New York State Assembly speaker arrested on corruption charges

The Speaker of New York State Assembly Sheldon Silver was arrested Thursday on five counts of charges following a long-term federal investigation, Xinhua learned.

"As alleged, Silver took advantage of the political pulpit to benefit from unlawful profits," FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard Frankel said in a statement.

Silver's arrest follows a long-term public corruption investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. prosecutors.

The 70-year-old Silver was taken into custody Thursday morning at the FBI's New York City office. He is expected to make a court appearance later Thursday, according to the FBI spokesman.

Prosecutors accused Sliver of taking advantage of his position to obtain more than 6 million U.S. dollars and kickbacks which he masked as legitimate income from two law firms since late 2002. They alleged that Silver received about 700,000 dollars in " undisclosed bribes and kickbacks obtained in a scheme" involving real estate developers doing business with the state, and took more than 5.3 million dollars in payments from Weitz & Luxenberg, a law firm, including 3.9 million dollars characterized as attorney referral fees.

Silver has denied any wrongdoing.

"We're disappointed that the prosecutors have chosen to proceed with these meritless criminal charges," Silver's attorneys, Joel Cohen and Steven Molo, said in a statement. "That said, Mr. Silver looks forward to responding to them -- in court -- and ultimately his full exoneration."

Elected to the Assembly in 1976, Silver, a lawyer and a Democrat, has been serving as the Speaker of the Assembly since 1994, with a legislative district in lower Manhattan, New York City. Endite