A New Elliot Ness? Preet Bhahara...


Selene

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The Sealed Federal Complaint:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1507524-sheldon-silver-corruption-complaint.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preet_Bharara

Preetinder Singh "Preet" Bharara (born 1968) is an Indian American attorney and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.[1] In 2012, Bharara was named by Time magazine as one of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World," and by India Abroad as its 2011 Person of the Year.[2][3][4] Bharara was also featured on a cover of Time magazine entitled "This Man is Busting Wall Street" for his office's prosecutions of insider trading and other financial fraud on Wall Street.[5][6] His office has prosecuted several international terrorists, and secured life sentences for many high profile ones like Faisal Shazad, the Times Square Bomber.[7] He has charged several former and current elected officials in corruption cases and acted against organized crime in the country. Bharara was included in Bloomberg Markets Magazine’s 2012 “50 Most Influential” list as well as Vanity Fair’s 2012 and 2013 annual “New Establishment” lists.[8][9][10] His brother, Vinit Bharara, is the entrepreneur who co-founded Diapers.com, a subsidiary of Amazon.com.[11]

He came to the spotlight again with the prosecution of an Indian diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, which created tensions in India-US relations.[12][13]

220px-Bharara%2C_Preet_Headshot.jpg

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This "situation" with Silver has the potential to take down some major centers and linkages to the cesspool that is Albany which has functioned with the tacit cooperation of the NY State Republican and Democratic parties under Speaker "I speak with forked" Silver-tongue.

At 70, he should be looking to be a spigot of information on three decades of corrupt actors in NY State to avoid serious Federal time. The seizure of some $3.8 million in monies at 6-8 banks under the corrupt practices sections illustrates how serious this is.

Think of the Untouchables movie!!

A...

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ABA newsletter reports:

One of the most powerful political figures in New York was arrested Thursday by the FBI on charges that he received millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks, the New York Times, Associated Press and New York Law Journal (sub. req.) report.

New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, 70, was charged with five counts, including conspiracy and bribery.

“There is probable cause to believe Silver obtained about $4 million in payments characterized as attorney referral fees solely through the corrupt use of his official position,” the criminal complaint (PDF) says.

Another argument for term limits which I have generally been opposed too, however, I now support with no reservations.

That limit should be one term as a Senator and three terms as a Congressman.

Silver has 38 years in Albany, as the ABA article states:

As Assembly speaker, Silver is one of three top power brokers in Albany, along with the speaker of the state senate and the governor. Silver, a Democrat, has been in the legislature since 1976 and became speaker in 1994. According to the AP, he has a degree from Brooklyn Law School and is a practicing attorney. Silver has gone toe-to-toe with a succession of five governors, including the late Mario Cuomo and his son Andrew Cuomo, who is a fellow Democrat and the current governor.

This Federal prosecutor decided, last April, after:

...Cuomo closed the state’s Moreland anti-corruption commission, which had been looking into pay-to-play politics in Albany. But U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York took over the files and continued investigating.

The criminal complaint says that when the commission began its work in 2013, looking into outside income sources for Silver and other legislators, “Silver took legal action and other steps to the disclosure of such information.”

Silver's attorneys had been vociferously fighting to quash the document subpoenas for the law firms that "hired" Silver...

Silver’s outside income has created buzz for some time. As speaker, he has a salary of $121,000, the Times reports. In 2013, he reported earnings of at least $650,000 for legal work, some of it with the firm Weitz & Luxenberg, a personal injury firm in New York City.

Prosecutors allege in the complaint that they could find no evidence that Silver completed any legal work for that firm, and no record of him making a court appearance. The complaint says that Silver also failed to list all the payments he received on his annual financial disclosure filings. Although Silver was said to have referred more than 100 clients to Weitz & Luxenberg, investigators reported that they spoke to more than 10 of these clients, none of whom knew Silver nor of any role he played in their legal representation.

There is a capitalization of earnings methodology utilized in forensic accounting that is quite effective.

Anyone who is a Pink Panther/Peter Sellers fan will remember Clouseau's wife on the stand, dripping in furs and diamonds, explaining that she saved their money from the household milk budget, or, words to that effect.

Prosecutors allege in the complaint that they could find no evidence that Silver completed any legal work for that firm, and no record of him making a court appearance. The complaint says that Silver also failed to list all the payments he received on his annual financial disclosure filings. Although Silver was said to have referred more than 100 clients to Weitz & Luxenberg, investigators reported that they spoke to more than 10 of these clients, none of whom knew Silver nor of any role he played in their legal representation.

Let's see what is in his electronic devices and all sorts of other connections. He is probably calculating who he can roll on without ending up as that Argentinian prosecutor.

www.abajournal.com/news/article/sheldon_silver/?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_email

A...

By the way, Silver comes out of the Tammany Hall power elite. They brought you Robert Moses...

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Aw...the poor Tammany Hall whore Sheldon Silver is "stepping back," rather than "stepping down."

It is priceless watching the feral legislative lice shuck and jive the citizenry.

In an unusual arrangement, Mr. Silver, 70, would not permanently quit his post. Instead, he would temporarily delegate his duties as speaker to a group of senior Assembly members.

Under the plan, which Assembly Democrats are to consider in a closed-door meeting on Monday, Mr. Silver would “not specifically step down, but step back,” according to a person briefed on the situation.

A...

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Walter Block's Defending the Undefendable is an exercise in arguments to the contrary, often just to make you stop and think about the difference between traditionalist ethics and the potential of laissez faire. Why prosecute slander or libel? People should be free to say what they want and also be free to believe what they want.

