State Senator Dean Skelos and his son Adam had two new federal-bribery and extortion charges added to the buffet of corruption charges they were already facing this week.
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The new counts of extortion and soliciting bribes revolve around Adam Skelos’ employment with a medical malpractice insurance company, with prosecutors accusing Dean Skelos of pressuring the company’s administrator to employ his son in exchange for favors in Albany.
As mentioned by the indictment, From January 2 through April 26, 2013, Adam Skelos worked for three or more hours on only five days, yet was paid his full salary. “On this phone call, and on other occasions, Adam Skelos told Supervisor-1, in sum and substance, that [he] did not have to come to work regularly because his father…was Majority Leader of the senate”. The indictment says that, during that time, Skelos met with the CEO of the company and repeatedly asked them to use a court-recording service where Adam Skelos’s wife (who was his girlfriend at the time) was working.
Dean Skelos has said he will fight the charges and he and his son will be vindicated.
That analysis, the indictment alleges, was completely accurate: Dean Skelos subsequently called the CEO to demand to know why his son was being “harassed” by his supervisor.
But Adam Skelos failed to report to the $78,000-a-year position nearly from the start, showing up for no more than one hour for four days of his first week, the indictment said.
“Shortly after that phone call, Adam Skelos called back Supervisor-1 and threatened to “smash in” Supervisor-1’s head, and told Supervisor-1 that Supervisor-1 would “never amount to anything, ‘ and that ‘guys like” Supervisor-1 ‘couldn’t shine [Adam Skelos’s] shoes, ‘” the indictment reads.
Although not named in the superseding indictment, the developer and environmental technology company have been widely reported to be Glenwood Management, a large campaign donor to Dean Skelos based in Nassau County, and AbTech of Arizona, which was looking to secure water treatment contracts in the state.
The case stems from when the company’s CEO hired Adam Skelos for a job he wasn’t licensed to perform, as said by prosecutors.
Adam Skelos didn’t exactly take the meeting well, as mentioned by the court document.
He then reportedly received a raise to $10,000 per month, totaling his payments from November 2012 to April 2015 to approximately $200,000. Though the arrangement was ultimately extended through March of this year, the company “never sold one medical malpractice policy to a single doctor” as a result of Adam Skelos’ work, the indictment states.
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The Legislative Gazette | P.O.
