FILE – In this July 30, 2015 file photo, former NY state Senate majority leader Dean Skelos, right, and his son Adam, 33, left, leave Manhattan federal court after pleading not guilty to the latest charges against them in a corruption case, in NY. Both men had requested to be sentenced to community service.
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The two trials took place at the same time previous year, painting a damning portrait of systemic official misconduct in Albany.
The proceedings come a week after another judge sentenced former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, long one of the state’s most powerful politicians, to 12 years in prison for collecting millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks.
Prosecutors said Dean Skelos sought to use his position to extract payments for Adam Skelos, bullying and threatening companies that feared losing his support.
Adam Skelos said he was “deeply embarrassed by my actions”.
The judge said the 68-year-old Skelos “repeatedly threatened and pressured” big companies to help his son, portraying him as destitute even while he was earning well over $200,000 annually.
The convictions of Skelos, a Republican from Long Island, and Silver, a Democrat, represented major wins for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who has criticized Albany for having “one of the most corrupt governments in the nation”.
Judge Kimba Wood sentenced the ex-senator’s son, Adam Skelos, who was also convicted of corruption charges, to 6 1/2 years in prison.
The New York Times and other media organizations have reported that Bharara’s office is now investigating a former close aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as well as a Buffalo, N.Y. economic development project championed by the Democratic governor.
Dean’s lawyer, Robert Gage, insisted that his client deserved a “lenient sentence”.
“Your crimes have caused immeasurable damage to the New Yorkers confidence in their government”, Wood told the father and son while handing down their sentences.
Skelos’ son, Adam, was due to be sentenced later Thursday. As Adam Skelos spoke from a lectern, his father could be seen wiping his eyes from his seat. Former Senate majority leader Skelos and his son, Adam, are scheduled to appear Thursday, May 12, 2016, in federal court to face sentencing in a political corruption case in Manhattan.
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The representative heard Dean Skelos say that “if another [real estate developer] didn’t “step up to the plate and pony up, that, you know, at some point he was going to F them”, wrote the judge”.
