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<h6><span style="color:#030000;">Federal appeals panel vacates Dean Skelos and son&#8217;s corruption convictions</span></h6>
<h6><span style="color:#030000;">Former New York Senate majority leader Dean Skelos, 69, and his son Adam Skelos, were convicted in December 2015 of a shakedown scheme </span></h6>
<h6><span style="color:#030000;">In May 2016, a fed court in Manhattan sentenced Dean and Adam Skelos to 5 and 6 1/2 years in prison, respectively</span></h6>
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<h6 id="ra-headline"><span style="color:#030000;">The Skelos’ lawyers successfully argued their conviction should be tossed because of new interpretation of corruption law</span></h6>
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<h6><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-261665" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/dean-skelos-and-adam-skelos-3.png" alt="Dean Skelos and Adam Skelos 3.png" width="954" height="685" /><strong>Federal appeals panel overturned corruption convictions of former NY Senate majority Leader Dean Skelos and son on cash shakedown charges</strong></h6>
<p>A federal appeals panel threw overturned the corruption convictions of former New York Senate majority leader Dean Skelos and his son, court documents revealed Tuesday.<br />
Skelos, 69, and his son Adam Skelos were convicted in December 2015 of a shakedown scheme.<br />
The father and son combo prosecutors said, had pressured businesses dependent on government business to squeeze cash into Adam Skelo&#8217;s pockets, such as with no-show jobs.<br />
In May Dean Skelos’ lawyers filed an appeal in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to have their corruption-related convictions for running the shakedown scheme vacated because the prosecutors’ arguments conflict with a new interpretation of public corruption law, by the highest court in the land, the defense team argued.<br />
The Dean Skelos accused of shaking down business dependent on government patronage<br />
was convicted of extortion and conspiracy charges in relation to the scheme in December 2015. The jury also found Adam guilty of aiding and abetting his dad.</p>
<p><a href="https://konniemoments.com/2016/05/03/former-ny-house-speaker-sheldon-silver-jailed-12-years-on-corruption-charges/" rel="bookmark">Former NY House Speaker, Sheldon Silver, Jailed 12 Years On corruption Charges</a></p>
<h6><img class="alignnone wp-image-261666" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/dean-skelos-and-his-son-adam-skelos-1.png" alt="Dean Skelos and his son Adam Skelos 1.png" width="687" height="496" /><br />
<strong>Dean Skelos’ lawyers successfully argued that his conviction and that of his son Adam [right], should be tossed because of new interpretation of corruption laws by the Supreme court</strong></h6>
<p>In May 2016, they court sentenced Dean and Adam to 5 and 6 1/2 in jail, respectively.<br />
Although the majority leader and his son were implicated in several schemes, prosecutors focused on a deal where the once-powerful politician helped arrange a meeting for AbTech Industries with the state Department of Health, while the company was paying his Adam $10,000 per month.<br />
In the appeal suit, Alexandra Shapiro, Dean Skelos&#8217; lawyer, argued a June 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision in a public corruption case in Virginia undermined prosecutors&#8217; position that arranging a meeting can lawfully lead to their conviction. On the basis that prosecutors&#8217; arguments conflicted with that U.S. Supreme Court interpretation of public corruption law when the justices tossed former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell&#8217;s 2014 corruption conviction for allegedly receiving $175,000 in gifts and loans from a businessman peddling questionable &#8216;vitamins&#8217; and then arranging meetings for him with state health officials.<br />
The justices determined setting up meetings doesn&#8217;t make for the kind of &#8220;official act&#8221; establishing bribery.<br />
Shapiro argued, &#8220;it&#8217;s impossible to tell&#8221; whether the jury convicted the Skelo father and son based on the meeting or on the other counts, which undermined their convictions.<br />
While the panel of judges was skeptical of Shapiro&#8217;s arguments, they also expressed concern over the meeting in light of the McDonnell case.<br />
&#8220;Yes, we did argue that they could convict based on the Department of Health meeting,&#8221; said prosecutor Thomas McKay in his response.</p>
<h6><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-261688" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/the-conviction-of-former-assembly-speaker-sheldon-silver-was-tossed-on-appeal-1.png" alt="The conviction of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was tossed on appeal 1.png" width="1065" height="712" />The conviction of former NY House of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver [photo], was overturned on appeal following the Supreme Court ruling in favor of Gov Bob McDonnell of Virginia</strong></h6>
<p>The Second Circuit Court of Appeals panel sided with the Skelos lawyers’ arguments, determining the jury instructions were wrong under the new interpretation of public corruption under federal law.<br />
The panel vacated the conviction, kicking it down to a lower court, though not reversing the guilty verdict outright.<br />
The same law led to the overturning of the corruption conviction of the former NY Hose of Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, 73, in July. During Silver&#8217;s appeal in March, his lawyers also argued the McDonnell case undermined the ex-Speaker&#8217;s corruption conviction in two unrelated quid-pro-quo schemes.</p>
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