New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin resigned Tuesday after he was arrested in a federal corruption investigation, igniting a political disaster for Gov. Kathy Hochul seven months after she chosen Benjamin as a companion to make a recent begin in an workplace already rocked by scandal.
Benjamin, a Democrat, was accused in an indictment of taking part in a scheme to acquire marketing campaign contributions from an actual property developer in change for Benjamin’s settlement to make use of his affect as a state senator to get a $50,000 grant of state funds for a nonprofit group the developer managed.
Dealing with costs together with bribery, fraud, conspiracy and falsification of information, Benjamin’s arrest prompted requires his resignation. He pleaded not responsible Tuesday at an preliminary look in Manhattan federal court docket. He was launched and bail was set at $250,000. The phrases of his launch name for his journey to be restricted and bar him from returning to the state capitol in Albany.
Benjamin and his lawyer didn't remark as they left the courthouse Tuesday afternoon. The governor made the announcement that Benjamin had resigned. Earlier, she had remained conspicuously quiet in regards to the arrest for many of Tuesday regardless of rising requires the lieutenant governor to step down. Hochul stated Tuesday at a New York Metropolis information convention concerning a taking pictures on the subway that she would discuss Benjamin later within the day. She stated she had not had an opportunity to talk to him but.
Hochul in September plucked Benjamin, then a state lawmaker, to function second-in-command when she turned governor, taking up for Democrat Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo resigned amid allegations he sexually harassed 11 girls, which he denied.
Hochul, additionally a Democrat, was Cuomo’s lieutenant governor. She is now operating on this 12 months’s election to stay governor, with Benjamin as a operating mate.
Two months after Benjamin turned lieutenant governor, an actual property developer who steered marketing campaign contributions towards Benjamin’s failed bid for New York Metropolis comptroller was indicted. Federal authorities accused Gerald Migdol of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identification theft in illegally giving donations to Benjamin’s marketing campaign.
The indictment stated Benjamin, previously a state senator from Harlem, and others performing at his course or on his behalf engaged in a sequence of lies and deceptions to cowl up the scheme that stretched from 2019 to 2021.
They falsified marketing campaign donor kinds, misled municipal regulators and supplied false data in vetting kinds Benjamin submitted whereas he was being thought of to be appointed as lieutenant governor, the indictment stated.
Prosecutors had beforehand not made any accusations towards Benjamin. His marketing campaign stated on the time of Migdol’s arrest that it had forfeited any improper donations as quickly as they had been found.
Extra not too long ago, experiences got here out saying subpoenas had been issued to Benjamin concerning the monetary points earlier than Hochul picked him as lieutenant governor.
Earlier than Benjamin’s arrest, Hochul had defended him, saying final week she had the “utmost confidence” in him. She stated on Monday that she didn’t know of the subpoenas when she tapped Benjamin to be her No. 2.
State leaders from each main events have referred to as on Benjamin to resign, together with a minimum of 10 of Benjamin’s fellow Democrats within the Legislature by Tuesday afternoon.
Spokespeople for Hochul, Senate Chief Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Meeting Speaker Carl Heastie didn’t instantly present remark Tuesday when requested if Benjamin ought to resign.
If Benjamin resigns, he would nonetheless possible seem on the poll for the 2022 gubernatorial Democratic major even when Hochul picks a brand new lieutenant governor, in line with state elections legislation.
Benjamin was the state’s second Black lieutenant governor. Throughout his state Legislature profession, he emphasised prison justice reform and reasonably priced housing. His district included most of central Harlem, the place he was born and raised by Caribbean immigrant dad and mom.
The scandal is the most recent in a protracted historical past of lawmakers and different Albany leaders who’ve been engulfed in allegations of wrongdoing.
Cuomo’s resignation as governor got here not solely amid allegations of sexual harassment however that his administration misrepresented the variety of New Yorkers who died in nursing properties from COVID-19.
In 2008, then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned amid a prostitution investigation.
Former New York Meeting Speaker Sheldon Silver, some of the highly effective figures in state authorities, resigned in 2015 after he was arrested on federal corruption costs.
Former Republican state Senate Majority Chief Dean Skelos, who for a time shared energy with Silver, was convicted of extortion, wire fraud and bribery.
Hays reported from New York. Related Press writers Deepti Hajela, Michelle L. Value and Larry Neumeister contributed from New York and Michael Hill contributed from Albany.
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