Modern Orthodox former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon "Shelly" Silver has just been found guilty on all counts in his federal corruption trial in Manhattan. Silver faces a possible sentence of more than 100 years in prison.
Above: Sheldon Silver
Updated 3:45 PM CST
Sheldon "Shelly" Silver Guilty On All Counts
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Modern Orthodox former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon "Shelly" Silver has just been found guilty on all counts in his federal corruption trial in Manhattan. Silver faces a possible sentence of more than 100 years in prison.
US Attorney Preet Bharara said today Silver finally got the justice he deserved.
"Today, Sheldon Silver got justice, and at long last, so did the people of New York,” Bharara said in a terse one-line statement.
Silver, a 71-year-old Democrat, was speaker for more than two decades until he was forced to resign after being arrested in January. He has held his Lower East Side State Assembly seat for almost 40 years, but will now automatically lose it due to his conviction on seven counts of honest services fraud, extortion and money laundering.
Bharara has brought down a string of New York State politicians on corruption-related charges and is thought to be pursuing the state’s sitting governor, Andrew Cuomo.
Former State Senate Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos, a Republican who still holds a state senate seat, stepped down as majority leader after being arrested in May on federal corruption charges brought by Bharara.
Silver took almost $4 million in illegal payments and in return used his Assembly position to take official actions that benefited a Columbia University cancer researcher, Dr. Robert N. Taub, and two New York real estate development firms.
Taub got two grants totaling $500,000.
In return, Taub sent his mesothelioma patients with to Silver’s law firm.
Silver also had two real estate developers, Glenwood Management and the Witkoff Group, to give tax business to a law firm, Goldberg & Iryami. The firm then secretly shared the fees from that work with Silver while Silver supported legislation backed by the developers.
Silver’s lawyers harshly criticized the charges.
“They look at conduct which is legal, conduct which is normal, conduct which allows government to function consistent with the way that our founding fathers of the state of New York wanted it to function, and they say this is illegal,” one of Silver’s attorneys, Steven F. Molo, told the jury in his opening statement five weeks ago.
Prosecutors reportedly scoffed at that claim.
“[The idea that] this nation shall be governed by the people and for the people…[is a] core principle [of our nation, but Silver] governed using a different model. It wasn’t by the people or for the people. It was by Sheldon Silver for Sheldon Silver,” Prosecutor Howard S. Master said in his summation, the New york Times reported. "[Silver used his office to] dispense benefits to people who were paying him in quid pro quo relationship,” Master continued. “He used that power and that money to line his pockets.”
Related Posts: