|
 Sheldon Silver, who as speaker of the state Assembly wielded
enormous political influence, collected $4 million in illegal
kickbacks in exchange for official acts, Assistant U.S. Attorney
Andrew Goldstein said in New York federal court.
"The full picture of his corruption was exposed in this courthouse,"
Goldstein said.
But Steven Molo, Silver's lawyer, said overreaching prosecutors had
criminalized politics as usual.
"This is a theory without evidence," he said.
Silver's counterpart in the state Senate, former majority leader
Dean Skelos, is himself on trial for corruption in the same
Manhattan court.
The two trials represent the highest-profile cases in a string of
recent prosecutions and scandals involving dozens of state
lawmakers.
Silver, 71, and Skelos, 67, stepped down from their leadership posts
after their arrests but continue to work as legislators,
representing lower Manhattan and Long Island, respectively.
Under the state's system, the two legislative leaders and the
governor comprise the so-called "three men in a room" who exercise
virtually unfettered control over the legislative process in Albany.
With Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, looking on from
the audience, Goldstein said Silver awarded $500,000 in secret state
grants to a cancer researcher, Robert Taub, who in turn referred
asbestos patients to Silver's law firm. Silver received millions of
dollars in fees from the firm as a result, Goldstein said.
"I will keep giving cases to Shelley because I may need him in the
future - he is the most powerful man in New York State," Taub, who
testified under a non-prosecution deal with the government, wrote in
one 2010 email.
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But Molo said the men helped each other out of friendship, pointing
to Taub's testimony that he did not steer patients to Silver as part
of an explicit agreement for grant money.
"What kind of extortion scheme is it if the person being extorted
doesn’t think he’s being extorted?" Molo said.
Silver is also charged with accepting $700,000 in kickbacks for
steering real estate developers to another law firm, then watering
down rent control legislation to help those developers.
Molo argued that Silver had to reach a compromise to pass the
legislation, which nevertheless helped tenants more than developers.
Jury deliberations are expected to begin on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by Tom Brown, Richard Chang and
David Gregorio)
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