FBI: NYS Assembly Speaker Jew Vermin Sheldon Silver Arrested On Corruption Charges

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/03/22/democrats-arent-getting-behind-silvers-choice-to-replace-him/

Democrats aren’t getting behind Silver’s choice to replace him
By Carl Campanile
March 22, 2016 | 2:19am

Alice Cancel
Photo: Helayne Seidman


Alice Cancel, the handpicked candidate of Sheldon’s Silver cronies to succeed him in the state Assembly, is being shunned by the Democratic establishment.

Cancel’s campaign has raised only $3,815 for the April 19 special election to the vacant seat of the disgraced former Assembly speaker, who was convicted of corruption last November.

Records show she received a $3,000 contribution from a little-known union, the United Surface Workers, and 15 separate individual donations totalling $815.

Equally startling, Cancel reported not a single campaign expense — providing further evidence that she’s running a stealth campaign, as The Post reported Monday.

By comparison, Working Families Party candidate Yuh-Line Niou has amassed $144,000 in her campaign treasury and has the backing of the United Federation of Teachers, Local 32BJ Building Workers and the Communication Workers of America, among others.

Niou spent $26,000 during the 32-day special pre-election filing period — including to pay for the services of longtime Democratic Party operative Chung Seto, a top aide to former city Comptroller John Liu, and to election lawyer Martin Connor, a former state senator who used to represent the same downtown neighborhoods that encompass the 65th Assembly District.

Yuh-Line Niou
Photo: Helayne Seidman


The Republican candidate, Lester Chang, also raised more than Cancel — $10,190 — and has $7,599 left. Chang, a long shot in the heavily Democratic district, has enlisted the help of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani was the featured speaker at a Chang fund-raiser in Chinatown on Monday night. The message was clear: Clean up the Silver stench,
“Cancel is a political hack,” Chang said. “We shouldn’t elect a candidate who was handpicked by Sheldon Silver.”

Still, consultant Hank Sheinkopf said Cancel has the edge.

“The Democrat has the advantage in a special election,” he said. “The special election favors the ruling party.”

The Democratic and Republican primaries for president will be held the same day. That means registered Democrats and Republicans turning out for the presidential primary will receive a separate ballot for the Assembly race when they enter the polls.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/03/29/the-hits-just-keep-coming-for-shelly-silver/

The hits just keep coming for Shelly Silver
By Julia Marsh
March 29, 2016 | 2:12pm

First Sheldon Silver’s name was removed from his Assembly office door in Albany, now it’s been stricken from an official state list of practicing attorneys.

Silver was automatically disbarred when he was convicted last November, so the disciplinary committee’s finding, released Tuesday, is mostly a ceremonial slap in the face to the ex-speaker.

The five-member Manhattan Departmental Disciplinary Committee unanimously rejected the disgraced lawmaker’s plea to keep his name on the attorney roll pending the appeal of his guilty verdict.

“We deny this request because a proceeding brought pursuant to Judiciary Law 90(4)(b) to strike his name from the roll of attorneys is a mere formality that serves only to record the fact of a disbarment that has already occurred,” the committee said.

The panel’s decision notes that Silver’s conviction was based “on his receipt of nearly $4 million in payments from two law firms” where he received the fees “in exchange for invoking his official position” to sign clients.

Silver is scheduled to be sentenced on April 13. He faces up to 20 years.

His attorney did not immediately comment because he had not read the ruling.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/03/31/judge-...-know-how-much-time-crooked-pols-usually-get/

Judge in Shelly Silver’s case wants to know how much time crooked pols usually get
By Lia Eustachewich
March 31, 2016 | 2:32pm

Manhattan federal Judge Valerie Caproni wants a chart outlining sentences for previously convicted New York politicians ahead of Sheldon Silver’s sentencing next month.

In an order to prosecutors filed Thursday, Caproni asked for the information to “consider the need for unwarranted disparities between similarly situated defendants.”

The judge wants the government to include in its sentencing submission paperwork “a summary chart containing the sentences imposed on elected state and federal officials who were convicted in federal court of corruption-related offenses in the last five years to the extent that information is not unduly burdensome to obtain,” the one-page order says.

Prosecutors will have their hands full: Dozens of New York politicians have been convicted of charges varying from bribery to mail fraud and racketeering to tax evasion, prosecutors said.

Ex-City Councilman Dan Halloran was slapped with a stiff 10-year prison sentence for masterminding a failed $200,000 bribery plot to rig the 2013 mayoral election for then-state Sen. Malcolm Smith.

Meanwhile, ex-Senate Majority Leader Smith, who was also busted, got seven years behind bars.

And Hiram Monserrate, the Democratic state senator who looted nearly $100,000 in taxpayer money to win higher office, was sent away for two years in 2012 after pleading guilty.

Another disgraced ex-state senator, Pedro Espada Jr., received a five-year sentence for bilking a taxpayer-funded nonprofit to pay for his lavish lifestyle.

Silver faces up to 130 years behind bars after he was convicted in November of corruption charges.

The 72-year-old ex-Assembly speaker will likely receive far less at his sentencing April 13.

Prosecutors’ sentencing submission is due by April 6, court records show.

Ex-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos — who was convicted with his son, Adam, of bribery and corruption just weeks after Silver — also faces 130 years. The Skeloses will be sentenced April 28.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/01/potential-silver-replacements-dont-want-to-be-associated-with-him/

Potential Silver replacements don’t want to be associated with him
By Carl Campanile and Lia Eustachewich
April 1, 2016 | 1:42am

Candidates to replace Sheldon Silver, Alice Cancel (top right) and Yuh-Line Niou (bottom right) are keeping their distance from the former Assembly Speaker. Photo: Left: AP; right: Helayne Seidman (2)


The four candidates vying for former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s old lower Manhattan seat tried to outdo each other in distancing themselves from the crooked politician during a forum Thursday night.

