Eric Adams indictment unsealed: New York mayor charged in campaign contribution scheme
A 57-page five-count federal indictment unsealed on Thursday morning has charged Mayor Eric Adams with 5 felony counts including bribery, wire fraud, and accepting improper campaign contributions.
Adams is specifically charged with bribery, solicitation of illegal foreign campaign contributions, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud — charges that expose the mayor to significant prison time if convicted.
“Everyone who knows me knows that I follow campaign rules and I follow the law,” Mayor Adams said at a press conference outside Gracie Mansion surrounded by dozens of supporters and faith leaders including Hazel Dukes, President of the NAACP New York State Conference, after the indictment was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. See Adams’ full press conference below.
The mayor said that he was not surprised by the indictments, and vowed to continue his mayoral duties. He said people should question the federal officials who orchestrated Thursday’s events when asked if he believed the investigation was political.
The mayor is accused of taking illegal campaign contributions and bribes from foreign nationals in exchange for favors that included helping Turkish officials get fire safety approvals for a new diplomatic building in the city.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams says Adams engaged in “long-running” corruption involving bribes from foreign nationals dating back nearly a decade.
Speaking at a news conference at his Manhattan office, Williams detailed the allegations of bribery and illegal campaign contributions. Williams also said the investigation continues and more people “will be held accountable.” (See Williams full press conference below).
The indictment says a “senior official in the Turkish diplomatic establishment” facilitated illegal campaign donations to Adams, and also arranged for the mayor and his companions to receive free or discounted travel on Turkey’s national airline, which is owned in large part by that country’s government, to France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary and Turkey.
In September 2021, the indictment alleges, the Turkish official told Adams “that it was his turn to repay” that official by pressuring the New York City Fire Department to facilitate the opening of a new Turkish consulate building, which is 36-stories-tall, “without a fire inspection, in time for a high-profile visit by Turkey’s president.”
“At the time, the building would have failed an FDNY inspection,” the indictment says.
Adams “did as he was instructed,” and an FDNY official “was told that he would lose his job if he failed to acquiesce,” the indictment says.
The building then opened as requested, according to the indictment.
“I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city, as I’ve done throughout my entire professional career,” Adams said outside Gracie Mansion while flanked by supporters, after the indictment was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The indictment says Adams, a 64-year-old former police captain, received more than $10 million in public matching funds for campaign contributions by using so-called straw donors in the United States to hide the fact that he was accepting foreign campaign contributions, (see entire indictment below).
Eric Adams Indictment by BLACK WESTCHESTER MAGAZINE on Scribd
After news of the indictment broke, a growing number of elected officials and other political figures in New York also called on Adams to step down, among them city Comptroller Brad Lander and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, who are both running for mayor next year, and former Comptroller Scott Stringer, who is weighing a run for City Hall. City council members including Tiffany Cabán, Alexa Avilés, Shekar Krishnan, Lincoln Restler, Chris Banks and Bob Holden have also called on Adams to resign.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also called for Adams’ resignation Wednesday night after the indictment was announced. Ocasio-Cortez said that after the resignation of several city officials, including the police commissioner, “I do not see how Mayor Adams can continue governing New York City. “For the good of the city, he should resign,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Several protesters clashed with Mayor Eric Adams’ supporters at the press conference after his federal indictment was unsealed. “He deserves to be in handcuffs … he made the city dirty,” the hecklers shouted. The demonstrators called Adams “corrupt” and an “embarrassment to black people” as NAACP president Hazel Dukes attempted to defend Adams.
Eric Adams vowed he would not resign, saying the charges are ‘based on lies.’ He also emphasized that he will continue to lead the city.
If Adams is forced out of office or resigns before his first term in office ends, he will be succeeded by New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams as acting mayor and would need to hold an election within 80 days.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. is the Democratic leader of the U.S. House and a New Yorker.
“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,” Jeffries said in a statement. “A jury of the Mayor’s peers will now evaluate the charges in the indictment and ultimately render a determination. In the meantime, I pray for the well-being of our great City.”
