For his 2021 mayoral campaign, Adams disguised campaign contributions from Turkish sources by funneling it through U.S. citizens, the indictment said. Those funds allowed Adams to qualify for an additional $10 million in public financing.
Adams accepted well over $100,000 in luxury travel overall, said Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan.
“This was a multi-year scheme to buy favor with a single New York City politician on the rise,” Williams said at a news conference.
Prosecutors say Adams responded to Turkish concerns. He cut ties with a community center in Brooklyn after a Turkish diplomat said it was affiliated with a hostile political movement, according to the indictment, and in 2023 helped a Turkish businessman resolve a permitting issue with the city.
In 2021, Adams, acting on a request by the diplomat, pressured a fire department official to allow the country’s new consulate to open even though it would have failed a fire inspection, the indictment said.
Adams denied wrongdoing and said he was aiming for a public trial to defend himself. “If it’s foreign donors, I know I don’t take money from foreign donors,” he said.
TOP CITY OFFICIALS RESIGN
The case is likely to complicate any Adams bid for re-election in 2025, as other Democratic politicians, including New York City comptroller Brad Lander, plan to challenge him.
U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also a Democrat, became the first member of Congress to urge him to step down.
New York has been in a state of political upheaval for the past month. Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned on Sept. 12, a week after FBI agents seized his phone. Days later, Adams’ chief legal adviser resigned.
On Wednesday, the city’s public schools chief David Banks said he would retire at the end of the year, after the New York Times reported his phones were seized by federal agents.
U.S. prosecutors charged New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday with accepting illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel from Turkish nationals seeking to influence him, marking the conclusion of an investigation that has plunged the largest U.S. city’s government into chaos.
In a detailed 57-page indictment, prosecutors outlined an alleged scheme dating back to 2014 that financially supported Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign, providing him with complimentary stays at luxurious hotels and meals at upscale restaurants. In exchange, Adams reportedly pressured city officials to waive safety inspections and facilitate the opening of Turkey’s new 36-story consulate.
He now faces five criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Adams, 64, firmly denied any wrongdoing and stated, “I will continue to do my job as mayor,” asserting that he would fight the charges and would not resign, despite calls from some onlookers at a news conference for him to step down.
Turkey’s foreign ministry, president’s office, and its embassy in Washington had yet to comment on the situation.
Earlier on Thursday, federal agents conducted a search of the mayor’s residence at Gracie Mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. A Reuters witness observed around a dozen individuals in business attire walking on the mansion’s grounds, carrying briefcases and duffel bags.
Adams, a former police officer who advanced to the rank of captain, is the first of New York City’s 110 mayors to face criminal charges while in office. Although Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul has the authority to remove him from office, the process is reportedly complex.
Regarding the allegations, the indictment claims that Adams accepted free travel from a Turkish airline valued at tens of thousands of dollars while he served as Brooklyn borough president. Additionally, he allegedly paid only $600 for two nights in a luxury suite at the St. Regis hotel in Istanbul, far below the actual cost of $7,000.