Even Silver’s would-be successor on the Democratic line, Alice Cancel — who was selected to run in the April 19 special election with the backing of Silver’s allies — insisted “I’m not a Silver stooge.”

“I was one of the people to fight against Silver,” Cancel said, referring to an acrimonious dispute over housing in Seward Park on the Lower East Side.

Cancel admitted she took some heat for referring to Silver as a “hero” when Democratic Party leaders from the district nominated her in February.

Yuh-Line Niou, the Working Families Party candidate, said Silver “betrayed the community . . . We have to hold legislators to a higher standard.”

Republican candidate Lester Chang said, “Mr. Silver is going to jail. Let’s move forward.”

Green Party candidate Dennis Levy called Silver a “wheeler dealer” and said public corruption by legislators has turned the Empire State into the “criminal state.”

Silver, 72, is scheduled to be sentenced April 13 in Manhattan federal court in a pay-to-play corruption scandal.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/06/longtime-aide-insists-sheldon-silver-cared-for-all-new-yorkers/

Longtime aide insists Sheldon Silver ‘cared for all New Yorkers’
By Lia Eustachewich
April 6, 2016 | 9:01pm

Sheldon Silver (left), Judy Rapfogel
Photo: David McGlynn (left), Steven Hirsch


Sheldon Silver’s longtime chief of staff has gone to bat for her old boss, vouching that the convicted former Assembly speaker “always cared for and worked to help all New Yorkers,” new court filings show.

Judith Rapfogel — whose crooked hubby William Rapfogel is currently in prison for bilking $9 million from the non-profit he ran — begged Manhattan federal Judge Valerie Caproni for mercy at Silver’s sentencing in a two-page letter filed Tuesday.

“I could write volumes about the good work Shelly did for the people of the state of New York,” Rapfogel wrote, even playing the 9/11 card. “We let people use our phones so they could call their loved ones,” she wrote.

“Shelly also worked hard for minorities. He did what he felt was right, even if it went against his religious beliefs and even if it meant he would have to ‘answer’ to friends and family.”

The 72-year-old Lower East Side Democrat, who was once one of the three most powerful men in Albany, faces up to 130 years in prison. His sentencing, scheduled for April 13, was pushed back to May 12.

Silver was convicted last year of corruption and bribery charges for scamming nearly $4 million in kickbacks by peddling his influence in the state Capitol.

Still, Rapfogel gushed, “Shelly loved to mentor people” and he also worked “for farmers, addressed issues about casino gambling, supported hospitals in upstate areas that needed the support, and was involved in fracking concerns.

“I could go on and on and this is really just a smattering of the things Shelly accomplished in 38 years as a legislator,” she wrote.

The letter to Caproni ended, “I ask that you take all of his good works into consideration when you sentence him.”

Silver’s longtime pal, William Rapfgoel, pleaded guilty in 2014 to grand larceny and other charges for pocketing $3 million in his own, unrelated scam in which he ripped off the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty by inflating insurance premiums. His wife claimed ignorance of the entire scheme.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/14/secret-files-from-sheldon-silver-case-to-be-unsealed/

Secret files from Sheldon Silver case to be unsealed
By Lia Eustachewich
April 14, 2016 | 7:54pm

A flurry of new documents relating to Sheldon Silver’s criminal case will be unsealed Friday at 9 a.m., a Manhattan federal judge ruled.

At the heart of the secret files is a mysterious “Sealed Party A” – an unidentified woman whose name was never mentioned at the disgraced ex-Assembly speaker’s corruption trial last year.

But her high-powered attorney Abbe Lowell has been fighting tooth and nail to stop the documents from going public.

Judge Valerie Caproni said the filings – which pertain to a hearing last October about evidence that wasn’t presented at trial – add to Silver’s already tarnished reputation as ex-Assembly Speaker.

She alluded that the secret documents are related to “misuses of [Silver’s] public office.”

“This is not one of his better moments,” Caproni said in court.

The judge also noted that Lowell’s client was a public figure — and for that reason, there was a public interest in the matter.

Caproni sided with lawyers for the New York Times and NBC, which fought to unseal the records, saying she’s been “running afoul of the First Amendment” in delaying its release.

“They will be unsealed first thing tomorrow morning … unless somebody stops me from the 17th floor [appeals court],” the judge said.

At one point, she joked with Silver’s lawyer Steven Molo about having to speak in coded language about the secret docs.

“I feel like a gangster having a conversation,” she laughed.

Release of the files, which will be redacted, could be held up if lawyers appeal Caproni’s unsealing order.

Silver was convicted in a $5 million corruption case in which he got kickbacks in exchange for favorable treatment as one of the most powerful men in Albany.

He will be sentenced May 3.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/15/sheldon-silver-cheated-on-his-wife-with-two-women/

Sheldon Silver cheated on his wife with two women
By Lia Eustachewich and Yaron Steinbuch
April 15, 2016 | 9:25am

While serving as Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver engaged in extramarital affairs with two women – one of whom lobbied him on behalf of clients who had business before the state, according to newly released documents.

For the second woman, Silver used his position to recommend a state job “over which he exercised a particularly high level of control,” according to the redacted documents, which did not name the women.

He used a separate cell phone to call her, according to the documents.

Manhattan Federal Judge Valerie Caproni unsealed the court papers, which federal prosecutors had hoped to use in Silver’s $5 million corruption trial.

Prosecutors planned on using evidence of Silver’s affairs against him if he offered his own evidence of his “purported good moral character,” they wrote in papers.

He didn’t put up a defense at trial.

“These are simply unproven and salacious allegations that have no place in this case or public discussion,” Silver’s lawyers Steven Molo and Joel Cohen said in a statement.

