By Diego Ramos / Original to ScheerPost
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on five federal charges, including bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams formally charged the Democratic mayor Thursday morning following word of the indictment Wednesday night. Adams becomes the first sitting New York City mayor in modern history to face a criminal indictment.
The charges span over a decade, tracing back to Adams’ tenure as Brooklyn borough president in 2014 and continuing into his time as mayor. The indictment alleges Adams “sought and accepted improper valuable benefits” in exchange for providing favorable treatment to Turkish government officials and wealthy foreigners. The charges stem from a 2021 investigation into whether Adams had taken official actions on behalf of the Turkish government.
The indictment reads, “As Adam’s prominence and power grew, his foreign-national benefactors sought to cash in on their corrupt relationships with him, particularly when, in 2021, it became clear that Adams would become New York City’s mayor. Adams agreed, providing favorable treatment in exchange for the illicit benefits he received.”
According to a New York Times report,
The benefits included luxury international travel — free and discounted Turkish Airlines tickets to Turkey and free meals and hotel rooms while there — from wealthy foreigners and at least one Turkish government official, prosecutors said. He traveled on the airline even when it was inconvenient, they said, including a 2017 flight to France from New York that first stopped in Istanbul.
Mr. Adams tried to hide the gifts or make them appear as if he had paid for them, according to the indictment, and also deleted messages to cover his actions. The value of the gifts exceeded $100,000, prosecutors said.
The indictment says Adams pressured New York Fire Department officials to approve the opening of a new high-rise Turkish consular building in Manhattan, ahead of a visit from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, threatening termination if they failed to comply despite fire inspection issues.
Federal prosecutors point to this as one of the favors granted to the Turkish government in exchange for illicit foreign campaign donations during his successful mayoral campaign run in 2021.
“The Southern District of New York remains committed to rooting out corruption without fear or favor, and without regard to partisan politics. We are not focused on the right or the left, we are focused only on right and wrong,” Williams said, according to a New York Times report.
The indictment points out Adams also stole over $10,000,000 in public funds through illegal contributions and defrauding the city’s matching funds program. According to the indictment,
New York City has a matching funds program that matches small-dollar contributions from individual City residents with up to eight times their amount in public funds, to give New Yorkers a greater voice in elections.
Prosecutors allege Adams applied for matching funds based on illegal contributions, fraudulently securing as much as $2,000 in public funds for each contribution.
One part of the indictment features text messages between an Adams staffer and a potential donor, revealing the donor’s suggestion of an illegal donation that the staffer held off. The staffer assumed Adams “wouldn’t get involved in such games. They might cause a big stink later on.” However, after the staffer consulted with Adams, the mayor agreed to the illegal scheme.
According to a New York Times report,
Early this morning [Sept. 25], federal agents searched the official residence of Mr. Adams. At about 6 a.m. on Thursday, nearly a dozen men and women dressed in business attire arrived in S.U.V.s outside the entrance of Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence, on the Upper East Side. Many agents were still at Gracie Mansion later in the morning when some of the mayor’s top advisers and his former chief counsel, Brendan McGuire, walked inside.
At a press conference, Adams said, “I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense.”
If Adams were to resign, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams would become the acting mayor.
Read the indictment here:
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Diego Ramos
Diego Ramos, ScheerPost Special Projects Editor and New York bureau chief, is a journalist from Queens, NY. He graduated from the University of Southern California in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He has previously worked at BuzzFeed News and was managing editor of Annenberg News at USC. He’s covered and researched myriad topics including war, politics, psychedelic research and sports.
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