New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat from the lower east side of Manhattan, was arrested today by federal authorities on corruption charges.
Silver’s lawyer, Joel Cohen, declined to comment last night. The New York Times, citing people with knowledge of the matter said the charges stemmed from payments that Silver received from Goldberg & Iryami, a small law firm, which specializes in seeking reductions of New York City real estate taxes. Silver did not report the payments from the firm on his annual financial disclosure filings with the state, as required. The total amount of the payments is unclear, but the Times reports the payments were substantial and were made over several years.
State lawmakers who are arrested can continue to serve. Upon conviction of a felony they must leave office. Silver was in Albany yesterday where he attended Governor Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address and had a prominent seat on stage next to the governor. The investigation that led to the expected charges against Silver who has served as Speaker for more than two decades, began after Gov. Andrew Cuomo in March abruptly shut down an anti-corruption commission he had created in 2013.
