Brian Benjamin, New York's lieutenant governor, was said to have resigned Tuesday after being charged with corruption-related offenses over allegations that he agreed to steer state funds to a real estate developer's charitable organization in exchange for fraudulent contributions to prior campaigns. 

The charges stem from Benjamin's time as a state senator and his unsuccessful run for city comptroller, although prosecutors alleged in the 22-page indictment that the Democrat took steps to cover up his misdeeds when he was under consideration to be named the state's No. 2 official. He was charged with bribery, honest services wire fraud and falsification of records.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who had picked Benjamin to be her lieutenant governor, said in a statement that she had "accepted Brian Benjamin's resignation effective immediately." Benjamin's lawyers did not immediately return emails seeking confirmation that he would step down.

"While the legal process plays out, it is clear to both of us that he cannot continue to serve as Lieutenant Governor," Hochul said. "New Yorkers deserve absolute confidence in their government, and I will continue working every day to deliver for them."

Prosecutors alleged that Benjamin, in seeking political donations and public matching funds, enlisted the help of a real estate developer he knew to raise money and disguise its source. In exchange, prosecutors alleged, Benjamin used his official authority to try to steer $50,000 to a charitable organization the developer controlled, although the money was never ultimately disbursed.

Benjamin pleaded not guilty, court records show, and was ordered released on an unsecured $250,000 bond. The developer was not named in the indictment, but the description makes clear it is Gerald Migdol, who was charged in the investigation last year. Migdol has pleaded not guilty.

"This is a simple story of corruption," Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said as he announced that Benjamin had surrendered to law enforcement on Tuesday. "Taxpayer money for campaign contributions. Quid pro quo. This for that. That's bribery, plain and simple."

Hochul picked Benjamin, a state senator from Harlem, to be her lieutenant governor last year after she became governor when Democrat Andrew M. Cuomo resigned. There is no indication she knew of her lieutenant's conduct. The indictment alleges Benjamin took some steps to hide what he had done, including by falsely stating on state questionnaires in August and November 2021 that he had never directly exercised government authority concerning a matter of a donor he directly solicited.

Williams said Benjamin falsified campaign forms, misled city regulators and "repeatedly lied" on vetting forms before he was appointed to his current job.

"That's a coverup," the U.S. attorney said.

During a midday media briefing in Brooklyn about a shooting attack at a subway station there, Hochul was asked about Benjamin's arrest and said the two had not spoken yet. She said her office would have a statement later Tuesday. "This is not the place, but I will be addressing it very shortly," she said.

Benjamin has been running to hold his lieutenant governor seat; efforts to reach representatives of his campaign were not immediately successful. Reached before Hochul had announced his client's resignation, an attorney for Benjamin declined to comment.

The charges were first reported by the New York Times.

Public corruption cases are notoriously difficult, and the Justice Department in recent years have seen some high-profile losses at the Supreme Court when it has targeted those who it alleged abused their offices.

The indictment alleges that in early 2019, as Benjamin was running for reelection in the state Senate and contemplating a bid for the city comptroller's office, he set out to participate in the city Campaign Finance Board's public matching funds program, which provided candidates as much as $8 in taxpayer funding for every $1 in eligible donations they could muster.

To get the matching funds, Benjamin needed multiple, small donations, and in March 2019, he met with the real estate developer and asked for help, the indictment alleges. The developer, according to prosecutors, said that he did not have experience raising money like that, and that his fundraising efforts were largely focused on raising money for his nonprofit organization, which donated school supplies and other resources to public school students in Harlem.

Benjamin, according to federal prosecutors, replied, "Let me see what I can do."

The indictment alleges that, in May 2019, New York's Senate majority leader and Senate staff told Benjamin that he had been awarded with up to $50,000 in "discretionary" funding that he could give to organizations in their districts for certain purposes, and Benjamin called the developer and told him he intended to get a $50,000 grant for his nonprofit. The indictment alleges that Benjamin had not sought state funds for the organization in the months before, during the state's budgeting process, though he had previously and unsuccessfully sought funds for a different nonprofit with an educational purpose. The Senate ultimately approved a resolution that said it would route $50,000 to the developer's organization.

In July 2019, the indictment alleges, Benjamin and the developer met, and the developer gave him a $10,000 check in the name of one relative, a $10,000 check in the name of another relative and a $5,000 check on behalf of a limited liability corporation he controlled.

The checks were made out to Benjamin's Senate campaign, as he had not yet filed a certification for his comptroller campaign, the indictment alleges. But the indictment asserts that Benjamin "reminded" the developer of the grant for his organization and said he "expected" the developer to procure small contributions for his comptroller campaign. The indictment alleges Benjamin also knew the checks were not truly from the developer's relatives but accepted them anyway.

In September 2019, Benjamin attended an annual fundraising event for the developer's nonprofit, presenting him with an oversize check made out for $50,000. A Facebook photo of the event shows Benjamin and Migdol smiling together, each with a hand on the mock check made out to Friends of Public School Harlem Inc., Migdol's organization. The indictment alleges that the next month, when Benjamin was allowed to start taking funds for his comptroller campaign, he called the developer and specified the types of contributions he expected to get: each no more than $250, paid by check or money order.

The indictment alleges that from October 2019 to January 2021, the developer provided contributions, "many of which were fraudulent." In an indictment last year, prosecutors had alleged that Migdol committed wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as part of an effort to conceal the sources of campaign contributions. By prosecutors' telling, Migdol tried to help a candidate in the comptroller's race - whom they did not identify but who public information indicates was Benjamin - obtain public matching funds for campaign contributions by orchestrating fraudulent donations.

An attorney for Migdol declined to comment.

The indictment alleges that, all the while, the developer's organization kept working through the state administrative process to actually get the money. But after a news article raised questions about contributions to Benjamin's campaign, it ceased those efforts, and the money has not been disbursed to date.

The indictment alleges that in October 2020, Benjamin also offered to help the developer obtain a zoning variance permitting construction on a property he owned in Harlem, if he would give $15,000 to a political campaign committee. The developer gave the money the next month, but the zoning variance has not yet come up before the board that must approve it, the indictment alleges.

The Washington Post's Mark Berman contributed to this report.