Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced to 12 years in prison and told by a federal judge that he must give back $5 million that he gained from illegal kickback schemes, as well a pay another $1.75 million in fines.
Over 100 family members, constituents and lobbyists wrote letters on behalf of the disgraced former Assembly speaker, and the disgraced former speaker and his lawyers pleaded for mercy.
Dick Dadey, with the reform group Citizens Union, who waited outside the courtroom to hear the sentence, says it’s just desserts for what Silver did.
“It’s a strong and appropriate sentence,” Dadey said.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who brought the case, tweeted that the “stiff sentence is a just and fitting end to Sheldon Silver's long career of corruption.”
