NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Friday dropped bribery and fraud fees in opposition to former New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, citing the loss of life of a cooperating witness in opposition to the Democrat who the governor had as soon as chosen to be her second-in-command.
Choose J. Paul Oetken signed an order closing the case in opposition to Benjamin after prosecutors advised him in a letter {that a} overview of proof within the case led them to conclude they may now not show the fees past an affordable doubt after the loss of life of co-defendant Gerald Migdol.
Migdol died on Feb. 9, 2024. A funeral dwelling obituary on the time offered no reason for loss of life. The Harlem actual property developer had pleaded responsible in 2022, admitting that he organized tens of 1000’s of {dollars} in pretend contributions from 2019 to 2021 as Benjamin campaigned to be metropolis comptroller, a race he misplaced.
Benjamin resigned as lieutenant governor after his April 2022 arrest.
“At present’s vindication of Brian Benjamin is a well timed reminder of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s well-known phrases: ‘The arc of the ethical universe is lengthy, but it surely bends towards justice,’” Benjamin’s attorneys mentioned in an announcement on Friday.
Protection attorneys Barry Berke, Dani James and Darren LaVerne mentioned they “at all times believed today would come.”
The arrest created a political disaster for Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul after she had chosen Benjamin as her second-in-command.
She took the state’s prime elected publish after a sexual harassment scandal drove from workplace her predecessor, Democrat Andrew Cuomo.
Benjamin beforehand had served within the state Legislature, representing most of central Harlem.
The case in opposition to Benjamin had not gone easily for prosecutors earlier than Migdol’s loss of life.
In December 2022, Oetken tossed out the bribery and fraud fees, leaving solely data falsification fees in opposition to Benjamin.
In a written opinion, Oetken wrote that prosecutors did not allege an express instance during which Benjamin offered a favor for a bribe, a vital component of bribery and trustworthy companies fraud fees.
Final March, nevertheless, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals in Manhattan reinstated the fees, saying an indictment within the case “sufficiently alleged an express quid professional quo.”
The appeals court docket mentioned a jury might infer from details within the case that Benjamin promised to allocate $50,000 in state funds to a nonprofit group managed by Migdol in return for marketing campaign contributions from the developer.
On the time, Berke mentioned on his consumer’s behalf that the “details are clear that Mr. Benjamin did nothing apart from interact in routine fundraising and help a nonprofit offering wanted sources to Harlem public colleges.”
The Supreme Courtroom had lately declined to listen to an attraction of the 2nd Circuit’s determination.
A spokesperson for prosecutors declined to remark Friday.
