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Powerful New York Assembly Speaker to leave post amid corruption Charges
FOX News ^ | January 28, 2015

Posted on 01/28/2015 3:35:19 AM PST by Din Maker

New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, one of the most powerful Democrats in Empire State politics over the past two decades, will leave his post next week as he fights federal corruption charges.

The 70-year-old was taken into custody last Thursday on federal charges he took nearly $4 million in payoffs and kickbacks, but he insists he is innocent. Silver faces five counts, including conspiracy and bribery, and is accused of using his position to obtain millions of dollars in kickbacks masked as legitimate income from two law firms.

Members of the Assembly said Silver's criminal charges had become a distraction and a problem for entire chamber.

Silver had one vocal ally remaining. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a fellow Democrat, has called Silver "a man of integrity" and said Tuesday that he shouldn't resign. He added that people have to respect the Assembly's decision, but "it's crucially important" that there is leadership that's fair to the city, which he claimed often doesn't get its fair share from the state government.

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


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: New York
KEYWORDS: alsharpton; andrewcuomo; billdeblasio; chirlanemccray; josephlentol; josephmorelle; newyork; newyorkcity; sheldonsilver
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The $4 million mentioned in the article is just the tip of the iceberg. He's been scamming for 21 years. It is said that he would get a money order, made out to himself, with an amount already on it and give it to contractors, businesses needing a license and anyone else making a payoff, and they would just signed the money order and hand it back to him.
1 posted on 01/28/2015 3:35:19 AM PST by Din Maker
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To: Din Maker
When the story first broke, it was reported that this would dry up a big chunk Hillary's campaign donations from NY in 2016. Mayor Bill de Blasio is not the only politician standing by his man. Gov. Cuomo and Hillary have been in his pocket for years and they are saying what a good man this p.o.s. is.
2 posted on 01/28/2015 3:43:00 AM PST by Din Maker (New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez in 2016)
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To: Din Maker

DeBlasio, the Clintons, et al, can stand by this piece of filth because they know he’ll be found not guilty.

I believe the fix is in, and has been in for years and years.


3 posted on 01/28/2015 4:15:59 AM PST by Peter W. Kessler
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To: All
Silver, the 70-year-old liberal Democrat, is accused of using his powerful position as Speaker of the Assembly, to obtain millions in payoffs and kickbacks from two law firms....the law firms allegedly colluded w/ Silver, masking multi-million kickbacks, by falsifying official records to make it appear kickbacks to Silver was legitimate income.

THE SILVER-CONNECTED LAW FIRMS NEED TO BE RIGOROUSLY SCRUTINIZED for possible fraudulent accounting adjustments and other fraudulent conduct, to make it appear that the law firms increased revenue, decreased expenses, or limited distributions to partners.

Some of the fraudulent accounting adjustments and acts might have been the MO for money-laundering, govt fraud, tax evasion, and wire-transfers offshore :

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 Firms fraudulently claim revenue that they did not have and pushing expenses and financial obligations off into the future?

4 posted on 01/28/2015 4:24:24 AM PST by Liz
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To: Din Maker

He won’t go away for long. He’s a democrat. He will keep low for a while, then make a comeback, and rise within the ranks of the democrat party.


5 posted on 01/28/2015 4:33:16 AM PST by I want the USA back (Media: completely irresponsible. Complicit in the destruction of this country.)
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To: Din Maker
I wonder if this column by Jonah Goldberg had any influence on the arrest of Sheldon Silver? After the destruction of Michael Grimm's career?
6 posted on 01/28/2015 4:34:29 AM PST by firebrand
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To: All
The $4 million mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg. Silver's been scamming for 21 years.

They need to determine how much the devout Orthodox Silver secreted in Israeli banks---Israel is the only place in the world where an individual can fly-in, go to a bank w/ a suitcase full of cash, and nobody asks where it came from ot whether taxes were paid on it.

Israel was designated the world's top money-laundering haven. But Israel did not wasnt to bear this onus---and tried to change its laws to prevent money-laundering. However, powerful Orthodox political parties prevented the changes.

Silver has been characterized as living simply---giving no indication of his wealth. Could be b/c he also profits from being a "disadvantaged minority."

NOTE PBS-TV ran the series on "Orthodox in America". Since the days of LBJ, Orthodox were designated "disadvantaged minorities" by the us govt and given privileged access to multiple US govt giveaway programs.

Oftentimes news organs run stories about competing Orthodox groups fighting among themselves---but the internecine warfare is all about which sect controls the millions of our tax dollars that flow to the "disadvantaged minorities." Vote-crazed politicians trip all over themselves to side with one sect or the other.

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

Jewish Week of New York conscientiously reported the story that rocked the upstate NY Orthodox community of Kiryas Joel-- --an Orthodox enclave, governed by Orthodox residents, but nevertheless financed by US taxpayers. The Orthodox created a one-district school for so-called "disabled children" which gave them access to millions in US govt tax dollars.

Jewish Week reported that Federal agents converged on the Orthodox Hasidic enclave and arrested nine men, and later charged 14 people with a total of 68 counts of swindling $$$millions from individuals, from banks, insurance companies and the US government.

