ALBANY — New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has spent $65,000 on legal fees since September, linked to the state ethics commission probe into former Assemblyman Vito Lopez, a spokesman said.
“These are old bills related to last year’s … investigation,” Silver spokesman Michael Whyland said.
The $65,000 that went to Stroock Stroock & Lavin is on top of the $115,000 that Silver shelled out from his campaign account in the first six months of the year to pay for legal bills stemming from the Lopez probe.
The ethics commission report came out in May and did not recommend sanctions against Silver, who signed off on a secret $103,000 taxpayer-funded settlement with two of Lopez’s accusers.
Since then, there have been lawsuits filed in the case, but Silver and the Assembly are being represented by private lawyers who are being paid with state taxpayer dollars.
The payment coincided with the arrest of William Rapfogel, the husband of Silver’s longtime chief of staff, on charges of stealing from the charity he headed.
Rapfogel was arrested Sept. 24. Silver paid $40,000 to law firm Stroock the next day and another $25,000 in November.
Silver spokesman Michael Whyland vehemently denied the payments had anything to do with the Rapfogel case.
