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Sheldon Silver to give up Assembly Speaker power
nypost.com ^ | 1/25/15 | Michael Gartland and Carl Campanile w/ Aaron Short

Posted on 01/26/2015 4:31:34 AM PST by Liz

Sheldon Silver will become a virtual figure head on Monday, as he cedes iron control over legislative matters to five Democrats. Despite corruption charges, arrest, and arraignment, Silver is scheduled to vote on handing out nearly $95 million tax dollars in state grants and loans — despite allegations he funneled taxpayer money to a Columbia U cancer doctor as part of a long-running kickback scheme.

Silver is one of three voting members of the Public Authorities Control Board---the upcoming Board's agenda includes a residential real-estate project in Silver's district. The 168-unit apartment building got $78.5 million worth of public financing that feds highlighted in the criminal complaint against Silver. According to the feds, Silver used his power over development incentives to scam about $700,000 in kickbacks from a law firm to which he steered business from two major developers, including 100-year-old billionaire Leonard Litwin.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; US: New York
KEYWORDS: corruptica; jonathanlippman; leonardlitwin; newyork; newyorkcity; sheldonsilver

1 posted on 01/26/2015 4:31:34 AM PST by Liz
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To: All
JUST ONE ASPECT OF SILVER'S MONETIZING HIS POWERFUL GOVT POSITION---Speaker Silver placed Jonathan Lippman, a boyhood buddy and fellow trial lawyer, in command of New York’s courts — all the way from the lofty "Court of Appeals" down to the lowest "justice of the peace"...making NY one of the nation's most aggressive anti-tort-reform jurisdictions.

And yet another reason why Silver’s association with high profile trial-law firms, Weitz & Luxenberg, is intricately connected to the 30-odd corruption counts against him....including hefty fee kickbacks by colluding w/ a Columbia U doctor to loot the "Health Care Reform" money pool in exchange for referring sick patients to W/L.

===============================================

W/L NEEDS TO BE RIGOROUSLY SCRUTINIZED for possible Fraudulent Methods employed by law firms such as fraudulent accounting adjustments and other fraudulent conduct, to make it appear that the law firm increased revenue, decreased expenses, or limited distributions to partners.

Some of these fraudulent adjustments and acts might include:

a. Reversing disbursement write-offs---improperly reversing millions of dollars of write-offs of client disbursements that the Firm had no intention or reasonable expectation of collecting.

b. Reclassifying disbursement payments – improperly reclassifying millions of dollars of payments that had been applied to client disbursements; and applying the payments instead to outstanding fee amounts.

c. Reclassifying Of Counsel payments – millions of dollars of compensation to Of Counsel lawyers as equity partner compensation may have been reclassified. Of Counsel compensation is generally treated as an expense in financial statements.

d. Reversing credit card write-offs – charges from an American Express card that had not previously been expensed and were not chargeable to clients might have been falsely written-off. Hiding the amount in the books as an unbilled client disbursement receivable then illegally reversing the write-off at year-end. The amount might have remained on the books as an unbilled client disbursement receivable.

e. Reclassifying salaried partner expenses – improperly reclassifying salaried partners as equity partner so as to issue millions of dollars in compensation, and amortization of benefits related to salaried, non-equity partners. Treating payouts amounts expenses on financial statements, so the reclassification had the effect of falsely reducing expenses. This change in treatment may not have been disclosed to the Firm’s auditors nor disclosed on the audited financial statements.

f. perhaps fraudulently seeking sought backdated checks to post to the prior year to hide the date on which checks were received. The effort was to minimize the risk that auditors would discover that December checks received in January, including backdated checks, were being posted to the prior year.

g. Applying partner capital as fee revenue – millions that that had been contributed by a partner to satisfy his capital requirement might have been applied as a fee payment for the client of a different partner. This amount might have been illegally backed out of fees and applied to the partner’s capital account for the fiscal year, but might have been reapplied as a fee payment for the same client.

h. Applying loan repayments as revenue – bank loans that benefitted partners might have been restructured so that the loan repayment would increase the Firm’s revenue.

I. Did the Firm fraudulently claim revenue that they did not have and pushing expenses and financial obligations off into the future?

2 posted on 01/26/2015 4:34:06 AM PST by Liz
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To: Liz

What is this committee of 5 thing? Is that in the state constitution?

These people need to stop making up the rules as they go along.

And, it’s noteworthy, every single one of them is from downstate, 4 are from NYC. I’d be loving that if I lived in Buffalo, etc.


3 posted on 01/26/2015 4:36:26 AM PST by jocon307 (Tell it like it is.)
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To: Liz

“First thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers...”


4 posted on 01/26/2015 5:10:49 AM PST by Old Sarge (Its the Sixties all over again, but with crappy music...)
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To: Old Sarge

Mmmmmm.....maybe Democrats first?


5 posted on 01/26/2015 5:13:53 AM PST by Liz
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
Despite corruption charges, arrest, and arraignment, Silver is scheduled to vote on handing out nearly $95 million tax dollars in state grants and loans -- despite allegations he funneled taxpayer money to a Columbia U cancer doctor as part of a long-running kickback scheme.

6 posted on 01/26/2015 5:27:44 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
Thanks Liz. Sheldon Silver keyword:
7 posted on 01/26/2015 5:34:11 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Liz

I hear tony weiner wants to get back into politics. He would be interested in the position.


