The New York Times and other sources are reporting that Sheldon Silver, the powerful speaker of the New York Assembly for the past 20 years, has been arrested on federal corruption charges, “sending shock waves through the political establishment and upending the new legislative session.”
According to The New York Times, Silver, a Democrat, surrendered to FBI agents early Thursday morning in Lower Manhattan and there is no word yet on when he will be making his first appearance.
Before entering 26 Federal Plaza, Silver was quoted as saying “I hope I’ll be vindicated.”
Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District, who led the investigation, is expected to provide more details about the charges at a 1 p.m. news conference.
NBC4 New York reports that “one official said the investigation in part has been looking into whether the Manhattan Democrat failed to report income he received from an outside law firm as required.”
Bharara had been focusing on how state representatives earned and reported income after the Moreland Commission was shut down in Albany before completing its own examination of alleged wrongdoing in Albany.
Neither an attorney for Silver nor his spokesman returned requests for comment after news broke late Wednesday he was expected to be charged. Questions in the past have been raised about Silver’s outside income that supplement his part-time assembly work and he has always denied wrongdoing.
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