It’s time to end the Sheldon Silver graft spree.
In a devastating closing argument in the trial of the disgraced former Assembly speaker, a federal prosecutor laid out the many ways in which Silver abused the trust of the taxpaying public, lined his own pockets and lied about it.
“Why did Sheldon Silver do it? He did it for the money,” Assistant US Attorney Andrew Goldstein told the jury, which begins deliberations Tuesday.
Proving Silver’s guilt on charges of honest-services fraud and extortion requires proving quid pro quo — that Silver pulled strings in return for bucks. But the government has quo coming out the wazoo.
“His services were corrupted by his greed and lies, by bribery, kickbacks and extortion,” Goldstein charged.
He recounted for jurors the many favors — including $500,000 in taxpayer-funded grants — that Silver did for Dr. Robert Taub, whom he barely knew, never shared a meal with and to whom he never even gave his cellphone number. Taub sent Silver asbestos victims who were worth more than $3 million in referral fees via his personal-injury law firm.
“The defendant got one hell of a quid from the asbestos scheme. The defendant gave Dr. Taub all kinds of quo,” Goldstein said in a brutally damning three-hour summation. “If Silver sent the grant aid and gave these benefits, even in part, for the money, the $3 million, that is illegal.”
In a separate slippery scheme, Goldstein noted how Silver had managed to pocket some $700,000 by asking a Manhattan real estate firm to send some business to his longtime buddy Jay Goldberg for legal work. Goldberg, in turn, kicked back 25 percent of his fee to Silver.
The speaker repaid Glenwood Management, Goldstein explained, by pushing through a state tax break.
“He hit people up using his official power,” Goldstein said.
“He lied and he lied, again and again, to keep anyone from learning the truth,” Goldstein thundered.
“Think about what is going on here: The speaker of the Assembly is meeting with lobbyists, bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars, setting up a whole process with letters that keep the whole thing secret so he can keep getting paid. This is a crime.”
Goldstein also argued that Silver was defending himself with the “preposterous” claim that his schemes were just “politics as usual” in Albany.
“This was bribery. This was extortion. This was corruption — the real deal. Don’t let it stand,” he urged the jury.
In response, defense attorney Steven Molo struck a pose of being annoyed and dismissive of the prosecution. But he came across as angry, whiny and petulant in the familiar manner of losers who know they’re losing.
Molo, practically shouting at times, insisted, “The prosecutors have failed to demonstrate that any harm has occurred,” as if abusing the public trust didn’t matter.
In a bizarre tangent, Molo resorted to attacking the prosecution’s first witness, Westchester Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, a personable sort whose appearance was merely meant to show that it’s possible to be a lawmaker who doesn’t trade favors for cash.
Molo said of Paulin and the prosecutors, “They’re probably all gonna march together in the Thanksgiving Day parade. She’s probably out blowing up balloons right now.” Huh?
And Molo repeatedly attacked the prosecution’s theory of the case as simply looking at the world through “dirty windows.”
Unfortunately for them, Silver comes across as the political equivalent of the squeegee man who dumps filth all over your windshield, and then demands to be paid for it.
Additional reporting by Selim Algar and Bruce Golding