6-Month Sentence for Silberman-Case Figure

A West Los Angeles security guard who pleaded guilty to a sole felony count in connection with a money-laundering scheme directed by San Diego financier Richard T. Silberman was sentenced Monday to six months in federal prison.

The sentence given Darryl Nakatsuka, 44, was in line with his role as the “least culpable” of the five men indicted in the scheme to launder $300,000 portrayed by an undercover FBI agent as the proceeds of Colombian cocaine trafficking, prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving also sentenced Nakatsuka to three years’ probation, ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service, and directed that he forfeit $3,000, his profit from the scheme, prosecutors said.

The sentence leaves only one of the five men charged in the scheme--all of whom have been convicted after a trial or pleaded guilty to various charges--awaiting sentence. Reputed mobster Chris Petti, convicted Oct. 23 after a trial of six felony counts, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 17.

Silberman, 61, once 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.

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.

Nakatsuka, who was accused of being a courier in the scheme, pleaded guilty Oct. 2 to a single count of “structuring”--legal jargon for orchestrating the transfer of funds to avoid the paperwork that federal law requires for any transaction over $10,000.

In exchange, prosecutors dropped five other counts against him.

If convicted on all counts, Nakatsuka could have been sentenced to up to 75 years in prison. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he was eligible for a term of six to 12 months on the structuring count, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles F. Gorder Jr. the lead prosecutor in the case.

Gorder said he was pleased with the sentence Nakatsuka received. Defense attorney Mario Conte could not be reached Monday for comment.

Nakatsuka is scheduled to surrender Jan. 14 to federal authorities. He remains free on $200,000 bail, according to court records.

Nakatsuka claimed Monday in court that his share of the profits was not $3,000 but $31,000, Gorder said. Prosecutors disputed that figure and claimed Nakatsuka was “covering up” for his boss, Ventura County investment broker Terry Ziegler, 45, of Moorpark, who is scheduled to stand trial Dec. 4.