Sheldon Silver, an Assemblyman who rose from the Lower East Side to become one of New York State’s most powerful politicians, was found guilty on Monday in a Federal corruption trial, in Federal District Court in Manhattan, ending a case that was the capstone of the government’s efforts to expose the seamy culture of influence peddling in Albany.
Mr. Silver, 71, a Democrat who served more than two decades as the Assembly Speaker before he was forced to resign after his arrest in January, will automatically forfeit the Assembly seat to which he was first elected nearly 40 years ago.
The jury’s verdict came in the fifth week of Mr. Silver’s trial in which he faced seven counts of honest services fraud, extortion and money laundering. He was convicted on all counts.
This is yet another high profile case in which a politician has been convicted of corruption while there are still some basic disagreements about how to prove corruption when there is no evidence of an explicit quid pro quo, or when it is not clear whether what is being traded is political benefits or personal benefits. So far the Supreme Court has not provided much clarity.
CLICK HERE to read an article by Benjamin Weiser and Susanne Craig in the New York Times.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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