Lt. gov. resigns after being arrested for bribery
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New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin leaves the courthouse in New York, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Benjamin has been arrested in a federal corruption investigation. AP photo by Seth Wenig
By Jacob Kaye
New York’s lieutenant governor turned himself into federal authorities to face charges of bribery and corruption Tuesday morning. By the afternoon, he had resigned from his post as the governor’s second-in-command.
Brian Benjamin, who was chosen to serve as lieutenant governor after Governor Kathy Hochul assumed office when former Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned in scandal last year, is accused of soliciting campaign contributions from a New York City real estate developer in exchange for directing tax payer dollars to a nonprofit organization the developer controlled.
The Democrat from Harlem appeared in Manhattan federal court Tuesday and was arraigned on bribery, fraud, conspiracy and falsification of records charges. Benjamin pleaded not guilty and was released after having his bail set at $250,000.
“This is a simple story of corruption,” said Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District. “Taxpayer money for campaign contributions – quid pro quo, this for that. That's bribery, plain and simple.”
Prosecutors allege that in 2019, when Benjamin was a State Senator and gearing up for a run for New York City Comptroller, he struck up a deal with the real estate developer. Benjamin allegedly told the developer that in exchange for campaign money, the then-State Senator would work to secure his nonprofit a $50,000 grant from the state.
In June 2019, the State Senate approved the grant, and Benjamin texted the developer, telling him he would “call to discuss,” according to the indictment.
Less than a month later, the developer, who is listed as a co-conspirator in the indictment, gave Benjamin three campaign contributions to his State Senate campaign totaling $25,000, prosecutors said.
Two of those checks were in the names of the developer’s relatives and the third was in the name of a limited liability corporation controlled by the developer, according to the feds.
Prosecutors alleged that Benjamin knew, at the time, that the developer had fraudulently written the checks in his family members’ names.
A week before Benjamin became eligible to receive contributions for his campaign for comptroller, he presented the developer with a novelty check for $50,000 at a fundraiser for the nonprofit organization. However, the organization never received the grant.
The U.S. attorney also alleges that between October 2019 and January 2021, the developer made a number of fraudulent campaign contributions to Benjamin explicitly for his comptroller campaign.
“Throughout the course of this scheme, Benjamin remained aware of at least some of the fundraising efforts,” said FBI New York Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll. “Accepting numerous small donations on its own is not illegal, but it is, however, illegal to exploit one's official authority by allocating state funds as part of a bribe to procure these donations and to engage in activity to then cover up that fraud.”
Prosecutors say that during his campaign for comptroller and during the period of time he was being considered for his current lieutenant governor’s position, Benjamin took multiple actions to cover up the donations and on several occasions lied about his knowledge of them.
In November 2019, he was allegedly contacted by the New York State Board of Elections about his failure to file certain forms required when contributions come from limited liability companies. He later gave the BOE information about a number of LLCs that had contributed to his campaign, but did not divulge any information about the LLC operated by the developer, prosecutors said.
In January 2021, THE CITY reported that a number of people listed as donors to Benjamin's campaign had not actually written checks to the politician.
Though prosecutors did not reveal who the real estate developer involved in the scheme was in its indictment, reporting from THE CITY suggests it was Gerald Migdol, a Harlem real estate developer whose then-2-year-old grandson gave to Benjamin’s campaign. Migdol runs Friends of Public School Harlem, a nonprofit that distributes school supplies to students in the neighborhood.
Migdol was indicted in November 2019 on charges related to sending the fraudulent campaign contributions to Benjamin during his run for comptroller.
Benjamin faces up to 10 years in prison for the federal bribery charge, up to 20 years for the wire fraud charge, up to 5 years in prison for the conspiracy charge and up to 20 years for the two counts of falsification of records charges.
Benjamin was selected by Hochul to serve as her lieutenant governor when she assumed office following Cuomo’s resignation. Hochul, who was herself serving as lieutenant governor under Cuomo, declined to comment on Benjamin’s arrest at an unrelated press conference Tuesday morning.
Around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, the governor announced that Benjamin had resigned.
"I have accepted Brian Benjamin's resignation effective immediately,” Hochul said in a statement. “While the legal process plays out, it is clear to both of us that he cannot continue to serve as Lieutenant Governor. New Yorkers deserve absolute confidence in their government, and I will continue working every day to deliver for them."
At a press conference earlier this month, as rumors of the investigation into Benjamin began to spread, Hochul said that she had “the utmost confidence in the lieutenant governor.”
Rep. Tom Suozzi, who is running against Hochul in her bid for her first full term in office, accused the sitting governor of not properly vetting Benjamin and for perpetuating a culture of corruption in Albany that has plagued New York State government for decades.
“Today's bombshell is an indictment on Kathy Hochul's lack of experience and poor judgment,” Suozzi said. “Hochul's first decision was to pick her LG, who she entrusted with leading her failed bail reform effort, negotiating the budget and last week said she had the utmost faith in him despite many reports of investigations into his conduct in office.”
“Hochul has fostered a culture of continued corruption with months of fundraising from pay-to-play insiders and people doing business with the state, and secretive budget deals that resulted in the billion dollar Bills stadium and little else,” he added.
Two Democratic candidates are currently running to replace Benjamin – Diana Reyna, a former New York City councilmember who is running alongside Suozzi, and Ana Maria Archila, a Queens resident running with New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
“Our elected officials should be held to the highest ethical standard to preserve the public trust, and Brian Benjamin has violated that compact,” Archila said in a statement. “Albany has been plagued by corruption for too long, with politicians trading favors for the money of the wealthy and powerful. This must stop now.”
Hochul did not comment on who would fill Benjamin’s seat for the remainder of her term.
