Sheldon Silver AP photo/Seth Wenig
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a tweet: “Today’s stiff sentence is a just and fitting end to Sheldon Silver’s long career of corruption.”
Sheldon Silver’s ill-gotten riches deserve clawback: Journal News Editorial
“When sentencing Sheldon Silver for his wide-ranging corruption and kickback schemes, U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni went for payback over punishment. She gave the former Assembly Speaker 12 years in prison, though he faced up to 27. Silver, though, has been ordered to forfeit more than $5 million and pay a $1.75 million fine.
Silver’s still entitled to a more than $70,000-a-year pension, despite his fraud and extortion convictions. So the judge, and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in his request for significant financial penalties, are clawing back those taxpayer-supplied riches.
That certainly served the public’s wishes, according to a recent Siena College poll. The poll, released Tuesday, found that about 77 percent of voters supported yanking pensions from lawmakers, or any state employee, convicted of crimes related to their public service.”
Read the complete editorial here.