The indictment — the result of an investigation by federal prosecutors, the FBI and the city’s Investigative Department — subsequently accused Mr. Benjamin of engaging in a “series of lies and deception to cover up the plan,” including forging campaign donation forms, misleading New York City authorities and giving false information as part of a background check to become a lieutenant governor last year.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Benjamin pleaded innocent during a brief appearance in federal court in lower Manhattan, and was released on a $250,000 bond subject to conditions requiring special permission to travel to Albany. He left the courthouse without comment.
The governor, who appeared at a press conference in Brooklyn about a mass shooting on the subway, initially refused to arrest Mr. to address Benjamin. Benjamin’s attorneys James D. Gatta and William J. Harrington also initially declined to comment.
Benjamin said last week that he had been working with investigators after news media outlets, including DailyExpertNews, reported details of the investigation. Accompanied by his lawyers, the lieutenant governor met with prosecutors last week, according to a person familiar with the case, and his top officials personally reassured allies that he expected to be cleared of any wrongdoing.
But during the press conference, Mr. Williams — who announced the allegations with Michael J. Driscoll, the deputy director in charge of the FBI’s New York office, and Jocelyn E. Strauber, commissioner of the city’s Department of Investigation — launched a daring corruption scheme. The indictment accused Mr. Benjamin of bribing Mr. Migdol to help secure small contributions to his control race that could be used to raise tens of thousands of dollars in public matching funds through a city program.
Prosecutors said Mr Benjamin first approached Mr Migdol for help in March 2019, months before announcing a campaign for comptroller. At a meeting at Mr. Migdol’s home, the developer told Mr. Benjamin that it would be a challenge to help because the pool of potential contributors he would reach out to was the same he needed to start his own charity, Friends of Public , to support. School Harlem, a group known for distributing school supplies and groceries to needy families.
“Show me what I can do,” Mr. Benjamin replied according to the indictment.
In the months that followed, prosecutors said, the politician continued to use his office in the state Senate to rake in a $50,000 scholarship to the charity Migdol never asked for, and used it as leverage to get Migdol to collaborate. contributions.