The government has recordings between Silver and the first woman and says it has “good faith belief” that they were engaged in a relationship.

The woman was identified by witnesses as a lobbyist who had “special access” to Silver and obtained “certain clients in part because of her access” to him.

She lobbied him “directly on behalf of her clients who have business before the state,” according to the prosecutors’ court papers.

“During the [redacted] conversation, the defendant and [redacted] discuss their desire to conceal the truth about their relationship from reporters inquiring about extramarital relationships and how they should handle such inquiry,” according to conversations the government recorded between Silver and the first woman.

“Specifically, [redacted] told the defendant that she urgently had been trying to see him because a reporter had called legislators inquiring about whether certain state legislators were having ‘affairs.’ The defendant responded, “I don’t think he caught us,” but also noted that the press had requested the defendant’s travel and campaign finance records and expressed concern that those documents was well as telephone records could reveal their relationship. The defendant further discussed with [redacted] that it was ‘not safe’ for them to be seen together and that he did not see the press inquiries ‘dissipating for a long time.’

“The woman complained to Silver about a high-level member of his staff not treating her well. As a result, she went directly to Silver to lobby on behalf of her client, telling him, “I don’t talk to anybody about the issue except you.”

Silver told the woman that the particular issue she was lobbying “was a difficult issue in the [Assembly] conference.”

The disgraced pol had a “long-running” relationship with the second woman.

Based on phone records, the government learned that Silver had two cell phones — one that was used for state business and the other to make calls to the woman.

The burner phone Silver used to contact the woman was not registered in his name and he didn’t have the bills sent to him. His cell was activated days after the woman’s was activated.

“The government has confirmed through witnesses and documents that the defendant, through his chief of staff, recommended [redacted] to [redacted] both by calling [redacted] whom the defendant had appointed to the [redacted] and by calling the state officer [redacted] who was in charge of hiring and who reported to that same [redacted], without revealing the personal relationship that the defendant had with [redacted],” according to the prosecutors..

“The government also learned that [redacted] was the only person that the defendant (or his Assembly staff) had ever recommended to [redacted] for hire and that the Speaker’s office called after making the initial recommendation of [redacted] to check in on the status of her application.

“The government further learned that [redacted] hired [redacted] in part due to the defendant’s recommendation and follow-up requests.”

Silver was convicted in a $5 million corruption case for taking kickbacks in exchange for favorable treatment as one of the most powerful men in Albany.
He will be sentenced May 3.

Prosecutors had wanted to introduce the evidence during Silver’s corruption trial last year.

At the heart of the secret files is a mysterious “Sealed Party A” – an unidentified woman whose name was never mentioned at Silver’s trial.

But her high-powered attorney Abbe Lowell has been fighting tooth and nail to stop the documents from going public.

Caproni has said the filings – which pertain to a hearing last October about evidence that wasn’t presented at trial – add to Silver’s already tarnished reputation as ex-Assembly speaker.

She alluded that the documents are related to “misuses of [Silver’s] public office.”

“This is not one of his better moments,” Caproni said in court earlier.

The judge also noted that Lowell’s client was a public figure — and for that reason, there was a public interest in the matter.

Caproni sided with lawyers for the New York Times and NBC, which fought to unseal the records, saying she’s been “running afoul of the First Amendment” in delaying its release.

Former New York Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos was convicted in December of bribery and extortion in a separate corruption case.

As leaders of the state’s two legislative houses, Silver and Skelos were two-thirds of the “three men in a room,” along with the governor, who wield extensive power over key legislation.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/16/meet-the-women-who-allegedly-slept-with-sheldon-silver/

Meet the shiksas who allegedly slept with Sheldon Silver
By Carl Campanile, Lia Eustachewich and Laura Italiano
April 16, 2016 | 12:53am

Sheldon Silver, Janele Hyer-Spencer (top left) and Patricia Lynch
Photo: AP; G.N. Miller


One, Janele Hyer-Spencer, is a motorcycle-riding former beauty queen who’d blast around Albany in a Yamaha V-Star motorcycle and who allegedly got two state jobs through Sheldon Silver’s influence.

The other, once-powerful lobbyist Patricia Lynch, was caught on tape by the feds huffing to the then-Assembly speaker that since one of his aides was rude to her, she’d only deal directly with him.

Meet Shel’s Angels — a couple of 50-something married blondes and one-time Albany insiders who, as revealed in startling new federal court documents, parlayed alleged extramarital relationships with Silver into plumb jobs and top clients.

Sleeping with the membership, the federal papers reveal, had its privileges.

Lynch served for six years as Silver’s communications director before starting her own two-person PR firm in 2001 that quickly grew into one of the largest lobbyists in the state — thanks to her Silver connections.

Her extraordinary access to Silver — then one of the three most powerful politicians in the state — won her an enviable client list that included Madison Square Garden.

Silver killed the West Side Stadium that MSG opposed during the Bloomberg administration.

When Silver got in trouble, Lynch’s business took a nose-dive and she sold it in August 2015 to MWW, a giant PR and lobbying firm.

In 2010, Silver helped Hyer-Spencer get an $84,000 job with the state Education Department, sources have told The Post.

Since 2013, she’s made $99,600 as a Staten Island Family Court Support magistrate.

Silver’s childhood pal, Jonathan Lippman, was chief judge of the Court of Appeals at the time, and oversaw administration of the state courts.

“Going from being a member of the Assembly to the state Education Department to the state Family Court would seem to imply she’s a member of the ‘Shelly Silver witness-protection program,’” an Albany insider said at the time.

Manhattan Federal Judge Valerie Caproni said of Silver’s alleged mistresses in a 17-page opinion that was released Friday, “They arguably are not entirely ‘innocent’ third parties.”

