‘Rainmaking Is Not a Federal Crime:’ Sheldon Silver Pleads Not Guilty
By Jillian Jorgensen February 25, 2015 11:17 am
reprints![](https://commercialobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/02/assembly-speaker-sheldon-silver-photo-spencer-platt-getty-images.jpg?quality=80&w=755)
![‘Rainmaking Is Not a Federal Crime:’ Sheldon Silver Pleads Not Guilty Sheldon Silver (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images).](https://observer-media.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/02/assembly-speaker-sheldon-silver-photo-spencer-platt-getty-images.jpg?w=300)
Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver pleaded not guilty to charges of extortion, mail and wire fraud yesterday—and his attorneys asked the judge to toss out the indictment against him.
In a lengthy motion to dismiss, Mr. Silver’s attorneys argued U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara had created a media firestorm that sought to try the lawmaker in the press—for doing something Mr. Silver’s team argued isn’t even a crime.
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