8 posted on 01/26/2015 5:47:13 AM PST by I want the USA back (Media: completely irresponsible. Complicit in the destruction of this country.)
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To: I want the USA back
Tony Weiner...would be interested in the position.

No doubt he's ready to take a whack at it.

9 posted on 01/26/2015 5:55:08 AM PST by Fightin Whitey
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To: Liz

http://www.newsmax.com/US/DeBlasio-New-York-budget-/2013/12/18/id/542618/

De Blasio Appoints Ex-Silver Aide Fuleihan as NYC Budget Chief
Wednesday, 18 Dec 2013

EXCERPT

The new budget chief served more than 30 years in state government, including 16 as a policy aide to Silver, a Democrat. He was also secretary to the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, where he was chief staff negotiator for New York’s $130 billion budget.

http://nypost.com/2011/07/25/retired-shel-pal-lands-a-uny-job/

‘Retired’ Shel pal lands a $UNY job
July 25, 2011

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s longtime fiscal ad viser, Dean Fuleihan, who earlier this month “retired” after 33 years working for the Assembly to take what many expected would be a private-sector job, wound up landing a cushy government job that pays about $30,000 more, records show.

On the same day that Fuleihan left his $157,580-a-year job, he was hired — without public announcement — as a $185,000-a-year “executive vice president” at the State University of New York’s cutting-edge College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in Albany.

The college has received about $1 billion in direct state funding because of Silver’s strong backing.

(snip)


10 posted on 01/26/2015 6:10:03 AM PST by maggief
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To: SunkenCiv
Thanks for the horrific history of conniver Sheldon Silver.

This link---"Speaker Sheldon Silver's firm gets cut of 9/11-suit payouts [Circa 2010]"----reaffirms post #2 above.

Silver and W/L need rigorous scrutiny to expose the self-serving hanky-panky.

11 posted on 01/26/2015 6:21:17 AM PST by Liz
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To: Liz

‘The spirit of the dead Groundhog’: Mayor de Blasio warns of epic snow storm; Ignores he’s probably to blame
Posted at 5:20 pm on January 25, 2015 by Twitchy Staff | View Comments

Gird your loins New York City! Winter storm Juno is bearing down on the Northeast and the National Weather Service is warning of a “crippling and potentially historic” blizzard with up to three feet of snow in NYC and Boston. For real:

Wow.

And this has Mayor de Blasio in full emergency/panic mode:

OK. This sounds really bad. So, what about NYC’s public schools?

They’re open tomorrow:

Eek. Let’s hope the storm holds off until all the kids are home.

New Yorkers and Bostonians are preparing for Juno as you’d expect — with panic buying at the grocery store:

But let’s not overlook what’s probably the real cause of this storm. Killing a groundhog means your city gets turned into an igloo:

That’s right, Mayor de Blasio: If you thought the death of that groundhog would go un-avenged, you were sadly mistaken. Good luck, sir — you’ll need it.

http://twitchy.com/2015/01/25/the-spirit-of-the-dead-groundhog-mayor-de-blasio-warns-of-epic-snow-storm-ignores-hes-probably-to-blame/


12 posted on 01/26/2015 6:22:29 AM PST by KeyLargo
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To: Fightin Whitey
"Tony Weiner...would be interested in the position."

"No doubt he's ready to take a whack at it."

13 posted on 01/26/2015 6:25:43 AM PST by KeyLargo
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To: SunkenCiv
LINK---FBI EYES BOXLEY's COMPUTER (Silver's chief aide may be charged w/ other offenses)

One of the most disgusting chapters in Silver's nauseating history: Boxley was convicted in 2003 of sexually abusing one of several young legislative interns----no doubt sharing the details of his sexual escapades----how he lured them into his sexual web---w/ Silver getting a vicarious tingle.

Boxley was charged and convicted---coudn't even get an insurance license.

Then Boxley re-emerged as an Albany lobbyist, no less.

Tingles ahead----Silver had his filthy fingers in that deal, without a doubt.

14 posted on 01/26/2015 6:34:26 AM PST by Liz
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To: Liz
The ongoing saga of corruption is interesting but fails to delve into the primary question

What did Silver et al do to piss off the Obamaites to get them to kill him?

Is there no honor among thieves?

15 posted on 01/26/2015 6:39:43 AM PST by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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To: Liz
The FBI needs to scrutinize Silver's deals w/ the Brown & Weinraub lobbying firm

FBI TIPS PAGE--YOU MAY REMAIN ANONYMOUS ---https://tips.fbi.gov

BACKSTORY In 2014, the Brown & Weinraub lobbying firm, listed ex-Silver aide---sexual predator Michael Boxley---as a lobbyist in Albany.

In June 2003, Albany police removed Boxley, then Silver’s chief legal counsel, from the Capitol in cuffs after a female legislative staffer accused him of rape.

Boxley quit the Silver job after pleading guilty to misdemeanor sexual misconduct.

The plea required him to register as a sex offender and serve six years’ probation. His law license was suspended. In accepting the deal, he admitted having sex with a 22-year-old legislative staffer without her consent.

16 posted on 01/26/2015 6:41:22 AM PST by Liz
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