U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni ruled late Thursday that former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will be allowed to remain free while he appeals last year’s conviction on corruption charges.
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In a ruling Thursday, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Valerie Caproni extended the date for the former Assembly Speaker to start forking over the almost $6.5 million he owes for having abused his powerful post to line his own pockets.
A spokesman for Bharara had no comment.
Sheldon Silver at the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan during his trial.
Once one of New York’s most powerful politicians, Silver, 72, has been appealing his November 2015 conviction and 12-year prison sentence for fraud, extortion and money laundering charges, over multiple alleged schemes in which he collected millions of dollars of illegal bribes and kickbacks.
Silver had earlier been scheduled to begin his prison sentence on August 31. But she added that the jury’s instructions did not include key language from the definition of official action spelled out in the McDonnell case.
Caproni says Silver can remain free on appeal because it is a “close question” whether legal instructions the jury received before returning its verdict previous year were erroneous.
The judge partially agreed, calling Silver’s case “factually nearly nothing like McDonnell”, and saying there was “no question” he undertook official acts.
“It is conceivable that a rational jury would not have convicted if it had received complete instructions on. what constitutes an official act”, Caproni wrote, calling it a “close question” and saying any errors in her instructions may have been “harmless”.
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Silver’s lawyers Steven Molo and Joel Cohen said they were “grateful” for the decision and look forward to Silver’s appeal. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a $1.75 million fine on top of forfeiting the money he made.
