在被时任总统唐纳德·特朗普赦免7个月后，特朗普女婿贾里德·库什纳的朋友、鲁迪·朱利安尼的前助手肯·库尔森(Ken Kurson)周三在纽约州以新的重罪指控被捕。
在布鲁克林的联邦检察官之后不久，库尔森收到了特朗普的赦免2020年10月指控他与他2015年离婚有关的网络跟踪。
库尔森现在面临曼哈顿地区检察官办公室提出的窃听和非法侵入计算机的指控，该办公室在特朗普执政的最后一天宣布赦免后几乎立即接手了此案。
曼哈顿检察官与联邦检察官调查了同样的指控行为，并指控库尔森通过非法访问前妻的计算机对其进行间谍活动。所谓的窃听和电脑入侵发生在库尔森还在《纽约观察家》担任编辑时的工作电脑上。
特朗普白宫在1月20日宣布赦免库尔森时表示，“库尔森的前妻代表他写道，她从未想过要进行这项调查或逮捕，并‘一再要求联邦调查局撤销调查’。
白宫表示:“我聘请了一名律师，以保护我免受又一轮质询。”引用她的文字。"我对这次逮捕和随后的文章深恶痛绝。"
赦免公告还称，进行调查只是因为库尔森被提名在特朗普政府中担任一个角色。
根据目前和之前的指控文件，在特朗普政府向库尔森提供国家人文科学基金会董事会席位后，联邦调查局在背景调查中发现了他涉嫌的非法行为。
库尔森在2008年帮助管理了朱利安尼不成功的总统竞选，并在2013年被拥有该报的库什纳任命为《纽约观察家报》的编辑。库尔森于2017年辞去该职位。
在联邦起诉书中，库尔森被指控骚扰三名不知名的人，包括他的前妻和另一个他认为与他离婚的人。库尔森否认有不当行为，据称他以Yelp上的负面评论以及威胁信息和匿名电话为目标。
地方检察官Cy Vance在一份声明中说:“我们不会接受总统赦免，因为这是给纽约有关系的人的出狱卡。“正如诉状中所称，库尔森在纽约观察家报的职位上发起了一场网络犯罪、操纵和虐待运动，现在纽约人民将追究他的责任。我们鼓励此类网络犯罪和亲密伴侣虐待的所有幸存者和证人向我们的办公室报告这些罪行。”
Trump family friend, associate Ken Kurson re-arrested on cyber-stalking charges
Seven months after he was granted a pardon by then-President Donald Trump, Ken Kurson, a friend of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and a former associate of Rudy Giuliani, was arrested Wednesday in New York on new, state felony charges.
Kurson received the pardon from Trump not long after federal prosecutors in Brooklyncharged him in October 2020with cyberstalking related to his 2015 divorce.
Kurson now faces charges of eavesdropping and computer trespassing filed by the Manhattan District Attorney's office, which took up the case almost immediately after the pardon was announced on Trump's final day in office.
Manhattan prosecutors looked at the same alleged conduct as federal prosecutors and accused Kurson of spying on his ex-wife by unlawfully accessing her computer. The alleged eavesdropping and computer trespass occurred from Kurson's work computer while he was still editor at The New York Observer.
"Mr. Kurson's ex-wife wrote on his behalf that she never wanted this investigation or arrest and 'repeatedly asked for the FBI to drop it,'" the Trump White House said in announcing Kurson's pardon on Jan. 20.
"I hired a lawyer to protect me from being forced into yet another round of questioning," the White Housequoted her as writing. "My disgust with this arrest and the subsequent articles is bottomless."
The pardon announcement also said that the investigation was only undertaken because Kurson was nominated for a role within the Trump administration.
According to both the current and prior charging documents, the FBI discovered Kurson's allegedly illegal conduct during a background check after the Trump administration offered him a seat on the board of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Kurson helped manage Giuliani's unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2008, and in 2013 was named the editor of The New York Observer by Kushner, who owned the newspaper. Kurson resigned from that position in 2017.
In the federal indictment, Kurson stood accused of harassing three unnamed people, including his ex-wife and another person he blamed for his divorce. Kurson, who denied wrongdoing, allegedly targeted the individual with negative reviews on Yelp along with threatening messages and anonymous calls.
"We will not accept presidential pardons as get-out-of-jail-free cards for the well-connected in New York," District Attorney Cy Vance said in a statement. "As alleged in the complaint, Mr. Kurson launched a campaign of cybercrime, manipulation, and abuse from his perch at the New York Observer, and now the people of New York will hold him accountable. We encourage all survivors and witnesses of this type of cybercrime and intimate partner abuse to report these crimes to our Office."
