Dean George Skelos (born February 16, 1948) is an American former politician from Long Island, New York. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, Skelos served in the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

and later represented the Ninth District in the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan comp ...

from 1985 through 2015. He served as Senate Majority Leader in 2008 and again from 2011 to 2015. Skelos forfeited his Senate seat when he was convicted on federal corruption charges in 2015. In 2017, his conviction was overturned following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in '' McDonnell v. United States''. His retrial resulted in a second conviction on July 17, 2018. Skelos was sentenced to four years and three months in prison, and he began his prison term in January 2019. In April 2020, Skelos tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

and was released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence under

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if al ...

Early life, education, and law career

Skelos was born on February 16, 1948, in

Rockville Centre, New York Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated village located in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 24,023 at the 2010 census. Hist ...

,''New York Staff Directory 2007'' (CQ Press), p. 108. the oldest of four children.Yancey Roy
Skelos learned value of hard work early
''Newsday'' (May 7, 2011). He is the grandson of a Greek immigrant. Skelos graduated from

Washington College Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" name ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in history in 1970 and earned a J.D. from

Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test take ...

in 1975. Skelos was of counsel to Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, P.C., from 1994 through 2015. Skelos was automatically disbarred in 2016 following a felony conviction.

Political career

New York State Assembly

Skelos was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1980.

New York State Senate

After one Assembly term, Skelos ran for State Senate in 1982, challenging incumbent Democratic-Liberal New York State Senator

Carol Berman Carol Berman (born September 21, 1923) is a New York Democratic Party politician from Lawrence, in Nassau County, New York, United States, who served in the New York State Senate from 1979 to 1984. Berman first achieved attention for her effort ...

. The reapportionment earlier that year changed the boundaries of the 9th Senate District, which previously included parts of Nassau and Queens County. The new district, drawn by Senate Republicans, was entirely within Nassau County and favored Republicans. Skelos was endorsed by the Republican and Conservative parties. Berman, running on the Democratic Party and Liberal Party lines, won the race by 6,108 votes (55,504 to 49,396). Matthew Doyle, the Right-to-Life Party candidate, received 2,520 votes in the three-way race. In 1984, Skelos challenged Berman in a rematch. This time, Skelos, who had President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

visit the district and campaign for him, narrowly defeated Berman in a two-way race, winning by 50.7% to 49.3% (67,834 to 65,875 votes). Skelos represented Senate District Nine from 1985 to 2015. In 1986, Berman challenged Skelos in their third consecutive state senate contest. Skelos, running on the Republican and Conservative Party lines, defeated Berman, the Democratic and Liberal parties' candidate, in a three-way race, winning 53% of the vote (49,761) to 43.7% (41,005). Right-to-Life party candidate Joan McDermott received 3.2% (2,967) of the vote. From 1995 to 2008, Skelos was Deputy Majority Leader of the New York State Senate. In 2008, he became the Majority Leader of the New York State Senate after

Joseph Bruno Joseph Louis Bruno (April 8, 1929 – October 6, 2020) was an American businessman and Republican politician from upstate New York. Bruno served in the New York State Senate from 1977 to 2008 and was Senate Majority Leader from 1994 to 2008. Br ...

stepped down from that post. On June 24, 2011, Skelos voted against allowing same-sex marriage in New York during a senate roll-call vote on the Marriage Equality Act, which narrowly passed the Senate in a 33-29 vote. In a statement made prior to the vote, he said: "This is a very difficult issue and it will be a vote of conscience for every member of the Senate." In 2013, as Senate Majority Leader, Skelos was responsible for suspending Senate rules and bringing the

NY SAFE Act The New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, commonly known as the NY SAFE Act, is a gun regulation statute, law in the state of New York (state), New York. The law was passed by the New York State Legislature and was sig ...

(a firearm-related bill) to the Senate floor. He voted for the SAFE Act and advocated its passage. On May 4, Skelos was arrested on federal corruption charges. On May 11, he stepped down from his position as Senate Majority Leader. Skelos was convicted on December 11, 2015; he was automatically expelled from the Senate due to his conviction.Benjamin Weisner
Dean Skelos's 2015 Corruption Conviction Is Overturned
''New York Times'' (September 26, 2017).Benjamin Weiser & Vivian Yeemay

''New York Times'' (May 12, 2016)(''Limited access'').

