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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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NY State Senator |Convicted for Lying

(CN) - New York's second highest ranking state senator lied to the FBI about how his son got a job at a law firm during a probe of corruption in Albany, a federal jury found on Wednesday.

State Sen. Thomas Libous, who has represented the Binghamton area since 1989, was indicted a little more than a year ago for telling federal agents that he played no role in his son Matthew landing a job at a law firm.

In fact, Libous actually promised to steer business to that firm, and got a lobbying firm to pay his son's new employer $50,000 a year to underwrite the salary and the lease of a Range Rover, prosecutors say.

Matthew Libous was sentenced to six months in prison in May following his conviction on federal tax charges.

During an FBI interview on June 24, 2010, the elder Libous insisted that he did not know how his son began to work for the law firm, but he had nothing to do with the hiring.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said that Libous told "lie after lie" to throw investigators off their scent, in a statement following the conviction.

"Public corruption is a scourge," he said. "Every New Yorker wants us to work as hard as possible to end it. But lies to law enforcement make the job of fighting corruption doubly difficult."

His office has brought several prosecutions against powerful politicians in Albany, including another family-focused corruption case involving former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son, Adam.

Prosecutors unveiled a new indictment against the Skeloses on Tuesday.

With a second Libous found guilty, Bharara said: "[H]is crime has been proven, and Albany will be the better for it."

Libous, who will lose his Senate seat, faces up to five years in prison at his sentencing.

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