New York mayor faces criminal charges

The US government has accused Eric Adams of accepting bribes from Turkish nationals

Eric Adams has become the first mayor in New York City’s 400-year history to be charged with federal crimes while in office. 

Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) unsealed the indictment against the city’s second-ever black mayor on Thursday morning, having leaked the word of its existence the day before.

US Attorney Damian Williams of the SDNY announced the charges as part of the crusade against corruption, “especially when that corruption takes the form of illegal foreign influence on our democratic system.”

The indictment charges Adams with five counts of federal crimes, including conspiracy, wire fraud, solicitation of campaign contributions from foreign nationals, and bribery. It alleges that Adams has accepted an estimated $100,000 worth of upgrades on Turkish Airlines and at luxury hotels in Türkiye since 2014, and both sought and accepted “straw” donations from Turkish nationals, which allowed him to claim $10 million in matching campaign funds from the State of New York.

Prosecutors listed two instances of Adams allegedly repaying the favors, by putting a Turkish national on his transition team after getting elected mayor in 2020, and by pressuring the New York Fire Department in September 2021 to give the 36-story Turkish consular building a temporary fire safety certificate, so it would be ready for a visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

Adams responded to news of the indictment by releasing a two-minute video message on Wednesday, in which he said the charges “will be entirely false based on lies.”

.@NYCMayor addresses New Yorkers pic.twitter.com/qEgeiNH5Fj

— Courtney Gross (@courtneycgross) September 26, 2024

“I always knew that if I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target — and a target I became,” the mayor said in the video. “If I am charged, I am innocent and will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit.”

Adams also suggested that he was a target of political persecution, noting that the corruption probe began after he publicly criticized the “broken immigration policies” of President Joe Biden that “overloaded our shelter system with no relief.” Both Biden and Adams are Democrats.

The FBI raided the home of Brianna Suggs, the top fundraisers for Adams, on November 2 last year. Adams had just arrived in Washington to complain about the surge in asylum-seekers, but cut his visit short and returned to New York.

On Thursday, Adams’ lawyer Alex Spiro released a statement accusing the SDNY of “improper leaks” and creating “the spectacle of a bogus raid,” noting that federal judges have criticized them repeatedly “for spinning in front of the cameras and tainting jurors.”

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“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.

In addition to Turkish nationals and companies, federal authorities have looked at Adams’s alleged connections with five other countries, including China, Israel, Qatar, South Korea and Uzbekistan. The investigation has also involved two deputy mayors, a police commissioner, a top aide to Adams, and his Asian Affairs advisor.

Although every mayor’s office in the last 45 years has been the subject of some kind of corruption probe, Adams is the first mayor to actually be charged with crimes while in office.