《纽约观察家》前编辑肯·库尔森(Ken Kurson)在离任前被时任总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)赦免,他周三对涉嫌监视前妻电脑的两项州级轻罪认罪。
库尔森是川普女婿贾里德·库什纳的朋友,也曾在2008年帮助管理鲁迪·朱利安尼不成功的总统竞选2020年被捕根据检察官的说法,联邦指控称“对三名受害者进行跟踪和骚扰”,其中包括一名他认为导致婚姻破裂的人。
他在2021年1月被特朗普赦免,但因国家指控再次被捕八月。
周三,他承认了两项轻罪——包括企图入侵电脑——指控他在2015年从《观察家报》的工作电脑上偷偷在前妻的电脑上安装间谍软件。
“我相信我们今天有一个处置,”曼哈顿助理地方检察官Alona Katz在曼哈顿刑事法院出庭时说。
卡茨说,如果库尔森过一年“守法的生活”,并从事100个小时的社区服务,他可以撤回认罪,并将指控减轻为较轻的违法行为。
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2022年2月16日,肯·库尔森在纽约市曼哈顿刑事法庭出庭后离开。
“这是他可以接受的,法官大人,”辩护律师马克·穆凯西告诉法庭。
在特朗普提名库尔森进入美国国家人文基金会董事会后,当局在2018年进行的背景调查中了解到库尔森涉嫌跟踪。
他在2020年被捕后被特朗普赦免,但7个月后,曼哈顿地区检察官Cy Vance以国家指控起诉他。
“我们不会接受总统赦免令作为纽约有关系的人的出狱卡,”万斯在8月宣布指控时的一份声明中说。
Trump family friend Ken Kurson, pardoned by Trump, pleads guilty to cyberstalking
Ken Kurson, the former editor of the New York Observer who was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump before he left office, pleaded guilty Wednesday to two state-level misdemeanors for allegedly spying on his former wife's computer.
Kurson, a friend of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner who also helped manage Rudy Giuliani's unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2008, wasarrested in 2020on federal charges that alleged a "pattern of stalking and harassment against three victims," including one he blamed for the dissolution of his marriage, according to prosecutors.
He was pardoned by Trump in January 2021 butre-arrested on state chargesin August.
On Wednesday he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors -- including attempted computer trespass -- that accused him of surreptitiously installing spyware on his ex-wife's computer from his work computer at the Observer in 2015.
"I believe we have a disposition today," Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Alona Katz said during an appearance in Manhattan criminal court.
If Kurson leads a "law-abiding life" for a year and performs 100 hours of community service, he can withdraw his plea and have the charges reduced to lesser violations, Katz said.
"It is acceptable to him, your honor," defense attorney Marc Mukasey told the court.
Authorities learned of Kurson's alleged stalking in 2018 during a background check he underwent after Trump nominated him for a spot on the board of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
He was pardoned by Trump after his 2020 arrest, but seven months later then-Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance indicted him on state charges.
"We will not accept presidential pardons as get-out-of-jail-free cards for the well-connected in New York," Vance said in a statement at the time the charges were announced in August.