A lobbyist testified Monday that executives for a large New York developer were concerned that if they terminated a fee-sharing arrangement that benefited former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, they would risk alienating one of the most powerful political leaders in the state.

Richard Runes, a lobbyist for Glenwood Management, told the government in a prior witness interview that the decision whether to terminate the fee sharing was “like holding a tiger by the tail” and “you have a difficult choice to make” of whether to let the tail go.

Although he was concerned about the “optics” of the fee arrangement, “I did not want to alienate the speaker,” Runes told a federal jury in Manhattan.