“Each allegedly had an extramarital affair with a public official and then exploited her relationship with the public official for personal gain.”

The affairs were poorly-kept secrets, Albany insiders said.

Lynch and Silver were seen kissing in an elevator at the 2008 Democratic Convention in LA.

Another legislative source said Silver and Hyer-Spencer had adjoining rooms during a 2008 Assembly trip to Israel.

This, even though other lawmakers were also staying in the same hotel.

“I looked the other way, to be honest,” said the source. “I felt it was none of my business.”

Silver and Hyer-Spencer were also seen together in the hotel lobby at the Somos Uno conference during one of the Assembly’s annual post-election trips to Puerto Rico.

The legislator said they were defensive. “They were somewhat startled. They were trying to explain something that didn’t need explaining.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/15/sheldon-silvers-alleged-affairs-could-lead-to-stiffer-sentence/

Sheldon Silver’s alleged affairs could lead to stiffer sentence
By Lia Eustachewich
April 15, 2016 | 11:48pm

Revelations of Sheldon Silver’s alleged affairs with two women for whom he did favors while in office could earn him a stiffer prison sentence, a prominent defense attorney told The Post.

Jeremy Saland, a former Manhattan prosecutor, said Silver’s relationships with former Staten Island Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer and lobbyist Patricia Lynch are relevant to determining punishment on May 3.

“It can be relevant in this context in federal sentencing when this theory of a conflict of interest and his own personal gain supersedes that of his constituency, taxpayers and the residents of New York state,” Saland said.

If true, the affair allegations “in no way trump what he’s convicted of, which, by itself, is significant behavior.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/17/silvers-mistress-loved-alluding-to-relationship-with-shelly/

Silver’s mistress loved alluding to relationship with ‘Shelly’
By Dean Balsamini
April 17, 2016 | 1:56am

One of Sheldon Silver's mistresses Janele Hyer-Spencer (right), wasn't so secretive about her relationship with the former Speaker. Photo: Left: AP; right: G.N. Miller


Sheldon Silver’s fox, former Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer, flaunted her relationship with the then-speaker, but their fellow lawmakers remained mum about it in accordance with a time-honored political code of omerta, a Democratic insider said.

The motorcycle-riding former beauty queen — a Democrat who represented Staten Island’s East Shore and a part of Brooklyn from 2007 to 2010 — boasted to Albany colleagues about “being super tight” with Silver, the insider said.

“She used to brag. And when she used to play basketball with the other Assembly members, her cell would ring and she would say, ‘It’s Shelly . . . I gotta take this,’ and go in the corner,” the insider said.

“She left everything up to their imagination. And she enjoyed the attention.”

While he was speaker, Silver repeatedly three-timed his wife of 48 years with two middle-aged women entrenched in Albany politics, federal authorities revealed Friday in court documents.

One alleged mistress was confirmed through sources as influential lobbyist Patricia Lynch, 57.

The second was Hyer-Spencer, 51. Her lawyer, Manuel Ortega, confirmed she was one of the two name-redacted women in the court papers, but he denied she had an affair with Silver.

Hyer-Spencer, a married lawyer who ran track in high school and played basketball in college, “loved playing the part of Barbie and the super athlete,” the insider said.

She apparently didn’t mind flaunting other things, as well.

During legislators’ pickup basketball games in the gym at the state police academy in Albany, Hyer-Spencer made little effort to hide a tattoo “above her a- -” or the outline of what appeared to be nipple rings, the insider said he was told by a lawmaker who participated in the games.

But nobody went public with allegations, because of an unofficial code of silence known among lawmakers as the “Bear Mountain Compact,” the insider said.

The longstanding pact dictates that downstate lawmakers never reveal the illicit, illegal or immoral activities that colleagues engage in north of the Bear Mountain Bridge, which spans the Hudson River between Orange and Westchester counties.

“It was the unwritten rule of Albany business because so many of the electeds in both houses had districts in New York City, Long Island and Westchester. They all have to pass the Bear Mountain Bridge” as they drive home from Albany, the insider explained.

The insider said Hyer-Spencer was “obsessed with climbing the ladder.”

In early 2006, while gunning for a seat in Congress, she told an interview committee made up of Democratic Party, Working Families Party and union officials that she “was more concerned with a career in politics than being a mother and she and her husband had made that a priority,” according to the insider.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/17/sheldon-silver-still-enjoying-politician-perks/

Sheldon Silver still enjoying politician perks
By Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein
April 17, 2016 | 2:06am

Five months after he was expelled from the Assembly for his corruption conviction, Sheldon Silver is still driving a car with government parking placards.

A permit indicating that “this vehicle is on official business” was displayed in the windshield of a Toyota Camry seen parked near the ex-speaker’s Grand Street home in February.

Silver was spotted getting into the car Friday, but dashed back into his co-op building when a photographer tried to snap a picture.

Such state placards allow their holders to park just about anywhere for free.

Silver’s longtime chief of staff, Judith Rapfogel, has the same Assembly permit in her Toyota Avalon. It was seen displayed in the windshield on April 9.

On Friday, it was there again, but turned over. The car had a ticket on it.

Rapfogel left the Assembly in January.

A spokesman for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said that Heastie was “unaware” Silver and Rapfogel still had parking placards and that he would ask for them back.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/18/sheldon-silver-has-some-serious-jealousy-issues/

Sheldon Silver has some serious jealousy issues
By Kirstan Conley, Aaron Short and Bruce Golding
April 18, 2016 | 12:56am

Photo: AP ; G.N. Miller ; YouTube


Crooked ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver ended the career of a fellow pol — because the man had an affair with the powerful Manhattan Democrat’s mistress, sources told The Post.

Silver was so jealous of then-Assemblyman Dan Burling carrying on with then-Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer that he forced his romantic rival out of office through a redistricting scheme, sources said.

