Sheldon Silver, Ex-New York Assembly Speaker, Is Found Guilty on All Counts

[iandhr]

Source: NY TIMES

Sheldon Silver, an assemblyman who rose from the Lower East Side to become one of New York State’s most powerful politicians, was found guilty on Monday in a federal corruption trial, ending a case that was the capstone of the government’s efforts to expose the seamy culture of influence peddling in Albany


Mr. Silver, 71, a Democrat who served more than two decades as the Assembly speaker before he was forced to resign after his arrest in January, will automatically forfeit the Assembly seat to which he was first elected nearly 40 years ago.

The jury’s verdict came in the fifth week of Mr. Silver’s trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan, in which he faced seven counts of honest services fraud, extortion and money laundering. He was convicted on all counts.

Mr. Silver is the most prominent of a string of state lawmakers who have been convicted by prosecutors in the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York. At the time of Mr. Silver’s arrest, Mr. Bharara said that the charges against him made it clear that “the show-me-the-money culture of Albany has been perpetuated and promoted at the very top of the political food chain.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/01/nyregion/sheldon-silver-guilty-corruption-trial.html?_r=0

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One down two to go.

[BeyondGeography]

1. Lovely

I see the NYDN is saying 20 years re. sentencing. I would take that, although more would be better.

[cloudbase]

7. I'd accept a reduction if he outs Cuomo and the rest of

the dirty politicians in Albany.

[Renew Deal]

2. This is a big win for Preet Bharara

Next up... The Skelos clan

[brooklynite]

3. Two, you say?

This is just the start; I'd say an even dozen (both parties) are facing the chopping block.

[iandhr]

4. The three men in a room.

Sliver, Skelos, and Cuomo

[NYCButterfinger]

5. This may affect Cuomo ' s 2020/2024 chances

He wants to be president and he may be the Democratic Party nominee due to the large state that he runs.

[Tempest]

6. He may run a big state

But he's doing it poorly.

And it's reflected in his dropping approval rating.

He's lost the support of the unions and without that, he's dead in the water.

[zalinda]

8. Everyone thought that they were electing

someone like his father, but he is far from that. He's one of these New Democrats, who step on the little people when it suits them, and panders to them when they want more power.

Z

[FlatBaroque]

9. THIS is our Democratic party

[Reter]

10. How was he not impeached with all of this going on?

Were they waiting for the obvious verdict?

[Nye Bevan]

12. Every single politician in Albany was terrified of him.

They would do nothing to him as long as there was the tiniest chance he would be acquitted, which would put them on the receiving end of his revenge (and I'm not kidding here).

[Nye Bevan]

11. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy

than the New York State Assembly in Albany. Good on Preet Bharara for trying to clean it up.