Corrupt lawmakers' pensions fair game for prosecutors -U.S. court
NEW YORK, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Convicted lawmakers can be forced to turn over their state pensions to the federal government to satisfy monetary penalties, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday.
The decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan is a victory for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who in 2013 said his office would seek to claw back guaranteed pensions from lawmakers found guilty of corruption.
Prosecutors have since successfully targeted the pensions of several convicted lawmakers who were otherwise unable to pay off their penalties.
It is unclear whether Bharara will go after the sizable pensions for former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, who were found guilty of corruption in separate trials last year.
Both are challenging their convictions after the U.S. Supreme Court in June threw out a guilty verdict against former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, and set a higher bar for what constitutes public corruption.
Silver is collecting nearly $80,000 in pension payments per year, while Skelos receives approximately $96,000 annually.
The former assembly speaker was ordered to forfeit more than $5 million and pay a $1.75 million fine, on top of his 12-year prison sentence.
Skelos, meanwhile, faces a $500,000 fine and a $334,000 forfeiture, in addition to his five-year prison term. He shares responsibility for the forfeiture with his son Adam, who was also convicted.
New York's legislature voted in 2011 to strip pensions from lawmakers convicted of corruption, but the law did not apply to those already in office, such as Silver and Skelos.
More than 30 New York legislators have been forced from office for criminal or ethical issues since 2000.
Wednesday's decision rejected an appeal by former state Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, who was stripped of his pension money after he was unable to pay the $22,000 he was required to forfeit following his 2014 bribery conviction.
Stevenson's lawyers had argued that New York's state constitution provides that pensions "shall not be diminished or impaired," but the appeals court said federal forfeiture statutes supersede state law. The court also upheld Stevenson's conviction.
On Twitter, Bharara retweeted a link to the decision and said, "Convicted politicians should lose pensions paid for by taxpayers they betrayed." (Reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by Grant McCool)
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