Russian novels have been thrown. Accusations   have been hurled. Barbs have been traded. But as heightened as some of the courtroom shenanigans have been in the three months since the California Attorney General’s Office arrested Phil and Ellen Lester, Susan Laferte and Jonathan Blinder and charged them with fraud, the mounting cost for Nevada County to defend the case is no laughing matter. Blinder has retained private counsel, but the Lesters and Laferte declared themselves indigent and in need of a public defender’s services. Charges currently have been dropped against Ellen Lester but might be refiled at a later …