Federal prosecutors on Friday pushed back forcefully on a motion by Mayor Eric Adams to dismiss a key bribery count against him.
In fighting his indictment by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Willians, Adams moved to dismiss a bribery count by insisting he was not doing favors for the Turkish government.
Adams was merely performing routine constituent services when as Brooklyn borough president, he pushed the FDNY to open a Manhattan high-rise for them that the department had deemed unsafe, the mayor’s attorneys claimed.
On Friday prosecutors slapped back at that assertion, zeroing in on an alleged conversation in which the mayor himself acknowledged that he was, in fact, returning the favor to Turkish officials whom prosecutors allege had already arranged illegal pass-through campaign donations and $90,000 in free travel perks for him.
“The Indictment describes a conversation that is about as express as courts see in a bribery case,” papers filed by Williams argued.
The crucial exchange occurred on Sept. 5, 2021, after Adams had won the primary and was expected to win the general election.
By then he’d received free and discounted air fare, luxury hotel stays and other perks from the Turkish government for trips to India, France, China, Hungary and Turkey, the indictment alleges.
At the time, fire inspectors had refused to certify as safe a newly built tower near the United Nations that was to house the Turkish consulate, and the then-Turkish consul general in New York, Reyhan Ozgur, informed Rana Abbosova, a campaign volunteer who would later become a mayoral staffer, that because Turkey had supported Adams, it was now “his turn” to support Turkey.
When Abbosova relayed this conversation to the soon-to-be mayor, Adams replied, “I know,” according to the indictment.
Three days later, Adams began communicating with the then fire commissioner – who had already asked him if he could hold on to his job when City Hall changed hands – to do what he could to let the building open. Ultimately the building opened under an unusual “temporary certification order” signed by an inspector prosecutors say feared losing his job if he refused.
“The natural reading of that exchange is that Adams was acknowledging a pre-existing bargain,” prosecutors wrote in responding to the motion to dismiss the bribery count. And after Adams did as the Turks had requested and pressured the FDNY, “Adams reached right back out to collect more payment, requesting what would amount to over $12,000 in luxury travel,” prosecutors made clear in their motion.
Adams, prosecutors say, directed Abbasova to arrange a vacation to Turkey for himself and his companion. He purchased two economy class tickets, which a Turkish airline official then upgraded to business class. At the last minute, he switched his plans to fly to Ghana, which the Turkish official arranged.
Adams’ travel plans included a nine-hour layover in Istanbul, for which the Turkish official arranged an airport escort, a driver and dinner at a high-end restaurant. This resulted in $12,000 in free and discounted travel perks and no penalty for the last-minute switch.
Adams reported none of this on his financial disclosure forms.
One of Adams’ attorneys, Alex Spiro, has ridiculed the federal allegations that the mayor got travel perks as bribes, calling it the “airline upgrade case” and arguing Adams received nothing more than “vacant business-class seats and a car ride,” implying that travelers often get free last minute upgrades when seats become available.
But in their response to Adams’ motion to dismiss the bribery charge, prosecutors — noting that the mayor received free and discounted travel perks worth $120,000 from 2016 into 2021 — portrayed the mayor as pursuing and obtaining these free flights and hotel suites not at the last minute but “well in advance of his travel, not because the accommodations were unsold, but so that he could reserve extravagant perks while appearing to pay his own way.”
Adams’ lawyer also took aim at a June 2021 luxury trip to Turkey with stays at the Four Season in Istanbul and luxury beach resorts worth $20,000 that Adams planned directly with Ozgur. Adams canceled it at the last minute, which Spiro argued meant the mayor “received no benefit.”
That argument, prosecutors contended, might surprise the average, everyday traveler.
“Few other New Yorkers could likely reserve a week-long luxury trip to a foreign county, including multiple flights and hotels as well as meals and entertainment, merely by buying two economy class seats, then cancel on the day of their departure and receive a full refund.”
Spiro has until next Friday to respond to the government. Manhattan Federal Judge Dale Ho will then weigh both arguments and rule soon after, given an aggressive schedule he’s set up to move the case toward trial as quickly as possible.