He engineered the drawing of new lines around Burling’s upstate district in 2012, said well-placed sources on both sides of the aisle in Albany.

The maneuver expanded the Republican’s district into Erie County and exposed him to a potential primary challenge from East Aurora Mayor David DiPietro, sources said.

Rather than face that battle, Burling, a licensed pharmacist who is also married, retired from the Assembly. His seat was won by DiPietro, who was re-elected in 2014.

When he announced his retirement, Burling declared it was simply time for him to move on after 14 years in the Legislature.

“One of the reasons is I believe that everybody has a shelf life in politics, and I don’t believe people should stay around forever,” he had said.

Privately, however, Burling complained vociferously to staffers and fellow pols about Silver’s retaliatory scheme, a political insider said.

There were also rumors circulating that his dalliance with Hyer-Spencer, a married, motorcycle-riding former beauty queen, was about to be exposed, the insider said.

Burling and the Democratic Hyer-Spencer often spent hours together locked in Burling’s office across from the Capitol, a source said.

Silver once repeatedly drove past the popular Albany bar McGuire’s while Hyer-Spencer dined there with openly gay Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D-Staten Island) and a lobbyist, according to two sources with knowledge of the incident.

“He definitely had some kind of weird obsession with her,’’ one source said.

Hyer-Spencer’s lawyer has confirmed that she is one of two unidentified women referred to as Silver’s mistresses by federal prosecutors in a court filing unsealed Friday. The lawyer, however, had denied any affair.

Sources have said the other woman was Patricia Lynch, a top Silver aide-turned-lobbyist.

Hyer-Spencer refused to answer the door Sunday at her Staten Island home. Her lawyer, Manuel Ortega, didn’t return a phone message left at his office.

One of Hyer-Spencer’s neighbors sympathized with her hubby, Douglas, describing him as “such a nice guy.”

“He’s an attorney, a heavy-set guy. He walks home from the train every day after work and always stops and talks to us,’’ the neighbor said.

“He’s so kind to everyone, but she never even takes the time to even say hi — just roars out of here on her motorcycle!”

Silver’s lawyers and Burling didn’t return messages seeking comment.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/20/alice-cancel-wins-sheldon-silvers-state-assembly-seat/

Silver crony Alice Cancel wins his state Assembly seat
By Carl Campanile
April 20, 2016 | 12:00am

Alice Cancel
Photo: Helayne Seidman


The Democratic candidate backed by crooked Sheldon Silver’s political machine won the former Assembly speaker’s downtown district in Tuesday’s primary.

With 87 of 98 precincts reporting, Alice Cancel had 41 percent to 35 percent for Working Families Party candidate Yuh-Line Niou.

Republican candidate Lester Chang came in third with 20 percent and Green Party candidate Dennis Levy trailed with 4 percent.

Cancel is a Lower East Side Democratic district leader who once referred to Silver — who was convicted in November in a pay-to-play corruption scandal — as a “hero.”

But she insisted Tuesday night that she will be a *reformer in the state capital.

“I’m being sent to Albany. I will be the one who cleans up corruption in Albany ,” she told The Post from her victory party at the Lower East Side Democratic Club on Monroe Street.

Silver was tossed out of the Assembly and his seat has been vacant for five months.

Cancel had worked for Silver as a community representative.

The other closely watched legislative race Tuesday was for the Long Island state Senate seat vacated by former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, also convicted of corruption.

Republican lawyer Chris McGrath and Democratic Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky were locked in a tight battle in Nassau County’s 9th senatorial district that borders Queens.

Ahead by about t 3,600 votes, Kaminsky declared victory shortly after 11 p.m.

But McGrath released a statement saying the results would have to await the counting of paper ballots.

“This race is too close to call,” he said. “It will not decided tonight. All of the votes have to be counted in the coming days.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/20/columbia-received-3m-from-law-firm-connected-to-corrupt-silver-doc/

Columbia received $3M from law firm connected to ‘corrupt’ Silver doc
By Julia Marsh
April 20, 2016 | 2:09am

Dr. Robert Taub (left) and Sheldon Silver
Photo: Stephen Yang; AP


Columbia University is trying to hide information about millions of dollars in donations it took from a mesothelioma law firm, which received patient referrals from a Columbia researcher involved in Sheldon Silver’s pay-to-play scandal, according to court papers.

Dr. Robert Taub referred people dying from the asbestos-related cancer to Illinois-based Simmons Hanley Conroy, after a charity foundation run by the law firm gave Columbia a $3.15 million donation.

As part of a lawsuit brought by Taub against the university over his firing, lawyers for Columbia have asked Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Manuel Mendez to seal documents that detail the gift from the Simmons Mesothelioma Foundation, it was revealed in court papers Tuesday.

Last year, Taub admitted to taking $500,000 in state research grants from Silver, the former state Assembly speaker, while sending sick patients to Silver’s law firm Weitz & Luxenberg.

Silver, who was convicted of fraud and money laundering for trading political favors and will be sentenced May 3, pocketed $3 million in fees from Weitz. After his relationship with Silver ended, he allegedly started sending patients to Simmons.

Former Simmons CEO Greg Kirkland testified during Silver’s trial that Taub never sent them any patients until after they made their $3.15 million donation in 2010, which was made in “honor of Robert Taub, MD.”

Kirkland also said that over a five-year period, Taub referred 29 people to the firm.

Kirkland added that the average mesothelioma verdict is $1 million, with the lawyers taking a $400,000 cut from their sick and dying clients.

The request to reveal the documents comes as the court told the university it must conduct a multi-step process before firing Taub, because he’s tenured.

Reps for Columbia and Taub, who is also trying to keep the documents sealed, declined to comment.

