NY appeals court reinstates bribery charges against former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday revived bribery and fraud charges against former New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin that were dismissed after a lower court found the feds failed to establish sufficient evidence of a quid pro quo between him and a campaign donor.

“We conclude that the indictment sufficiently alleged an explicit quid pro quo,” the three-judge panel found unanimously. “Therefore, we reverse the judgment of the district court and remand for further proceedings.”

The decision reinstates the bulk of the corruption case against Benjamin, dismissed by Manhattan Federal Court Judge Paul Oetken in December 2022, who found prosecutors had failed to allege “a clear and unambiguous agreement” between the fallen politician and late real estate developer Jerry Migdol to steer state funds to a nonprofit Migdol controlled in exchange for illegal campaign straw donations.

“While we agree that the quid pro quo must be clear and unambiguous, there is no reason why it cannot be implied from the official’s and the payor’s words and actions. In other words, ‘the agreement must be explicit, but there is no requirement that it be express,'” reads the decision written by Judge Steven Menashi.

“Benjamin had fair warning that his alleged agreement with Migdol was illegal and that it would not become legal if he simply avoided memorializing it expressly in words or in writing.”

The up-and-coming Harlem pol — whom Gov. Hochul tapped as her second-in-command after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo stepped down amid a swirl of sexual misconduct allegations — resigned as deputy governor in disgrace within hours of pleading not guilty to corruption charges in April 2022.

Prosecutors alleged that as a state senator, he abused his authority to allocate $50,000 in state grant funds to Migdol’s nonprofit, Friends of Public School Harlem. Migdol, in turn, engineered thousands of dollars in small-dollar donations to Benjamin’s failed New York City comptroller campaign in others’ names, including a 2-year-old, to help Benjamin procure public matching funds, the charges alleged.

In a statement to the Daily News, Benjamin’s attorney, Barry Berke, declined to say whether he would appeal the Friday ruling.

“Today’s decision relates to the legal standard that applies to the allegations in the Indictment against Mr. Benjamin since the Indictment was dismissed prior to any trial of those charges. Those allegations are false,” Berke said.

“The facts are clear that Mr. Benjamin did nothing other than engage in routine fundraising and support a nonprofit providing needed resources to Harlem public schools. We remain confident that Mr. Benjamin will be vindicated in this case, which never should have been brought.”

A spokesman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams declined to comment.

While a win for prosecutors, the decision comes less than a month after Migdol’s sudden death, leaving them without a key cooperating witness.

In a deal with the feds after Benjamin’s arrest, Migdol admitted to organizing and concealing tens of thousands of dollars in fake contributions from 2019 to 2021 to boost Benjamin’s campaign war chest by exploiting the city Campaign Finance Board program that provides up to $8 for every dollar of eligible funds raised by a candidate.

“The fraudulent contributions were intended to enable Brian Benjamin’s campaign to procure public matching funds under false pretenses,” Migdol said in his plea.

Prosecutors in late February moved to dispose of the charges against Migdol, as is protocol when a defendant dies. He had been due to be sentenced this week.

The case against Benjamin, who couldn’t be reached for comment, didn’t go away after Oetken dismissed the top corruption charges, with several lesser counts remaining. In addition to the campaign finance allegations, the feds allege Benjamin took steps to cover up the corrupt arrangement with Migdol by falsifying campaign forms and lying during a background check after he was nominated lieutenant governor.

The Daily News first reported that Benjamin provided incorrect information during Hochul’s vetting process, answering “no” to an inquiry about whether regulators had ever contacted him about ethics or campaign finance issues.

In fact, the state Elections Board had contacted Benjamin about his use of campaign funds, and he was also aware that the Manhattan district attorney’s office and the feds were looking into his comptroller campaign.

Weeks after The News’ report, Benjamin changed his answers, claiming that he amended them once he became aware of his “inadvertent errors.”