(AP) - Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has been convicted by a federal jury of charges that he used the power of his office to earn $5 million illegally.

Silver stepped down from the leadership post after his January arrest, though he has remained an assemblyman. The federal jury in Manhattan returned the verdict Monday after a three-week trial.

Lawyers for the 71-year-old Democrat had argued that he committed no crime. They said his actions were normal for politicians in Albany.

But prosecutors maintained that Silver was guilty of bribery and extortion. They said he secured more than $3 million in referral fees from personal injury claims and made millions more from real estate developers and shady investments.