Federal prosecutors argue they should be able to introduce a real-estate developer’s political contributions as evidence in Sheldon Silver’s public corruption trial because the money reveals “Silver’s state of mind in choosing to engage in a bribery and extortion scheme,” new court papers state.
Lawyers for the ex-Assembly Speaker want the contributions made by Glenwood Management barred from Silver’s trial because they are “irrelevant” and “prejudicial,” their recent court papers state.
But federal prosecutors fired back Wednesday.
“Developer-1’s political contributions certainly are relevant to this case,” read the government papers, which don’t mention Glenwood by name.
“They are highly probative of Silver’s state of mind in choosing to engage in a bribery and extortion scheme involving Developer-1, and they are highly probative of Developer-1’s state of mind in agreeing to make extortion payments to Silver.”
Silver faces charges he pocketed at least $700,000 in kickbacks for steering and another real-estate developer to law firms that then gave him a cut of the fees, court papers state.
Glenwood is the state’s biggest political donor, giving more than $10 million to candidates and political committees since 2005, including $200,000 to Silver.
Silver’s lawyers also want to block prosecutors from offering evidence of the arrests and convictions of other legislators, but prosecutors wrote Wednesday that all they want to introduce at trial is “particular recordings where Silver himself claims that his conduct is appropriate in comparison to other indicted legislators.”
Silver’s trial is set to begin November 2.