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LOL! Even more crooked than hilLIARy?

Sheldon Silver sentenced to 12 years for corruption schemes that netted him $5M; judge hopes penalty will deter other pols from taking bribes

Justice has been served — on a Silver platter.

Former State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison for using his vast power to line his own pockets with $5.3 million.

Manhattan Federal Court Judge Valerie Caproni slammed the adulterous Lower East Side Democrat as one of the most crooked elected officials the state has ever seen.

“Silver's corruption cast a shadow over everything he has done," Caproni said.

“Those are not the actions of a basically honest person. Those are the action of a scheming, corrupt politician.” (In other words, a typical demoslop).

The disgraced pol slouched in his chair as the judge spoke, occasionally squinting his eyes.

Caproni ordered Silver, 72, to pay a fine of $1.75 million, the majority of which he must pay by June.

Caproni also ordered he forfeit $5.3 million, representing the total of his criminal proceeds.

In brief remarks to the packed courtroom, Silver apologized.

“Without question, I’ve let down my family, my colleagues, my constituents,” he said. “I’m truly, truly sorry for that.”

Silver is pursuing several appeals.

SILVER'S ACCOMPLICES: HIS CORRUPTION MADE POSSIBLE BY HIS FELLOW LAWMAKERS

The five-week trial, which culminated last November, made Caproni reflect on the damage caused by Silver’s ill-gotten gains.

“Here’s the thing about corruption — it makes the public very cynical,” she said. “Did Silver do things because they were nice, or because there was something in it for him?”

The sentence should deter politicians from following in Silver’s disgraced footsteps, she said.

“I hope the sentence I impose on you will make the next politician hesitate before accepting a kickback or bribe,” she said, adding that the most unscrupulous legislators would hopefully feel, at the minimum, “fear of living out their golden years in an orange jumpsuit.”

Assistant Manhattan U.S. Attorney Carrie Cohen urged Caproni to hit Silver with the harshest sentence ever imposed on an Albany pol.

“His bribery and kickback schemes were multifaceted and nefarious,” Cohen told the court. “No excuses, just pure greed.”

Caproni’s sentence did not exceed the 14 years given to ex-Assemblyman William Boyland last year.

Silver attorney Joel Cohen pleaded for mercy.

“He is already crushed. He has been devastated,” he said. “His obituary has already been written about it.”

Cohen added his client was diagnosed with prostate cancer that is in remission.

The sentence likely represents the zenith of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s ongoing investigation of what he’s called a “show-me-the-money culture” in the cesspool of Albany politics.

“Today's stiff sentence is a just and fitting end to Sheldon Silver’s long career of corruption,” Bharara said.

Gov. Cuomo, who has been criticized by Bharara for his handling of corruption in Albany, hailed the verdict.

FEDERAL PROSECUTORS ASK JUDGE TO GIVE DEAN, ADAM SKELOS 10 YEARS BEHIND BARS

“Today’s decision sent a simple message that officials who abuse the public's trust will be held accountable. Justice was served,” Cuomo said in a statement.

Silver’s successor, State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), would not say if Silver’s sentencing would lead to any further ethics reforms this session.

“It’s the ending of a sad chapter,” he said, adding that he believed “people still have the confidence that their elected officials will do the right thing.”

Heastie’s comments came the same day Silver’s handpicked successor in his district, Alice Cancel, took her seat in the Assembly for the first time.

Mayor de Blasio, whose administration is also the subject of a federal probe, had little to say about the verdict.

SHELDON SILVER'S SUCCESSOR, ALICE CANCEL, TAKES OFFICE IN ASSEMBLY

“I think it’s exceedingly sad, but again I am not a lawyer,” de Blasio said.

At trial, prosecutors detailed the shady ways Silver used taxpayer money to maintain his influence starting in 2003 with essentially no oversight.

In one arrangement, Silver secretly funneled $500,000 in state money to Columbia University Dr. Robert Taub’s mesothelioma research. In return, the decorated doctor gave Silver leads on his patients suffering from the deadly effects of asbestos exposure. Silver then directed those patients to the personal injury firm Weitz & Luxenberg, which paid the pol over $3 million in referral fees.

In the second scheme, Silver told two major developers, Glenwood Management and the Witkoff Group, to hire the law firm Goldberg & Iryami for litigation challenging city tax assessments.

Goldberg & Iryami, in turn, secretly paid Silver $700,000 for these referrals.

As part of their request for a harsh sentence, prosecutors alleged last month that Silver was in bed with lobbyist Patricia Lynch — literally — and former Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer.

Silver’s attorneys called the affairs “simply unproven and salacious allegations.”

A whopping 15 Albany politicians have been convicted of corruption since 2009, according to a list compiled by prosecutors.

With , , 

sbrown@nydailynews.com

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SILVER'S ACCOMPLICES: HIS CORRUPTION MADE POSSIBLE BY HIS FELLOW LAWMAKERS

Caproni said that Silver was not as he claimed a “basically honest person” but “a scheming, corrupt politician” and sent him packing.

Silver deserves every minute of incarceration and then some for a betrayal of trust that extended far beyond his grubby money-grabbing. Far more seriously, he degraded the Assembly into a pretense of a legislative body.

Tough, mean, scheming and unprincipled, Silver siphoned the power from individual members — all of whom became enablers of anti-democratic and ultimately criminally corrupt governing.

 

Last edited by Bestworking

Silver was also instrumental in the original anti-fracking regulations.  The present governor to ingratiate himself with the enviros, took up the cause.  Much of upstate NY has been in permanent depression for decades.  While NG and oil from fracking is now in demand decline, like most commodities, the demand eventually recovers. I would not be surprised to see that portion of NY vote for Trump in November.  NYC voters, while liberal, voted for a Republican mayor, Giuliani, when the city was driven to its knees fiscally and socially (2400 murders annually).  They voted for Bloomberg for his business acumen.  The present mayor, Comrade de Blasio, is universally vilified. 

With Trump's roots in the city and upstate appeal, he could be the first Republican presidential candidate to carry the state since Reagan in 1984.

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