Alleged Courier for Silberman Gets Probation : Courts: Banker Jack Norman Myers, who testified in money-laundering case of Silberman and Petti, avoids jail in plea bargain.

A Malibu investment banker accused of being a courier in a money-laundering scheme directed by San Diego financier Richard T. Silberman was sentenced Monday to probation for his role in the case.

Jack Norman Myers, 44, who testified against Silberman--and against Chris Petti, who also was indicted in the case--was sentenced to three years’ probation by U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving. Under a plea bargain, Myers admitted violating one of the six felony counts on which he was indicted, then testified against Silberman and Petti.

Unlike Silberman, Myers did not receive a prison sentence. Prosecutors originally said they would recommend no more than six months in custody, but said Monday they had decided to urge probation because Myers had cooperated with them.

Irving also ordered Myers to forfeit $12,000, the funds prosecutors contend that Myers earned on the two laundering deals in the case.

Silberman, 61, who served as a top aide to former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., was sentenced Sept. 24 by Irving to 46 months in federal prison and, on Oct. 2, was fined $50,000.

According to prosecutors, Silberman directed a scheme to launder $300,000 that an undercover FBI agent portrayed as the profits of Colombian cocaine dealing.

Silberman was convicted June 28, after a two-month trial, of a technical currency violation. On Aug. 24, he pleaded guilty under a plea bargain to a felony conspiracy count, averting a second trial.

Last Friday, Irving rejected Silberman’s novel request for a week off from prison. Silberman’s lawyers argued that the financier had been negligent in not preparing for the possibility of a conviction and prison, and needed time to arrange affairs with his wife--San Diego County Supervisor Susan Golding--and family.

Myers pleaded guilty in May to a sole felony count of violating a federal currency law. Prosecutors dropped five other charges against him after he agreed to testify against Silberman and Petti.

Myers was accused of delivering FBI agent Peter J. Ahearn’s cash to Ventura County investment broker Terry Ziegler and setting up the mechanics of the two deals in the case with him.

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

According to Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles F. Gorder Jr., the lead prosecutor in the case, Myers pocketed $4,000 on the first deal and $8,000 on the second.

Gorder said he was pleased with Myers’ sentence. “He cooperated fully with the government, and I believe he testified truthfully,” Gorder said.

Myers’ attorney, Michael Lightfoot of Los Angeles, also said the sentence was just. “He made himself available and cooperated, and it was a fair sentence,” Lightfoot said.

Myers declined Monday to comment on the sentence.

Petti, 63, of San Diego, who introduced Silberman to Ahearn, was convicted Oct. 23 of six felony counts in the case, though Irving said he was a “pawn” in the scheme. He could draw up to 75 years in federal prison and is due to be sentenced Dec. 17 by Irving.

Ziegler, 45, of Moorpark in Ventura County, pleaded guilty April 10 to a sole felony count, admitting that he violated a federal currency law.

On Dec. 4, Ziegler is scheduled to stand trial on whether he, too, earned any money on the two deals that prosecutors believe should be forfeited to the government.

Irving sentenced Ziegler on June 18 to six months in federal custody, three months in prison and three months in a halfway house.

Ziegler, who surrendered in July to federal authorities, has already served the three months in prison, and is in a Los Angeles-area halfway house, Gorder said.

The case involved one other man, according to prosecutors.

Darryl Nakatsuka, 43, of West Los Angeles, accused of being a courier with Myers, pleaded guilty Oct. 2 to a sole felony count of violating a federal currency law.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 26.