Silver served as New York Assembly Speaker for 20 years.
Advertisement
Content Preview This content is exclusive for Optimum, Time Warner, Comcast, customers with access to News 12. Ultimately, I believe that after the legal challenges, we’ll get results”, he said as he left court after being convicted of all charges against him: “honest-services fraud, extortion and money laundering.
In all, Silver is accused of pocketing over $4 million in bribes since 2002, NBC New York reported. In 2008, Clinton described Silver as a “stalwart voice on the needs for New Yorkers”.
“The bell could not be ringing louder for real reform in Albany than it is right now”, said Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky, a former corruption prosecutor now in his first term.
He stepped down from his speaker position in January and will forfeit his Assembly seat. Silver is now facing up to 131 years in prison, according to The New York Post.
At the state capitol, Silver’s name plates were quickly removed from his former office doors and from his desk in the assembly chamber.
The complaint says Weitz & Luxenberg credited Silver with referring more than 100 asbestos clients to the firm and paid him more than $3.2 million in fees, in addition to his $120,000 salary.
In the second scheme Silver, 71, directed two major developers Glenwood Management and the Witkoff Group to use the firm Goldberg & Iryami for litigation challenging city tax assessments. State lawmakers are not prohibited from earning outside income but they are required to report such earnings in annual disclosure forms.
The three-week trial wrapped up with Silver’s defense team calling no witnesses and Silver himself refusing to take the stand.
Others, like former gubernatorial candidate Carl P. Paladino, were more than ready to proclaim “vindication” for years of pointed criticism of Silver. Neither Silver nor his attorneys could immediately be reached for comment on the verdict.
Susan Lerner of Common Cause-NY said Silver’s conviction shows Albany operates in a murky world all its own.
At the heart of the government’s case were two schemes in which a jury found Silver set up an illegal quid-pro-quo.
Indeed, Silver’s conviction could have a greater impact than any of the many guilty verdicts and plea deals that preceded it, including the initial conviction of former Senate Leader Joseph L. Bruno nearly exactly six years ago.
Advertisement
November 25, 2015: Former New York NY Meeting Speaker Sheldon Silver, center, leaves courtroom after jurors took a break in Silver’s federal corruption trial in New York NY.
