Federal authorities are expected to arrest Sheldon Silver, the powerful speaker of the New York State Assembly, on corruption charges on Thursday, people with knowledge of the matter said. The case is likely to throw Albany into disarray at the beginning of a new session.
The investigation that led to the expected charges against Mr. Silver, a Democrat from the Lower East Side of Manhattan who has served as speaker for more than two decades, began after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in March abruptly shut down an anticorruption commission he had created in 2013.
Details of the specific charges to be brought against Mr. Silver were unclear on Wednesday night, but one of the people with knowledge of the matter said they stemmed from payments that Mr. Silver received from a small law firm that specializes in seeking reductions of New York City real estate taxes. The total amount of the payments was unclear, but another person has said they were substantial and were made over several years.
Mr. Silver failed to list the payments from the firm, Goldberg & Iryami, on his annual financial disclosure filings with the state, as required.
Several months ago, federal prosecutors in the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, subpoenaed documents from a personal injury firm that also paid Mr. Silver, income that he did disclose, one person with the knowledge of the matter said. Like others, he spoke on the condition of anonymity because the charges had not been announced.
Mr. Silver, 70, was in Albany on Wednesday, where he attended Mr. Cuomo’s State of the State address and had a prominent seat on stage next to the governor. It was unclear when and where Mr. Silver would be taken into custody.
His lawyer, Joel Cohen, declined to comment on Wednesday night.
Last month, Mr. Silver did not respond to questions about the investigation or his relationship with Goldberg & Iryami, including how he had been paid by the firm, when the payments began and what work he performed. In the past, he has maintained that he had properly disclosed all of his income.
A lawyer for Jay Arthur Goldberg, a partner at the law firm, did not respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment. J. Peter Donald, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and James Margolin, a spokesman for the United States attorney’s office, also declined to comment.
State lawmakers who are arrested can continue to serve. Upon conviction of a felony they must leave office.
The investigation involving Mr. Silver picked up where the anticorruption panel that Mr. Cuomo shut down, the Moreland Commission, had left off. The inquiry focused on the outside income earned by New York State legislators, who are allowed to hold part-time jobs in addition to their legislative duties.
Mr. Silver has long been the most powerful Democrat in New York’s Legislature. His arrest would immediately turn on its head the annual legislative session that began only this month, as well as the long-established hierarchy in the Assembly.
The speaker since 1994, Mr. Silver is a consummate back-room player, one of Albany’s “three men in a room,” along with the governor and Senate majority leader, who negotiate the state budget and hammer out deals on important legislation.
During his career, he has developed a reputation as a skilled negotiator as well as an inscrutable and unmoving force in a capital that has seen governors and other powerful legislators felled by scandals and missteps.
Along the way, Mr. Silver has been a lightning rod for criticism, including accusations that he has been tolerant of sexual harassment in the Assembly.
In 2013, Mr. Silver earned at least $650,000 in legal income, including work for the personal injury law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, according to his most recent financial disclosure filing.
But what he does to earn that income has long been a mystery in Albany, and Mr. Silver has refused to provide details about his work.
The New York Times reported in December that federal authorities were investigating substantial payments made to Mr. Silver by Goldberg & Iryami. Mr. Silver is not known to have any expertise in the specialized area of the law in which the firm practices, known as tax certiorari.
Earlier this month, asked to shed light on the federal investigation into the payments, Mr. Silver responded by saying that there was simply “nothing to shed.”
Amid the investigation, there had been no serious signs of dissent among Democrats in his caucus. Mr. Silver was easily re-elected speaker this month when the Assembly gathered in Albany to begin the new legislative session.
“To all of you, I humbly offer my heartfelt thanks, and my promise to honor your support and your friendship at all times,” Mr. Silver told his Assembly colleagues.
Mr. Silver promised to “uphold the tradition of this body and honor at all times the legacy that we have inherited.”
