A bribery case involving a developer and former New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin is in jeopardy after the developer, a key witness, died.
Gerald Migdol, a small-time developer and attorney, died on Feb. 9, Politico reported. Migdol was at the center of an alleged straw-donor scandal that sank Benjamin’s political career.
Migdol’s death was first reported by the New York Law Journal.
Two years ago, Benjamin — Gov. Kathy Hochul’s No. 2 at the time — surrendered to authorities to face campaign finance fraud charges. The FBI and federal prosecutors were investigating if Benjamin steered state money to campaign contributors, including Migdol, in return for fraudulent political donations.
Months earlier, Migdol was arrested and charged with wire fraud in connection to fundraising for Benjamin. Migdol ultimately pleaded guilty to a bribery scheme, testifying that Benjamin — himself a former Manhattan developer of market-rate and affordable housing — donated to Benjamin in return for the politician steering a $50,000 state grant to his nonprofit.
Straw donations are campaign contributions routed through another person, typically to circumvent limits to how much a person or company can give or to trigger matching funds. The straw donor is then reimbursed by the orchestrator of the scheme.
Benjamin has denied any wrongdoing. His team claims that Migdol was coerced into confessing and that Benjamin was unaware of Migdol’s straw donor scheme.
The case against Benjamin had already been weakened. A federal judge dismissed the bribery and fraud counts against the former lieutenant governor, determining Benjamin’s alleged actions weren’t a crime. Only charges of falsification of records remain, though prosecutors are appealing the decision that dropped the other charges.
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Prosecutors who informed the appeals court of Migdol’s death said they had planned for the developer to testify at Benjamin’s trial. Still, they don’t plan to abandon the case.
But a former federal prosecutor, Paul Tuchmann, doesn’t see much of a path forward for the government at this point. Tuchmann told Politico that “it’s hard to see how they would have sufficient evidence to put in front of a jury on the bribery charges.”