When a magazine at the grocery check-out showed me "Bruce's" sex change, I though that it was Bruce Boxleitner. Then after a couple of days, I remembered Bruce Jenner, a Olympic athlete for ice skating or swimming or something who was a media headline about 20 or 30 years ago. So, I googled it. Ah! Married to the Kardashian Mom.

So, we denounce government "corruption" when officials take "bribes" to let people do business despite ridiculous laws that interfere with commerce. That "corrupt bureaucrat" is just a patriot who is being thanked by those whom he has helped.

Even granting Selene's dislike of Tammany Hall, the fact that prosecutor Preet Bharara does not see the difference between "insider trading" and actual government corruption should make us all stop and think. Indeed, the analogy to Eliot Ness is correct. While Ness did some actual good police work, he is most famous for sticking his nose into other people's business.

(As for his police work, it was give-and-take at best. See Wikipedia or whatever else you want on that. So, Preet Bharara, too, may have a less than .500 career by the time he retires, working in fast food and hanging out in bars telling exaggerated stories of his glory days.)

(Reuters) - A court ruling that sharply curtailed the ability of prosecutors including Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara to pursue insider trading cases is increasingly testing regulators' abilities across the country.

Defendants in California and Massachusetts have sought to take advantage of a December ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York that narrowed the definition of insider trading, making it harder for prosecutors to pursue their cases.

Reuters today here.

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Even granting Selene's dislike of Tammany Hall, ...

It is always fascinating being taken out of context.

Additionally, there was no mention, at least by me, about any "insider trading." Must be those other voices in your head Mike.

Finally, Silver is a thug with a law degree.

This is essentially, like it was with Elliot Ness and Wyatt Earp, acting like two (2) rival gangs competing for the same monies.

A lotta straw men in your post.

A...

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Selene, read your own post! The man prosecutes insider trading, and you said so.

Bharara was also featured on a cover of Time magazine entitled "This Man is Busting Wall Street" for his office's prosecutions of insider trading and other financial fraud on Wall Street.

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Selene, read your own post! The man prosecutes insider trading, and you said so.

Bharara was also featured on a cover of Time magazine entitled "This Man is Busting Wall Street" for his office's prosecutions of insider trading and other financial fraud on Wall Street.

It appears that Time magazine says so...

By the way, I hope you are watching Sons of Liberty because a coin is at the center of the Sons code...

A...

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Selene, read your own post! The man prosecutes insider trading, and you said so.

Bharara was also featured on a cover of Time magazine entitled "This Man is Busting Wall Street" for his office's prosecutions of insider trading and other financial fraud on Wall Street.

It appears that Time magazine says so...

By the way, I hope you are watching Sons of Liberty because a coin is at the center of the Sons code...

A...

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If they had "Sons of Photography" they would want THIS instead of a coin!

http://www.mcbaincamera.com/productdetail.php?mcbain_id=0241438

Roh hoe hoe ho hoehhh!!

Damn you would be an expensive date!!

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Selene, read your own post! The man prosecutes insider trading, and you said so.

Bharara was also featured on a cover of Time magazine entitled "This Man is Busting Wall Street" for his office's prosecutions of insider trading and other financial fraud on Wall Street.

Mike:

So, when you provide a link to a source, that now means that you said what was in the link?

A...

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The slimy Silver slithered home to his cesspool.

Amid the behind-the-scenes wrangling on Tuesday, there were intimations of maneuvering by everyone from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to Mayor Bill de Blasio, though aides to both men denied it.

The next speaker will lead the Assembly’s negotiations over the state budget with the governor and the Republican-controlled State Senate, for which the deadline is April 1.
And for Mr. de Blasio, much of whose liberal agenda requires the cooperation of Albany lawmakers, the sudden possibility that Mr. Silver could be replaced by someone less sympathetic to the city’s needs and to Mr. de Blasio’s political philosophy was an unwelcome bolt from the blue.

“It’s been tough enough to get our fair share even with a speaker from New York City,” the mayor told reporters Tuesday. “So one can imagine, someone from outside, it might even be harder.”
Still, Mr. de Blasio, like the governor, said that it was not for him to influence the Assembly’s choice of a new speaker. “We’re just trying to gather information,” he said, of the calls he acknowledged that his aides were making.

Already a number of candidates were quietly courting colleagues within the 105-member of the Democratic conference.
The battle over who is to succeed Mr. Silver, of course, hinges on the fact that he first must resign. Late on Monday, after a marathon five-hour caucus meeting, Assembly Democrats asked Mr. Silver, their leader since 1994, to relinquish the speaker’s post while he defends himself against charges that he accepted millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.

After stepping out of Tuesday afternoon’s follow-up to that meeting, Assemblyman Phil Steck, a Democrat from the Albany area, said the session focused on the process of choosing a new speaker, under the assumption that Mr. Silver would heed the conference’s wishes and step down.

Apparently, the slug is intending to keep his Assembly seat for the time being.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/nyregion/sheldon-silver-to-be-replaced-as-speaker-of-new-york-state-assembly.html

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This is absolutely laughable...

Partner Perry Weitz said the personal injury law firm was shocked to learn of the allegations against New York Assemblyman Sheldon Silver concerning case referrals and is cooperating fully with authorities, according to the Albany Times-Union’s Capitol Confidential blog and the New York Daily News.

Weitz also emphasized in a written statement that, “As the U.S Attorney’s complaint clearly stated, we were never told that he was ever going to allocate, or had allocated, any state funding in exchange for client names he referred to us.”

Paging Inspector Louie...

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/top_ny_lawmaker_gives_up_speaker_post_takes_leave_of_absence_from_law_firm/?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_email

So, it is only the bribe taker not the bribe offerer who is guilty?

A...

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