By Carol Tannenhauser
Lt. Governor Brian Benjamin, formerly a New York state senator from the Upper West Side, “surrendered early Tuesday morning to face a federal bribery conspiracy indictment in connection with a scheme to funnel fraudulent donations to a previous campaign, according to people with knowledge of the matter,” The New York Times first reported.
The indictment, the result of an investigation by the F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, accused Mr. Benjamin of conspiring to direct state funds to a Harlem real estate investor in exchange for orchestrating thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to Mr. Benjamin’s unsuccessful 2021 campaign for New York City comptroller, the people said. The investor was arrested on federal charges in November.
Apparently, the investor is talking. Wrote The Times, “…there were strong indications that the Harlem real estate investor who illegally assisted his campaign, Gerald Migdol, began providing information to investigators shortly after he was arrested on wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and other charges related to his role in the matter.”
Benjamin was first elected to the New York State Senate in a May 2017 special election. He represented New York’s 30th State Senate district, which includes Harlem, East Harlem, and the Upper West Side, from 2017 to 2021, when he was appointed Lt. Governor by Governor Kathy Hochul.
“Federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. were expected to announce the charges later on Tuesday, and Mr. Benjamin is scheduled to appear in United States District Court in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon,” The Times said.
Update:
Statement from Governor Kathy Hochul: “I have accepted Brian Benjamin’s resignation effective immediately. While the legal process plays out, it is clear to both of us that he cannot continue to serve as LG. New Yorkers deserve absolute confidence in their government…”
Sign up for WSR’s free newsletter here. It will deliver the latest Rag stories straight to your email inbox.
Irony of irony, he was running for the post of NYC Comptroller. Almost reaches the level of having Alvin Bragg as DA in Manhattan!
spot on!
So our Lt.Gov is arrested for bribery, lies and deception, we had a mass shooting at a Brooklyn subway station during rush hour this morning and the perps are still at large, crime in NYC is out of control, the new inflation figure is 8.5%, the highest in 40 years, but thank God we removed President Trump’s name from residential buildings and removed President Teddy Roosevelt’s statue from the Museum of Natural History.
Gotta start somewhere.
Name calling is not very productive. There are a lot of anti-Trump moderate Democrats here who think that we focus way too much time and money on culture war issues and not enough on core issues. And we also talk to people in purple states and realize that this is why the Republicans are going to dominate the election in 2022.
So you have two choices – take a moderate path and get elected officials who are fairly close to what you want but not exactly there, or continue on your radical path and end up handing elections to Trump and his people.
Agree that name calling is not very productive. So why are you, in essence, name-calling Sarah? Her response to biffmeister’s Pavlovian slobber is hardly an indication of someone on a “radical path.”
Does sort of make you wonder, doesn’t it. Look here, not there …
Nah. If you were distracted from what you perceive to be real problems by the removal of a straight-up racist statue from a place of honor in one of our great institutions, seems like you might have a focus issue.
A statue cannot be racist.
Democrats are working on crime problem as we speak. Inflation is up due to Russian-Ukraine skirmish. Totally agree with the trump & roosevelt references.
Inflation went from 1.4% for the year ending 1/31/21 to 7.5% for the year ending 1/31/22, before the “Russia-Ukraine skirmish” even began. Come up with a better excuse.
Inflation is up worldwide. Supply disruptions and the decision of oil producers (worldwide, not just domestic) NOT to return to pre-Covid production levels.
It was low in the year ended 1/31/21 because demand during the height of Covid was minimal. Indeed, in April 2021 the wholesale price of gas went negative.
By the way, in NY inflation last year was under 5%, largely because we are way less dependent on energy than other parts of the country.
Thank you for pointing out the wag-the-dog shenanigans!
When NY voters said you can’t possibly be as bad as Cuomo and DeBlasio, that was a plea …. Not a challenge!
I’m genuinely profoundly saddened to read this about how politics corrupted such a good man.
He was a very helpful advocate as a senator to local community groups and invited everyone to his office, and had an excellent caring staff.
His constituents truly mattered to him . 🥲
Why is Mr. Benjamin arrested for campaign finance conspiracy while Trump goes absolutely unpunished for a conspiracy to violate the Constitution and attempt a coup d’état? Which of these is more serious? When will Trump be compelled to confront his lifetime of crimes?
THANK YOU for this! Seems that ALL THREE PROSECUTORS (U.S.A.G. Garland, NYS A.G. James, and NYC D.A. “nothing-to-brag-about” Bragg) have dropped-the-ball on their “promised” plan to investigate Trump, despite all the evidence against him, including a “little thing” called the January 6th riot AND his infamous plea to Georgia’s governor and secretary-of-state to “find him” a few votes…11,780…but who’s counting?
Trump is guilty of many crimes, and, unless he’s held accountable, like The Terminator, he too “will be back” in 2024…seeking revenge!
Benjamin had a lot of support around here. He let a lot of people down. I guess you never know about a person. Next!!!
HOCHUL SHOULD LOOK INTO FRANK JAMES AS HER NEW RUNNING MATE
Good