NEW YORK — A federal appeals court on Friday reinstated bribery and fraud charges against former New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin.
The decision by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan reversed a December 2022 ruling by a lower court judge, wiping out most of the case against the Democrat, leaving only charges of falsifying documents .
The appeals court said in its written ruling that a jury could infer from the alleged facts in the case that Benjamin promised to perform an official act in exchange for monetary payments.
The ruling related to Benjamin’s dealings with a real estate developer who contributed to his campaign.
The three-judge panel that ruled in the case said Benjamin had been given fair warning that his alleged agreement with the developer “was illegal and that it would not become legal if he simply avoided expressly memorializing it in words or writing.” ”
Benjamin’s attorney, Barry Berke, did not immediately return a message seeking comment. A spokesperson for the prosecutors declined comment.
Benjamin resigned as lieutenant governor after his arrest in April 2022. The arrest had created a political crisis for Gov. Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat who picked him as second-in-command when she became governor after a sexual harassment scandal that rocked her predecessor, Democrat Andrew Cuomo, ousted from office.
Benjamin was the state’s second black lieutenant governor. During his career as a state lawmaker, which began in May 2017, he emphasized criminal justice reform and affordable housing. His district included most of downtown Harlem, where he was born and raised by Caribbean immigrant parents.
In bringing the most serious charges in 2022, Judge J. Paul Oetken wrote that prosecutors have not presented an explicit example of Benjamin providing a favor for bribes, a key component of bribery and honest services fraud charges.