Dean Skelos and Son Found Guilty on All Counts in Corruption Trial

Source: NY TIMES

The former State Senate majority leader Dean G. Skelos and his son were found guilty of federal corruption charges on Friday, a quick and devastating follow-up punch to the state Capitol in Albany, which has now seen two entrenched leaders convicted and removed from office.

The jury in Federal District Court in Manhattan took eight hours over two days to reach its verdict against Mr. Skelos, 67, and his son, Adam, 33, finding them guilty of all eight bribery, extortion and conspiracy counts.

The Skeloses were charged with using the father’s position as majority leader to pressure a Manhattan developer, an environmental technology company and medical malpractice insurer to provide Adam Skelos with roughly $300,000 via consulting work, a no-show job, and a direct payment of $20,000.

Dean Skelos had been one of the three most powerful men in state government until his arrest earlier this year, and his conviction close on the heels of his former colleague, the longtime Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, is sure to have repercussions beyond the courtroom. As in Mr. Silver’s case, which ended Nov. 30, the verdict resulted in Mr. Skelos’s expulsion from the State Legislature, where both men had served for more than three decades.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/12/nyregion/dean-skelos-adam-skelos-guilty-corruption-trial.html?ref=nyregion&_r=0