Kenneth Kurson, the prior editor of the New York Observer and close friend of Jared Kushner, was pardoned by President Trump but is now facing two state felony charges in New York. He was arrested on Wednesday and charged with eavesdropping and computer trespass.
New York prosecutors charged Kurson with eavesdropping and installing spyware on his then-wife’s computer. The prosecutors accuse him of “knowingly using a computer or computer service to commit and further the commission of a felony.”
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance announced the charges against Kurson, only a year after Trump pardoned Kurson for similar cybercrimes related to this divorce.
Only a year ago in 2020, Kursen was charged in New York alleging he harassed and cyber hacked three people, who were involved in his then-wife’s professional or personal life. The case, which ended in the Trump pardon, followed on the heels of his divorce from the same woman that he is now accused of cyberstalking.
However, Trump’s pardon did not stop the newest state-level charges against Kurson.
Court documents list specific illegal actions allegedly by Kurson of wiretapping, or illegal mechanical overhearing of a conversation, or intercepting an electronic communication.
Kurson, 52, who is now divorced from his wife, is accused of cyberstalking her both on her Facebook page and Gmail account.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office said Kurson monitored the digital activity of his then-wife from September 2015 to March 2016. In the complaint, his ex-wife, who is not named, said Kurson spied on his then-wife from his office using spyware, seeing every keystroke in real-time.
His ex-wife said that Kurson wreaked havoc on her professional and personal life. Published reports state she told authorities he “terrorized her through email and social media causing her problems at work and in her social life.”
Only a year ago, in 2020, Kurson was charged with very similar crimes of cyberstalking of three people. At the time, one of the alleged three victims of his cyberstalking was reported to be the reason, in part, for his divorce.
Court papers state that, “between approximately November 2015 and December 2015, Kurson engaged in a pattern of stalking and harassment against three victims. As part of this pattern, Kurson used multiple aliases to file false complaints about two of the victims with their employer, post false negative reviews about one victim’s professional conduct on crowd-sourced review websites and made unsolicited contact with two of the victims.”
As part of the alleged cyberstalking, the court document alleges, “Kurson traveled on multiple occasions to the workplace of two of the victims, taking photographs and inquiring about one victim’s work schedule. During the investigation, the FBI gathered evidence that Kurson simultaneously engaged in a similar pattern of harassment against two other individuals. As a result of Kurson’s conduct, an employer of two of the victims hired a security guard.”
In 2020, at the time of the prior charges against Kurson, Acting United States Attorney DuCharme said, “Kurson is alleged to have engaged in a disturbing pattern of retaliatory harassment that intimidated and alarmed several victims and their employer. This Office is committed to protecting victims from malicious cyberstalking activity and apprehending criminals who try to rely on Internet anonymity to facilitate their crimes.”
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney agreed, saying, “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. 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.”
Kurson is the co-author of the 2002 bestseller book “Leadership” by Rudy Guiliani. He was also appointed by Ivanka Trump’s husband Jared Kushner as the New York Observer news editor and later became the owner of Observer Media Group.
Kurson denies the charges.
