Rubino Jury Is Read Citron’s Testimony

Jurors deliberating in the trial of former Budget Director Ronald S. Rubino spent most of Thursday morning listening to court reporters read back the testimony of former Treasurer Robert L. Citron.

In its second day of deliberations, the jurors asked for the Citron testimony and that of Rubino, accused of helping Citron misappropriate public funds. But they never got to the Rubino testimony.

The trial is scheduled to resume this morning in Orange County Superior Court.

Citron, who has pleaded guilty to six felony fraud counts, was called as a prosecution witness, but testified that he never told Rubino of the illegal diversion of nearly $100 million in interest earnings from other agencies into a county’s general fund.

Rubino has maintained that he knew nothing about the efforts to siphon interest from the investment pool and place it in a so-called Economic Uncertainty Fund, where it would generate up to $13 million a year to boost county revenue. Rubino said he had complete trust in Citron and never thought to question him as to where the money was coming from.