One September night in 1997, Judy Rapfogel threw a party. Press reports had just declared her the winner in a tight Democratic primary race to represent Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the New York City Council, effectively making the seat hers in the heavily Democratic town. Her boss, the new State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver,…
(Reuteres) — New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, one of the state’s most powerful politicians for more than two decades, was charged on Thursday with pocketing $4 million from bribery and kickback schemes. Silver, a Democrat who has served as the highest-ranking state assemblyman since 1994, was accused in a federal criminal complaint in New…
(Reuters) — A U.S. judge declared a mistrial in the case against a New York state senator accused of trying to buy his way onto the Republican ticket in the 2013 New York City mayoral race, lawyers in the case said. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, New York, scuttled the trial of…
A sprawling New York state corruption trial could reportedly be seriously delayed or even derailed by some 300 recordings of an upstate Hasidic wheeler-dealer chatting in Yiddish. A federal judge is considering his options after defense lawyers for disgraced state Sen. Malcolm Smith complained that they had not had a chance to listen to the…
(Reuters) — Israel’s ex-prime minister Ehud Olmert was sentenced to six years in jail on Tuesday for taking bribes in a real estate deal, a crime the judge said was akin to treason. The first criminal conviction of a former Israeli head of government all but ended speculation that Olmert – a centrist credited internationally…
An Israeli court convicted former prime minister Ehud Olmert on Monday of accepting a six-figure sum in bribes linked to a real-estate deal, probably ending any prospects of a political comeback. Olmert, a centrist credited internationally with working towards a peace settlement with the Palestinians, had denied wrongdoing in the Holyland apartment complex deal, which…
Israeli far-right leader Avigdor Lieberman was sworn in as foreign minister on Monday after his acquittal on corruption charges, a development that could further complicate peace talks with the Palestinians. Lieberman stepped down last year when he was indicted. His reinstatement to the role, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had held open for him, is…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed his former foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, back to government on Wednesday after the ultra-nationalist politician was acquitted of corruption charges. Lieberman’s return to office could further complicate already troubled U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. A settler living on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood, Lieberman has…
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