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NYC Mayor Adams charged with bribery, taking foreign contributions in federal corruption indictment

Sources familiar with the matter told the News Wednesday they stem from an investigation by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office that has scrutinized allegations that Turkey’s government funneled illegal donations into Adams’ 2021 campaign coffers.

Mayor Eric Adams (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)

Mayor Eric Adams (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)

Mayor Adams is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery and to receiving campaign contributions from foreign nationals in a federal indictment unsealed Thursday as part of a City Hall federal corruption investigation.

The charges stem from an investigation by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office that has scrutinized allegations that Turkey’s government funneled illegal donations into Adams’ 2021 campaign coffers. Earlier this month, it was revealed that probe is also looking at communications between Adams and the governments of five other foreign countries.

In the indictment, federal investigators described what they called a scheme that spanned “nearly a decade,” starting when Adams became Brooklyn borough president in 2014, that involved him seeking and accepting “improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him.”

They say Adams then proceeded to solicit and accept illegal straw donations from Turkish nationals and, once he became mayor, his “foreign-national benefactors sought to cash in on their corrupt relationships with him” by seeking and securing favors from him.

 

Adams has kept this favor trading relationship going while mayor, and has continued soliciting illegal straw donations from Turkish nationals for his reelection campaign, according to the indictment.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, at a Thursday press conference on the indictment, described Adams’ corruption as “long running” and said that, since at least 2018, he accepted more than $100,000 in luxury travel benefits from some of the same foreign actors that organized the straw donations.

“This is a grave breach of public trust,” Williams said, adding that Adams solicited these benefits “even though he knew they were illegal.”

“These upgrades and freebies were not part of some frequent flyer or loyalty program,” Williams said. Instead, they were offered to buy a “New York City politician on the rise.”

“These are bright red lines, and we allege that the mayor crossed them again and again for years,” Williams said adding that the investigation into the corruption was continuing.

Adams first traveled to Turkey in 2015, where he met many of the unnamed foreign nationals who are key to the indictment, including the “Turkish Official,” a Turkish “promoter” and a Turkish “businessman” who owns a Turkish university. The trio would spend years pulling together illegal straw donations to Adams’ campaign and bribe him with gifts, the indictment claims.

After accepting the travel perks and free flights, Adams was told by the Turkish national that “it was his turn to repay” him — by pressuring the FDNY to fast-track the opening of a new 36-floor Turkish consulate, the indictment read.

“The FDNY official responsible for the FDNY’s assessment of the skyscraper’s fire safety was told that he would lose his job if he failed to acquiesce,” according to the indictment.

“Some of the people at FDNY thought the building had so many issues and defects that the building was not safe to occupy,” Williams said at the press conference. “So the Turkish official sent word to Adams that it was, quote, his turn, unquote, to support Turkey.

“Adams delivered and pressured the Fire Department to let the building open,” Williams added. “The FDNY professionals were convinced that they would lose their jobs if they didn’t back down. And so they did. They got out of the way and let the building open.”

The feds say that his campaign managed to steal public matching funds as part of this scheme by falsely certifying illegal donations to the campaign. “As a result of those false certifications, ADAMS’s 2021 mayoral campaign received more than $10,000,000 in public funds,” the indictment says.

Adams has professed his innocence. Flanked by more than a dozen leaders, Mayor Adams outside Gracie Mansion Thursday, he shot down calls to step down.

“My legal team is going to peruse the entire indictment. We got it today,” Adams said, claiming that some of the indictment had been leaked to the media. “It appears their goal is to try to this case publicly.”

Adams claimed he didn’t violate any campaign rules as a group of bystanders began screaming “Resign!”

“I look forward to have my legal team handle this as I handle the city of New York,” he said.

On Thursday morning federal investigators converged on Gracie Mansion and executed a search warrant, seizing at least one phone, his attorney Alex Spiro said.

“They emailed us a summons (and created the spectacle of a bogus raid),” Spiro said in a statement. “And very soon they will no doubt hold an hour-long dog-and-pony show presser rather than appear in open court. Federal judges call them out all the time for spinning in front of the cameras and tainting jurors. But they keep doing it because they can’t help themselves, the spotlight is just too exciting.

“We will see them in court,” Spiro said.

Several elected officials and advocates have called on Adams to resign in light of the indictment, claiming he can’t oversee city government while defending himself in a criminal federal case.

Last November, the feds seized multiple phones and electronic devices from the mayor as part of their corruption probe.

 

Mayor Eric Adams
Mayor Eric Adams (Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News)

 

Adams is the first New York City mayor in the modern era to face criminal charges while in office. His administration has been reeling in recent weeks from additional investigations and a series of high-profile resignations.

With Cayla Bamberger and Josephine Stratman

 

Author: Molly Crane-Newman, Chris Sommerfeldt, Thomas Tracy (Metro Reporter)

Source: NY Daily News:

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