Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver Faces Federal Corruption Charges

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the longtime Albany power broker, surrendered Thursday to face multimillion dollar federal corruption charges, the Daily News has learned. A stunning five-count criminal complaint accused the Manhattan Democrat, a state political fixture for decades, with pocketing more than $6 million in bribes and kickbacks in return for wielding his massive influence. Silver stands accused of pressuring real estate companies doing business with the state to hire two law firms that were regularly paying him bribes, the 35-page complaint charged. Silver was just a year away from becoming the longest-serving speaker in Assembly history.