ALBANY, N.Y. — Federal prosecutors are appealing a judge’s decision to dismiss bribery charges against former New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin.
The U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York filed a notice of appeal shortly after District Court Judge Paul Oetken determined Monday that prosecutors failed to show the fallen politician steered $50,000 in state funds to a nonprofit directly in exchange for fraudulent contributions to his failed city comptroller campaign.
Oetken wrote in his decision that the indictment filed against the disgraced Democrat, who resigned as Gov. Kathy Hochul’s right hand man in April following his arrest, “fails to allege an explicit quid pro quo.”
