New York City’s mayor was indicted Thursday on federal charges that he obtained bribes from foreign nationals and illegal campaign contributions in exchange for favors that included helping Turkish officials obtain fire safety approvals for a new diplomatic building in the city.
Mayor Eric Adams, a former captain in the New York City Police Department, faces charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery in a five-count indictment that describes a series of crimes spanning a decade.
At a news conference announcing the charges, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Adams had a duty to disclose the gifts he received but year after year “kept the public in the dark.”
At a separate news conference outside Gracie Mansion, the official residence of New York’s mayor, Adams said he has no plans to resign from his post as mayor of the nation’s largest city and told reporters that New Yorkers should listen to his legal team’s defense before passing judgment.
“From now on, my lawyers will take over the case so I can take over the city,” he said at the hastily held news conference after the charges were made public. “It’s an unfortunate day. And it’s a painful day. But within all of that, it’s a day when we’ll finally reveal why, for 10 months, I’ve been through this. And I look forward to defending myself.”
As Adams and others close to him addressed the media, protesters booed them, some chanting “abuse of power” as police surrounded them and one shouting: “He’s a corrupt mayor. He deserves to be in handcuffs.”
The federal prosecutor’s office in Manhattan alleges in the indictment that Adams “not only accepted, but sought illegal contributions” for his mayoral campaign. A senior official in the Turkish diplomatic establishment “facilitated numerous straw donations” to Adams and arranged for Adams and his companions to receive free or discounted travel on Turkey’s national airline to destinations including France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary and Turkey, according to the indictment.
Adams, according to the charges, “inflated his profits” from illegal contributions by abusing the city’s matching fund program, which offers a generous match for every small donation. It says his campaign received more than $10 million in additional funds as a result of the false certifications.
The mayor allegedly “solicited and demanded” bribes, including free or deeply discounted luxury travel, from a Turkish official, the indictment alleges, noting that the official sought help from Adams regarding regulations at the Turkish consulate in Manhattan. Adams created and instructed others to create false paper trails to falsely suggest he had paid for travel benefits that were actually free, prosecutors allege.
He also deleted messages with others involved in his misconduct, at one point assuring a co-conspirator that he “always” deleted his text messages, the indictment describes. The charges were made public hours after FBI agents raided the mayor’s official residence and seized his phone early Thursday.
Adams spent 22 years in the New York City Police Department before turning to politics, first as a state senator and then as Brooklyn borough president. He was elected the city’s second Black mayor in 2021.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has the power to remove Adams. Her spokesman, Avi Small, issued a statement Wednesday night saying, “Governor Hochul is aware of these troubling news reports and is monitoring the situation. It would be premature to comment further until the matter is confirmed by law enforcement.”
The indictments come after an extraordinary few weeks in New York City, in which federal investigators have targeted several close associates of Adams with a series of raids, subpoenas and resignations.
Federal authorities are believed to be conducting multiple investigations into Adams and his top aides, who are relatives of those aides, over allegations of irregular campaign fundraising and influence peddling within the Police and Fire Departments.
In the past two weeks alone, the police commissioner and the head of the school system have announced their resignations.
FBI agents seized Adams’ electronic devices nearly a year ago as part of an investigation focused, at least in part, on campaign contributions and Adams’ relationship with the Turkish government. Because of the secrecy of the investigation, it is not known whether the current investigation is related to the same issue.
In early September, federal agents seized the phones of the police commissioner, the head of the education system, two deputy mayors and other figures inside and outside the city hall. All have denied any wrongdoing.