A two-year federal investigation revealed the swindlers created an elaborate web to carry out multiple frauds in order to obtain govt benefits and to swindle tax dollars. The swindles were carried out using non-existent people using fake identities, fraudulent SS nos, and phony tax ID numbers.

The schemes included:
<><> obtaining millions in fraudulent federal SBA loans,
<><> defrauding banks using counterfeit checks,
<><> multiple schemes to defraud life insurance companies, and,
<><> credit card fraud stemming from an alleged Ponzi/pyramid scheme.

The frauds began in 1996, using a sophisticated system of telephone voice-mail accounts and post office boxes to avoid detection. The defendants face a range of charges including racketeering, money laundering, wire fraud, making false statements and bank fraud.

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

One of the most common money-laundering methods is an individual or "foundation" writing a donation to an Orthodox synagogue or Yeshiva---the rabbi takes a cut then deposits the balance in a bank account for the donor's use later---all tax-free.

7 posted on 01/28/2015 4:47:24 AM PST by Liz
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a fellow Democrat, has called Silver "a man of integrity" and said Tuesday that he shouldn't resign.

8 posted on 01/28/2015 4:48:38 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: I want the USA back

This is Federal not State, by a prosecutor who wants to be Governor.

Shelly Silver is 70 years old and has no intention of spending his millions on his defense only to loose and die in jail.

So his best chance of survival is to make a deal for a bigger fish or fishes, can you say Cuomo, can you say Clinton can you say “singing like Willie Nelson at Yankee Stadium”, I knew you could.

If he doesn’t have a sudden attach of “Arkanside”, this is going to be interesting...


9 posted on 01/28/2015 5:31:04 AM PST by Rumplemeyer (The GOP should stand its ground - and fix Bayonets)
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To: I want the USA back; Liz; Peter W. Kessler; Din Maker; miss marmelstein; nolongerademocrat; ...
He won’t go away for long. He’s a democrat. He will keep low for a while, then make a comeback, and rise within the ranks of the democrat party.

Too old to make a comeback IF he is imprisoned.

It is surprising that the Obama-Holder Justice Dept. is prosecuting a prominent 'Rat politician on corruption and tax-evasion charges. Although we are led to believe that the New York Southern District US Attorney is the key figure in the prosecution, it is likely that the case against Silver had to be cleared by Holder and Obama. So the question is why would this administration be acting out of character in going after Silver? Did Silver do something for which his fellow Democrats in Washington would seek revenge on him?

10 posted on 01/28/2015 8:39:23 AM PST by justiceseeker93
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To: justiceseeker93

Sheldon Silver is like Charles Rangel, HE HAS HIS SEAT FOR AS LONG AS HE WANTS IT.

There’s a saying in Harlem... Charles Rangel could be caught in broad daylight by dozens of witnesses killing an innocent man and he’d still be elected Congressman.

Same is true with Silver. NYC is a lost cause.


11 posted on 01/28/2015 8:44:30 AM PST by SeekAndFind (If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
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To: justiceseeker93

Good way to shut people up.....can’t talk about an ongoing case. This isn’t about Obama. It’s about Cuomo.


12 posted on 01/28/2015 8:49:28 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: justiceseeker93

It’s probably over for old Shelly. There’s plenty of vile, criminal pols who can raise through the ranks to replace him.


13 posted on 01/28/2015 8:54:31 AM PST by miss marmelstein (Richard the Third: Loyalty Binds Me)
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To: justiceseeker93; All
It is surprising that the Obama-Holder Justice Dept. is prosecuting a prominent 'Rat politician on corruption and tax-evasion charges.

It could be b/c he is Jewish. Obama hates Jews and the nation of Israel.
14 posted on 01/28/2015 8:58:38 AM PST by Din Maker (New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez in 2016)
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To: justiceseeker93; All
It is surprising that the Obama-Holder Justice Dept. is prosecuting a prominent 'Rat politician on corruption and tax-evasion charges.

It could be b/c he is Jewish. Obama hates Jews and the nation of Israel.
15 posted on 01/28/2015 8:58:49 AM PST by Din Maker (New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez in 2016)
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To: Din Maker
Obama hates Jews and the nation of Israel.

Most of the Jews in the U.S. of A. love him and worship him as their messiah. They also share his hatred of Israel.

16 posted on 01/28/2015 9:01:42 AM PST by sport
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To: Din Maker

Shelly and Andy are Clintonites.
The Obamanite wing of the DNC hates the Clintonite wing with a passion.
Sooooooo, Shelly got nabbed as that cripples some of the Clintonite machinery here in NY.
At least for awhile.


17 posted on 01/28/2015 9:56:59 AM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: Din Maker

Silver was a vile man. Remember Michal Boxley is assistant?


18 posted on 01/28/2015 10:02:32 AM PST by 1Old Pro
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To: sport

Most of the Jews in the U.S. of A. love him and worship him as their messiah. They also share his hatred of Israel.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Oh yeah; you are 100% correct.


19 posted on 01/28/2015 10:11:16 AM PST by Din Maker (New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez in 2016)
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To: Darksheare

Hmmmm....... Didn’t think of that. Thanks.


20 posted on 01/28/2015 10:11:55 AM PST by Din Maker (New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez in 2016)
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