New York's lieutenant governor Brian Benjamin has been arrested in
a federal corruption investigation.
Not a good look, especially for the current governor Kathy Hochul
who was planning on running to continue serving as governor and
his running mate happened to be Benjamin Brian [LAUGH].
Now what happened?
Well, Benjamin, I'm sorry Brian Benjamin.
Benjamin, a Democrat, was accused in an indictment of participating in a scheme to
obtain campaign contributions from a real estate developer in exchange for
Benjamin's agreement to use his influence as a state senator to
get a $50,000 grant of state funds, meaning taxpayer money, for
a nonprofit organization the developer controlled.
So the nonprofit's name is Friends of Public School Harlem,
which was run by a guy named Gerald Migdol.
Gerald Migdol is the real estate developer,
he's the one who founded this nonprofit and
he's the one who made this alleged deal with lieutenant governor Brian Benjamin.
Who by the way has since stepped down from his role,
he has resigned following his arrest.
Now facing charges including bribery, fraud, conspiracy, and
falsification of records, Benjamin pleaded not guilty Tuesday at an initial
appearance in Manhattan federal court.
He was released and bail was set at $250,000.
The terms of his release call for his travel to be restricted and
bar him from returning to the state capitol in Albany.
So it's just a pay to play type of situation.
Now, let me just be clear as we talk about on this show incessantly,
legalized bribery is very much part and parcel of our governing system, okay?
There are so many ways politicians can get unlimited campaign donations from
corporate donors, you have to really try hard to break corruption laws.
And allegedly, former lieutenant governor Brian Benjamin managed to do just that.
So this scheme apparently stretched from 2019 to 2021.
Two months after Benjamin became [LAUGH] lieutenant governor,
the real estate developer, Migdol, who steered campaign contributions toward
Benjamin's failed bid for New York city comptroller was indicted.
Federal authorities accused him of conspiracy to commit wire fraud,
wire fraud, and
aggravated identity theft in illegally giving donations to Benjamin's campaign.
So what he did here, it's illegal,
because he essentially was donating money to Benjamin's
campaign while pretending to be other people, right?
The money was coming from Migdol, but
when he was contributing the money to the campaign, he was posing as other people.
Or he would get other individuals to donate the money directly to Benjamin and
then he would reimburse them for the campaign donation.
Again, Migdol would make campaign contributions to Benjamin's campaign via
checks written in the name of relatives who did not share his last name and
in the name of LLC Migdol controlled in an attempt to conceal the [LAUGH]
origin of the contributions.
So they allegedly falsified campaign donor forms, they allegedly misled municipal
regulators, and allegedly provided false information in vetting forms Benjamin
submitted while he was being considered to be appointed as lieutenant governor.
And again,
Kathy Hochul is in a little bit of trouble because she named him as her running mate,
and it doesn't appear [LAUGH] that that will be the case moving forward.
If Benjamin resigns by the way, and he did resign.
He would likely appear on the ballot for the 2022 gubernatorial
Democratic primary even if Hochul picks a new lieutenant governor,
according to state election laws.
And so that puts Hochul in a unique disadvantage because you now have a man
who has been charged with some serious offenses appearing on the ballot
with you even if he's no longer your running mate.
Which it sucks, that kinda sucks.
But that's where we're at with this investigation.
It does remind me of a a similar investigation that took place in
Los Angeles.
Los Angeles City Council members were also caught up in a pay to play
scheme involving real estate developers.
And we're talking about Democrats in that case as well, so
we'll see how this all plays out.
But it shows you how this system of corruption is one that
both parties take advantage of.
And even with all these loosened campaign contribution laws in place,
you still have lawmakers who don't think it's enough.
They go even further and
they break whatever lax laws we have in place already.