An ethical person - like a politician, banker or lawyer - may know right from wrong, but unlike many of them, a moral person lives it. An Americanist first already knows that.
Bankers and their government agents will always act in their own best interests. Any residual benefit flowing down to the citizens by happenstance will just be litter.
'Bout time! BUT, be assured it'll never go to a complete clean-up; corruption to NY State is endemic with the only vaccine being a moral electorate, and we don't see that happening. It's a bottomless sewer.
To be identifiable and manageable, corruption must be kept local, certainly flushed from the DC or state government level. With extortion, bribery, multi-nationals and other anti-sovereign trade-offs going on at the international level, it's doubtful any of us will see public honesty in our lifetimes.
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Silver, who has been
one of the most powerful lawmakers in Albany for more than two decades,
surrendered to authorities Thursday morning. A five-count federal
complaint accuses him of accepting millions from firms seeking his
influence in Albany.
ALBANY — Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the longtime Albany power
broker, surrendered Thursday to face multimillion dollar federal
corruption charges. A stunning five-count criminal complaint accused the Manhattan
Democrat, a state political fixture for decades, with pocketing roughly
$4 million in bribes and kickbacks in return for wielding his massive
influence. “Speaker Silver lied and misled the public about his outside incomes,”
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told a news conference hours after Silver
turned himself in.
Joe Marino/New York Daily NewsSheldon
Silver surrendered to authorities Thursday after a federal
investigation produced a five-count criminal complaint against him.
“These charges go to the very core of what ails Albany — a lack of
transparency, lack of accountability and a lack of principle joined with
an overabundance of greed, cronyism and self-dealing.” EDITORIAL: Speaker Silver has been laid bare as a polite extortionist Bharara’s office received court warrants to seize $3.4 million from eight of Silver’s accounts at a half-dozen banks. Each of the counts against Silver carries a maximum 20-year jail term —
five years long than the length of time that prosecutors claim the
speaker was collecting his crooked cash. The federal prosecutor said Silver’s approach to his illegal income was
simple: “He did nothing. As alleged, Speaker Silver never did any legal
work. He just sat back and collected millions of dollars.” Silver was accused of pressuring two real estate companies doing
business with the state to hire a law firm that was regularly paying him
bribes, the 35-page complaint charged. The beneficiary of the increased business was Jay Arthur Goldberg, 75,
who once worked as Silver’s lawyer in the Assembly, sources indicated. Goldberg, of the Manhattan law firm Goldberg & Iryami, was also
once employed by the city Tax Commission during the Koch
administrations. The majority of the $4 million came after Silver steered $500,000 in
taxpayer funds to a doctor who in turn referred asbestos cases to Weitz
& Luxenberg, a personal injury firm affiliated with the speaker for
decades. Lawmakers on both sides of aisle call on Sheldon Silver to quit The state money was provided to Dr. Robert Taub for research by the
Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation — with some of the additional
funds going for unspecified “additional benefits” to the doctor’s
family, the court papers charges. Taub, who is affiliated with Columbia University, is cooperating with
the FBI, court papers revealed. Silver sponsored a May 2011 “official
resolution” by the assembly honoring Taub. Silver collected more than $3.2 million in referral fees from the law
firm after directing more than 100 clients to Weitz & Luxenberg for
asbestos litigation, according to the complaint. But not a single one of the firm's clients ever contacted Silver or
spoke with the politician about their cases, even as the law firm kept
paying the fees. Silver had long insisted publicly that he sent “plain, ordinary, simple
people” with legitimate personal injury cases to the law firm, the
court documents note. No one else was charged with Silver — although one alleged co-conspirator was mentioned. Asked if more charges were coming, Bharara replied, “Stay tuned.” Authorities also charged that the corrupt Silver attempted to cover his
tracks once a state investigation was launched in 2013, moving to quash
a subpoena from the Moreland Commission to Weitz & Luxenberg. Silver dismissed the investigation as a “fishing expedition.”
The assembly speaker and his staff were involved in negotiations that
led Gov. Cuomo to end the commission last year, the complaint said. Silver, whose annual state salary is $121,000, was driven in a white
Subaru from the FBI’s Lower Manhattan headquarters to the nearby federal
courthouse on Pearl St. shortly after 10 a.m.
Todd Maisel/New York Daily NewsAssembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has been accused of accepting $6 million in bribes and kickbacks.
The schemes date back to 2000, and charge the speaker with multiple
counts of fraud and using “the power and influence of his official
position to obtain for himself millions of dollars in bribes and
kickbacks masked as legitimate income earned by Silver as a private
lawyer.” Silver arrived early Thursday at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan after
officials allowed him to surrender and avoid a perp walk, law
enforcement sources said. The courtesy was extended to Silver due to his status as a veteran state lawmaker, the sources said. Silver is expected to appear in court for arraignment Thursday afternoon. His attorney dismissed the charges as without merit. “Mr. Silver looks forward to responding to them — in court — and
ultimately his full exoneration,” said defense lawyer Joel Cohen. Silver, 70, told reporters on Jan. 7,
after word of the investigation came to light, that he had not
personally heard from investigators.
He was less specific when asked
whether his lawyer had, saying “they have not been directed to do
anything.” He has repeatedly refused to discuss the probe. GUEST COLUMN: Declare war on corruption, Gov. Cuomo “I don’t think it’s appropriate at this time under the circumstances to be commenting on these matters,” he said two weeks ago. The arrest of Silver, who next year would become the longest-serving
speaker in Assembly history, comes as Bharara’s office has taken up the
unfinished investigations of the Moreland anti-corruption commission. Finish Reading plus More
