By DAVID KLEPPER
Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York state Senate Leader Dean Skelos said Thursday he will cooperate with authorities following a published report that prosecutors and the FBI are investigating him and his son.
The New York Times, citing unidentified sources, reported Wednesday that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is examining whether the Long Island Republican influenced Nassau County's decision to give a stormwater treatment contract to an Arizona company that hired his son Adam.
The report says the investigation also focuses on $20,000 paid to Adam Skelos by a title insurance company he never worked for.
Dean Skelos appeared to acknowledge the investigation in a statement Thursday.
"I have and will continue to cooperate with any inquiry," he said.
Skelos, 67, leads the Senate's Republican majority and was first elected to the Senate in 1984. He and his office did not respond to messages seeking additional information.
The allegations come at a particularly difficult time for the New York Legislature. Former Speaker Sheldon Silver, the Manhattan Democrat who led the Assembly for 20 years, was arrested in January on charges that he took nearly $4 million in kickbacks and payoffs. He has pleaded not guilty.
