Rubino’s Legal Costs May Hit $1.3 Million

Attorneys for former county Budget Director Ronald S. Rubino estimate he will need an additional $1 million to cover the costs of fighting bankruptcy-related criminal charges, having spent almost all of the $300,000 provided by the Board of Supervisors in March.

County officials are recommending that the board next Tuesday allocate an additional $200,000 toward Rubino’s defense, but some supervisors are already expressing concerns about the spiraling costs.

“This is going to be a tough decision,” said Supervisor Don Saltarelli. “If $200,000 is just the latest installment of a much larger number, I would have a problem with it. The numbers we’ve seen about completing this trial are absolutely shocking.”

Saltarelli and other supervisors praised Rubino for his efforts to keep legal costs down by holding fund-raisers, enlisting volunteer help and doing some of the legal legwork on his own.

“Ron has certainly shown an effort to bring his costs down. There is a lot of community support for Ron and obviously that gives a perspective we have to recognize,” said Supervisor Marian Bergeson. “But this is still a lot of money . . . [and] something we have to look at carefully.”

Rubino, 44, was indicted in December on two felony counts of aiding and abetting the misappropriation of funds in the county’s ill-fated investment pool, which lost $1.64 billion of its value because of former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron’s risky investment practices. The losses forced the county to file for bankruptcy on Dec. 6, 1994.

If convicted, Rubino faces a maximum punishment of nine years in prison.

Citron pleaded guilty last year to six felony counts of securities fraud and misappropriation of public funds, but he has not been sentenced. His former assistant, Matthew R. Raabe, still faces trial on the same six counts.

The Board of Supervisors stopped paying Citron and Raabe’s legal fees in February 1995. But it has allocated $250,000 each to cover the defense costs of supervisors Roger R. Stanton and William G. Steiner as well as Auditor-Controller Steve E. Lewis, who face civil misconduct charges for allegedly failing to prevent the bankruptcy.

The board reluctantly gave Lewis an additional $50,000 in May when he reached the spending cap. Stanton and Steiner have yet to request additional funds.

Rubino, who worked for the county for 20 years before retiring in April 1994, has maintained his innocence and said he cannot afford to pay his legal bills without the county’s help.

Rubino has almost reached the $300,000 spending cap, which the board established last March, even though county officials estimate he saved more than $160,000 through reduced legal fees and volunteer paralegal and investigative services.

Rubino’s primary attorney, Rodney Perlman, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But according to a county report, Rubino’s attorneys said they need additional funds to prepare for his trial, expected to begin Aug. 5 and last six to 12 weeks. The $200,000 would be used in part to hire expert witnesses and jury consultants.

While Rubino’s attorneys estimate his total legal costs will reach $1.3 million, county officials recommended that the board approve a $200,000 increase for now and direct them to prepare a “more accurate estimate of the trial costs,” the report said.

Steiner expressed support for the staff recommendation, noting that the district attorney’s office is also spending significant amounts of money prosecuting the case.

But Steiner said he was “stunned” by the $1.3-million estimate because his attorneys have predicted that his own defense should run less than $500,000, if his case goes to trial.

The county’s responsibility to defend current and former officials accused of wrongdoing related to the bankruptcy has been an emotional--and frequent--topic at Board of Supervisors meetings over the last nine months.

In May, the board rejected Lewis’ request to increase his legal defense fund from $250,000 to $500,000, allocating $50,000 instead. At the time, some supervisors expressed uneasiness about setting aside large sums of money for defense efforts because of the budget cutbacks the county has been forced to make.

The legal defense funds come from a special risk management pool, not from the general fund. “We are not taking away money that is being used for operational costs,” Saltarelli said.