Former New York Observer editor Ken Kurson takes plea deal in cyberstalking case
Ken Kurson, the former New York Observer editor-in-chief accused of cyberstalking his ex-wife, pleaded guil🐭ty to reduced charges Wednesday as part of a deal with pros⭕ecutors.
Kurson, 53, was accused of installing spyware on his then-wife’s computer and monitoring her online activity, even obtaining passwords to her Gmail and Facebook accounts, as the two were undergoing a bitter divorce in 2015.
He was charged in August with eavesdropping and computer trespass, each a felony that carries a sentence o𓄧f up to four year⛄s in prison.
The state charges, brought by former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., spun out of✅ a federal case against Kursoඣn, also tied to his divorce.
The feds accused Kurson in 2020 of cyberstalking three people and harassing two others. But former President Donald Trump pardoned Kurson in the final hours of his presidency. The administration Kurson’s ex-wife had written a letter to federal prosecutors imploring them to drop the charges.
Kurson is a former associate and friend of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who previously owned Observer Media Group.
Now remarried, Kurson was accompanied by his wife in Manhattan Criminal Court as he copped to attempted computer tꦅrespassing and attempted eavesdropping, both misdemeaꦇnors.
If Kurson completes 100 hours of community service and is not arrested in connection with another crime for a year, he’ll have the opportunity to withdraw those pleas and instead cop to harassment, a violation.
Neither he nor his attorney Marc Mukasey comm𝓡ented after the hearing.
