Feds Drop Case Against Ex-Lieutenant Gov. Brian Benjamin

Three years after his political career fell apart, New York’s former lieutenant governor is off the hook on corruption charges tied to a now-deceased real estate developer.

Federal prosecutors last week dropped the bribery case against Brian Benjamin, who once rose as high as Gov. Kathy Hochul’s No. 2, the New York Times reported. The prosecutors told the judge that they didn’t see a path to proving their case against Benjamin.

It was only last month when the Supreme Court declined to dismiss the case, seemingly setting Benjamin on a path to trial. Prior to that, however, the feds’ pursuit of corruption charges against Benjamin was already beginning to look untenable.

In 2022, Benjamin surrendered to the authorities to face campaign finance fraud charges. The FBI and federal prosecutors were probing if the lieutenant governor steered state money to campaign contributors in exchange for fraudulent political donations.

Among those potential contributors was Gerald Migdol. Before Benjamin’s arrest, Migdol himself was arrested and charged with wire fraud. He pleaded guilty to a bribery scheme and claimed he donated to Benjamin in return for a $50,000 state grant steered to Migdol’s nonprofit.

Benjamin denied wrongdoing, with his team claiming Migdol’s confession was coerced and that Benjamin was unaware of any straw donor scheme by the developer.

But a federal judge dismissed bribery and fraud counts against the former lieutenant governor, ruling Benjamin’s alleged actions weren’t a crime. That left only charges of falsification of records, though prosecutors successfully appealed the ruling that dropped the other charges.

Migdol’s death last year removed a key witness from the equation.

Benjamin maintained his innocence all along. After the feds moved to drop the case, he thanked prosecutors and called the three-year saga a “painful journey.” A spokesperson for the Southern District of New York declined to comment on the case.

Benjamin was forced to resign under pressure after the allegations against him emerged. He has previously suggested a return to public life could be in the offing once his legal case was resolved.

— Holden Walter-Warner