Bribery, fraud charges reinstated against former New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin

Federal bribery charges against former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin were revived Friday after an appeals court ruled that prosecutors had shown sufficient evidence that the former politician funneled $50,000 in state funds to a now-dead developer in exchange for campaign donations.

The 2nd Circuit Court panel overturned Manhattan federal Judge Paul Oetken’s December 2022 decision to dismiss the corruption charges because the language used in the exchange was not explicit.

“Benjamin had fair warning that his alleged agreement with [developer Gerald] Migdol was illegal and that it would not become legal if he simply avoided memorializing it expressly in words or in writing,” the appeals court ruled.

The alleged quid pro quo occurred in 2019 when Benjamin, then a Democratic state senator from Harlem, sought to run for New York City comptroller.

Benjamin, who had been a leading advocate for tenants rights legislation that swept through Albany in 2018, began to court real estate interests for campaign contributions.

In January 2019, according to federal prosecutors, Benjamin hatched a plan with Migdol, who died last February after pleading guilty to his own charges in the bribery case.

“Let me see what I can do,” the politician told the landlord when asked to help secure state money for the nonprofit Friends of Public School Harlem, according to federal authorities.

Benjamin landed a $50,000 grant in exchange for campaign contributions for the comptroller run from Migdol and other real estate companies, federal prosecutors charged in an April 2022 indictment.

Shortly after the grant was approved, Migdol showed up at Benjamin’s district office in Harlem with three checks totaling $25,000, drawing funds from the accounts of two relatives and an limited liability company that the real estate businessman controlled, according to the charges.

The politician attended an event in which he announced the grant money for the nonprofit and continued to remind Migdol of the grant and press him for campaign donations, which prosecutors said he provided using straw donors.

At one point, “Benjamin met with [Migdol] on the street to collect a bundle of [Migdol] contributions,” according to the indictment, which charged the former pol with bribery, honest services wire fraud and conspiracy.

He was also accused of falsifying official records when he lied on his background check for lieutenant governor.

The lower court dismissed the corruption charges because the government did not accuse Benjamin of using the grant as leverage for the donations.

“It does not show a clear, controlling agreement between him and Migdol,” Oetken wrote in his decision to dismiss the top three corruption charges. “At least because the indictment does not allege that Migdol was aware that Benjamin had any power to alter the grant.”

The higher court’s reversal reinstates the corruption charges.

“Those allegations are false,” Benjamin’s lawyer, Barry Berke, said in an email. “The facts are clear that Mr. Benjamin did nothing other than engage in routine fundraising and support a non-profit providing needed resources to Harlem public schools. We remain confident that Mr. Benjamin will be vindicated in this case, which never should have been bro ught.”