Saves millions as court nixes much of his slime convictions

it earned representing Taub’s patients in asbestos litigation, investigators found.

A jury convicted Silver in 2015 of the charges that he unlawfully took Weitz & Luxenberg fees as well as several hundred thousand dollars in fees from his friend Jay Goldberg’s law firm, which handles property tax appeals for real estate developers.

One of the clients Silver steered to Goldberg was Glenwood Management, which operates luxury apartment buildings and for years was a big donor to Albany politicians. The other was the Witkoff Group, which owns part of the Woolworth Building and a variety of other properties, including some in Silver’s former lower Manhattan Assembly district.

After the 2015 verdict was overturned on appeal, Silver was tried again and convicted again of the same charges in 2018.

A panel of Manhattan Federal Appeals Court judges in January dismissed the Weitz & Luxenberg part of the case, mainly because the judges didn’t see a strong enough quid pro quo between Silver and Taub. When the Weitz & Luxenberg charges were tossed, the government lost its right to demand Silver hand over the fees he got from that scheme.

Silver is to be sentenced July 20 on the remaining charges in the case of mail fraud, wire fraud and extortion involving fees paid to him by Goldberg’s law firm. He also faces a money laundering charge.

Before the mesothelioma charges were tossed, Caproni sentenced Silver to seven years in prison and a $1.75 million fine, as well as the forfeiture. It’s unclear what sentence and fine Silver may receive at next month’s hearing. Silver has asked that the July 20 hearing be conducted by remote video.

Silver, who has never admitted guilt for his crimes, considered his work as Assembly speaker to be a parttime job.

In court papers two years ago, Silver’s lawyers wrote that when he sought legal fees from Weitz & Luxenberg and from Goldberg’s law firm, “nothing put Mr. Silver — or anyone else — on notice that … a public official can be convicted of bribery for being influenced, even just a little bit, by industrystandard referral fees received in permitted outside employment.”

Silver’s lawyers declined to comment on the forfeiture agreement.