ALBANY — Former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, once one of the most politically influential officials in New York, was convicted Tuesday of using his considerable influence to secure $300,000 in low-show jobs and payment for his son.
A jury in Manhattan federal court found Skelos, 70, and his son Adam, 36, guilty of eight felonies in the high-profile retrial, including two counts of conspiracy, three counts of extortion and three counts of bribery, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Skelos, a Nassau County Republican, pressured three politically connected firms to steer hundreds of thousands of dollars to his son via a $20,000 cash payment and well-paying jobs that required little to no work.
The companies — AbTech Industries, Glenwood Management and a company tied to Physicians' Reciprocal Insurers — all had significant business before the state, which prosecutors say Skelos implicitly and explicitly exploited to benefit his son.
Major corruption convictions
The verdicts Tuesday came just five days after another major Albany-related corruption conviction.
Former SUNY Polytechnic Institute President Alain Kaloyeros was found guilty Thursday of rigging the bid for more than $850 million in state-funded contracts to build Gov. Andrew Cuomo's top economic-development projects.
"Yet again, a New York jury heard a sordid tale of bribery, extortion, and the abuse of power by a powerful public official of this State," Robert Khuzami, deputy U.S. Attorney for New York's Southern District, said in a statement.
"And yet again, a jury responded with a unanimous verdict of guilt, in this case of Dean Skelos and his son Adam – sending the resounding message that political corruption will not be tolerated.”
Adam Skelos arrives to federal court in New York, Thursday, July 12, 2018. (Photo: Seth Wenig, AP)
There was no immediate comment Tuesday from Skelos' attorney.
The elder Skelos was one of the three most powerful people in state government as Senate majority leader in 2008 and from 2011 through 2015, leading the Senate Republican conference in negotiations over the state budget and all key pieces of legislation.
Three-year saga
The conviction Tuesday was the latest step in a three-year legal saga for the Skeloses, who were first indicted in 2015.
They were convicted later that year, with Dean Skelos sentenced to 5 years in prisonand Adam Skelos sentenced to 6 1/2 years.
But their convictions wer later overturned in 2016 after the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the corruption law the pair was convicted under.
Prosecutors, however, were allowed to retry Skelos and his son under the narrowed definition. And the more-restrictive law ultimately had little impact: The Skeloses were convicted on all counts in both trials.
A similar situation played out with former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat who was also indicted in 2015 and convicted of fraud.
Like Skelos, Silver's initial convicted was tossed in 2016 but he was found guilty in a retrial earlier this year.
Silver and Skelos were powerful leaders of their chambers and made up two of the "three men in a room" who negotiated state budgets and legislation with Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Corruption at high levels
It was the fourth major corruption conviction touching the highest levels of state government this year.
Along with Skelos, Silver and Kaloyeros, former top Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco, then a close personal friend of the governor's, was convicted in March of accepting more than $285,000 from companies with business before the state.
Executives with the companies, COR Development of the Syracuse area and Maryland-based CPV Energy, then leaned on Percoco to take official actions that benefitted them.
Government-reform advocates have decried the minimal impact the parade of corruption cases have had at the state Capitol.
The Legislature ended its annual session last month without taking up any meaningful efforts to bolster the state's ethics laws or economic-development oversight.
"Two juries have now twice convicted Dean Skelos of using his position in government to extort favors for his family in return for taxpayer funded resources," said Sarah Goff, associate director of Common Cause/NY.
"Case closed."
Dean and Adam Skelos are scheduled to be sentenced in October. They're expected to receive a similar prison sentence to the 5 and 6 1/2 years, respectively, they received in 2016.
Dean Skelos' $96,000-a-year, publicly funded pension, however, will not be at risk.
A recently approved constitutional amendment allowing judges to strip New York officials of their retirement benefits if they're convicted of a felony related to their job only applies to conduct after the start of 2018.
Jon Campbell is a correspondent for the USA TODAY Network's Albany Bureau.
