NEW YORK (AP) — New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was arrested Thursday on public corruption charges and accused of using his position as one of the most powerful men in Albany to obtain millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks masked as legitimate income.
The 70-year-old Silver was taken into custody around 8 a.m. at the FBI’s New York City office, FBI spokesman Peter Donald confirmed. Silver faces five counts, including conspiracy and bribery charges.
In a criminal complaint, authorities said Silver abused power. “There is probable cause to believe Silver obtained about $4 million in payments characterized as attorney referral fees solely through the corrupt use of his official position,” the complaint said.
Silver’s attorney, Joel Cohen, called the charges “meritless.”
“Mr. Silver looks forward to responding to them — in court — and ultimately his full exoneration,” Cohen said in a statement.
Silver was expected to make a court appearance later Thursday.
The arrest sent shock waves through New York’s Capitol as a new legislative session has begun, and it came just a day after Silver shared the stage with Gov. Andrew Cuomo during his State of the State address.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara took over the files of New York’s Moreland anti-corruption commission after Cuomo closed it in April. He said in October that investigations into Albany’s pay-to-play politics are continuing.
The commission and Bharara were looking into lawmakers’ earnings outside their state salaries. Silver’s outside income has long been a subject of discussion and controversy. Last year, he reported making up to $750,000 for legal work, mostly with the trial firm of Weitz & Luxenberg.
When the commission began to investigate public corruption in 2013, including outside income earned by Silver and other state legislators, “Silver took legal action and other steps to prevent the disclosure of such information,” the complaint said.
As speaker of the Democrat-controlled Assembly, Silver is one of the most influential people in New York state government. Along with the Senate majority leader and the governor, he plays a major role in creating state budgets, laws and policies in a system long-criticized in Albany as “three men in a room.”
Silver has gone toe-to-toe with five New York governors — from the late Mario Cuomo to his son Andrew Cuomo — since early 1994, when he was selected Assembly speaker to replace the ailing Saul Welprin.
Silver was first elected to the Assembly in 1976, representing a district on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where he was born and still lives with his wife, Rosa.
A graduate of Brooklyn Law School and a practicing attorney, Silver has championed liberal causes in the Legislature, where he has used his position as a powerbroker to support teachers, trial lawyers and civil service unions.
But he has also seen more than his share of corruption and scandal in his chamber. Several Assembly members have been hit in recent years with criminal charges ranging from taking bribes to using campaign funds for personal expenses.
In 2003, Silver’s then-counsel, Michael Boxley, was convicted of sexual misconduct. Nine years later, Silver handled a confidential settlement of $103,000 in public funds for two women who said they were sexually harassed by their boss, then-Assemblyman Vito Lopez of Brooklyn. After the details of the settlement went public, the Assembly speaker was criticized for his role. Silver later said the case should have been handled by the ethics committee.
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Associated Press writer David Klepper in Albany contributed to this story.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Lock this bastard up for a long time please.
And the simmering, incestuous corrupt cesspool that is NY State politics continues to churn.
I am still slack-jawed at the memory of Gov. Cuomo’s appearance a few weeks ago on the CBS Morning News where he was interviewed by that supposed master of the interview, Charlie Rose.
This happened just after Cuomo had shut down the Moreland Commission he had created to “deal with corruption in Albany,” and apparently did so because it was starting to ask embarrassing questions about the actions of his own administration and its apparent collusion with Republicans over control of the Legislature. It was also right after Cuomo had survived an embarrassingly large anti vote in his primary battle with unknown Zephyr Teachout who made Cuomo’s actions a part of her effort.
And would you believe it? Charlie never asked ONE question about that issue. Not one. Instead, he served up enough softballs to start his own professional league and Cuomo responded with the same sort of tepid crud that filled his book.
“Tepid crud?” you ask…“Isn’t that a judgement on your part?”
Well not so much when you recognize that sales of Cuomo’s book tanked as soon as they hit the market. By one report, it sold less than a 1,000 copies in the first week and it got so bad Cuomo’s staff was sending his e-mail list to the publisher to help with marketing efforts.
Oh…and by the way…the publisher of Andy’s book? Harper…
And who owns Harper?..News Corporation
And who owns News Corporation? Rupert Murdoch?
And how much did Andy Cuomo get as a GUARANTEED ADVANCE on his doorstop of a book? A reported $700,000.
A cynical person might suggest that Rupert was buying influence here, but I am sure he would never do that.
Good Luck to the prosecutor on this latest matter. Knowing the workings of NY politiics…he has a VERY rough
row to hoe.
Interesting, the governor closed down the “ethics” commission in April and less than 9 months later one of the biggest political fish in the state of New York is on the hook for corruption.
Of course the standard “I am not a crook” defense is rolled out by his attorney.
Nice hat.
Looks like spring cleaning is getting an early start.