Judge sets ex-NY Assembly Speaker Silver's corruption trial for Nov. 2

By Tom Brown NEW YORK (Reuters) - Embattled former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, accused by prosecutors of taking millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks, will go to trial on Nov. 2 on a sweeping series of corruption charges. A federal judge in Manhattan set the trial date on Tuesday during a hearing in which Silver's lawyers said he pleaded not guilty to all charges in a revised indictment unveiled last week. After the hearing, one of Silver's lawyers, Steven Molo, accused the government of "withholding" evidence that could help his client, who was one of the most powerful politicians in New York until he was accused of taking bribes in January. "They're withholding the evidence and we want it produced," Molo told reporters. "We want the full production." He did not elaborate, but a defiant Silver, 71, said repeatedly that he expects to be cleared of any wrongdoing. "I am glad that there is a trial date set. There will be motions made. And I'm confident that at the end of this process I will be totally vindicated," Silver told a crush of reporters outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan. The new indictment issued on Thursday by a Manhattan federal grand jury added four new counts to three earlier ones facing the Democratic politician. Beyond charges of honest services mail and wire fraud and extortion, the indictment says Silver engaged in monetary transactions involving crime proceeds by investing money from the scheme in a private investment vehicle. Silver was previously accused of using his position at a law firm to conceal more than $3 million earned referring asbestos sufferers to the firm from a doctor whose research received secret benefits, including $500,000 in state grants. Prosecutors allege Silver, who remains an assemblyman for Manhattan's Lower East Side after resigning as speaker, also received $700,000 by steering real estate developers with business before the legislature to another law firm. Of that money, $642,000 went into an investment vehicle that Silver gained access to through an investor he had a relationship with, the indictment said. Silver never paid fees to the investor, but took certain official actions at the investor's request, the indictment said. By January, Silver's investment in the high-rate, low-risk investment vehicle had grown to $1.4 million, the indictment said.