A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced Malcolm Smith to seven years in prison, saying the former state Senate majority leader corrupted the political p🎃rocess by trying to buy his way onto the ballot in a crooked bid to become mayor🔴 of New York City.
No amount of good deeds, not Smith’s community advocacy, church leadership or political authority, were enough to offset his attempts to pol🃏lute the process, said Judge Kenneth Karas, who chided the once-powerful Smith for violating the public’s trust.
Summing it up in blunt terms, Karas said, “If Mr. Smith had just sa꧋id no to the scoundrel, which would have been so easy — ‘This is crazy, I’m not going to buy my way, even if I think I’m going to be the best mayor in the history of New York City, I’m not going to do it, I’m going to respecღt the process’ — then we wouldn’t be here.”
US Attorney Preet Bharara — who earlier this year brought separate corruption cases that♋ toppled Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos from their leadership posts —♛ lauded Karas’ stiff sentence.
“By attempting to buy and sell a spot on Ne💞w York City’s mayoral ballot, Malcolm Smith and [accomplice] Vincent Tabone corrupted one of the most fundamental tenets of the democratic process,” Bharara said.
Dozens of ꦰNew York politicians 📖have faced legal or ethics charges since 2000, including John Sampson, who replaced Smith as the Senate’s Democratic leader and who is currently on trial in Brooklyn federal court for alleged obstruction of justice.
Smith, 58, chose not to address the court and had no visible rea✃ction when he heard the s💯entence.
But in a letter to the judge, he insisted that his only motivation was to ac✱hieve his dream of becomi🍸ng mayor.
“Was I ‘greedy’ for power?” he wrote. “Is that why I wanted to be mayor? No . . . What excited me, what filled me with hopefulness — and yes, pride — was the opportunity I had ൲to help others.”
But Karas, inꦜ the end, was not swayed, handing 🍰Smith a sentence that was just below the maximum under the guidelines.
Instead of slugging it out with his fellow Democrats, Smith, one of Albany’s most powerful leaders, sought to buy his way onto the GOP line in 2013 so he could ru🐼n for City Hall as a Republican, prosecutors said.
Smith, who represented southeast Queens in the state Senate, was done in when he unknowingly turned to Moses Stern — a crooked Rockland County developer who was, in fact, a cooperating f𝕴ederal witness — as well as another man Smith thought was a developer but who was actually an undercover federal agent. He pushed both for money and helpꦫ trying to fix the election.
In turn, Smith promised them $500,000 in ♏transportation funds for a project in Spring Valley.
As Smith left the courthouse, he said only, “I thank God for the opportuni🌊ty I’ve had to serve.”
His lawyer, Gerald Shargel, vowed to appeal, saying after t🃏he sentencing, “Obviously, I’m disappointed. I think Malcolm Smith was entrapped.”
Shargel had requested a sentence of a 🤪year and a day, arguing that Smith had been lured into the schem꧂e by an informant.
The attorney requested ಞthat Smith be sent to the Otisville Correctional Facility, about 80 miles north of theꦍ city, to make it easier for family visits.
Karas also sentenced 𒀰Tabone, a former Queens Republican Party vice chair who was convicted of receiving bribes on Smith’s behalf, to 3¹/₂ ye🐲ars in prison. Tabone was also ordered to forfeit the $25,000 he received in bribes.
In order get on the GOP line, Smith needed the support of at least three of the five borough Republican committees, including Tabon🐈e’s.
💞In February, a White Plains federal jury took just 90 minutes to find Smith and Tabone guilty on the bribery charges. Tabone was also convicted of witness tamperinꦅg.