Melanie Eversley

USA TODAY

A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a disgraced former New York State assembly speaker found guilty of corruption charges to 12 years in prison and $1.75 million in fines.

Sheldon Silver, 72, a Democrat, must report to authorities by July 1 to begin serving his sentence. The longtime politician, once the third-most powerful man in New York State politics, was found guilty Nov. 30 of fraud, extortion and money laundering in dealings with real estate developers and a Columbia University cancer researcher. Prosecutors also alleged he found jobs for two women with whom he had extramarital affairs.

Defense lawyers portrayed Silver as an advocate for housing issues and his constituents, friends and family – someone who drove around in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and Hurricane Sandy handing out sandwiches. He once rallied a search effort after a middle-of-the-night call from a constituent whose teen daughter and friends went missing in the Bear Mountain recreation area, lawyers said. They also noted that Silver suffers from prostate cancer, bile-duct obstruction and knee problems.

But U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni said Silver's acts were simply the mark of a good politician, and, with his prostate cancer in remission, he is a relatively healthy 72-year-old.

"Here's the thing about corruption: It makes the public very cynical," Caproni said.

She said she hoped Silver's sentence would serve as a deterrent to the next politician and generate a "fear of living out his golden years in an orange jumpsuit."

Just before the imposition of the sentence, Silver, appearing emotionless, made a brief statement.

"I let down my family, I let down my colleagues, I let down my constituents," he said. "I am truly, truly sorry for that."

Silver's lawyers left immediately after the sentencing. A man and a woman who sat in the courtroom behind Silver, and who identified themselves as a son and daughter, said they had no comment.

Federal sentencing guidelines allowed for a maximum sentence of 22 to 27 years in prison. Prosecutors for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara requested at least 14 years.

"Today's stiff sentence is a just and fitting end to Sheldon Silver's long career of corruption," Bharara said in a statement.

In addition to the fine, Silver will forfeit $5.3 million and pay a $700 special assessment fee. Prosecutors sought a stiff fine because Silver will continue to receive lifetime payments from a taxpayer-funded pension despite the federal conviction.

In April, Silver wrote a letter to the judge asking her to consider his good works in state government and in life and saying he regretted his actions.

"I failed the people of New York,” Silver wrote in the letter dated April 14. "What I have done is hurt the Assembly, and New York, and my constituents terribly, and I regret that more than I can possibly express. Because of my actions, New York’s ethics rules were and continue to be analyzed, evaluated, and criticized, everywhere."

Silver, who served 38 years in the Assembly and was speaker from 1994 to 2015, is a native New Yorker and graduate of Brooklyn Law School. He was arrested Jan. 22, 2015, and submitted his resignation as speaker eight days later.

Prosecutors charged that Silver accepted $4 million in illegal payments from a real estate developer and a medical researcher. In one instance, Silver allegedly steered $500,000 to the researcher from Columbia University, who then steered patients to a firm where Silver was counsel. Prosecutors alleged that he helped two mistresses, a former assemblywoman from Staten Island and a lobbyist, find work.