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U.S. Drops Corruption Case Against New York’s Former Lieutenant Governor

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U.S. Drops Corruption Case Against New York’s Former Lieutenant Governor

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan told a judge on Friday that they would drop a bribery case against Brian A. Benjamin, New York’s former lieutenant governor, following the death of a key witness.

The decision lifts a cloud that has followed Mr. Benjamin, a Democrat, since April 2022 when the government first accused him of funneling state money to a real estate developer in exchange for campaign contributions. The charges, announced in a splashy news conference, forced Mr. Benjamin to resign and all but ended his political career.

The Supreme Court declined to dismiss the case in December, and it had appeared as if Mr. Benjamin might finally face trial.

But on Friday, prosecutors wrote to the judge overseeing the case, J. Paul Oetken, that they no longer saw a path to proving their allegations after the death of the developer, Gerald Migdol. Mr. Migdol had pleaded guilty to related charges and was cooperating with the government before he died in February.

“Based on a review of the evidence in the case, and in light of the death of cooperating witness and co-defendant Gerald Migdol,” the prosecutors wrote, “the government has determined that it can no longer prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, the charges in the indictment.”

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Mr. Benjamin had maintained his innocence, and in a statement, he thanked prosecutors for dismissing the case after what he called a “painful journey.” He said he had represented both his State Senate district and the state “with honor and integrity.”

In their own statement, Mr. Benjamin’s lawyers called the government’s move a “vindication.” They said it was “a timely reminder of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous words: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’”

The lawyers — Barry H Berke, Dani R. James and Darren LaVerne of Gibson Dunn — had met privately with prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York on Monday, according to Mr. Berke and Ms. James. They asked the officials to drop the case, and to do so before the current administration left office.

A spokesman for the Southern District declined to speak about the case.

Mr. Benjamin, 48, had been considered a rising star when Gov. Kathy Hochul picked him from the State Senate to become her lieutenant governor in August 2021. The selection made him her No. 2, and gave Mr. Benjamin a platform to advance his own political ambitions.

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The federal indictment changed all that. Prosecutors charged that Mr. Benjamin had used his State Senate office to secure a $50,000 grant for a Harlem nonprofit run by Mr. Migdol. In exchange, Mr. Migdol helped arrange thousands of dollars in illegal contributions to Mr. Benjamin’s campaigns, prosecutors said.

Mr. Benjamin has suggested in recent years that he might be interested in re-entering public life if his legal case was cleared. But it was not immediately clear if he had plans to do so.

Jonah E. Bromwich and Jeffery C. Mays contributed reporting.

New York

Driver Who Killed Mother and Daughters Sentenced to 3 to 9 Years

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Driver Who Killed Mother and Daughters Sentenced to 3 to 9 Years

A driver who crashed into a woman and her two young daughters while they were crossing a street in Brooklyn in March, killing all three, was sentenced to as many as nine years in prison on Wednesday.

The driver, Miriam Yarimi, has admitted striking the woman, Natasha Saada, 34, and her daughters, Diana, 8, and Deborah, 5, after speeding through a red light. She had slammed into another vehicle on the border of the Gravesend and Midwood neighborhoods and careened into a crosswalk where the family was walking.

Ms. Yarimi, 33, accepted a judge’s offer last month to admit to three counts of second-degree manslaughter in Brooklyn Supreme Court in return for a lighter sentence. She was sentenced on Wednesday by the judge, Justice Danny Chun, to three to nine years behind bars.

The case against Ms. Yarimi, a wig maker with a robust social media presence, became a flashpoint among transportation activists. Ms. Yarimi, who drove a blue Audi A3 sedan with the license plate WIGM8KER, had a long history of driving infractions, according to New York City records, with more than $12,000 in traffic violation fines tied to her vehicle at the time of the crash.

The deaths of Ms. Saada and her daughters set off a wave of outrage in the city over unchecked reckless driving and prompted calls from transportation groups for lawmakers to pass penalties on so-called super speeders.

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Ms. Yarimi “cared about only herself when she raced in the streets of Brooklyn and wiped away nearly an entire family,” Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn district attorney, said in a statement after the sentencing. “She should not have been driving a car that day.”

Mr. Gonzalez had recommended the maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison.

On Wednesday, Ms. Yarimi appeared inside the Brooklyn courtroom wearing a gray shirt and leggings, with her hands handcuffed behind her back. During the brief proceedings, she addressed the court, reading from a piece of paper.

“I’ll have to deal with this for the rest of my life and I think that’s a punishment in itself,” she said, her eyes full of tears. “I think about the victims every day. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about what I’ve done.”

On the afternoon of March 29, a Saturday, Ms. Yarimi was driving with a suspended license, according to prosecutors. Around 1 p.m., she turned onto Ocean Parkway, where surveillance video shows her using her cellphone and running a red light, before continuing north, they said.

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At the intersection with Quentin Road, Ms. Saada was stepping into the crosswalk with her two daughters and 4-year-old son. Nearby, a Toyota Camry was waiting to turn onto the parkway.

Ms. Yarimi sped through a red light and into the intersection. She barreled into the back of the Toyota and then shot forward, plowing into the Saada family. Her car flipped over and came to a rest about 130 feet from the carnage.

Ms. Saada and her daughters were killed, while her son was taken to a hospital where he had a kidney removed and was treated for skull fractures and brain bleeding. The Toyota’s five passengers — an Uber driver, a mother and her three children — also suffered minor injuries.

Ms. Yarimi’s car had been traveling 68 miles per hour in a 25 m.p.h. zone and showed no sign that brakes had been applied, prosecutors said. Ms. Yarimi sustained minor injures from the crash and was later taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

The episode caused immediate fury, drawing reactions from Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Eric Adams, who attended the Saadas’s funeral.

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According to NYCServ, the city’s database for unpaid tickets, Ms. Yarimi’s Audi had $1,345 in unpaid fines at the time of the crash. On another website that tracks traffic violations using city data, the car received 107 parking and camera violations between June 2023 and the end of March 2025. Those violations, which included running red lights and speeding through school zones, amounted to more than $12,000 in fines.

In the months that followed, transportation safety groups and activists decried Ms. Yarimi’s traffic record and urged lawmakers in Albany to pass legislation to address the city’s chronic speeders.

Mr. Gonzalez on Wednesday said that Ms. Yarimi’s sentence showed “that reckless driving will be vigorously prosecuted.”

But outside the courthouse, the Saada family’s civil lawyer, Herschel Kulefsky, complained that the family had not been allowed to speak in court. “ They are quite disappointed, or outraged would probably be a better word,” he said, calling the sentence “the bare minimum.”

“I think this doesn’t send any message at all, other than a lenient message,” Mr. Kulefsky added.

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Video: What Bodegas Mean for New York

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Video: What Bodegas Mean for New York

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Bodegas have been an essential part of New York City life for decades. Anna Kodé, a reporter at the New York Times, breaks down the history, challenges and triumphs of the bodega and the people who run them.

By Anna Kodé, Gabriel Blanco, Karen Hanley and Laura Salaberry

November 17, 2025

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Video: Why Can’t We Fix Penn Station?

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Video: Why Can’t We Fix Penn Station?

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The biggest thing holding Penn Station back from a much-needed rehaul is what’s on top of it: Madison Square Garden.

By Patrick McGeehan, Edward Vega, Laura Salaberry and Melanie Bencosme

November 13, 2025

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