Jury Finds Sheldon Silver Guilty

Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was found guilty on all seven counts of his federal indictment by a jury Monday afternoon.

The conviction of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has shaken NY politics down to the granite foundations of the state Capitol, provoking fresh calls to overhaul a system that has stubbornly clung to its long history of corruption.

Silver isn’t the first official to go down in US Attorney Preet Bharara’s quest to clean up what he once famously called a cauldron of corruption in Empire State government, and he likely won’t be the last. “The jury didn’t buy the explanation that self-dealing and back-scratching are just business as usual”. In closing arguments, attorney Steven Molo told jurors the prosecution’s arguments about quid-pro-quo arrangements were weak.

Among other charges, Silver was implicated in collecting $3,000,000 dollar referral fees for his firm Weitz and Luxenberg, from Columbia University’s Dr. Robert Taub, in exchange for $500,000 research grants (funded by taxpayers) courtesy of Silver.

Questioned later by Caproni about the possible conflict, the juror said he was a taxi driver who leases a medallion required by cab drivers to operate in the city from an individual who “associates” with Silver.

During the trial, two sides of Silver, 71, were presented. The charges included four counts of honest-services fraud, two counts of extortion, and one count of money laundering. He knows he did not commit a crime.

Silver, who maintains he did nothing wrong and will be vindicated at trial, stepped down from his post after his January arrest, but he retains his Assembly seat.

Now, with former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos also on trial, one thing is becoming abundantly clear to lawmakers like McDonald: “You’re elected with the public’s trust; don’t betray it”.

Prosecutors said Silver delivered tax-abatement and rent-control legislation that favored developers while big developers hired a small law firm that secretly sent $700,000 in fees to the ex-speaker.

Meanwhile, Skelos and his son have been on trial in another Manhattan federal courtroom.

In the 10 months since Silver’s arrest, ethics groups have noted that Cuomo acceded to Silver and Skelos’ desire less than two years ago to mothball his Moreland Commission panel on public corruption.