In a decision that sent shock waves across the state’s political landscape, former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was convicted on seven counts of federal corruption. He was accused of collecting millions of dollars in kickbacks in schemes that involved real estate developers and a cancer researcher at Columbia University.
Advertisement
As such, Silver largely charted the course of legislation in the lower chamber of the NY state legislature for the past two decades. “There will be zero tolerance for the violation of the public trust in NY”.
Silver was first elected to the Assembly almost 40 years ago and served more than half that time as Assembly speaker, arguably making him the most powerful man in NY politics until he was forced to resign after his arrest in January. The verdict comes as a major victory for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who said Albany was a “cauldron of corruption”.
The jury verdict came after a three-week trial in which federal prosecutors claimed that the 71-year-old Democrat traded favors to enrich himself and then lied about it. The defense countered that the government was trying to criminalize the longtime routines of Albany politicians.
Thirty state lawmakers have left office because of criminal charges or allegations of misconduct since 2000.
“Today, Sheldon Silver got justice, and at long last, so did the people of New York”, Bharara, who was in court to hear the verdict, said in a statement. He faces a maximum of 130 years behind bars, though he is expected to face a sentence more in the range of 20 years. His attorneys said that what the speaker had done was simply business as usual.
Cuomo suggested he may push for further reforms to the state’s ethics laws. That firm secretly paid Silver $700,000 in referral fees. Officials said Silver did not properly disclose the income he received from the firm. It did not mention the name of Silver, who was the governor’s closest negotiating partner in Albany, nor commit Cuomo to an agenda for reform.
I am deeply saddened by the events that have taken place this year, culminating with today’s conviction of former Speaker Sheldon Silver.
Silver did not testify during his trial and called no witnesses.
Advertisement
The leaders who replaced Silver and Skelos have voluntarily foregone taking any outside pay. In return, he gave Taub $500,000 in taxpayer funds for research projects.
