New York (AP) – Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced Monday to 6 1/2 years in prison in the corruption case that drove him from power.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The sentencing by U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni in Manhattan came after she insisted that the 76-year-old Democrat come to court in person to hear his punishment, rather than appear remotely because of concerns about exposure to the coronavirus.
In a handwritten letter to the judge, Silver, who was one of New York’s most powerful politicians in his 21 years as Assembly speaker, had asked that he be spared a prison term that would cause him to die in prison.
Prosecutors had urged that he go to prison for seven years for bribery and extortion.
Silver was ousted as speaker in 2015 and convicted later that year, but appeals have so far kept him out of jail. His original conviction was overturned on appeal but Silver was convicted again in 2018. Part of that conviction was then tossed out on another appeal, leading to yet another sentencing hearing Monday.
“Your Honor, I do not want to die in prison. This case has been going on for more than five years, but I feel like I have aged 15 or 20 years. My fate is in your hands,” Silver wrote in his letter to the judge.
Silver said he ruined his legacy and was now angry, sad and ashamed and believed: “I am ruined.”
His lawyers, meanwhile, had asked for leniency, saying Silver was an obese man in his 70s with a history of cancer, chronic kidney disease and other health problems that make him among those most at risk of dying from COVID-19.
In the part of the case that survived the appeal process, Silver was convicted in a scheme that involved favors and business traded between two real estate developers and a law firm. Silver supported legislation that benefited the developers. The developers then referred certain tax business to a law firm that paid Silver fees.
True tragedy unfortunately he lost his way and actually believed he was above the law
he should make place for Cuomo for the nursing home debacle and for deBozo for all the killings in NYC
Where are Trump’s pardons when we really need them?
Terrible and a disgrace. Shelly Silver an old man who made a small mistake must languish in prsion and suffer even under covid 19. Meanwhile, thugs and murderers roam the street in the name of BLM , commiitng heinous crimes yet they are given a free hand. Where is our compassion? What kind fo corrupt crazy country has this become? We need tough prison reform for whiote collar minor criminals like shelly. End the suffering and stop destroying people’ls families. So cruel , just in the name of some prosecutors using this to advance thier career. Banana republic we live in.
I agree with Archy but what he did was more of a gray area than a mistake. 25 years ago it was standard course of business. It’s really a shame, he is a good man that did a lot of good for the Jewish community.
He didn’t do anything illegal. Un ethical, ok… this was an accepted practice in Albany.
Hell be out in a year if not in a box
To educated archy
He got into trouble because he allowed the gay marriage bill to pass. From New York it went nation wide. You forgot hurricane sandy where silvers district was under water. In Heaven there is a chesban.
The judge is very biased and really doesn’t know the practice if what went on. He could have been a very rich attorney without the hassle of public service.
Leave the guy alone already. He had tremendous bizyonos till now. Enough. He is over 60 and our wonderful government paskined that it’s dangerous to be near others. If they put Mr. Silver in prison, that’s like giving him a death sentence. Why do you think the President pardoned Mr. Stone?
He did it. He knew it was illegal, but he did it anyway. He was not forced to do it by poverty or lack of education. He simply wanted to steal. Lock him up.
What’s the point of LOINING Gemara all day if you don’t know the difference between an intentional crime and a ‘mistake’? Is convicted goniff Shelly the Shill an exception to Halacha because he wore a fedora and posed as ‘frum’? Maybe you’d want him executed if he were Black.