New York’s No. 2, Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, has surrendered to councils after the penalties of a federal bribery conspiracy. It is related to his previous ineffective city comptroller crusade, throwing his political future into question during an election year.
Benjamin, who is a Democrat, is indicted for funnelling state funding to a real estate investor in Harlem in the retrieval of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign donations to his 2021 comptroller crusade. It was confirmed by the prosecutors to the Washington Examiner. He is about to appear in a Manhattan nationwide court on Tuesday.
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“From at least in or about 2019, up to and including at least in or about 2021, Brian Benjamin, the defendant, participated in a scheme to obtain campaign contributions from a real estate developer in exchange for Benjamin’s agreement to use and actual use of, his official authority and influence as a New York State senator to obtain a $50,000 grant of state funds,” the indictment alleges.
Benjamin has been accused of bribery, honest services wire fraud, and also of two charges of falsification of records for the alleged scheme. The FBI and the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York followed an investigation into Benjamin after the charges were imposed on him, and began issuing summonses against his assistants in recent weeks.
Gerald Migdol is the real estate investor in the plausible scheme. He was arrested last November. According to the New York Times, he has been providing evidence to the authorities in their investigation.
According to the platform Last year A grand jury prosecuted Migdol on exacerbated identity theft, wire fraud, and other charges. It was alleged that he made subsidies to Benjamin using other people’s names and then paying back them to evade campaign finance laws. He included some of the individuals’ names along with his 2-year-old grandchild.
According to New York Times In September 2019, Benjamin presented Migdol with a check for $50,000 for Migdol’s benevolence, Friends of Public School Harlem, who subsidized allowances to various public schools. It is ambiguous that it was connected to the $50,000 prosecutors referenced.
Benjamin previously stated that he was working together with detectives and privately sought to console his supporters. He believed that he would be cleared in the case. At that time he was a commonwealth senator and had catalogued to run for comptroller in October 2019.
At the time of Migdol’s charge, speculation about his involvement in the case began to grow around
The staff of Benjamin pledged to review and return any improper payments that were discovered. Current York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who selected him to be lieutenant governor after the resignation of Andrew Cuomo catapulted her to the governor’s estate, formerly defended Benjamin.
“I have the utmost confidence in my lieutenant governor,” she said during a recent press conference, per the Associated Press. “This is an independent investigation related to other people and he’s fully cooperating. He is my running mate.”
There is no evidence in the public eye to show that Hochul was familiar with Benjamin’s argued actions, but his accusation has created obstacles for her reelection actions because she had formerly pursued to cast herself as a champion against conspiracy. There had been no clues from prosecutors that the lieutenant governor was directly involved in the alleged scheme before Tuesday.
Benjamin was the second black lieutenant governor of the state
According to the New York Times, he is anticipated to remain on the Democratic primary ballot in June for the position of lieutenant governor.
New York lieutenant governor resigns after bribery charges
New York Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin, the state’s No. 2 official resigned after Governor Kathy Hochul, on Tuesday. He resigned after being accused of bribery and corruption for allegedly authorizing state funds for a real property creator in exchange for crusade payments.
Benjamin was handpicked by Hochul for the governor’s job last August has declared openly his resignation after a few hours the 45-year-old Benjamin pleaded not to be guilty in Manhattan federal court to payments in a five-count accusation.
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