Silver Gets More Time Before Serving Federal Jail Sentence

May 19, 2016 By
Former Democratic New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver exits Manhattan Federal District Court after being sentenced to 12 years on corruption related charges, Tuesday, May 3, 2016. Photo Credit: Bryan R. Smith / Bryan R. Smith

Former Democratic New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver exits Manhattan Federal District Court after being sentenced to 12 years on corruption related charges, Tuesday, May 3, 2016. Photo Credit: Bryan R. Smith / Bryan R. Smith

The federal judge who sentenced former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to 12 years in prison has granted the 72-year-old two more months of freedom before he begin to serve time. The delay comes because the U.S. Supreme Court is taking up the case of a convicted Virginia governor and one of the issues is what constitutes an “official act.”

The judge also set up a five-week briefing schedule after the Supreme Court rules in former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s challenge to his corruption conviction. That time will allow her to decide if Silver is entitled to bail pending appeal because a reversal is likely.

Read the story via NY Newsday here:
Silver’s prison surrender delayed by 2 months

Filed Under: Cases, Community Tagged With: , ,

In-depth Analysis of Silver Conviction Implications

December 2, 2015 By

CCM publisher, Sara Warner, writes an in-depth analysis of the Sheldon Silver conviction implications in her latest Huffington Post blog. Take a look!

Filed Under: Community, National Tagged With: , , ,

Silver Trial Headed For Closing Arguments Monday

November 20, 2015 By
 
The federal criminal trial of former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is expected to enter the closing arguments stage on Monday, with his defense team opting to call no witnesses. They did grab headlines with a motion asking the judge to dismiss the case – which is actually a routine step in such trials. While a criminal trial, the Silver case is being closely watched by the civil trial bar, in part because lots of the case rests on his referral arrangement with an asbestos litigation firm.
 
That firm has said that Silver was “of counsel” for many years but performed no legal work while receiving more than $3 million in referral fees. The government contends that the then-Speaker steered government contracts to a clinic that helped with the referrals.
 
See a good Wall Street Journal recap here:
Filed Under: Cases, Community Tagged With: , ,

New York Corruption Trial Said To Be Moving Quickly

November 14, 2015 By
 
The New York Times is reporting that the high-profile criminal trial of former state assembly speaker Sheldon Silver is running quickly, with prosecutors indicating they might wrap up their case by mid-week. This week the highlight of the case was revelation of a letter that prosecutors contend prove Silver received “kickbacks” via a law firm.
 
The Times reported that “… in the scheme described in court on Thursday, prosecutors say Mr. Silver received about $700,000 in kickbacks through the Goldberg law firm — secret compensation for Mr. Silver’s having referred it tax business from Glenwood and a second developer. In return, as the government said in the trial’s opening statement, Mr. Silver took official action that benefited the developers, like meeting with Glenwood’s lobbyists and signing off on critical real estate legislation that Glenwood supported.”
 
(Editor’s Note: This site usually focuses on civil, not criminal, cases. We do update the Silver trial because it focuses on referral payments for civil cases.)
 
Filed Under: Community, National Tagged With: , , , ,

By the Playbook: Power, Greed & Corruption.

November 5, 2015 By
As reported in the NYT 4/4/15, "Sheldon Silver, the former New York State Assembly speaker, arrived at federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday. Credit Seth Wenig/Associated Press."

As reported in the NYT 4/4/15, “Sheldon Silver, the former New York State Assembly speaker, arrived at federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday. Credit Seth Wenig/Associated Press.”

When it comes to the Sheldon Silver corruption trial this week, you certainly can follow Politico’s “Playbook” advice and “pick your news.” The NY Post and Times are illustrating that the GOP/Dem. divide certainly makes for contrasting coverage. But Politico’s NY Playbook is doing a solid job linking to various sources, reporting this week in a curtain-raiser story that Silver “… has maintained his innocence and said he was looking forward to this day. On this mild autumn Tuesday, the man who led the State Assembly for over two decades wrapped himself in the system of Albany. What prosecutors cast as misdeeds — collecting referral fees from a real estate law firm employed by major developers and a firm that represented asbestos patients treated by a medical researcher that Silver gave state funding — were presented as the inevitable conflicts of a part-time Legislature where lawmakers have side jobs.”
 
(This is, of course, a criminal trial. The civil court implications come from allegations that Speaker Silver is charged with a kickback scheme involving referrals for mesothelioma victims, gaining millions of dollars in referral fees while funneling state funding to the clinic making the referrals.)
 
And we’re off…
Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: , , , , ,

Bi-Partisan Trials Allege Corruption In New York

October 28, 2015 By
You have to admit that two looming corruption trials in New York are at least bi-partsan. One will be of a Democrat, New York’s former Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver (slated to begin Nov. 2) and another is of a Republican, former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, two weeks later. The Wall Street Journal says the trials are “.. set to expose the inner workings of a cast of characters that stretches from the state capital to Nassau County to Columbia University, and to some of the country’s biggest law and real-estate firms.”
 
Both men, charged in totally separate cases, are both charged with schemes in which they are alleged to have used their public offices for personal gain. Silver is accused of raking in millions in civil court-related referrals as part of a process where he pushed state money to a clinic in return for that clinic sending asbestos-cancer victims to his law firm, which has not been accused of doing anything wrong.
 
It will be the stuff of New York litigation legend. See the WSJ coverage here: Albany Braces for Corruption Trials
Filed Under: Cases, Community, National Tagged With: , , ,

Big Asbestos-Related Trial Set For Nov. 2

October 22, 2015 By
The federal corruption trial of a former New York State Assembly Speaker is set to begin Nov. 2 with authorities saying that the eventual jury might see up to 1,500 exhibits. The case has asbestos litigation ties because the defendant, Sheldon Silver, is accused of funneling state government money to a particular mesothelioma clinic that then sent cancer victims to his law firm.
 
Prosecutors say Silver made millions off the scheme. 
 
The Wall Street Journal reported that, “… during the [pre-trial] conference in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors from the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office also said they planned to call as a witness Robert Taub, who headed a Columbia University center for mesothelioma research.” 
 
Read an overview of the case here: Sheldon Silver Trial Set to Begin Nov. 2
Filed Under: Cases, Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: , , , , , ,