Mayor Eric Adams Accused of Fraud, Bribery

By Ethan Stark-Miller, Robert Pozarycki, Kirstyn Brendlen, amNY

Mayor Eric Adams was criminally charged on multiple counts of bribery, soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations and wire fraud in a historic Thursday indictment, making him the first sitting New York City mayor to be indicted and throwing his political future into serious question.

The massive 57-page indictment, brought by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams’ office, alleges a scheme dating back nearly a decade, in which Adams solicited and accepted illegal foreign campaign donations from the government of Turkey and gifts in exchange for helping speed up approvals for a Midtown Manhattan Turkish consulate building.

Additionally, Adams is accused of hiding the illegal foreign contributions via straw donations and using those donations to attain $10,000,000 in public matching funds for his 2021 mayoral campaign.

Williams laid out the allegations at a Thursday morning news conference.

“As the indictment alleges, Mayor Adams engaged in a long-running conspiracy in which he solicited and ultimately accepted illegal campaign contributions from foreign donors and corporations,” Williams said. “As we allege, Mayor Adams took these contributions even though he knew they were illegal. And even though he knew these contributions were attempts by a Turkish government official and Turkish businessmen to buy influence with him.”

On top of that, the indictment alleges that Adams solicited and accepted over $100,000 in free flight upgrades and luxury hotel rooms from Turkish businessmen and one Turkish official without publicly disclosing them.

“We also allege that the mayor sought and accepted well over $100,000 in luxury travel benefits from some of the same foreign actors who arranged many of the illegal campaign contributions,” Williams said. “These benefits included free international business class flights and opulent hotel rooms in foreign cities. The mayor had a duty to disclose these gifts on his annual public disclosure forms so that the public could see who was giving him what. As we allege, year after year after year, he kept the public in the dark.”

The indictment resulted from a multi-year investigation into Adams’ conduct led by the U.S. Attorney’s office, the FBI and the city Department of Investigation.

The alleged misdeeds stretch back to 2014 when Adams was Brooklyn borough president. According to the indictment: “Within a year of becoming Brooklyn Borough President, Eric Adams, the defendant, began building relationships with foreign nationals who were seeking influence with him. In the years that followed, Adams solicited and knowingly accepted illegal campaign contributions and improper personal benefits from those foreign nationals.”

Ahead of Williams’ announcement, at Gracie Mansion, Mayor Adams held a press conference with supporters standing with him — again blasting the charges as false and urging New Yorkers “to wait and hear our side of the narrative.”

“It’s an unfortunate day and it’s a painful day,” the mayor said. “But aside from that, it’s a day when we finally reveal why, for 10 months, I have gone through this. And I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city as I have done for my entire professional career.”

Adams also strongly contested the allegations that his campaign solicited and accepted foreign donations through straw donors. He charged that federal law enforcement did not follow proper procedure by leaking details about the case to the press over the past year.

“I follow the rules, I follow the law … I do not participate with straw donors, I do not participate with foreign donors, we know those rules and we comply with those rules,” Adams said. “It appears as though the goal is to try to do these things publicly and not in the criminal justice system that’s in place.”

Throughout the inpromptu news conference, Adams dissenters spoke over him and his supporters and chanted “Resign!”

The charges

News of the unsealed indictment Wednesday night immediately sparked a wave of new calls for Adams to resign, but he remained defiant that he will continue serving as mayor while fighting the charges.

Adams has blasted the allegations as “lies” and implied they are retribution from President Biden’s administration for his frequent criticsm that it has not done enough to help with a huge influx of migrants in recent years.

If Adams does resign, it would trigger a 60-day special election and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams would step up as mayor in the interim. If he does not, either Governor Kathy Hochul or what is known as an “inability committee” — made up of the city Comptroller, a deputy mayor, the City Council Speaker, and the most senior borough president — can force him out.

The charges came after nearly a year of speculation following a federal raid on Adams’ top 2021 campaign fundraiser Brianna Suggs at her Crown Heights home last November.

Adams — the city’s second Black mayor — took office in 2022, after narrowly winning a ranked-choice primary the year prior. A former police captain, Adams is a centrist Democrat who won the mayor’s race on the promise of reining in crime and has continued to make that the centerpiece of his mayoralty over his nearly three years in office.

Although the four separate federal investigations surrounding the administration have been Adams’ biggest Achilles Heel, his time in office has also been marred by a contentious relationship with the City Council and the influx of over 200,000 migrants to the city.

This is a developing story; check with amNY.com for further updates. This story will be updated with additional details on the indictment as they are revealed.

Editor’s note: A version of this story originally ran in amNY. Click here to see the original story.

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