Newsman: New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on five federal charges related to bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy and soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals. The indictment alleges illegal actions stretching back to 2014, from when he was Brooklyn Borough president.
He allegedly received illegal campaign contributions to his first run for mayor and ongoing fundraising for a reelection run. Prosecutors say Adams accepted more than $100,000 in improper benefits, many of which came in the form of flight upgrades and stays in luxury hotels; none were publicly disclosed as required. The indictment was unsealed Thursday.
The mayor “engaged in a long-running conspiracy,” Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Thursday.
“Mayor Adams took these contributions even though he knew they were illegal,” Williams said. “He knew these contributions were attempts by Turkish government official and Turkish businessmen to buy influence with him.”
Adams is scheduled to have his first court appearance at noon Friday.
Mayor Eric Adams said he will fight the charges and will not resign. Adams addressed the press shortly after the indictment was unsealed, alongside a group of supporters, maintaining his innocence and vowing to fight the charges.
“I ask New Yorkers to hear our defense before making any judgments,” he said at the news conference, during which he was shouted at by some hecklers.
Adams vowed to continue to serve his duties.
“My day-to-day will not change,” he said.
“Everyone who knows me knows I follow campaign rules and I follow the law,” he reiterated.
“I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city as I’ve done throughout my entire professional career,” Adams said.
Adams’s attorney defended his client, saying the mayor told his staffers not to accept foreign money.
“The travel, the expenses, the flight they talk about is in 2017 – 7 years ago, 5 years before he is mayor,” Alex Spiro said outside Gracie Mansion, with the mayor at his side. “There is nothing illegal or improper about that, but they don’t want you to look at that too long.”
“ERIC ADAMS, the defendant, sought and accepted illegal campaign contributions in the form of ‘nominee’ or ‘straw’ contributions, meaning that the true contributors conveyed their money through nominal donors, who falsely certified they were contributing their own money,” the indictment states.
“As a result of those false certifications, ADAMS’s 2021 mayoral campaign received more than $10,000,000 in public funds,” the indictment alleges.
Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, however, alleged that Adams knowingly violated those laws for years.
Williams outlined allegations in the indictment in a news conference Thursday and alleged Adams provided special favors for Turkish business leaders and government officials in exchange for campaign funds and lavish gifts, including upgraded airline tickets and trips and lavish hotel rooms.
“Adams started accepting undisclosed luxury travel benefits at least as early as 2016. He took these benefits nearly every year through 2021,” he said.
The gifts were worth over $100,000 and none of it was disclosed, according to Willaims. In fact, in some cases he told staffers that he paid for the trips when that was a lie, the U.S. attorney alleged. Adams, when he was the Brooklyn borough president, allegedly solicited foreign campaign contributions while traveling in Turkey in January 2019.
“I want to be clear these upgrades and freebies were not part of some frequent flier or loyalty program available to the general public. As we alleged, this was a multi-year scheme to buy favor with a single New York City politician on the rise, Eric Adams,” Williams said.
The indictment alleges Adams used straw donations to apply for the city’s matching funds program, which gives candidates public funds to match small donations only from New York City residents for any political campaign. As early as 2018, Adams and an unidentified staff member were in communication with a Turkish businessperson who funneled tens of thousands of dollars to straw donors for Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign, according to the indictment.
“All told, the 2021 Campaign reaped over $10 million in Matching Funds based on the false certifications that the campaign complied with the law, when in fact ERIC ADAMS, the defendant, knowingly and repeatedly relied on illegal contributions,” the indictment said.
Williams said the investigation is ongoing and there may be others charged. Ore
In addition, Williams alleged that a Turkish government official tried to open a new high-rise building in 2021 in Manhattan that would house Turkey’s consulate and pushed Adams to speed up the construction permits. Despite warnings from New York City fire safety professionals, Adams pressured the fire department to open the building.
“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 Turkish official got what he wanted,” Williams said.
“Just four days after Adams held up his end of the bargain, he went right back to soliciting more travel benefits from the Turkish airline,” Williams added.
Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, stood next to his client at a news conference later in the day and blasted federal prosecutors. He called the indictment against Adams “a fake case” that criminalizes ordinary airline upgrades.
“We are talking about a total of $26,000,” Spiro said.
The attorney, who has also represented Elon Musk and Alec Baldwin, said there are emails in which the mayor said, “clearly no foreign money.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has the power to remove the mayor, but sources say she is not considering it at this point. Adams could also be removed through an “inability committee,” according to the City Charter. The committee would include the city’s top lawyer, a post that is currently vacant. City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is currently running against Adams, would also have a spot on the committee, along with the speaker of the City Council, one deputy mayor selected by the mayor and the borough president who has served the most consecutive years in office.
mayor of Adams, a former NYPD captain, took office in January 2022 and presented himself as the new face of the Democratic Party, promising a tough-on-crime approach and a commitment to revitalizing the city after the Covid-19 pandemic.
