By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors on Friday dropped their corruption case against former New York Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin, following the death of a key witness.
Benjamin, 48, had been expected to face trial in Manhattan federal court after being accused of funneling a $50,000 state grant to a real estate developer in exchange for campaign contributions.
But the developer, Gerald Migdol, who pleaded guilty to bribery and fraud charges and was cooperating with the government, died last February.
In a court filing, prosecutors said that based on a review of the evidence and in light of Migdol’s death, “the government has determined that it can no longer prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, the charges in the indictment.”
U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken approved the dismissal request late Friday afternoon.
Benjamin, a Democrat, had faced charges including bribery, honest services wire fraud and conspiracy.
“Today’s vindication of Brian Benjamin is a timely reminder of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr’s famous words: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,’” Benjamin’s lawyers Barry Berke, Dani James and Darren LaVerne said in a joint statement. “We always believed this day would come.”
Migdol had been a real estate developer in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood, where Benjamin was once a state senator.
Governor Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat, tapped Benjamin in August 2021 for the state’s No. 2 job, which she had held before succeeding Andrew Cuomo as governor. Benjamin resigned in April 2022 when the criminal charges were announced.