NYC Mayor Eric Adams Faces 5 Federal Charges, Including Bribery

NYC Mayor Eric Adams Faces 5 Federal Charges, Including Bribery

The Southern District of New York Court unsealed the indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, revealing five federal charges.

• Count One: Conspiracy to Commit WireFraud, Federal Program Bribery, and to Receive Campaign Contributions By Foreign Nationals
• Count Two: Wire Fraud
• Count Three: Solicitation of a Contribution by a Foreign National (action from 2021)
• Count Four: Solicitation of a Contribution by a Foreign National (action from 2023)
• Count Five: Bribery

I wrote about the lengthy investigation against Adams, stemming from allegations of ties between his mayoral campaign and Turkish groups.

It’s all tied to the Turkish consulate building in Manhattan. Despite its low standards, Adams is accused of bribing people to approve the building.

Adams allegedly did this if the Turkish groups donated to his mayoral campaign.

The fire official in charge claimed he “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 government also accused Adams of continuing his corruption after his inauguration: “Adams soon began preparing for his next election, including by planning to solicit more illegal contributions and granting requests from those who supported his 2021 mayoral campaign.”

So let’s break it down.

Count One

The big one:

From at least in or about 2015 through at least in or about 2024, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, ERIC ADAMS, the defendant, and others known and unknown, willfully and knowingly combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed together and with each other to commit offenses against the United States, to wit.

The government alleges that Adams and others devised a scheme “to defraud, and for obtaining money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises” and illegally transferred money to execute the scheme.

Adams allegedly asked for a contribution from a foreign national by promising future actions once he became mayor.

During this time, Adams served as Brooklyn city borough, making him “an agent of a local government, to wit, the City of New York.”

Adams supposedly “corruptly solicited and demanded” over $10,000 in benefits under a federal program.

The indictment states that Adams “accepted and agreed to accept, a thing of value from a person, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with business, a transaction, and a series of transactions of the City of New York involving a thing of value of $5,000 and more, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 666(a)(1)(B).”

Man, the indictment devotes almost two pages to the overt acts allegedly connected to this charge.

A few include:

• In July 2017, ADAMS accepted free business tickets for himself and two companions on roundtrip flights from New York to France, Turkey, Sri Lanka, and China.
• In November 2018, ADAMS directed the Adams Staffer to arrange to accept contributions of foreign funds from Businessman-1.
• In May 2021, ADAMS submitted a false disclosure statement to the CFB that concealed the straw donations from Businessman-5.
• In July 2022, ADAMS’s senior advisor and the Adams Staffer met the Turkish Official at the Turkish House, and the Adams Staffer identified ADAMS’s senior official as the point of contact for the Turkish Official’s “pending problems regarding” the Turkish House such as “FDNY approvals.”

Count Two

The government alleges:

From at least in or about 2018 through at least in or about 2024, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, ERIC ADAMS, the defendant, knowingly having devised and intending to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud, and for obtaining money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, transmitted and caused to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, and television communication in interstate and foreign commerce, writings, signs, signals, pictures, and sounds, for the purpose of executing such scheme and artifice, to wit, ADAMS participated in a scheme to fraudulently obtain Matching Funds for the Adams Campaigns by falsely claiming that contributions qualified for Matching Funds when, in fact those contributions did not.

Count Three

Allegation:

In or about 2021, in the Southern District of New Yok and elsewhere, ERIC ADAMS, the defendant, knowingly and willfully solicited, accepted, and received, and aided and abetted and willfully caused the solicitation, acceptance and receipt of, a contribution and donation from a foreign national, and express and implied promises to make a contribution and donation, in connection with a local election, to wit, mayoral elections in the City of New York, aggregating $25,000 and more in a calendar year.

Count Four

Allegation:

In or about 2023, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, ERIC ADAMS, the defendant, knowingly and willfully solicited, accepted, and received, and aided and abetted and willfully caused the solicitation, acceptance and receipt of, a contribution and donation from a foreign national, and express and implied promises to make a contribution and donation, in connection with a local election, to wit, mayoral elections in the City of New York, aggregating $25,000 and more in a calendar year.

Count Five

Allegation:

From at least in or about the summer of 2021 , through at least in or about the summer of 2022, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, ERIC ADAMS, the defendant, being an agent of a local government, to wit, the City of New York, which, in a one year period, received benefits in excess of $10,000 under a federal program involving a grant, contract, subsidy, loan, guarantee, insurance, and other form of federal assistance, corruptly solicited and demanded for the benefit of a person, and accepted and agreed to accept, a thing of value from a person, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with business, a transaction, and a series of transactions of the City of New York involving a thing of value of $5,000 and more, to wit, ADAMS solicited and accepted free and heavily discounted luxury travel benefits from the Turkish Official and others in exchange for intending to be influenced in connection with the City ofNew York’s regulation of the Turkish House, located at 821 United Nations Plaza, New York, New York.

Adams Responds

After the unsealment, Adams addressed the charges, once again denying everything. He also won’t resign:

ADAMS: “I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments. In about 30 minutes, you’re going to hear a story of the case that is in front of us. This story will come from the federal prosecutors. And I ask to wait and hear our side to this narrative. From here, my attorneys will take care of the case so I can take care of the city. My day-to-day will not change. I will continue to do the job for 8.3 million New Yorkers that I was elected to do. And the 300,000 plus employees of our city government will continue to do their jobs because this is what we do as New Yorkers. It’s an insult to the hardworking people of this city that anyone would say that they won’t do their jobs while this case proceeds in the background. They are dedicated public servants, and I have been one of them for many years. And they’re going to continue to do their job moving the city forward every day. It’s an unfortunate day, and it’s a painful day. But inside of all of that, it’s a day where we will 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’ve done throughout my entire professional career.”

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