Former Senate Leader Dean Skelos was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay over $334,000 in restitution after his conviction on corruption charges. His son Adam got 6 ½ years.
Pleas from the two men and their lawyers that they did good works and were very sorry for their crimes did not sway federal Judge Kimba Wood from meting out prison terms to Dean and Adam Skelos for scheming to use the elder Skelos’ political contacts to get no-show jobs for his wayward son.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who successfully prosecuted the Skeloses as well as former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who got 12 years in prison earlier this month, said the cases have no precedent and that New Yorkers deserve better.
Bharara, who is also investigating some of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s close associates for potential corruption, took a shot at the governor, saying “the most effective corruption investigations are those that are truly independent and not in danger of either interference or premature shutdown.”
Cuomo abruptly shuttered his own Moreland Act Commission on corruption. That act spurred a probe that resulted in no wrongdoing. Cuomo also says he’s conducting his own investigation into his former top aide and a lobbyist closely associated with his family.
