Bharara called Silver’s sentence “a just and fitting end to Sheldon Silver’s long career of corruption”.
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The judge ordered Silver to pay a fine of $1.75 million and forfeit more than $5 million in ill-gotten gains.
Silver offered an apology during the hearing, saying: “Without question, I’ve let down my family, I’ve let down my colleagues, I’ve let down my constituents, and I am truly, truly sorry for that”.
The back-to-back convictions represented a major win for Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, who has arrested several lawmakers as part of a broader investigation of corruption in Albany. The jurist noted that Silver not only used the subtle subterfuge of referral fees from two law firms to take kickbacks from a state-funded mesothelioma research center and a developer seeking tax breaks and subsidies in Albany, but also repeatedly sought to hide his activities. Former Brownsville assemblyman William Boyland Jr. was sentenced to 14 years last year for bribery.
Silver led the Assembly for more than two decades before he became the centerpiece of one of New York’s steepest political falls from grace.
Silver is the 11th NY state politician to be convicted on corruption charges since 2009, and his is the second-longest sentence yet.
Silver’s attorneys put on their own pre-sentencing front, including in their own court filing with the judge a personal appeal from Silver. “Because of my actions, New York’s ethics rules were and continue to be analyzed, evaluated, and criticized, everywhere”.
The sentence “should punish Silver for the vast harm he has caused and the position of trust that he exploited, deter other elected officials from the temptation towards corruption, and communicate to the public that the rule of law applies even to the most prominent of public officials”, Bharara’s office wrote.
Under federal guidelines, the sentence could have been between 21 and 27 years, but the judge said she would not follow the guidelines, according to Newsday tweets.
Silver is 72 and was treated for prostate cancer last year, meaning a sentence of 20 plus years could have meant he would die in prison.
He also urged her to strip Silver of his $79,000 annual pension.
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Those who support Silver say he’s a good man who helped many of constituents while others say he deserves what he gets. He’s remains free on bail, and is scheduled to report to prison July 1.
