laundering deals with undercover FBI agent Peter J. Ahearn--who was posing as Pete Carmassi, a front man for Colombian drug lords--and was negotiating to do a third.

The first of the two deals was a November, 1988, exchange of $100,000 for stock in a Silberman gold-mining subsidiary. The second was a February, 1989, swap of $200,000 for U.S. Treasury bonds.

After a two-month trial, Silberman, 61, was convicted June 28 of the same technical currency violation that Nakatsuka admitted Tuesday he also had violated. A jury deadlocked heavily for conviction on several other charges. On Aug. 24, Silberman agreed to a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to a sole felony conspiracy count, avoiding a second trial.

Last Monday, Irving sentenced Silberman, 61, to the 46-month term in federal prison. Irving temporarily put off a decision on a fine, saying he needed Silberman’s up-to-date financial data.

In the order issued late Tuesday, Irving noted that Silberman had said he had considerable debt. But Irving also said that because the data he was given contained a number of estimates, not firm figures, he was unconvinced that Silberman was unable to pay a fine.

Defense lawyers James J. Brosnahan and George C. Harris, who work with San Francisco-based firm Morrison & Foerster, said last week that Silberman was financially ruined and could not afford to pay a fine. However, the federal sentencing guidelines required some sort of fine--from $7,500 to $75,000.

Without explanation, Irving said $50,000 was appropriate. He said Silberman could pay the fine in installments after he leaves prison--in October, 1993.

Irving also said that most of Silberman’s estimated assets were pledged as security for his legal fees--and that the current balance due the Morrison & Foerster firm was $1,529,642. No information was available on how much Silberman already has paid in attorneys’ fees.

Harris declined to comment on the fees.

Irving also said that Silberman owes an “estimated” $400,000 to Werner Wenger, a Swiss attorney. Prosecutors contend Werner was instrumental in moving money for Silberman through Swiss bank accounts.

Silberman also owes $200,000 to a “family member,” Irving said. That loan is from the father of his wife, San Diego County Supervisor Susan Golding, sources said.

Golding could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, Nakatsuka, 44, who was accused of being a courier in the scheme, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a single count of “structuring”--orchestrating the transfer of funds to avoid the paperwork federal law demands for any transaction over $10,000.

Nakatsuka also agreed to forfeit the $3,000 that prosecutors believe were his profits in the scheme as well as his share of the cash, stocks and bonds that were central to the case. In exchange, prosecutors dropped five other counts against him and gained the advantage of trying Petti alone.

According to a formal plea agreement filed Tuesday at the San Diego federal courthouse, Nakatsuka was the “least culpable participant” in the laundering scheme. His lawyer, Mario Conte, said Tuesday that the deal was “very satisfactory.”

Nakatsuka said after a brief hearing Tuesday before Irving that he was pleased he would not be standing trial with Petti.

Petti, 63, who introduced Silberman to FBI agent Ahearn, has pleaded not guilty to all seven counts against him. He is free on $250,000 bail.

If convicted on all counts, Nakatsuka could have been sentenced to up to 75 years in prison. The plea bargain cuts the maximum term he can draw to five years, according to court records.

Under the federal guidelines, Nakatsuka probably will be eligible for a term of six to 12 months or eight to 14 months, Gorder said. Irving set sentencing for Nov. 30.

Nakatsuka remains free on $200,000 bail, court records indicate.

According to the legal papers, Nakatsuka admitted that he helped Jack Norman Myers, 44, a Malibu investment banker and longtime friend of Silberman’s, pick up the $100,000 on Nov. 30, 1988.

Nakatsuka said he gave Myers a $4,000 fee and delivered the rest to his boss, investment broker Terry Ziegler, 45, of Moorpark in Ventura County.

Ziegler then took $41,500, broke it into various sums under $10,000 for deposit to a San Fernando Valley thrift account and wired it to Hong Kong, to a bank account that prosecutors contend was controlled by Silberman.

Nakatsuka said in the legal papers that he knew “what he was doing was illegal” because he knew Ziegler would arrange the deposits to avoid the forms federal law requires for sums over $10,000.

The $41,500--and most of the rest of the $100,000--eventually made its way to a Swiss bank account, prosecutors contend. In legal papers filed last week, prosecutors also charged that Silberman pocketed $77,500 of the $100,000.

Myers pleaded guilty May 14 to a single felony count of federal currency violations.

He testified against Silberman and is due to be sentenced on Nov. 19--presumably after Petti’s trial, during which he is due to testify again, federal prosecutors have indicated.

Prosecutors have agreed to recommend that Myers receive a maximum of six months at a minimum-security federal prison.

Ziegler pleaded guilty April 10, to a sole felony count of violating federal currency laws. Irving sentenced him June 18 to six months in federal custody.