The Simmons firm and foundation did not return messages.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/20/feds-want-record-jail-term-for-silvers-egregious-crimes/

Feds want record jail term for Silver’s ‘egregious’ crimes
By Kaja Whitehouse
April 20, 2016 | 4:13pm

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara wants convicted ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to be a real record breaker.

In a court filing Wednesday, Bharara and his prosecutors asked a federal judge to give Silver a jail term greater than any New York state legislator has ever received, saying his crimes were among the worst ever committed.

“Silver’s offenses indisputably were among the most serious of public corruption crimes in New York and elsewhere,” the feds wrote Manhattan federal Judge Valerie Caproni ahead of the May 3 sentencing.

“In light of the egregiousness of Silver’s conduct and the need for deterrence, the court should sentence the defendant to a term of imprisonment substantially in excess of the 10 years recommended by the Probation Office and greater than any sentence imposed on other New York State legislators convicted of public corruption offenses,” they wrote.

If the feds gets their way, the fallen power broker will be facing at least 15 years behind bars as ex-Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. received 14 years last year — the highest so far for a New York state legislator.

The government also wants Silver to forfeit “all of his crime proceeds,” which they calculate at $5.2 million, and pay a fine of at least $1 million.

Silver, 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 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, who 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 State 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 pension money paid for by NY taxpayers, is disputing the amount of his ill-gotten gains.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/04/21/silvers-wife-says-he-has-cancer-in-plea-for-leniency/

Silver’s wife says he has cancer in plea for leniency
By Kaja Whitehouse
April 21, 2016 | 2:13pm

Sheldon Silver’s long-suffering wife, Rosa, is appealing for leniency for her corrupt husband, revealing in a letter to the judge who will sentence him next month that the former Assembly speaker has prostate cancer.

“I am not sure what I can say to Your Honor except that my husband is a good man,” Rosa Silver wrote, noting that her husband — who federal authorities revealed last week carried on Albany affairs with a former assemblywoman and a top lobbyist — was diagnosed after the government started its case against him.

“It terrifies me that his father and brother both died from the same kind of cancer Shelly was diagnosed with,” she said. “I am afraid he will be sick and, even worse, alone.”

His lawyers noted, “Mr. Silver was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. On April 30, 2015, shortly after the Government instituted this case, Mr. Silver underwent a biopsy that confirmed the disease. Throughout 2015, Mr. Silver underwent a series of radiation treatments, including a stereotactic high-dose radiation treatment.

“While Mr. Silver’s prostate cancer is currently in remission, he faces severe potential side effects of his cancer treatment, including bladder and other internal organ damage.” Because “there is definitely a recognized risk of the cancer returning,” Silver “needs to be monitored closely” for the next five years, the lawyers wrote.

Silver’s father, Nathan, died of complications from prostate cancer at the age of 80 and his brother Joseph died of prostate cancer at the age of 70, the lawyers noted.

In his own letter to Judge Valerie Caproni, Silver for the first time offered an apology for his betrayal of the public trust in a massive kickback scheme that netted him millions.

“I failed the people of New York. There is no question about it,” Silver wrote in a short, four-paragraph letter to the judge, who will sentence him on May 3.

“What I have done has hurt the Assembly, and New York and my constituents terribly, and I regret that more than I can possibly express,” Silver said in the letter, which begged the judge to consider his good deeds when deciding his jail term.

It’s a far cry from Silver’s previous claims that he would be vindicated in the political corruption case, which could put him behind bars for at least 15 years.

“As I will continue to do everyday, I apologize to the court, the people of the state of New York (particularly my constituents and my former colleagues), and most of all, my loving family that has stood beside me, always,” Silver wrote.

Manhattan prosecutors, meanwhile, said Silver’s crimes were so “egregious” that he should be given a jail term greater than any New York state legislator who has ever been sent to prison.

“Silver’s offenses indisputably were among the most serious of public corruption crimes in New York and elsewhere,” the feds wrote in their letter to the judge.

“In light of the egregiousness of Silver’s conduct and the need for deterrence, the court should sentence the defendant to a term of imprisonment substantially in excess of the 10 years recommended by the Probation Office and greater than any sentence imposed on other New York State legislators convicted of public corruption offenses,” they wrote.

If the feds get their way, the fallen power broker will be facing at least 15 years behind bars as ex-Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. received 14 years last year — the highest so far for a New York state legislator.

The government also wants Silver to forfeit “all of his crime proceeds,” which they calculate at $5.2 million, and pay a fine of at least $1 million.

Prosecutors also dismissed concerns about Silver’s cancer, saying his “health concerns can be handled effectively by the Bureau of Prisons, which routinely deals with such issues.”

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.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/05/02/i-was-fired-so-sheldon-silvers-mistress-could-have-my-job/

I was fired in plot to give Sheldon Silver’s mistress a job
By Carl Campanile and Bruce Golding
May 2, 2016 | 12:49am

Diana Hinchcliff (left) claims she was fired from her job in the Education Department so Sheldon Silver's (top right) mistress, Janele Hyer-Spencer (bottom right) could get on the public payroll. Photo: LinkedIn ; AP ; G.N. Miller


Ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s secret sex life wreaked havoc on a former state official — who detailed for The Post how she and a co-worker were fired to allegedly free up jobs for his “Barbie doll” mistress and a former legislative aide.

Diana Hinchcliff says she was canned just two years shy of qualifying for a full pension as part of a scheme by Silver to put his side dish, Staten Island ex-Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer, on the public payroll.

Hyer-Spencer, a blond former beauty queen, was outed last month as one of two whores with whom federal prosecutors say Silver carried on extramarital affairs.

The disgraced Manhattan Democrat faces sentencing Tuesday for a $5 million corruption scheme that involved peddling his influence on behalf of real-estate interests and a leading cancer doctor.

