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Brian Benjamin was charged on Tuesday, just months following being named, for having embezzled a grant of 50,000 dollars.
Brian Benjamin took over as vice-governor of New York last August.
AFP
The Democratic deputy governor of New York state was indicted on Tuesday for corruption by the American federal justice and resigned following only a few months in office, announced the American authorities.
“Brian Benjamin, Vice Governor of New York State, has been charged with bribery and other related offenses,” the Manhattan Federal Attorney’s Office said in a statement. The 45-year-old deputy state governor “visited the FBI in Manhattan this morning” and was brought before a federal judge, it said.
In the evening, the governor of New York State Kathy Hochul, the fourth most populous state in the United States (some 20 million inhabitants), announced that she had “accepted the resignation with immediate effect” from his deputy. “It is clear to both of them that he might not continue to serve as vice governor. New Yorkers must have absolute confidence in their government,” insisted Kathy Hochul, an elected Democrat.
Up to 20 years in prison
The 45-year-old elected official is accused of having, from 2019, “used his authority” as an elected member of the state legislature in order to “embezzle a grant administered by the State (of New York ) to an organization controlled by a real estate investor in exchange for contributions” to his campaign to be elected in 2021 to the position of New York City Comptroller of Finance.
The grant, amounting to 50,000 dollars (46,620 francs), had been paid to a non-profit organization controlled by the real estate investor. Brian Benjamin is also accused of providing false documents when declaring his candidacy for vice-governor in the 2022 election, and of “engaging in a series of lies and deceptions in order to conceal the mechanism of corruption”.
He faces up to 10 years in prison on the bribery charge, and up to 20 years on the other counts, including falsification of documents. Brian Benjamin took the post of vice-governor of New York in August to replace Kathy Hochul, who became governor herself following the resignation of her predecessor Andrew Cuomo, accused of sexual assault.
(AFP)
