NY lieutenant governor arrested on bribery charges

New York Lieutenant Gov. Brian Benjamin was indicted for alleged bribery and different offenses, as a part of what federal prosecutors say was a “scheme” to get marketing campaign contributions in trade for a $50,000 state grant.

The indictment additionally alleges that Benjamin and others labored to “cowl up” the plot, participating “in a sequence of lies and deception.” 

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In response to the indictment, from 2019 via 2021, Benjamin carried out the scheme whereas he was a state senator and a candidate for state comptroller. Throughout that point, Benjamin allegedly solicited marketing campaign donations from and to be raised by an actual property developer, win trade for appropriating state funds for the developer’s non-profit group.

In an effort to conceal this, the indictment says, Benjamin allegedly falsified marketing campaign donor kinds, and in 2021 when he was being vetted for the lieutenant governor job, he supplied falsely said in that he had by no means “immediately exercised” his authority as an official “regarding a matter of a donor [he] immediately solicited.” 

Benjamin is going through prices of bribery, conspiracy, sincere providers wire fraud, and falsification of information. The varied offenses carry most penalties ranging between 5 and 20 years in jail.

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Prosecutors are additionally searching for forfeiture of the funds concerned or, alternatively, “another property of the defendant as much as the worth of the forfeitable property.” 

New York  Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin speaks in the course of the 2022 New York State Democratic Conference on the Sheraton New York Occasions Sq. Resort on Feb. 17, 2022 in New York Metropolis.
(Michael M. Santiago/Getty Pictures)

Fox Information has discovered that Benjamin has been arrested on these prices. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to request for remark.

Damian Williams,, U.S. Legal professional for the Southern District of New York is predicted to handle the case at a press convention Tuesday afternoon, together with officers from the FBI and the New York Metropolis Division of Investigation.