Hinchcliff says she planned to call federal prosecutors Monday to tell them about Silver’s alleged shenanigans involving her firing.

Hinchcliff, formerly director of governmental affairs for the state Education Department, says she was abruptly booted from her $127,794-a-year post shortly before Thanksgiving 2010.

She said that when she asked why she was getting the ax, she was told that “it wasn’t anything to do with job performance — they just wanted to make changes in the government-affairs office.”

With 18 years of government work under her belt, Hinchcliff pleaded for a reassignment so she could maximize her pension benefits but was denied, she said.

Also fired was a subordinate who worked as a state lobbyist in Washington, DC. The lobbyist was replaced by Hyer-Spencer, who was voted out of office in early November 2010 — just weeks before Hinchcliff was let go.

Hinchcliff, meanwhile, was replaced by Nicolas Storelli-Castro, a former Assembly analyst.

The firings of Hinchcliff and her colleague took place under then-Education Commissioner David Steiner, while Hyer-Spencer and Storelli-Castro were hired under Steiner’s successor, John King, who is now President Obama’s education secretary.

Hinchcliff said she realized why she and her underling were axed only after The Post revealed Silver’s role in Hyer-Spencer’s hiring.

“It became apparent to me why we were both fired. The people who had relationships with Speaker Silver were placed in those positions,” she said.

“I was angry,” she added. “I thought it was unfair. It was done for political reasons to make way for the [former] assemblywoman and an Assembly program staffer.”

A state Education Department source confirmed that Silver’s chief of staff, Judy Rapfogel, recommended Hyer-Spencer’s hiring.

But the source insisted that Hinchcliff and her colleague were fired due to a reorganization of their office, and another source close to the situation claimed that Silver had no role in Storelli-Castro’s hiring.

State Education Department spokesman Dennis Tompkins responded: “There’s absolutely no connection between his [Storelli-Castro’s] hiring and Diane’s firing and Shelly Silver never even knew who Nicholas was. This is all a figment of someone’s imagination.”

The underling declined to be interviewed, and Silver’s lawyer did not return a request for comment.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/05/02/sheldon-silver-wants-to-keep-his-money/

Sheldon Silver wants to keep his money
By Kaja Whitehouse
May 2, 2016 | 1:24pm

Convicted ex-state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver believes that he shouldn’t have to fork over all of his alleged ill-gotten gains at his Tuesday sentencing.

The government has asked that the shamed former Manhattan pol be forced to forfeit “all of his crime proceeds” from his corruption scheme, which they calculate to be $5.2 million, plus a $1 million fine.

But his lawyers — in a one-page memo to Manhattan federal Judge Valerie Caproni — claimed, “The Government failed to prove its calculated forfeiture amount reflects a reasonable estimate of Mr. Silver’s alleged gain … and that even should the Court find otherwise, requiring Mr. Silver to forfeit the amount calculated ‘would defy the purpose and spirit of forfeiture law.”’

Silver, 72, is set to be sentenced in federal court after being found guilty in November of extortion and money-laundering.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/05/03/sheldon-silver-got-lucky-with-his-mistress-during-a-rangers-game/

Sheldon Silver ‘got lucky’ with his mistress during a Rangers game
By Dean Balsamini and Aaron Short
May 3, 2016 | 1:44am

Sheldon Silver (left) and whore Janele Hyer-Spencer
Photo: AP; G.N. Miller


Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will be sentenced Tuesday in a corruption case that unearthed his illicit affairs with two women, whom he bedded at cheap Albany hotels.

Silver allegedly romped with former Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer at a Red Carpet Inn near Interstate 90, reserving the same $50-a-night drive-to-the-door room at the two-star hotel when he was in town for legislative business, employees told The Post.

“He requested the same room all the time,” a groundskeeper told The Post.

The once-powerful Manhattan Democrat also allegedly dallied with lobbyist Patricia Lynch at the slightly nicer 74 State Hotel, said another Albany source.

Silver is married, as are the two women. They have previously denied the affairs through their lawyers.

Federal authorities determined Silver, 72, had affairs with two women based on evidence compiled in his corruption case. While their names were redacted in court papers, sources identified them to The Post.

Silver’s lusty entanglements on the taxpayers’ dime weren’t limited to Albany’s seedy fringes, sources said. Hyer-Spencer joined him on trips to Israel and to Rangers and Knicks games, they claimed.

At one Rangers game, she sat next to Silver and allegedly got a little too frisky after downing several vodka tonics.

“I was there when slattern Hyer-Spencer grabbed his penis,” said a source who attended the game. “She got drunk and started grabbing and touching him, then put her legs on him and tried to kiss him. He made another Assembly member switch seats with her.”

Silver allegedly even got his gal pal a job.

Cynthia Woodside, a laid-off state Education Department lobbyist whose job was taken by Hyer-Spencer, told The Post on Monday that she faced hardships after losing the position.

“I was out of work for nearly two years before I found another job at a much lower salary,’’ she said by email, though she stopped short of blaming Silver.

Silver will be sentenced for trading political favors to enrich himself, but he balked Monday at having to fork over all of his suspected ill-gotten gains.

The government is asking he be forced to forfeit “all of his crime proceeds,” which it put at $5.2 million, plus a $1 million fine.

But in a one-page memo to Manhattan federal Judge Valerie Caproni, his lawyers argued that “requiring Mr. Silver to forfeit the amount calculated ‘would defy the purpose and spirit of forfeiture law.’ ’’

Some Democratic leaders are urging the judge to throw the book at Silver.

“We will never know how much his private greed impacted the law we live under day to day,” Arthur Schwartz, a party district leader from Greenwich Village, said in a letter to the judge.

