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BOOM: Sheldon Silver Has Been Arrested
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 22, 2015
Modified Jan 22, 2015
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 22, 2015
Modified Jan 22, 2015
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Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, one of the most powerful men in New York State, will be arrested today. The NY Times reports, "Federal authorities are expected to arrest Sheldon Silver, the powerful speaker of the New York State Assembly, on corruption charges on Thursday, people with knowledge of the matter said. The case is likely to throw Albany into disarray at the beginning of a new session." Update: The Times says Silver surrendered "surrendered to F.B.I. agents early Thursday morning in Lower Manhattan, law enforcement officials said. Mr. Silver, before entering 26 Federal Plaza, said, 'I hope I’ll be vindicated.'"
At the end of last year, the Times dropped the bombshell that U.S Attorney Preet Bharara's office had been investigating Silver for "substantial payments" he received from a small law firm—which angles for tax breaks for apartment buildings—and that Silver didn't disclose them. (It's believed that there were six donations totaling around $7,600.)
When Albany opened its new session earlier this month, Silver told reporters "that he had not personally heard from investigators." From the Daily News:
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.
“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 law firm in question, Goldberg & Iryami, P.C., practices a "complex and highly specialized area of the law... known as tax certiorari, which involves challenging real estate tax assessments and seeking reductions from municipalities."
The sizable number of properties on the Lower East Side for which Mr. [Jay Arthur] Goldberg has sought real estate tax reductions include Mr. Silver’s own co-op, the Hillman Housing Corporation, a development of brick apartment buildings on Grand Street, tax records show, as well as the commercial building across the street that is listed in state records as the address for Mr. Silver’s campaign committee, Friends of Silver. Mr. Goldberg and his firm have also represented a related development along Grand Street and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive, the East River Housing Corporation, the records show, which like Hillman Housing is managed by a close Silver associate, Harold Jacob.
A recent letter from the East River board president to shareholders heralded what it said were the successes of its tax certiorari firm, without mentioning it by name. “In almost every year they have been successful in reducing the increase in our taxes,” the board president, Gary Altman, wrote in the letter.
Mr. Jacob, in a 2009 letter to East River shareholders, noted that the city had raised the development’s assessment to $28 million, and that its tax certiorari lawyer “was very successful in reducing what could have been a $3,000,000 increase to a $750,000 increase” in taxes.
Keep in mind that the U.S. Attorney's office investigation built upon work originally done by Governor Cuomo's "ethics" panel, the Moreland Commission. Cuomo eventually pulled the plug on the commission, while calling it an "overwhelming success." Such a success, in fact, that Bharara is now believed to be probing Cuomo himself.
Silver has been representing the Lower East Side since 1976 and became speaker in 1994. The Assembly Speaker, State Senate Majority Leader and Governor together make many policy decisions about Albany—the "three men in a room." He is also employed at the personal injury firm Weitz & Luxenberg, making $650,000-750,000 in 2013 in addition to his $122,000 Assembly salary. There's also at least $100,000 in interest from another company—see this Post graphic. It's estimated he's worth $6 million.
The News points out, "An arrest would create a power vacuum in the Assembly, where there is no clear heir apparent. Assemblymen Keith Wright (D-Manhattan), Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn) are potential successors. Two members said that if Silver is arrested, it will likely be difficult for him to hold on to his post."
Tagged
Albany
arrest
corruption
Lower East Side
sheldon silver
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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