Moreno Testifies He Made Deal for Donation

Santa Ana Councilman Ted R. Moreno said Thursday that he agreed to help an FBI informant obtain a liquor license in exchange for $31,000 in campaign contributions but argued that he was entrapped by the government.

Moreno said repeatedly that he was set up and threatened by the informant, who was seeking a beer and wine permit from the Santa Ana Planning Commission, which turned down the government agent’s request.

In one conversation taped by FBI agents after the planning agency’s action, Moreno is heard telling the informant, Victor Koshkerian, “If they’re all in there . . . you’ll get what you want.”

Prosecutors said it was a reference to Moreno’s promise to get City Council candidates Hector Olivares and Roman Palacios to vote for the liquor permit in exchange for $31,000 in contributions to their campaigns by Koshkerian. Both Olivares and Palacios later lost their bids for office.

Moreno’s explanation of that conversation was, “I told him I would get him his liquor license. I would get the guys [Olivares and Palacios] to do what he wants. I wanted him out of my life.”

Moreno completed his second day on the witness stand, a grueling session in which Assistant U.S. Atty. John Hueston hammered away and succeeded in getting Moreno to admit that he lied and solicited illegal cash donations.

On one occasion, Moreno had his daughter with him when he picked up an envelope stuffed with cash from Koshkerian. He insisted on Thursday that he never knew how much was in the envelope because he never counted the money.

“Did Koshkerian put a gun to your head and make you walk out with the cash?” Hueston asked. Moreno did not answer.

On June 1, 1996, months after Moreno and Koshkerian began discussing the campaign contributions, Moreno apparently began to wonder if Koshkerian was a police informant and confronted him.

“You don’t work for a police agency, do you? Do you work for the FBI, Police Department or D.A.?” Moreno asked.

Koshkerian, who comes across as smooth and unruffled on the tapes, assured Moreno he was not working for law enforcement.

The informant then turned the conversation around, reminding Moreno, “Ted, you came to see me.” To which Moreno responded, “That’s true.”

“I told you my heart is your heart,” Koshkerian said. He expressed disappointment with Moreno’s lack of trust. “I don’t think we should do business if you don’t trust me.”

“I have to protect myself,” Moreno answered. The following month he accepted the first illegal contribution: $5,000.

77 Talks Recorded

On Wednesday, Moreno testified that he met Koshkerian, a gas-station owner, in February 1996 when Koshkerian followed him into a restroom during a break from a City Council meeting.

That meeting was the first of several between the two men, many secretly recorded by Koshkerian.

Moreno has testified that Koshkerian threatened to destroy him and his family if Moreno did not accept $31,000 in illegal campaign contributions.

Hueston homed in on that point in his questioning of Moreno and noted that in 77 recorded conversations between the two men, “the word ‘destroy’ never came up.”

On Oct. 30, 1996, a few days before the general election that saw Moreno reelected to his council post, he was taped phoning Koshkerian in an appeal for $2,000 to boost his campaign.

“I’m calling you for last-minute help. I need it, like, now. Can you come through with two?” Moreno asked.

On other tapes, Moreno is heard joking and laughing with Koshkerian while the two men had lunch or dinner.

Throughout Thursday’s questioning by Hueston, Moreno was evasive and combative, forcing U.S. District Court Judge Gary L. Taylor to rule several times that he was unresponsive to the prosecutor’s questions.

Hueston asked why Moreno never sought police protection if he was threatened by Koshkerian.

The councilman said he was in the middle of a reelection race and was afraid of defeat if reports about the illegal contributions and threats were reported by the news media.

“I didn’t need a scandal,” Moreno said.