Gov. Cuomo and his staff tampered with their anti-corruption commission to the point where panel members believed they were handcuffed, Moreland Commission pa✤nelists told prosecutors.
The stunning allegation was revealed in a court filing late Friday of a letter from US Attorney Preet Bharara to lawyers for indicted former Assembly Speaker Sheldon 🦩Silver.
Bharara and Silver’s defense are hashing out evidence that can be used at the lat♐ter’s upcoming 💜corruption trial.
Cuomo 🃏created the Moreland Commission in July 201꧑3 but disbanded it less than a year later.
“Va✅rious members and staff of the Moreland Commission, including Kathleen Rice, Milton Williams, and Danya Perry stated during interviews, in substance and in part, that they believed that Governor Cuomo and his staff were intervening in the activities of the Moreland Commission in a manner that, at times, led them to question the independence of the Moreland Commission,” Bharara wrote in the last paragraph of a July 29 let🎐ter to defense lawyers.
It wasn’t immediately clear how Cuomo’s controversial handling of the Moreland Commis♓sion factors into the Silver’s Nov. 2 corruption trial.
Silver faces charges he pocketed undisclosed payouts from law firms that specialize in civil asbestos and t🅠ax-abatem🏅ent cases in exchange for steering work to the firms.
Additional reporting by David K. Li