Posted December 31, 2014 3:09 PM ET; Last updated January 22, 2015 8:25 PM ET
[From article]
The stunning five-count criminal complaint accused the Manhattan Democrat, an Albany power broker for decades, with pocketing millions in bribes and kickbacks in return for wielding his massive influence.
“Speaker Silver lied and misled the public about his outside incomes,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told a news conference hours after Silver turned himself in.
“These charges go to the very core of what ails Albany — a lack of transparency, lack of accountability and a lack of principle joined with an overabundance of greed, cronyism and self-dealing.”
Bharara’s office received court warrants to seize $3.4 million from eight of Silver’s accounts at a half-dozen banks.
Each of the counts against Silver carries a maximum 20-year jail term — five years longer than the length of time that prosecutors claim the speaker was collecting his crooked cash.
[. . .]
The state money was provided to Dr. Robert Taub for research by the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation — with some of the additional funds going for unspecified “additional benefits” to the doctor’s family, the court papers charges.
Taub, who is affiliated with Columbia University, is cooperating with the FBI, court papers revealed. Silver sponsored a May 2011 “official resolution” by the assembly honoring Taub.
Silver collected more than $3.2 million in referral fees from the law firm after directing more than 100 clients to Weitz & Luxenberg for asbestos litigation, according to the complaint.
[. . .]
The schemes date back to 2000, and the complaint charges the speaker with multiple counts of fraud and using “the power and influence of his official position to obtain for himself millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks masked as legitimate income earned by Silver as a private lawyer.”
Silver arrived early Thursday at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan after officials allowed him to surrender and avoid a perp walk, law enforcement sources said.
[. . .]
Silver, along with Cuomo and Senate Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos, are known as the “three men in the room” because they negotiate most everything that gets done in Albany.
[. . .]
Silver has also been dealing with a lawsuit filed by two Assembly staffers who charge that the speaker and the Assembly did not protect them from being sexually harassed by former Assemblyman Vito Lopez. After the initial accusations that Lopez groped staffers made news, Silver suddenly found himself embroiled in controversy when it was reported that he had previously paid two other staffers who had accused Lopez of sexual harassment a then-secret, taxpayer-funded settlement in excess of $100,000.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/assembly-speaker-silver-arrested-report-article-1.2087758
N.Y. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver accused of $4 million bribery and kickback scheme, Dems continue to support him
Silver, who has been one of the most powerful lawmakers in Albany for more than two decades, surrendered to authorities Thursday morning. A five-count federal complaint accuses him of accepting millions from firms seeking his influence in Albany.
BY KENNETH LOVETT , JOHN MARZULLI , GREG B. SMITH
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Thursday, January 22, 2015, 1:55 AM Updated: Thursday, January 22, 2015, 4:40 PM
* * *
Sheldon Silver
* * *
Sheldon Silver
Photo: Shannon DeCelle
[From article]
Sheldon Silver, the longtime speaker of the New York state Assembly, is expected to be arrested on corruption charges by federal authorities on Thursday after prosecutors subpoenaed records in a probe of undocumented payments he received from a law firm, according to a report.
Silver, a Manhattan Democrat who has served as speaker for more than 20 years, is expected to be charged following an investigation sparked when Gov. Cuomo abruptly shut down an anticorruption commission he had created in 2013, The New York Times said.
The specific details of the charges were not clear, but The Times said that it was related to money Silver received from a small real-estate tax law firm.
[. . .]
The probe came after an investigation by Cuomo’s Moreland Commission panel, which was looking into corruption in Albany when the governor shut it down.
One of the issues that the panel was looking into was how state lawmakers earn income from their non-government jobs.
Silver is a personal-injury lawyer associated with the high-profile law firm Weitz and Luxenberg.
Goldberg & Iryami specializes in an arcane form of law known as “tax certiorari,’’ according to the Times.
[. . .]
The Times added that the law firm has sought tax reductions for many properties on the Lower East Side, which is the area Silver represents.