Federal prosecution and conviction

Skelos and his son, Adam Skelos, were arrested and charged with six counts of

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

by U.S. Attorney

Preet Bharara Preetinder Singh Bharara (; born October 13, 1968) is an Indian-born American lawyer, author, podcaster and former federal prosecutor who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. He is curren ...

on May 4, 2015. The criminal complaint included

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compen ...

, and

bribe Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corru ...

solicitation charges. Skelos was accused of taking official actions to benefit a small Arizona environmental company, AbTech Industries, and a large New York developer,

Glenwood Management Glenwood Management is a New York City private, multi-generational real estate developer, owner, and management company focusing on multifamily apartment rentals. The company was incorporated in 1961 by father and son, Harry and Leonard Litwin. ...

, that had financial ties to AbTech. According to the complaint, Senator Skelos agreed to do so as long as the companies paid his son. On May 28, 2015, Skelos and his son were indicted by a federal grand jury on six counts of bribery, extortion,

wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to defraud another, and are federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activity ...

, and conspiracy. After his arrest, Skelos asserted that he and his son were innocent. He stepped down from his majority leader post in the Senate on May 11, 2015; he had already begun a leave of absence from the law firm of Ruskin Moscou Faltischek. "The criminal complaint against him said he had earned $2.6 million there since 1994, despite apparently doing no actual legal work; he was paid instead for referring clients, some of whom had business before the state." In July 2015, in an expanded indictment, federal prosecutors added two new charges of soliciting bribes from a Long Island company in return for favorable legislation. The new indictment charged that Skelos procured a position for his son at a medical malpractice insurance company with business before the state, that Adam Skelos was not qualified for the position, that Adam Skelos threatened his supervisor, and that Adam Skelos asserted that "he didn't need to show up to work because his father was the Majority Leader of the State Senate". On December 11, 2015, a unanimous jury convicted Dean and Adam Skelos of all eight counts of bribery, extortion, and corruption. Dean Skelos was convicted of using his position in the Senate to benefit three companies—a real estate developer, an environmental technology company, and a medical malpractice insurer—in exchange for the companies' agreement to give work to his son. Prosecutors said that the three businesses provided Adam Skelos with about $300,000 and other benefits. The trial verdict automatically terminated Dean Skelos from the state legislature. On May 12, 2016, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood sentenced Dean Skelos to five years in prison, and Adam Skelos to six-and-a-half years in prison. Wood allowed both to remain free on bail pending appeals based on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in '' McDonnell v. United States'', in which the court reversed the corruption conviction of a former Virginia Governor. On September 26, 2017, the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juri ...

vacated the convictions of the Skeloses and ordered a retrial, arguing that the district judge had given the jury improper instructions. However the panel wrote that the government's evidence appeared to be sufficient to allow a properly instructed jury to convict the Skeloses, as there was enough evidence to establish that there had been a quid pro quo arrangement in each of the schemes at issue. The retrial of Skelos and his son began on June 19, 2018. During the retrial, in contrast to the first trial, Skelos took the witness stand and testified in his own defense. On July 17, 2018, Skelos and his son were found guilty of eight felonies. On October 23, 2018, Skelos was sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison. Judge Wood suggested that he had been unrepentant and that parts of his testimony were outright false. Adam Skelos was sentenced to a four-year prison term. Dean Skelos reported to the Federal Correctional Institute in Otisville, Orange County, New York to begin his prison term on January 8, 2019. Under New York State law, Skelos continued to draw his annual pension of nearly $100,000 while in prison. Skelos tested positive for

in April 2020 and was released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence under

References

External links

New York State Senate: Dean G. Skelos
official website , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Skelos, Dean 1948 births American politicians of Greek descent Fordham University School of Law alumni Lieutenant Governors of New York (state) Living people Majority leaders of the New York State Senate Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly People from Garden City, New York People from Rockville Centre, New York Washington College alumni New York (state) politicians convicted of corruption New York (state) politicians convicted of crimes 21st-century American politicians Criminals from New York (state)