Court papers do not reveal the women’s identities, but prosecutors say one woman was a lobbyist to whom Silver gave preferential treatment, and Silver helped the other woman obtain a job in state government.
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The “government has credible and corroborated evidence that while serving as Speaker of the Assembly, the defendant engaged in extramarital relationships with two women”, the feds say in the court filing.
The New York Times is reporting that one of two women with whom Silver allegedly had affairs lobbied him “on a regular basis on behalf of clients who had business before the state”. Prosecutors alleged that the woman once complained that a Silver staffer was not treating her well and told Silver: “I don’t talk to anybody about the issue except you”.
Silver communicated with the second woman on a secret cellphone that was not in his name, prosecutors said, and called two different state officials to try to get her a job without revealing the personal relationship.
Lawyers for The New York Times and NBC 4 New York asked the judge in February to unseal documents pertaining to evidence excluded from trial.
Sheldon Silver’s extramarital affairs with two women are detailed in newly unsealed court papers released just weeks before the disgraced politician is set to be sentenced in his $5million corruption case. On Friday, his lawyers – Steven Molo and Joel Cohen – released a statement calling the revelations “simply unproven and salacious allegations that have no place in this case or public discussion”.
Caproni said the women were not entirely innocent third parties.
On Nov. 30, Silver was found guilty of honest services fraud, extortion and money laundering.
The conviction of Silver, who was first elected to the Assembly in 1976 and became its speaker in 1994, was followed later in December by New York Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, who was convicted in a separate corruption case.
Silver resigned as speaker last January following his arrest, ending 20 years at the post.
“I feel like a gangster having a conversation”, she laughed. “These people have a right to know and the public has a right to know”.
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Caproni, in ordering the documents released, said Thursday that the public had an interest “in understanding the whole scenario”, and what she would be looking at to determine an appropriate sentence for Silver, who has been married to his wife, Rosa, for roughly 50 years. “This is not one of his better moments”.
