Gerald Migdol admitted he arrange fraudulent marketing campaign contributions for disgraced ex-Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin's failed 2019 bid for metropolis comptroller.
Fb / Gerald Migdol
The Harlem actual property developer charged alongside disgraced ex-Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin flipped on the forced-to-resign pol and pleaded responsible to various costs in a secret federal court docket listening to, newly unsealed court docket data reveal.
In the course of the April 11 listening to in Manhattan federal court docket, Gerald Migdol admitted he arrange fraudulent marketing campaign contributions for Benjamin’s failed 2019 bid for metropolis comptroller in an effort to unlock public matching funds from town for the Harlem Democrat.
“I entered right into a quid professional quo settlement with Brian Benjamin, who was then a state senator,” Migdol informed Justice of the Peace Choose Ona Wang, based on a transcript of the listening to unsealed this week.
“Particularly, he provided to acquire a $50,000 state grant for my charitable group in change for marketing campaign contributions that I agreed to offer him and procure for him. In furtherance of the settlement, calls have been made, and texts and emails have been despatched to and from Manhattan,” he added.
He continued: “I agreed with others to misrepresent and conceal the sources of sure contributions to Brian Benjamin’s political marketing campaign. The fraudulent contributions have been supposed to allow Brian Benjamin’s marketing campaign to obtain public matching funds beneath false pretenses.”
Benjamin was arrested the day after the listening to and charged in Manhattan federal court docket for the marketing campaign donation scheme.
He’s pleaded not responsible to 5 whole counts whereas vowing to clear his title to presumably run for public workplace sooner or later.
His fall created a political headache for Gov. Kathy Hochul, who selected him as her No. 2 and who had stood by him in his remaining weeks in workplace regardless of mounting questions on his private ethics.
The embattled governor ultimately overcame what one lawmaker known as a “clusterf–ok” of resistance from Albany Democrats against passing laws permitting Benjamin’s removing from the June major poll.
Incoming Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, a Hudson Valley congressman, will now run alongside Hochul as she pursues a full time period in workplace after changing disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo final 12 months.
After Migdol’s arrest weeks in the past, the New York Occasions reported that he was cooperating with the investigation, however that was not publicly confirmed till the unsealing of the responsible plea Tuesday.
An legal professional for Migdol didn't instantly reply to a request for remark.
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