MIAMI — A protege testified Wednesday against a former president of the University of South Carolina that it was a mistake to get involved with a purported Russian mobster in need of visas and laundered drug profits.

That mobster turned out to be an undercover officer.

“I don’t know whose idea it was to start with, but I agreed I was there for that purpose,” said Rafael Diaz Cabral, a former Texas college administrator and intern for ex-university president James Holderman. “Dr. Holderman knew as well as I did what we were doing.”

At times, Diaz sounded vague about his own criminal actions and agreed with the defense that he was motivated to help his father sell his license for a casino in the Dominican Republic.

“You didn’t want to launder money. You didn’t want to get involved in visa fraud. You just wanted to help your dad,” said Neil Nameroff, Holderman’s attorney. Diaz agreed.

Diaz testified that he was “very suspicious” of the purported mobster but added, “To be quite honest, I didn’t want to know what his business was ... after we helped him.”

Holderman had taken $7,500 to help get a visa for the officer in a false name. Diaz said he and Holderman later agreed to try to get student visas for the officer and as many as 200 associates through Diaz’s Brookhaven College, a Dallas community college.

Diaz said that idea fell through when he realized they couldn’t come up with immunization and other records required to enroll students. The next plan was to have the officer buy the Dominican casino for $250,000, which would allow him to get Dominican residency and immigration papers.

With that in hand, prosecutors said the officer could turn around and get a multiple-entry U.S. travel visa. The officer said he had arrived in the United States by boat from the Cayman Islands.

Holderman and Diaz were arrested counting out money from $400,000 dumped by the officer on a table during a hotel meeting last March. Diaz said he would take $15,000 to the Dominican Republic to begin work on the visa deal.

Diaz said he and Holderman agreed to split their profits 50-50.

Diaz, 39, of Greenville County, quit as a vice president of the Dallas college after his arrest. He is to start serving a 14-month prison sentence in November.

Holderman, 67, of Charleston, landed visits by Pope John Paul II and President Reagan during his 13 years as head of USC.

He dropped the names of White House chief of staff Andrew Card, former U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and former White House chief of staff Howard Baker during the nine-month investigation. Diaz said Holderman knew all three.

Nameroff claims Holderman is a victim of government entrapment because no crime would have occurred without the undercover push, no money was ever laundered and he never accomplished any visa fraud.

During cross-examination of the officer, Miami Beach police Detective Sgt. Peter Smolyanski, Nameroff indicated Holderman was running a small-time scam because he was desperate for money to treat his bipolar disorder and never intended to commit big-time federal crimes.

“At some point, didn’t you scratch your head and say, ‘Wait a minute, this doesn’t make sense,’” Nameroff asked.

Jurors have been told that Holderman pleaded guilty to bankruptcy fraud in 1996. He also pleaded guilty to receiving extra compensation and no contest to state tax evasion charges in a university financial scandal that ended his career in 1990.

Holderman plans to take the stand today, and the jury should get the case later in the day.