Dean George Skelos (born February 16, 1948) is an American Republican politician.
He is a former Majority Leader of the New York State Senate.
Skelos represented the Ninth District in the State Senate, comprising the southwest region of Nassau County, from 1985 through 2015.Skelos forfeited his Senate seat when he was convicted on federal corruption charges in 2015.
In 2017, his conviction was overturned following the U.S.
Supreme Court decision in McDonnell v.
United States.
His retrial resulted in a second conviction on July 17, 2018.
Skelos was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.
He began his prison term in January 2019.
Skelos was the second Long Islander to hold the position of Senate Majority Leader; the first was Ralph J.