Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams on Thursday unsealed a 57-page indictment that accuses Mayor Eric Adams of performing favors for Turkish foreign nationals after soliciting illegal donations from them — which in turn generated many times more in public matching funds for his 2021 mayoral campaign.
The five-count indictment of Adams, the first mayor of New York City to ever be charged with a crime while in office, includes allegations against him of wire fraud, bribery and receiving contributions from foreign nationals — which he knew to be illegal, according to prosecutors.
The foreign nationals, including a “senior official in the Turkish diplomatic establishment,” raised much of this through illegal “straw” donations, and also showered the peripatetic mayor with more than $120,000 in free airfare, hotel stays and “luxurious entertainment” on trips around the world, the indictment alleges.
In return, Adams pressured fire officials in September 2021 — when he was expected to win City Hall — to allow a new 36-story building housing the Turkish consulate to open without a fire safety inspection in time for a visit by Turkey’s president Tayyip Erdogan. The indictment notes the building would have failed the inspection.
“Because of ADAMS’s 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 says.
The alleged freebies date back to at least 2016, when Adams served as Brooklyn Borough President, and allowed Adams and his companions to receive free or discounted air fare to France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary and Turkey.
Adams was not arrested but is expected to surrender to federal authorities next week, when he will be arraigned in federal court. It’s based on a lengthy investigation by the FBI and the city Department of Investigation.
Adams’ campaign officials have repeatedly insisted they and the mayor had no knowledge that any of these contributions were illegal. Williams said the evidence will show Adams “took these contributions even though he knew they were illegal.”
The indictment made it clear his benefactors expected something in return — and Adams granted their wishes.
“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,” the indictment alleges. The mayor was “providing favorable treatment in exchange for the illicit benefits he received.”
Prosecutors also described Adams’ efforts to cover his tracks, noting that he directed others to create fake records and a false paper trail to make it seem he was paying for travel perks that he was actually getting for free.
And it appears that he deliberately deleted messages with others involved in his alleged misconduct, including one instance in which he assured a co-conspirator “in writing that he ‘always’ deleted her messages.”
