New York Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand dumped campaign donations from a real estate developer charged in the Albany corruption case of state Sen. Carl Kruger.
In a federal complaint unsealed last week, developer Aaron Malinsky of P/A Associated LLC was one of several people charged with funneling bribes to Kruger in order to facilitate projects in Brooklyn. The FBI says between 2007 and 2010 Malinsky pumped some $472,500 to a shell company used to steer bribe money to Kruger and a close associate.
Separately, federal election campaign records show Malinsky has donated for years to area Democrats, including $250 apiece to Schumer and Gillibrand last August. Those donations were part of a joint fundraiser in the tiny enclave of Saltaire on Fire Island, a community of mostly second homes for wealthy and influential New York City residents.
Asked about the donations Monday, spokespeople for the two lawmakers said they were donating Malinksy’s money to worthwhile causes. Schumer gave his contribution to the Police Athletic League; Gillibrand gave hers to an upstate camp for children.
According to campaign records, Malinksy also gave a total of $7,900 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2006 and 2007, when Schumer was the head of that group.
The spokesman for Schumer referred questions about those donations to the DSCC, which he no longer controls. A spokesman for the group did not immediately comment when asked about the donations.
Records list other donations by Malinsky, including $1,000 to Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Queens Democrat, and $2,300 in 2008 to Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat. Spokesmen for the two lawmakers did not immediately comment, nor did a spokesman for Malinsky, who faces charges of conspiracy and money laundering.
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