Within days of taking over as New York senate majority leader in January, prosecutors say, Dean Skelos was basking in his newfound power, announcing to his son Adam: "I'm going to control everything."
"I'm going to control who gets on what committees, what legislation goes to the floor, what legislation comes through committees, the budget, everything," Skelos allegedly said on a phone call with Adam, not knowing that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was listening.
Father and son were arrested Monday and charged with running a scheme in which Skelos, 67, used that power to demand payments to Adam in exchange for favorable treatment in the legislature. Targets of the five-year scheme included real estate developers and an environmental technology company, prosecutors said in announcing their case, which was built using phone-taps and cooperating witnesses.
While undeterred by the January arrest of New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on corruption charges, Skelos and his son did take steps to conceal their actions, using code words and disposable "burner" phones to pursue their plans, prosecutors said in a six-count criminal complaint against the two. Charges against the men include extortion and conspiracy.
"I am innocent of the charges leveled against me," the senate leader said in a statement. "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."
Christopher Conniff, Adam Skelos's lawyer, declined to comment on the charges.
Following Silver
The arrest of Dean Skelos, just months after Silver, a Democrat, was forced to resign his post, promises to further roil the state senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has been outspoken in his criticism of the political culture in Albany, where the leaders of the two legislative chambers exert enormous control over budgets, contracts and regulations.
The complaint against Skelos describes a lawmaker who threw his support behind projects based "not on what was good for his constituents or good for New York, but rather on what was good for his son's bank account," Bharara said at a press conference Monday.
Prosecutors said that in late 2010, Skelos pressured a senior executive of a major real-estate development firm to arrange for his son to be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars. At the time, the firm, which isn't named in the court filing, was lobbying the senator on matters "crucial" to its business, prosecutors said.
His power over rent and other real estate regulations was the tool Skelos used to compel the developer to help his son, according to the complaint. Rent regulations, which were last renewed in 2011, expire on June 15 and are the focus of the state's legislative agenda. If Skelos holds onto power, he'd continue to be at the center of those negotiations. Democratic leaders are already asking that he step down.
'Commission' Work
The developer arranged for a $20,000 payment to Adam Skelos for "commission" work he didn't perform, prosecutors said. Additional payments were made through an environmental technology company, the U.S. said. Those payments were more than doubled after Skelos promised he would "take care" of the company if they took care of his son, according to prosecutors.
Skelos also collected more than $2.6 million from a Long Island law firm in exchange for referring clients seeking to do business before the state. Skelos didn't perform any actual legal work for the fees, the U.S. said. Silver, who has denied wrongdoing, is accused of similar misconduct.
The case is U.S. v. Skelos, 15-mag-1492, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
