ROP

Dean Skelos sentenced to 4 years, 3 months in prison

Luke Torrance
Former state Sen. Dean Skelos, who was convicted of corruption charges in 2015, has been released from prison after testing positive for the coronavirus. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos was sentenced on Wednesday to four years and three months in prison, according to a report in the New York Times.

Skelos, once one of the most powerful men in Albany, was accused of using his position to secure jobs and fees worth $300,000 for his son, Adam Skelos, from Physicians’ Reciprocal Insurers in Roslyn, New Hyde Park real estate developer Glenwood Management and Arizona-based environmental technology firm AbTech Industries.

Both men were convicted on corruption charges in 2015 with Dean facing five years in prison and Adam six and a half.

Those charges were overturned late last year following a Supreme Court case that narrowed the definition of what constituted public corruption, but a retrial this summer produced the same result: both were found guilty of corruption.

Before he was sentenced, Skelos asked the judge, Kimba M. Wood of Federal District Court in Manhattan, to consider the impact of a long sentence on his health and his family, according to the Times. He said his dedication to public service should be considered. But Wood made it clear she felt Skelos had been corrupted by his power.

“Once you became the Senate majority leader, you began to ignore in part what I have called your moral compass,” she said, according to the Times. “What makes your crimes particularly serious, is you corrupted major governmental processes.”

Skelos was once one of the “three men in a room” who controlled New York politics. Of the three, only Gov. Andrew Cuomo is still in power; former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was also convicted on corruption charges earlier this year and sentenced to seven years in prison.

As of this writing, a sentence for Adam Skelos has not been announced.

Reach reporter Luke Torrance by email at ltorrance@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516-307-1045, ext. 214, or follow him on Twitter @LukeATorrance.

Share this Article