Mayor Eric Adams, only the second Black person to serve as mayor of New York City, has also become its first sitting mayor in the city’s history to be indicted on criminal charges.
Investigations have swirled around various members of his administration for months, starting last November when his chief fundraiser Brianna Suggs, had her house raided in an FBI probe into whether Mayor Adams’ campaign had conspired with Turkey to take in illegal foreign donations. Now, the mayor himself is facing charges on five separate criminal counts, including conspiracy to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals, wire fraud and bribery.
Here’s a look into the 57-page indictment and the fallout.
Conspiracy To Commit Wire Fraud, Solicit Foreign Contributions And Accept Bribes
This count relates to alleged activity dating as far back as 2014 when Adams became Brooklyn borough president. The indictment accuses Adams of accepting expensive gifts and luxury international travel from “wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official.” His ties to Turkey, in particular, allegedly allowed him and his companions to travel to countries including Turkey, China, France, and India on Turkey’s national airline for free or “a nominal fee.”
Wire Fraud
This charge alleges that Adams’ campaign stole money from the city’s matching funds program. The program allows the city to match funds that NYC residents contribute but forbids the use of “straw donations” (contributions received from people illegally using another person’s money to donate in their own name). The indictment says that not only did the campaign receive illegal campaign funds through straw donors but then used them to receive matching funds, resulting in more than $10,000,000 in public money (although not all of that money came from straw donations).
Solicitation Of Contribution By A Foreign National
Adams received two counts of this charge relating to his alleged solicitation and receipt of campaign donations and “improper personal benefits” from foreign citizens. According to the indictment, this stems back to his time as Brooklyn borough president and the ensuing years.
Bribery
This charge alleges that once Adams ran for mayor, a Turkish official told him “it was his turn to repay “in exchange for his receipt of luxury travel from the Turkish government. Adams was asked to fast-track the opening of a new Turkish consular skyscraper without the required fire inspection, even though the FDNY identified “major issues” in the building. By allegedly threatening FDNY officials’ jobs, Adams ensured the skyscraper opened in time for a visit by Turkey’s president in 2021.
As CNN reports, Adams is also accused of concealing these alleged crimes by changing his cellphone password once FBI agents requested his phone, creating a fake paper trail, and deleting messages. The indictment states “Adams repeatedly did not disclose the free and heavily discounted travel benefits he accepted from the Turkish official, the promoter, and the airline manager; created a false paper trail to suggest he had paid for this travel when, in fact, he had not; assured the Adams staffer that he had a practice of deleting all his messages with the Adams staffer; and directed the Adams staffer to ensure that his activities in Turkey in 2021 were shielded from public view.”
The Fallout
In the wake of his indictment, several candidates seeking to challenge Adams in the next mayoral election urged him to resign, including former comptroller Scott Stringer, who said in a statement on X, “The mayor needs to resign for the good of the city. His legal fight is not our fight.” He continued, “While the mayor focuses on proving his innocence, the rest of us need to focus on the business of the city—building affordable housing, educating our kids, and keeping this city safe.”
Despite these calls for him to step down, Mayor Adams remained defiant in a Thursday press conference, saying, “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,” he said. “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 job because this is what we do as New Yorkers.”
While Mayor Adams has supporters in the Black community, many of whom stood beside him in the press conference, he also has detractors, particularly among progressives over issues like budget cuts, his tough-on-crime stance as a former police captain and handling of the migrant crisis. During Adams’ remarks, Black Lives Matter protesters heckled him, as reported by The City. Hawk Newsome, co-founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, shouted, “This is not a Black thing, this is a you thing! Your policies are anti-Black!”
The far-reaching investigation has engulfed members of his inner circle, who have also faced federal raids on their homes in the past several weeks: First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, her fiancé Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks III, and NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, who has since resigned (his twin brother is also under investigation for bribery claims.) Caban’s replacement, acting police commissioner Thomas Donlon, has also had his home raided.
Other resignations include the city’s health commissioner, the mayor’s chief legal counsel and schools chancellor David Banks, who announced this week that he will step down at the end of the year after his phone was seized in the raid on the home he shares with his brother Banks III and Wright, reported the BBC.
The federal charges collectively carry a sentence of up to 45 years in prison. Adams was arraigned in a New York City courtroom on Friday afternoon. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Adams will be back in court on October 2 and his is attorney is expected to file a motion to have the charges dismissed.
