New York Mayor Eric Adams Charged With Bribery, Wire Fraud Tied To Illegal Campaign Contributions
UPDATED, with quotes from prosecutors’ press conference: New York Mayor Eric Adams has been charged conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bribery, in what federal prosecutors say was a conspiracy to seek and accept illegal campaign contributions.
A federal indictment, unsealed this morning, alleges a near decade-long scheme to accept illegal campaign contributions and gifts from Turkish government representatives.
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“By smuggling their contributions to Adams through U.S.-based straw donors, Adams’ overseas contributors defeated federal laws that serve to prevent foreign influence on U.S. elections,” the indictment stated.
“Wealthy individuals evaded laws designed to limit their power over elected officials by restricting the amount any one person can donate to a candidate. And businesses circumvented New York City’s ban on corporate contributions by funneling their donations through multiple employees, frustrating a law that seeks to reduce corporate power in politics. Adams increased his fundraising by accepting these concealed, illegal donations-at the cost of giving his secret patrons the undue influence over him that the law tries to prevent.”
Adams has denied the allegations, and in a message on social media on Wednesday night, he called the pending charges “entirely false based on lies.” He has resisted calls to resign and said that he will fight the allegations. He also held a press conference this morning, which was interrupted by a heckler.
ABC News reported this morning that federal agents seized the mayor’s phone.
Read the indictment of Mayor Eric Adams.
At a press conference this morning, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said that “the conduct alleged in the indictment — the foreign money, the corporate money, the bribery, the years of concealment, is a grave breach of the public’s trust.”
“Public office is a privilege,” he added. “We allege that Mayor Adams abused that privilege and broke the law, laws that ensure that officials like him serve the people, not the highest bidder, not a foreign bidder, and certainly not a foreign power.”
He said that the investigation is continuing, and “we will continue to dig and we will continue to hold more people accountable.”
The mayor was charged by a grand jury of five counts, including two counts of solicitation of a contribution from a foreign national, one count of bribery, one count of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals.
The indictment claims that Adams used the straw donors to obtain public matching funds for his 2021 campaign. His mayoral bid that year received more than $10 million in those public funds “as a result of these false certifications,” the indictment claims.
The indictment also singles out a senior official in the Turkish diplomatic establishment who “facilitated” many of the straw donations to Adams. It also claims that Adams and his companions received free and discounted travel on Turkey’s national airline, along with “free rooms at opulent hotels, free meals at high-end restaurants, and free luxurious entertainment” during their visit to the country.
The indictment claims that the Turkish official told Adams in September, 2021, “that it was his time to repay,” by pressuring the New York Fire Department to give the all clear to a new New York consular building in time for a high profile visit by Turkey’s president.
“At the time, the building would have failed an FDNY inspection,” the indictment claims. “In exchange for free travel and other travel related bribes in 2021 and 2022 arranged by the Turkish Official, Adams did as instructed. Because of Adams’ pressure on the FDNY, 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, and, after Adams intervened, the skyscraper opened as requested by the Turkish Official.”
The indictment singles out others, including a promoter who allegedly arranged straw contributions to Adams’ campaigns, and an unidentified businessman who was the owner and chairman of the Turkish University, who later allegedly made illegal contributions to the 2021 mayoral bid. Also cited was a staffer who coordinated the contributions, and a “wealthy Turkish businesswoman” who gave free or discounted stays at her luxury hotel, and arranged campaign contributions.
Prosecutors claim that Adams tried to shield his acceptance of gifts from scrutiny, by failing to disclose them in required financial forms, or by paying a nominal fee that created the appearance of paying for heavily discounted travel. In other cases, according to the indictment, Adams allegedly instructed others to create “fake paper trails, falsely suggesting that he had paid, or planned to pay, for travel benefits that were actually free.” He also told an unidentified co-conspirator that he “always” deleted her messages.
The investigation has been ongoing for some time. On Nov. 6 of last year, the FBI executed a search warrant on Adams’ electronic devices. According to the indictment, “When Adams produced his personal cellphone the next day in response to a subpoena, it was ‘locked,’ such that the device required a password to open.” Adams claimed that after he learned of the investigation, he changed the password, from four digits to six. He claimed that he wanted to assure that staffers didn’t delete messages. But then he claimed that “he had forgotten the password he had just set, and thus was unable to provide the FBI with a password that would unlock the phone.”
Adams was elected mayor in 2021, but the indictment stretches back to 2015, when he was serving as Brooklyn Borough president. He has announced plans to seek reelection next year. Adams is the first New York mayor to face criminal charges while in office.
It’s unclear whether the political fallout from the indictment will extend beyond Adams and his administration, as it comes less than six weeks before the Nov. 5 election. House Democrats are seeking to win back the majority.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a statement, “The indictment of a sitting mayor is a serious and sober moment for New York City. Like every other New Yorker and American, Eric Adams is entitled to the presumption of innocence. That principle is central to the administration of justice in the United States of America.”
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