From today’s NY Post:
"[Ex-speaker Sheldon] Silver, 72, long one of the Empire State’s most powerful and feared politicians, is seeking leniency due in part to his advanced age and failing health, including the prostate cancer. Silver’s lawyers, in a separate filing Wednesday, also cited his “lifetime of achievements” and good works, including his advocacy on behalf of women.
But the feds argued that Silver’s character is in question even beyond his crimes, citing the favors he gave to women “with whom he had extramarital relationships.”
One of the women, whom The Post has identified as Janele Hyer-Spencer, received an $84,000 job with the state Education Department, sources have told The Post.
The other woman, who The Post has learned was lobbyist Patricia Lynch, received “preferential private access” to the powerful pol, prosecutors said.
Silver was found guilty in November of extortion and money-laundering after a jury found that he had traded political favors for more than a decade to enrich himself with millions in bribes and kickbacks.
He was found guilty, among other things, of using his position as speaker of the New York Assembly to get real estate developers to send their business to a law firm that was, in turn, paying him hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Silver, who gets more than $70,000 per year in a pension paid for by New York taxpayers, is disputing the amount of his ill-gotten gains."
Read more here >> http://nypost.com/2016/04/21/silvers-wife-says-he-has-cancer-in-plea-for-leniency/
Michael Benjamin
@SquarePegDem
862-232-4085
