Attorney for OCTA Sends Judge Letter for Raabe

The attorney for the county transit agency, which lost $221 million when the county went bankrupt, has sent a letter on behalf of former county Assistant Treasurer Matthew R. Raabe to the judge who will sentence him for his role in the scandal.

Kennard R. Smart, the Orange County Transportation Authority’s general counsel, said the letter was not meant as a call for leniency but to tell Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey that Raabe had answered questions for the agency’s lawsuit against Goldman Sachs. The OCTA is suing the investment firm for failing to warn the agency about the county’s risky investment fund.

“We’re not saying he’s a wonderful guy. We’re not saying, ‘Let bygones be bygones,’ ” Smart said. “It’s purely factual that he provided information in response to our questions. Ultimately, Judge Dickey will decide if that means anything.”

In his letter, Smart wrote: “Mr. Raabe assisted OCTA by providing it with information relevant to its claims against third parties. He was cooperative and responded patiently and with apparent candor to all questions that were asked of him.”

Smart said he did not know if Raabe would have agreed to an interview if he had not written the letter. Sources said Smart told them the letter was a condition of the interview. Raabe participated in a single telephone interview with OCTA attorneys.

Raabe is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 3.

The transportation authority was the largest investor in the pool run by the county when it went bankrupt in late 1994, losing $1.64 billion at the hands of former Treasurer Robert L. Citron. Raabe was his chief lieutenant. Besides the $221 million in investments the OCTA lost, another $202 million of tax money that would have gone to the authority was diverted to help cover the county’s losses.

Raabe, 41, was convicted of five felony charges that he deceived investors into putting money into the fund. Raabe also was found guilty of helping to divert more than $80 million from the pool into an emergency fund for the county.

Citron, 71, pleaded guilty to the same felony charges. He is serving a one-year sentence, working in the jail commissary and returning home at night.

Former OCTA executive Stan Oftelie, executive director of the Orange County Business Council, said he signed a similar letter in advance of Citron’s sentencing.

“Our attorneys were doing work on the Goldman Sachs lawsuit, and they asked if they could interview Citron,” Oftelie said. “His attorney said, ‘Sure. Would you write a letter to the judge that he was cooperative?’ It seemed like a reasonable request.”

The OCTA board did not vote on whether to send the Raabe letter, but Smart briefed the members individually.

Supervisor and OCTA board member Todd Spitzer said he objected to the letter.

“I told [Smart] I was very uncomfortable with it because Mr. Raabe ripped off cities, school districts and special districts, including OCTA,” Spitzer said.