By Luc Cohen
(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear Democratic former New York state lieutenant governor Brian Benjamin’s challenge to corruption charges involving campaign contributions from a developer in a case that involves the scope of federal bribery law, allowing the case to proceed.
The justices turned away Benjamin’s appeal of a lower court’s decision that had revived the charges and had found that prosecutors sufficiently detailed his plan to direct state money to a Harlem developer in exchange for the campaign donations. Benjamin has not yet gone on trial and the developer has died.
The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office in 2022 charged Benjamin with funneling a $50,000 state grant to developer Gerald Migdol in exchange for the campaign contributions.
In Benjamin’s challenge to the indictment, U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken dismissed the most serious charges – bribery, honest wire fraud and conspiracy charges – after finding that prosecutors had merely “implied” an agreement between Benjamin and Migdol. The judge did not dismiss two other charges in the indictment, accusing Benjamin of falsifying records.