Silver Convicted

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Rabbi Israel Rubin, Director of Capital Chabad Center and Sheldon Silver share a laugh at the annual Rebbe’s birthday celebration in March 2015

If the indictment, trial and subsequent convictions of Sheldon Silver have taught us anything it is that even if you think what you’re doing is legal, the justice system, led by prosecutors, may have a different opinion.

The Silver trial focused on two points.

In one case, Silver felt if he lined up grant money for a cancer research doctor and received payment from a law firm when that doctor referred cases to the law firm that was alright because the cancer research doctor was not giving Silver the money directly and referral fees are commonplace in the legal system. Based on these recommendations, Silver received $3 million in referral fees since 2003 from the law firm, Weitz and Luxenberg.

The other case, Silver thought receiving referral fees from a law firm that specializes in disputing tax assessments in New York City would not be a problem. However, when Silver convinced two major Manhattan-based real estate firms to go to the law firm that would give him the referral fees, that’s apparently where jurors felt he crossed the line. Silver received $700,000 in referral fees from Goldberg & Iryami for his efforts.

Upon leaving the courthouse after the verdicts were read, one juror said, the fact Silver did not fully delineate his income on financial disclosure forms is what made the sympathetic juror turn and vote guilty because she felt Silver was trying to cover up the arrangement.

Since President Nixon’s resignation in 1974, there has been a saying in politics, the cover up is often worse than the crime.

For a couple of decades, Silver was the Speaker of the Assembly. Last January, after his indictment by a federal grand jury, he became a rank-and-file member of the legislative body he was at the helm of for half his legislative career. Now, Silver was forced to resign from the state Assembly, disgraced after being found guilty on seven felony counts including honest services fraud, extortion and money laundering.

Silver has always claimed his innocence, thinking that he wouldn’t do anything that would tarnish the people’s house, as the state Assembly is known.

A jury of eight women and four men, mostly black, have decided Silver did tarnish the people’s house and he should go to prison for the rest of his life. He faces up to 130 years in prison if he is ordered to serve the convictions consecutively. The 71-year old Silver would serve 20 years if the judge mandates Silver serve the convictions concurrently, when he is sentenced. Although a sentencing date has not yet been set, Silver remains free on bond. Either way, if Silver goes to prison, it will likely be for the rest of his life.

Outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan, Silver said his legal team plans to appeal the convictions. As for the support his constituents have given him all these decades, he simply said, “Thank you.”