{"id":1405342,"date":"2022-03-28T16:44:38","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T20:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1405342"},"modified":"2022-03-28T16:44:41","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T20:44:41","slug":"new-yorks-second-highest-official-focus-of-federal-investigation-into-campaign-finance-fraud-report-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-yorks-second-highest-official-focus-of-federal-investigation-into-campaign-finance-fraud-report-says\/","title":{"rendered":"New York\u2019s Second Highest Official Focus Of Federal Investigation Into Campaign Finance Fraud, Report Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnew-yorks-second-highest-official-focus-of-federal-investigation-into-campaign-finance-fraud-report-says%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1405342&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/03\/Kathy-Hochul-Brian-Benjamin.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Federal prosecutors are reportedly investigating whether New York\u2019s second-highest official was involved in an alleged scheme to funnel fraudulent donations to his 2021 campaign for New York City comptroller.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors and the FBI have sent subpoenas to New York Lt. Governor Brian Benjamin\u2019s campaign advisers and the state Senate as investigators dig into whether Benjamin knew of an alleged attempt to hide a number of illegal donations to his campaign, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/27\/nyregion\/brian-benjamin-campaign-fraud-inquiry.html\">The New York Times<\/a>. Last year, federal prosecutors charged Manhattan real estate developer Gerald Migdol with crimes related to dozens of improper campaign donations.<\/p>\n<p>Benjamin was not named in last years indictment; however, prosecutors have since issued subpoenas to Benjamin\u2019s campaign committee, staffers, and advisers requesting information on how involved the current lieutenant governor was in the fundraising process, sources familiar with the subpoenas told The Times. Prosecutors have not accused Benjamin of any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/news\/politics\/new-york-elections-government\/ny-lieutenant-governor-brian-benjamin-federal-subpoenas-financial-grants-harlem-20220325-f23qwo57inc2jfwcd7nmsqbqeu-story.html\">The New York Daily News<\/a> first reported on prosecutor\u2019s interest in Benjamin\u2019s involvement last week. At the time, Benjamin\u2019s office responded to the news with the same statement he issued last year after Migdol was indicted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNeither Lieutenant Governor Benjamin nor his campaign are being accused of any wrongdoing, and they are prepared to fully cooperate with authorities,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation into the fraudulent campaign donations heats up as Benjamin and Gov. Kathy Hochul prepare for primary elections in June. Hochul rose to the governorship last year after former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned amid allegations he sexually harassed a number of his female staffers.<\/p>\n<p>Hochul tapped Benjamin to join her administration as her second-in-command in August last year when he was serving as state senator for Harlem.<\/p>\n<p>Cuomo floated making a political comeback earlier this month by running for the office he exited among heavy criticism over his past conduct with female staffers and his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/ex-ny-gov-andrew-cuomo-floats-political-comeback-launch-of-new-political-party\">The Daily Wire<\/a> reported on March 18:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>Cuomo spoke to a group of clergy gathered in a small Pentecostal church in the Bronx Thursday, the ex-governor\u2019s second public address in two weeks as he appears to work his way back into public life.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI\u2019m open to all options,\u201d Cuomo said when asked if he was considering another run for office, according to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-03-17\/cuomo-says-he-s-open-to-running-for-n-y-governor-again\">Bloomberg<\/a>. Asked if he would consider creating another political party for the bid, Cuomo answered, \u201cI\u2019ve done it before. My father\u2019s done it before.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Cuomo resigned from office in August after New York Attorney General Letitia James published a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ag.ny.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2021.08.03_nyag_-_investigative_report.pdf\">report<\/a>\u00a0concluding that Cuomo \u201csexually harassed a number of\u201d women. At the time, the former governor was also facing pressure to resign from legislators <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/betrayal-of-public-trust-cuomo-faces-calls-for-accountability-resignation-after-top-aide-admits-cover-up\">accusing<\/a> him of covering up the extent of COVID-19\u2019s impacts on New York\u2019s senior community, an impact that some of those legislators said was worsened by Cuomo\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same? <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">Become a member now and join our mission.<\/a><\/u><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Federal prosecutors are reportedly investigating whether New York\u2019s second-highest official was involved in an alleged scheme to funnel fraudulent donations to his 2021 campaign for New York City comptroller.Prosecutors and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1405342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1405342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1405342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1405342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1405342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1405342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}