Former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin on Monday dodged severe bribery and fraud raps when a Manhattan decide dismissed three federal expenses towards him.
Decide Paul Oetken dominated that prosecutors from the Southern District of New York failed to stipulate the specific quid professional quo wanted for bribery, trustworthy companies wire fraud and a associated conspiracy cost introduced within the April federal indictment towards Benjamin.
Benjamin will nonetheless face two counts of falsification of information, Oetken mentioned.
The falsification expenses every carry a most sentence of 20 years in jail.
Prosecutors mentioned later Monday that they'll enchantment Oetken’s ruling.
Benjamin, a Harlem Democrat, was accused of accepting contributions for his state Senate and metropolis comptroller campaigns from actual property developer Gerald Migdol in trade for steering state funds to a nonprofit the donor managed.
Since expenses towards him have been introduced, Benjamin — who resigned as Gov. Kathy Hochul’s No. 2 in April — has fervently pushed again via his attorneys in hearings and filings within the case.
In August, protection lawyer Barry Berke accused prosecutors of improperly charging his shopper, calling it the “most aggressive political corruption case ever made by the US authorities.
“Merely asking for cash earlier than or after a profit, that can not be sufficient,” Berke informed Oetken at a listening to.
In his opinion Monday, Oetken mentioned prosecutors failed to indicate the mandatory express quid professional quo of their indictment towards Benjamin, which tracks with authorized opinions held by the Second Circuit Court docket of Appeals.
“The Second Circuit has held — once more, explicitly — that ‘proof of an specific promise is important when the funds are made within the type of marketing campaign contributions,’ ” Oetken wrote.
“With this understanding in thoughts, Counts One, Two, and Three of the Indictment have to be dismissed as a result of it doesn't allege as a component of any of the three counts that Benjamin made an ‘express’ settlement with Migdol that his conduct as a state senator could be managed in trade for marketing campaign contributions,” Oetken added.
The fees dropped towards Benjamin — wire fraud, bribery and conspiracy — carry most jail phrases of 20 years, 10 years and 5 years, respectively.
Oetken mentioned prosecutors got here near assembly the brink for the allegations after they wrote Benjamin accepted Migdol’s contributions “in trade for” grants to his nonprofit however nonetheless fell brief.
“In its opposition transient, the federal government insists that the ‘in trade for’ phrasing satisfies the specific requirement,” Oetken wrote.
“It doesn't,” he mentioned.
In an announcement, Benjamin’s attorneys mentioned it's “tragic” that the fees towards their shopper have been ever introduced within the first place.
“Right now’s choice reveals how these wrongful expenses so harmed Mr. Benjamin and unfairly value him his place as Lt. Governor,” wrote protection attorneys Barry Berke and Dani James. “The dismissal of this now discredited bribery concept additionally makes clear how the indictment was a direct assault on the democratic course of.”
However the good authorities group Widespread Trigger/NY responded to the dropped counts towards Benjamin by calling for Congress and the state Legislature to strengthen anti-bribery legal guidelines.
“The Supreme Court docket’s absurd and ridiculous choice in McDonnell vs. the USA is the reward that retains on giving for public officers like Brian Benjamin, and a black eye to the general public’s widespread sense understanding of corruption,” mentioned Susan Lerner, government director of the group, in an announcement.
Further reporting by Zach Williams
Post a Comment