A lawyer whose firm made unexplained payments to Sheldon Silver is so close to the Assembly speaker that the attorney attended a young Shel's bar mitzvah nearly 60 years ago, The Post has learned.
Jay Arthur Goldberg and his firm, Goldberg & Iryami, are under scrutiny by US Attorney Preet Bharara, who is investigating whether they funneled money to the powerful Democratic leader — funds that were not disclosed as required by state law.
Goldberg, 75, has known the 70-year-old speaker for more than five decades and was a guest at his bar mitzvah, according to a source.
The two have since done very well for themselves, Silver as the powerful head of state Democrats in Albany and Goldberg as a successful tax lawyer.
Prosecutors have linked them again, sources said, naming Goldberg's law firm, which specializes in real-estate tax reductions, as Silver's source of unreported income
At issue is Silver's apparent failure to include on his financial-disclosure forms payments he received for a decade from the firm.
Unclear is how much money Silver took in from the firm and what he did to earn the money.
Silver was in lockdown mode Tuesday and would not comment.
In addition to the payments, Goldberg has donated $7,600 to Silver's campaigns since 2001, including $1,800 in February of this year, according to campaign-finance records.
The probe has some lawmakers on the other side of the political aisle questioning Silver's leadership.
"I think that, first of all, the speaker actually should provide a public explanation now, before we get into next year, regarding outside income, political donations and disclosure requirements," said Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb (R-Canandaigua).
Even Blair Horner, legislative director for the New York Public Interest Research Group, a left-leaning organization, let loose.
"The ball's in the speaker's court," he said. "He has to let the public know what's going on."
NYPIRG may file a complaint with the state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics if Silver doesn't provide details, Horner said.
But Assembly Democrats stood by their leader, saying Bharara's probe is a fishing expedition.
"Investigation by leaking seems to be the new way of trying to discredit people without actually producing any evidence," said Assembly member Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan). "It won't have any particular effect in the course of the [next Assembly] session."
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