Former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin is back on track to face trial on corruption charges after the U.S. Supreme Court Monday rejected his request to overturn an appeals court ruling that reinstated the case.
More than two and a half years after Benjamin was indicted on charges of soliciting campaign donations in return for steering a state grant to a program run by a Harlem developer, he has yet to face a jury.
The main three charges — bribery, conspiracy and theft of honest services — were tossed by Manhattan Federal Judge J. Paul Oetken in December 2022. The judge ruled that the indictment was not supported by the facts because he felt there was no “explicit” quid pro quo in which Benjamin plainly stated he was helping out the donor’s cause in return for campaign checks.
But in March a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that logic, ruling that the agreement between Benjamin and the donor “does not have to be expressly stated but may be inferred.”
Prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office alleged that in an ill-fated 2021 run for city comptroller, then-state Sen. Benjamin asked Gerard Migdol, a real estate developer who had donated to his prior campaigns, to raise more money for his latest campaign.
Migdol complained that scouring up campaign donations would cut into his ability to raise funds for a nonprofit supporting education in Harlem public schools he ran, so Benjamin stated, “Let me see what I can do,” prosecutors alleged.
Soon after, Benjamin informed Migdol he had sponsored a $50,000 state grant for Migdol’s group. In response, the indictment charges, Migdol arranged three donations totaling $25,000 for Benjamin.
Then Benjamin asked Migdol to scare up smaller donations that would trigger public matching funds at a rate of $8 for every $1 raised up to the first $250. Migdol then orchestrated a straw donation scheme, reimbursing donors or simply writing checks under unsuspecting donors’ names. That scheme was first uncovered by THE CITY.
Benjamin lost the comptroller race in the 2021 primary, but in September 2021 Gov. Kathy Hochul named him lieutenant governor. Seven months later, in April 2022, Benjamin was indicted.
Now that the highest court in the land has declined to intervene, the case returns to the courtroom of Oetken, the judge who originally dismissed the key charges against him.
On Monday a spokesperson for the U.S.attorney declined to comment on when the office would move to restart the case. Barry Berke, Benjamin’s lawyer, did not return THE CITY’s call seeking comment.
One dynamic has changed since the case was initially brought. Benjamin’s generous donor, Migdol, was also arrested and had agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors in the case against Benjamin, making him a key witness in the case. He died in February.
While the case was on appeal, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten — notifying the 2nd circuit of Migdol’s death — acknowledged the death “will affect how the Government proves its case at any trial.”
But, he added at the time, “the Government does not presently intend to abandon any allegation in the indictment.” The spokesperson for the U.S. attorney declined to respond to THE CITY’s question about whether that is still true.
