Law firm co-founder takes the stand at Silver’s retrial
A co-founder of the Manhattan law firm that paid then-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver more than $3 million for referring cancer patients to the firm for potential lawsuits said Wednesday he never expected Silver to use his legislative job to secure the referrals.
Arthur M. Luxenberg, co-founder of the Weitz & Luxenberg firm, said he did not anticipate that Silver would use his position as one of the three most powerful individuals in state government to aid his work for the firm.
Luxenberg said he hired Silver 13 years ago to “bring prestige and honor” to Weitz & Luxenberg. Silver, 74, no longer works for the firm and lost his position as Assembly speaker in 2015 after being indicted on federal corruption charges.
“When Sheldon Silver joined the firm did you expect him to use his position to bring cases to the firm,” federal prosecutor Daniel Richenthal asked Luxenberg on the third day of Silver’s retrial.
Luxenberg responded, “No.”
He also said the law firm stopped filing lawsuits against New York State and its agencies once Silver had been hired to avoid conflicts of interest with Silver’s job as Assembly chief.
Silver was “of counsel” to Weitz & Luxenberg, earning a salary of $120,000 per year, but performed little work, according to the prosecution.
Luxenberg’s testimony and that of four other witnesses on Wednesday focused on federal charges that Silver improperly received more than $3 million from legal settlements and verdicts won by Weitz & Luxenberg on behalf of cancer patients that Silver had referred to the firm.
The patients came to Silver from Dr. Robert Taub, a then-Columbia University physician, who in turn received $500,000 in state research grants at Silver’s direction in a quid pro quo scheme, according to the federal indictment.
Luxenberg said Wednesday that he never met Taub. Luxenberg also said he was unaware that Silver allegedly steered state grants to Taub’s research center or allegedly helped Taub’s children to secure jobs.
The retrial, which began Monday, is a do-over of Silver’s corruption trial in 2015 and conviction in 2016. The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Silver’s appeal request in 2017 but said there were grounds for another trial.
The appeals court said Judge Valerie E. Caproni’s instructions to jurors in 2015 did not comply with a later U.S. Supreme Court decision that narrowed the acts required to convict public officials in a quid pro quo bribery scheme to formal exercises of government power, not just meetings or telephone calls.
Silver, a Democrat from lower Manhattan, has been accused of exploiting his government position to extort nearly $4 million in bribes over about 10 years. He allegedly invested the money, making an additional $1 million, according to the indictment.
Besides the alleged scheme involving cancer patients and a Columbia researcher, prosecutors said Silver improperly profited from tax work performed by a second law firm in Manhattan.
Two real estate developers hired the law firm to represent them in tax challenge cases in return for Silver allegedly backing the renewal of state tax incentives for developers of large housing projects that include affordable units, according to federal charges. One of the developers is mega-landlord Glenwood Management.
Silver has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
