[ad_1]
Sheldon Silver, the former Speaker of the State Assembly who became one of New York's most powerful politicians, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday. for his conviction for federal corruption charges.
Silver, a Democrat from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, had served as a lecturer for more than two decades, and influenced almost every important aspect of state politics. He was convicted in May after a previous conviction was quashed on appeal.
With Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Dean G. Skelos, former Majority Leader of the Republican Senate of State, Mr. Silver became known as one of the three men in a room " who was in control of Albany's decision-making and has also demonstrated a remarkable ability to repel the incursions of rivals and political investigators, inevitably emerging defenseless
but last week, writing to the judge, he described as a broken man
"everything I did became a joke and a show," writes Silver, 74, adding, "I pray that I will not die in jail. "
Mr Silver, after his first conviction, was sentenced to 12 years, but the judge, Valerie E. Caproni, allowed him to remain on bail while he was appealing. A year ago, a federal court of appeal overturned this conviction, citing a 2016 US Supreme Court ruling that narrowed the legal definition of corruption
. Prosecutors again demonstrated that Mr. Silver had obtained bribes of nearly $ 4 million in exchange for official actions in favor of a cancer researcher at Columbia University and two promoters.
Silver, one of four former state officials convicted this year for a trial season for corruption, is the first of this group to be sentenced.
This Month Separate jurors sentenced Mr. Skelos, the former Senate. té who was retried on charges of bribery and extortion after his 2015 conviction was quashed; and Alain E. Kaloyeros, the lead architect of Mr. Cuomo's iconic economic development project to revitalize north and west New York. Joseph Percoco, former top adviser to Mr. Cuomo, was found guilty of paying more than $ 300,000 in bribes to leaders of two companies with activities in the state. . Mr Cuomo was not accused of any wrongdoing, but his political rivals seized on the chain of cases as evidence of a corrupt culture in Albany that they say the governor allowed .
Geoffrey S. Berman's office, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, last week, asked Caproni J. to impose on Mr. Silver a sentence "substantially in excess "10 years old.
Silver's lawyers, in their own brief, acknowledged that he should receive a "significant custodial sentence," but they also proposed to render him a "rigorous" community service, such as managing a special service to help New Yorkers navigate their way through the state. bureaucracy to answer their questions and maximize their chances of receiving benefits to which they may be entitled.
In the first scheme, Mr. Silver has arranged for the Department of Public Health to grant Dr. Taub $ 500,000 in grants to cancer patients with potentially lucrative legal claims from a family. law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, who returned part of his fees to Mr. Silver.
In the other system, Mr. Silver arranged for the two developers, Glenwood Management and Witkoff Group, to send tax affairs to the law firm Goldberg & Iryami, who gave Mr. Silver part of his fees.
Follow Benjamin Weiser on Twitter: @BenWeiserNYT
Zoe Green berg contributed to the report.
[ad_2]
Source link
