Mayor Eric Adams was back in the spotlight on March 5, 2025, as he appeared alongside three other Democratic mayors at a congressional hearing on sanctuary cities. While he didn’t offer a direct response to questions about sanctuary policies, he stated simply, “That is the law.”
Adams’ indictment also made headlines earlier, on September 25, 2024, when he released a recorded statement asserting his innocence. The New York City native claimed he is a “target” and alleged that the federal government’s charges against him are “based on lies.” As news spread, not only New Yorkers but people across the country began asking the same question: Why was the Democrat indicted?
Why Was Mayor Eric Adams Indicted?
Adams’s indictment was unsealed on September 26, 2024. Per NBC News, the mayor was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals; one count of wire fraud; two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national, and one count of bribery.
A defiant Eric Adams responded in a taped message after he became the first sitting mayor in New York City history to be indicted while in office. pic.twitter.com/xNlCYQkZmB
— New York Post (@nypost) September 26, 2024
Was Eric Adams Arrested?
After news broke of his indictment, Adams was not immediately arrested. However, he spoke out about the charges he was facing in an address from Gracie Mansion.
“My fellow New Yorkers, it is now my belief that the federal government intends to charge me with a crime,” he said in a recorded statement. “If so, these charges are entirely false, based on lies, but they would not be surprising.”
Adams continued by saying that he “always knew that if [he] stood [his] ground” that he would “be a target.”
“A target I became,” he added. “For months, leaks and rumors have been aimed at me in an attempt to undermine my credibility and paint me as guilty. Just last week, they searched the home of our new police commissioner, looking for documents from 20 years ago.”
The mayor then vowed to “fight these injustices with every ounce of [his] strength and [his] spirit.”
“If I’m charged, I know I’m innocent,” he claimed. “I will request an immediate trial so New Yorkers can hear the truth.”
Will Eric Adams Go to Jail?
A federal judge dismissed Adams’s corruption case on April 2, meaning he will not face jail time.
Was Eric Adams’s Home Raided?
On September 26, 2024, Adams’s residence was raided by law enforcement. According to multiple outlets, agents seized the mayor’s phone from him, which his attorney, Alex Spiro, said was unnecessary.
“They send a dozen agents to pick up a phone when we would have happily turned it in,” Spiro reportedly said in a statement that morning. “Federal agents appeared this morning at Gracie Mansion in an effort to create a spectacle (again) and take [Adams’] phone (again). He has not been arrested and looks forward to his day in court.”
