Skelos trial: what you need to know

The trial of Sen. Dean Skelos and his son Adam is set to begin on Nov. 16.

Here’s everything that you need to know to be informed when the trial begins.

Background

In July 2013, Gov. Andrew Cuomo formed the Moreland Commission. The goal was to investigate public corruption in state government, political campaigns and elections. All of the members of the commission were named Deputy Attorneys General, which gave them broad authority to investigate corruption.

However, less than a year later, the governor disbanded the Moreland commission before it could make its first report. That act created a blowback, with many open-government groups criticizing Cuomo, and left many people wondering why the commission was so suddenly disbanded.

Among those was Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Bharara picked up the mantle of the Moreland Commission and began investigating the power-players in Albany.

In public comments, Bharara made it clear that he does not agree with the notion that everything in Albany is decided by the governor, speaker and majority leader — the so-called “three men in a room.” “Is that really how government should be run?” Bharara said in a speech at New York Law School on Jan. 23. “Is that really how to run a state of almost 20 million people? When did 20 million New Yorkers agree to be ruled like a triumvirate in Roman times?”

On Jan. 22, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was arrested on charges of corruption and was forced to resign his position. It was a shock to many, as the New York Democrat was thought to be untouchable.

Then on May 4, Dean Skelos and his son turned themselves in at FBI headquarters in Manhattan and were arrested.

Skelos, 67, and his son, 32, both Rockville Centre residents, are each being charged with three counts of extortion under color of official right, two counts of soliciting bribes in connection with a federal program and one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud. The charges carry a combined maximum sentence of 100 years.

The charges

According to the that Bharara filed complaint, beginning nearly as soon as he was elected Majority Leader in 2010, Skelos allegedly started using his influence to arrange payments for his son. Over the course of years, Adam Skelos received more than $200,000 from a real estate developer and an environmental technology company — the Arizona-based AbTech — in exchange for his father’s cooperation in getting legislation passed in Albany and contracts approved in Nassau County.

On numerous occasions, Skelos allegedly met with an executive from the real estate company and requested they provide sales commissions to his son. The first case was allegedly $20,000 that the company paid to Adam Skelos for work which he did not actually do.

Additionally, the same executive allegedly convinced the CEO of AbTech, which both the executive and the real estate developer’s founding family had strong ties to, to hire Adam Skelos and pay him $4,000 a month. The executive complied because he claimed he felt threatened by Skelos.

Skelos and his son allegedly helped AbTech secure a $12 million contract with Nassau County to clean up storm water. Skelos and his son also allegedly threatened AbTech, saying that they would work to squash the deal with the county unless AbTech started paying Adam Skelos more. In response, AbTech began paying Adam Skelos $10,000 a month.

The complaint also alleged that, after getting the contract passed, Skelos pressured county officials to get payments out more quickly. In a legally wiretapped phone call with an AbTech executive that became a witness for the state, Adam Skelos threatened to use his father’s influence to negatively impact Nassau County if the funds for the contract were not released.

Skelos also allegedly used his influence to try to get laws passed that would help AbTech and, by extension, his son. Skelos allegedly tried to promote hydrofracking wastewater treatment laws that would basically force the use of a product that AbTech sold. He also allegedly tried to direct a portion of the $5.4 billion in settlement money in the current budget to wastewater projects that could then be awarded to AbTech. Additionally, Skelos allegedly tried to get the state to pass “design-build” legislation that the county said was necessary to fully implement the AbTech contract.

Because of the investigation and the charges against him, Skelos resigned his position as Majority Leader of the Senate.

More information

Since the charges were announced, more accusations have been made against Skelos and his son, but no new charges were added.

The new accusations include that Adam Skelos tried to extort business from a man who represented a consortium of Greek diners, that Skelos tried to secure a position for Adam Skelos’s wife on the Town of Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals and that Skelos planned to create a fuss about the income of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s girlfriend, celebrity chef Sandra Lee.

Skelos has said that he and his son are innocent of the charges levied against them.

“I am innocent of the charges leveled against me,” Skelos said after the charges were filed. “I am not saying I am just not guilty, I am saying that I am innocent. I fully expect to be exonerated by a public jury trial.”