In addition the financial controversies, Silver also became entangled in the Vito Lopez sex-harassment case when it became public that the speaker had hired two firms to defend the disgraced former assemblyman, spending nearly $700,000 in public funds.
http://nypost.com/2015/01/22/sheldon-silver-to-be-arrested-on-corruption-charges-report/
Sheldon Silver to be arrested on corruption charges: report
By Joe Tacopino
New York Post
January 22, 2015 | 2:08am
* * *
[From article]
The investigation into the Goldberg firm’s payments to Mr. Silver grew out of the work of the Moreland Commission, an anticorruption panel that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, created in 2013 but abruptly shut down in March. Before it was shut down, the commission had investigated how lawmakers earn money outside of Albany, though the inquiry was stymied by a legal challenge from lawmakers and their employers.
The shutdown of the Moreland Commission itself is a major scandal, and if the feds bring an indictment and get a conviction, then Cuomo’s action will be shown to have shielded at least one lawbreaker, raising the question of what else he was covering up. To put it mildly, New York State has never been regarded as an exemplar of good government, and once rocks start getting overturned, who knows what will come crawling out?
[. . .]
Mr. Silver’s income from his private law practice well exceeds his legislative salary, which as speaker totals $121,000. On his most recent financial disclosure form, for 2013, he reported earning more than $650,000 from his outside legal work. But what he does to earn that money has long been shrouded in secrecy.
Nice income for a part-time job!
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/12/top_new_york_pol_under_federal_investigation.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook#.VKLPR1sPDbs.twitter
December 30, 2014
Top New York pol under federal investigation
By Thomas Lifson
[From article]
Sheldon Silver, the longtime speaker of the New York state Assembly, is expected to be arrested on corruption charges by federal authorities on Thursday after prosecutors subpoenaed records in a probe of undocumented payments he received from a law firm, according to a report.
Silver, a Manhattan Democrat who has served as speaker for more than 20 years, is expected to be charged following an investigation sparked when Gov. Cuomo abruptly shut down an anticorruption commission he had created in 2013, The New York Times said.
The specific details of the charges were not clear, but The Times said that it was related to money Silver received from a small real-estate tax law firm.
[. . .]
The probe came after an investigation by Cuomo’s Moreland Commission panel, which was looking into corruption in Albany when the governor shut it down.
One of the issues that the panel was looking into was how state lawmakers earn income from their non-government jobs.
Silver is a personal-injury lawyer associated with the high-profile law firm Weitz and Luxenberg.
Goldberg & Iryami specializes in an arcane form of law known as “tax certiorari,’’ according to the Times.
[. . .]
The Times added that the law firm has sought tax reductions for many properties on the Lower East Side, which is the area Silver represents.
In addition the financial controversies, Silver also became entangled in the Vito Lopez sex-harassment case when it became public that the speaker had hired two firms to defend the disgraced former assemblyman, spending nearly $700,000 in public funds.
http://nypost.com/2015/01/22/sheldon-silver-to-be-arrested-on-corruption-charges-report/
Sheldon Silver to be arrested on corruption charges: report
By Joe Tacopino
New York Post
January 22, 2015 | 2:08am
* * *
[From article]
The investigation into the Goldberg firm’s payments to Mr. Silver grew out of the work of the Moreland Commission, an anticorruption panel that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, created in 2013 but abruptly shut down in March. Before it was shut down, the commission had investigated how lawmakers earn money outside of Albany, though the inquiry was stymied by a legal challenge from lawmakers and their employers.
The shutdown of the Moreland Commission itself is a major scandal, and if the feds bring an indictment and get a conviction, then Cuomo’s action will be shown to have shielded at least one lawbreaker, raising the question of what else he was covering up. To put it mildly, New York State has never been regarded as an exemplar of good government, and once rocks start getting overturned, who knows what will come crawling out?
[. . .]
Mr. Silver’s income from his private law practice well exceeds his legislative salary, which as speaker totals $121,000. On his most recent financial disclosure form, for 2013, he reported earning more than $650,000 from his outside legal work. But what he does to earn that money has long been shrouded in secrecy.
Nice income for a part-time job!
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/12/top_new_york_pol_under_federal_investigation.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook#.VKLPR1sPDbs.twitter
December 30, 2014
Top New York pol under federal investigation
By Thomas Lifson
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