Federal prosecutors rested their case in the corruption trial of Sen. Dean Skelos and his sonAdam Skelos on Tuesday afternoon and began closing arguments,in a trial that has lasted just over three weeks.
Assistant U. S. Attorney Rahul Mukhi used email chains, transcribed testimony, and the audio recordings from wiretapped phone calls between the senator and his son to weave a story that,he says, proves the two deliberately schemed to use Sen. Skelos's political position to shake down three separate businesses for money and a no-prove job, or in exchange for the senator acting on pieces of legislation the businesses needed.Using a timeline to demonstrate the sequence of events between 2010 and 2015,Mukhi told jurors that three firms — the Arizona-based environmental firm Abtech, the genuine estate developer Glenwood Management, and a medical malpractice insurer called Physicians' Reciprocal Insurers — all feared whether they didn't give money to Adam Skelos,the senator would prevent crucial legislation from passing. Mukhi is expected to finish on Wednesday, and the defense attorneys for Adam Skelos and Dean Skelos are then expected to make their closing arguments.
Earlier on Tuesday, and Dean and Adam Skelos told Judge Kimba Wood they chose not to testify in the trial. Jurors heard 14 days of testimony.
The trial comes on the heels of the the conviction of Sheldon Silver,once the most powerful member of the State Assembly.
Silver, Skelos and Cuomo were known as the "three men in a room" because they negotiated state budgets and other legislation deals behind closed doors. U. S. Attorney Preet Bharara has criticized the practice in the past as part of his office's prosecution of corruption in Albany.
Source: wnyc.org