Ex-New York Speaker Sheldon Silver Pleads Not Guilty in Corruption Case
Former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, one of the state’s most powerful politicians for two decades, pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges on Tuesday.
Silver, 71, who resigned as speaker after his arrest last month but remains the assemblyman for Manhattan’s Lower East Side, is charged with mail fraud, wire fraud and using his office for extortion.
Silver entered his plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where one of his defense attorneys, Steven Molo, said they planned to file a motion to dismiss the indictment.
The defense claims Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, made several public prejudicial statements against Silver that would have tainted the grand jury weighing the case.
“These were statements where the U.S. Attorney excoriated the defendant, basically deprived him of the assumption of innocence and extolled his guilt,” Molo said in court before U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni.
Prosecutors called Molo’s allegations “baseless.”
Following his court appearance, Silver told reporters: “I’m confident I will be vindicated in the courtroom.”
A lawyer, Silver became speaker in 1994, with considerable influence over New York state’s budget and lawmaking processes.
Silver long listed the New York City law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg on financial disclosure forms as a source of income for representing its clients.
The grand jury indictment said he used that position to mask bribes and kickbacks, including more than $3 million earned for referring asbestos sufferers to the firm from a doctor whose medical research secretly received $500,000 in state funds at Silver’s direction, as well as other benefits.
Silver kept secret from Weitz & Luxenberg the state funding he had organized for the doctor, according to the indictment, handed down last week.
Prosecutors say Silver also received $700,000 in kickbacks by steering real estate developers with business before the state legislature to another law firm.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