Calls to Silver, Hyer-Spencer and Lynch weren’t returned.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/05/03/sheldon-silver-gets-12-years-in-prison-for-corruption/

Sheldon Silver gets 12 years in prison for corruption
By Kaja Whitehouse and Lia Eustachewich
May 3, 2016 | 3:38pm | Updated

Sheldon Silver arrives at Manhattan federal court on Tuesday. Photo: Stephen Yang


Corrupt ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was slammed with 12 years behind bars Tuesday — after the judge questioned whether the disgraced pol traded his clout for sexual favors.

Silver — one of the most powerful politicians in the state before his arrest last year — was convicted of netting more than $5 million in kickbacks in business schemes. But the feds have said they also uncovered evidence of ​the long-married ​Silver keeping two mistresses, including a lobbyist and former beauty-queen assemblywoman.

“Did a lobbyist have preferred access because she was a better lobbyist than her competitors, or was it payback for a personal relationship?” Manhattan federal Judge Valerie Caproni said before sentencing Silver.

“Those sorts of doubts end up corroding trust in government, and that, Mr. Silver, is discernible harm to the people o​​f New York,” the judge scolded.

In addition to the prison term, Caproni ordered Silver to fork over nearly $5.2 million of his ill-gotten gains and another $1.75 million in fines.

The disgraced ex-pol received two prison terms: 12 years for the six criminal counts against him, including mail and wire fraud and extortion, and another 10 years on a seventh count involving money-laundering. The terms will run concurrently.

Silver must surrender to begin serving his sentence July 1.

“Without question, I let down my constituents, I let down my family, let down my colleagues, and I’m truly, truly sorry for that,” Silver insisted to the judge, speaking briefly before he was sentenced.

He kept his head lowered as his sentence was rendered and then briefly closed his eyes. His wife, Rosa, remained stoic.

Meanwhile, Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara stood in the back of the courtroom to watch the sensational case — spearheaded by his office — play out.

“Today’s stiff sentence is a just and fitting end to Sheldon Silver’s long career of corruption,” Bharara later said in a statement.

Before sentencing, the judge appeared somewhat sympathetic to Silver, saying, “I have to agree with the defense that the letters [in support of Silver] clearly … paint a picture of a gifted politician who went above and beyond call of duty many times for friends, friends of friends and for constituents.”

“Some do it better than others. It is clear that you did it quite well,” she told Silver.

Yet “Silver’s corrupt actions cast a shadow over everything he has done and has thrown into doubt any difficult decision any legislator has made,” she said.

“Did Silver do things just to be nice — or did he do things because somewhere there was something in it for him?” the judge said.

A Manhattan federal jury found Silver guilty in November of abusing his power for more than a decade in exchange for bribes and kickbacks.

Silver, 72, faced as much as 27 years in prison for his crimes, but federal prosecutors told the judge they simply wanted Silver to serve out a longer sentence than any New York legislator.

Ex-Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. has held that title since 2015, when he was sentenced to 14 years.

When it came to Silver, there were “no excuses, just pure greed — and then he tried to hide his crime proceeds by investing them,” Assistant US Attorney Carrie Cohen told Caproni before sentencing.

The feds slammed Silver’s earlier apology letter to the court.

“Instead of accusing the government of trying to harm him and his reputation by quote ‘choosing to focus its spotlight on him,’ he could’ve admitted he himself is to blame for the investigation and the conviction and the prosecution that revealed the truth and resulted in his downfall,” said Assistant US Attorney Howard Master.

“After all, he is the one who put himself there.”

But Caproni warned before sentencing, “Let me tell you now, I’m not going to impose a guideline sentence in this case. I think imposing a guideline sentence would be draconian … given this defendant’s age.”

Silver’s lawyers had requested community service and home confinement, citing his history of good works and his recently diagnosed prostate cancer.

Silver’s brother, Joseph, died of prostate cancer at age 70 and their dad died of it at 80 years old, his lawyers said.

In pleading for leniency, Silver’s lawyers submitted dozens of letters from constituents, childhood friends and long-time neighbors.

Silver’s son and three daughters told the judge about their modest upbringing, and his wife, a former schoolteacher, talked about her fear that he will be sick and alone in jail.

One of his lawyers, Steven Cohen, in arguing for a light sentence, told Caproni on Tuesday, “If there’s going to be an incarceration, what is really needed to serve the purpose here? What is the benefit that is truly rendered to society?”

Another Silver lawyer, Joel Cohen, added, “Whatever leniency we have from you, your honor, he has already been crushed. He has been devastated by everything.

“His obituary has already been written about … notwithstanding everything he has done.”

After three days of deliberation, the Manhattan federal jury found that Silver accepted $3 million in improper payments from the law firm Weitz & Luxenberg, despite doing no legal work.

Instead, Silver was paid based off his cozy relationship with a Columbia University doctor, who received $500, 000 in state funds to finance his research into mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos. In exchange, the doctor referred asbestos patients to Weitz & Luxenberg, which then paid Silver.

The jury also found that the Lower East Side resident earned $700,000 from a separate law firm after hooking them up with a pair of lucrative real-estate-developer clients. While receiving money from the developers, Silver took state actions that benefited them.

The government has already blocked Silver from access to $3.8 million in assets spread across eight different bank and investment accounts. On top on that, the ex-Assemblyman has amassed a net worth in excess of $2 million, including “readily liquid assets of more than $1 million,” the government said in a recent filing.

Plus, there’s his taxpayer-funded pension. On the day after the jury rendered its guilty verdict, Silver applied to New York State to receive a pension of $5,846 a month, or more than $70,000 per year for the rest of his life.

Just minutes before his sentencing, the judge issued a ruling denying Silver’s motion for a new trial.

“Silver does not offer any new arguments for the Court to consider … and instead rehashes old arguments that were appropriately rejected’’ at trial, Judge Caproni wrote. “There was sufficient evidence to sustain each of the convictions.’’