Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's federal corruption conviction was partially upheld by an appeals court in a ruling handed down on Tuesday. 

The ruling upheld Silver's conviction for money laundering charges, but at the same time vacated additional charges stemming from a theft of honest services charge. 

"We are convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a rational jury would have found that Silver laundered the proceeds of a criminal offense within the limitations period," the ruling found.

Silver will likely be re-sentenced with the revised convictions on four counts of corruption after three were rejected by the court.

Silver was first indicted in 2015, ejected from the powerful perch he held as Assembly speaker for more than 20 years, and was later convicted on all charges. 

But Silver has remained free since then, and filed an appeal amid an ever-evolving definition of how public corruption was being defined and a narrower interpretation of the law. 

Silver's convictions stemming from efforts that he received bribes from a doctor for whom he performed official acts was tossed, with the ruling pointing to jury instructions that were "too open-ended" for its definition of quid pro quo. 

"The instructions failed to convey that Silver could not be convicted of honest services fraud unless the Government proved that, at the time the bribe was accepted, Silver promised to take official action on a specific and focused question or matter as the opportunities to take such action arose," the ruling found. 

At the same time, prosecutors push to tie Silver to efforts to provide favors to the doctor, did not rise to the level of defined corruption. 

"Keeping someone happy, without more, is not a promise to exercise particular kinds of influence, and it is especially not a promise to perform official acts on an identified, focused, and concrete matter or question that involves the exercise of governmental power," the ruling found.