Star witness testifies he helped Silver earn referral fees

A retired Columbia University physician testified Monday that he knew he was making then-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver wealthy by giving him cancer patients to refer to the politician’s law firm for potentially lucrative legal settlements.

Dr. Robert Taub, 82, is the prosecution’s star witness in the retrial of Silver, which began Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. He played the same role in the 2015 trial.

The federal government alleges that Silver earned more than $3 million in referral fees from a Manhattan law firm for providing the names and contact information for 50 Taub patients who were suffering from mesothelioma, a deadly cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.

The referral fees came from legal settlements and verdicts awarded to the patients. In return, Silver steered $500,000 in state grants for Taub’s research center.

Silver, 74, has denied wrongdoing and his attorneys said Monday he had not abused his position as one of three of the most powerful leaders in state government for more than two decades.

Taub said in 2003 a childhood friend who also had worked as an Assembly lawyer told him, “Shelly wants cases.”

The doctor said he interpreted the comment to mean Silver wanted to refer Taub’s patients to the Weitz & Luxenberg law firm rather than them calling the firm directly. Silver was “of counsel” to the firm, earning $120,000 per year, but doing little work, according to prosecutors.

“He wished the referrals to be through him,” said Taub. “Yes, I thought it would profit him.”

But Taub continued, “I wanted to incentivize Mr. Silver to be an advocate for mesothelioma patients and to help raise funds for mesothelioma research.”

About eight months after Taub started giving Silver patient names, the doctor said he was directed through the childhood friend to send a letter to Silver requesting state money for mesothelioma research.

Taub, who lives in Manhattan and is in fragile health, is to resume testifying Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.

In coming days, prosecutors are expected to call witnesses tied to additional charges against Silver: That he profited from legal work sent to a second law firm in Manhattan by mega-landlord Glenwood Management and another real estate developer in return for the politician’s alleged backing of real estate legislation.

The jury of 10 men and five women also heard Monday from Assemb. Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale), who testified for the government.

She recalled the punishment she received after going against Silver during the process of selecting members of the state Board of Regents, which oversees public schools.

Her request for $3 million to fund anti-human trafficking programs wasn’t part of the Assembly’s budget proposals.

“When I asked why the funding wasn’t included, he told me in the [Assembly] hallway, ‘You do for me. I do for you,’ ” Paulin testified.

However, under questioning from one of Silver’s attorneys, the assemblywoman acknowledged that the $3 million was ultimately included in the adopted state budget. “I did stop being so vocal about the Regents . . . [but] yes, it was in the final budget,” Paulin said.

Earlier Monday, jurors were presented with dueling portraits of Silver. While prosecutors said he used his immense power in state government to become a millionaire by accepting bribes, defense lawyers said he helped solve the problems of ordinary people.

Prosecutor Damian Williams said Silver, a Democrat who served as Assembly speaker for nearly 21 years, was so influential that “he was practically untouchable . . . he was also corrupt. Sheldon Silver betrayed the people’s trust, he took bribes to get rich.”

Silver’s attorney Michael S. Feldberg said Silver, who represented Manhattan’s Lower East Side for 39 years, broke no laws.

“Imagine you are Shelly Silver,” Feldberg told the jurors. “You have devoted your life to public service . . . Earning outside income from another job is 100 percent legal” in the state’s part-time legislature.

Silver had appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to block the retrial, but the high court refused to entertain his bid in January.

In May 2016, Judge Valerie E. Caproni sentenced the former Albany power broker to 12 years in prison, fined him $1.75 million, and ordered that he forfeit more than $5 million in what the prosecution said were ill-gotten gains. He has remained free on bail since.

The retrial was ordered in July 2017 by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals when it reversed Silver’s conviction. It found there were grounds for another trial.

The appeals court said Caproni’s instructions to the 2015 jury 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.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision, delivered in 2016, involved a former Virginia governor and was the basis of a successful appeal of former State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos’ corruption conviction.

Skelos’ retrial will start in June in the same Manhattan courthouse.

The Silver retrial is the second of four corruption trials involving state government to take place this year. They could wrap up weeks before Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and all 213 state lawmakers face voters in the November elections.

Besides the Skelos trial, one-time SUNY physicist and nanotechnology kingpin Alain Kaloyeros will face charges in June. Longtime Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco was convicted in March of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and solicitation of more than $300,000 in bribes.

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

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.