NEW YORK CITY—Former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has been indicted on three counts of federal corruption in the US Distsrict Court for the Southern District of New York. The charges include the receipt by Sheldon of “approximately $700,000 in undisclosed bribes and kickbacks that Silver obtained from a real estate law firm which was controlled by an attorney who previously worked as Silver's counsel in the Assembly,” according to the complaint filed by the Manhattan District Attorney.
Through Silver's “corrupt arrangement” with a real estate attorney—whose identity was not revealed in the suit—from approximately the year 2000 through last month, the Speaker used his influence to induce two [also unidentified] real estate developers with “significant business before the state and owned propertied within Silver's Assembly district” to retain and continually use the real estate law firm Silver was working with for tax matters. In return, Silver met with lobbyists on behalf of the two developers and supported legislative proposals favorable to those firms.
Meanwhile, Silver, himself an attorney, “obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks from the 'Real Estate Law Firm" that were described as “legal fees” as a result of the tax work which, in fact, was not done by him.
Further, Silver engaged in similarly deceptive practices with a personal injury law firm that he enlisted to provide him with kickbacks for referrals of asbestos related clients. A doctor also was involved in the matter.
In total, Silver received close to $4 million in payments from the two law firms and, making matters worse, he went out of his way to cover up the funds. He failed to reveal the income on mandatory disclosure forms he filed with the ethics commission and he blocked the Moreland Commission—established by the Governor to root out corruption—from finding the truth. The complaint also speaks of mail fraud, interstate wires being used and the wire transfer of funds.
Says US Attorney Preet Bharara in the suit, “Sheldon Silver willfully and knowingly devised a scheme and artifice to defraud and to deprive the public of its intangible right to Silver's honest services as an elected legislator and as the Speaker of the Assembly."
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
