NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The ex-editor-in-chief of the New York Observer, who got a pardon from President Trump on his way out of office, has been hit with more cybercrime charges.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr. announced eavesdropping and computer trespass charges against Ken Kurson Wednesday for “unlawfully accessing communications of his then-wife from September 2015 through March 2016 while he served as editor-in-chief of Observer Media Group.”
In October 2020, Kurson was hit with similar charges by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York for conduct alleged in late 2015.
On Inauguration Day, Trump pardoned Kurson, but an investigation from the DA’s Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau began shortly after.
“We will not accept presidential pardons as get-out-of-jail-free cards for the well-connected in New York,” said Vance. “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.”
The New York Times describes Kurson as a “close friend” of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Kushner selected Kurson as the editor of the Observer while he was the paper's editor.
In the latest complaint filed in Manhattan Criminal Court, from September 2015 through March 2016, Kurson is alleged to have used spyware on his then-wife’s computer, which he used to get passwords to her email and social media accounts.
The complaint alleges he accessed the spyware from his Observer office, located on West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan, among other places.
In the previous charges that were pardoned by the former president, Kurson went under the aliases of “Jayden Wagner” and “Eddie Train” to allegedly stalk and harass three victims by filing false complaints with their employers, post fake negative reviews about one of them on a review website and made unsolicited contact with two of them.
Kurson was also accused of making multiple trips to the offices of two of the victims, where he allegedly took photos and asked one of them about their work schedule.
“As alleged, Kurson bullied his victims by attacking their character online and attempted to intimidate them by showing up at their place of employment without a valid reason,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney. “The shadows of cyberspace may have provided him with some cover, but once his identity was revealed, he no longer had the benefit of a virtual retreat.”
According to the Times, the Trump administration nominated Kurson to the board of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It was then that a FBI routine background check pulled up several harassment allegations.
Kurson advised Trump on a speech he gave to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee while campaigning for president in 2016, according to CNBC.