Investigator’s Interview of Rubino Replayed for Jury

Jurors deliberating in the trial of ex-Budget Director Ronald S. Rubino on Wednesday heard a replay of taped interviews Rubino gave to investigators in which he expressed frustration with his job and the overreliance of the county on interest it earned on its massive investment pool.

Rubino is on trial on charges he helped former Treasurer Robert L. Citron skim nearly $100 million in interest earnings belonging to other agencies. Jurors completed their first day of deliberations Wednesday without reaching a verdict.

Before jurors headed home, they asked that portions of testimony by Rubino and Citron be read back to them, a request Judge J. Stephen Czuleger said he will grant at 9 a.m. today.

On Wednesday afternoon, they heard taped excerpts from an interview Rubino gave to district attorney’s investigator Larry Lambert shortly after the county filed for bankruptcy in December 1994.

Rubino, who had already left the county for a job with a municipal finance firm, expressed frustration with his budget director’s job.

In response to one question, he said: “The only thing going right was the treasurer’s office. The only thing keeping us going was the interest earnings.”

But he also denied knowing how Citron reaped extraordinarily high yields from his investments.

The prosecution has hinted that the tapes incriminate Rubino, especially one portion, which revealed that Rubino sought a promotion. The prosecution has contended during the trial that Rubino assisted in the diversion scheme to enhance his own career.

The defense has countered that the tapes support its contention that Rubino was a hard worker, a mid-level county official who was simply doing his job.

Rubino is charged with two counts of aiding and abetting Citron to skim $93 million in interest earnings from an investment pool the treasurer managed.

Citron testified that he never told Rubino about the illegal diversion.

Rubino insisted in his own testimony that he did not know the treasurer’s office was diverting stolen interest earnings to a treasury account to plug a gaping hole in the county’s budget because of state funding cutbacks.