Mayor Eric Adams was criminally charged on multiple counts of bribery, soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations and wire fraud in a historic Thursday indictment, making him the first sitting New York City mayor to be indicted and throwing his political future into serious question.
The massive 57-page indictment, brought by Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams’ office, alleges a scheme dating back nearly a decade, in which Adams solicited and accepted illegal foreign campaign donations from the a Turkish government official and Turkish businessmen and gifts in exchange for helping speed up approvals for a Midtown Manhattan Turkish consulate building.
Additionally, Adams is accused of hiding the illegal foreign contributions via straw donations and using those donations to attain $10,000,000 in public matching funds for his 2021 mayoral campaign.
Williams laid out the allegations at a Thursday morning news conference.
“As the indictment alleges, Mayor Adams engaged in a long-running conspiracy in which he solicited and ultimately accepted illegal campaign contributions from foreign donors and corporations,” Williams said. “As we allege, Mayor Adams took these contributions even though he knew they were illegal. And even though he knew these contributions were attempts by a Turkish government official and Turkish businessmen to buy influence with him.”
On top of that, the indictment alleges that between 2016 and 2021, Adams solicited and accepted over $100,000 in free flight upgrades and luxury hotel rooms from Turkish businessmen and one Turkish official without publicly disclosing them.
“We also allege that the mayor sought and accepted well over $100,000 in luxury travel benefits from some of the same foreign actors who arranged many of the illegal campaign contributions,” Williams said. “These benefits included free international business class flights and opulent hotel rooms in foreign cities. The mayor had a duty to disclose these gifts on his annual public disclosure forms so that the public could see who was giving him what. As we allege, year after year after year, he kept the public in the dark.”
The indictment resulted from a multi-year investigation into Adams’ conduct led by the US Attorney’s office, the FBI and the city Department of Investigation.
Ahead of Williams’ announcement, at Gracie Mansion, Mayor Adams held a press conference with supporters standing with him — again blasting the charges as false and urging New Yorkers “to wait and hear our side of the narrative.”
“It’s an unfortunate day and it’s a painful day,” the mayor said. “But aside from that, it’s a day when we finally reveal why, for 10 months, I have gone through this. And I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city as I have done for my entire professional career.”
Adams also strongly contested the allegations that his campaign solicited and accepted foreign donations through straw donors. He charged that federal law enforcement did not follow proper procedure by leaking details about the case to the press over the past year.
“I follow the rules, I follow the law … I do not participate with straw donors, I do not participate with foreign donors, we know those rules and we comply with those rules,” Adams said. “It appears as though the goal is to try to do these things publicly and not in the criminal justice system that’s in place.”
Throughout the impromptu news conference, Adams dissenters spoke over him and his supporters and chanted “Resign!”
Travel abroad
Some of the specifics in the indictment include Adams and a travel companion allegedly receiving two free round-trip flight upgrades to India, via Turkey, from Turkish Airlines in 2016 — when Adams served as Brooklyn borough president. Those business class upgrades, which Adams did not publicly disclose, were worth over $12,000.
The indictment also alleges that Adams and two travel companions were put up in the Bentley Suite in the St. Regis Istanbul hotel at a heavilly discounted rate — $600-a-night down from the standard rate of $7,000. He allegedly did not disclose to the city the discounted hotel room either in order to hide the foreign influence of Turkish nationals.
Prosecutors allege that Adams also created a fake paper trail through emails to staffers suggesting he had paid for the upgraded flights when he had not.
When it comes to the donations to Adams’ 2021 campaign, the indictment alleges that Adams began accepting federally prohibited foreign contributions for his mayoral run in 2018. Adams accepted the contributions from multiple Turkish businessmen who he met in Turkey, prosecutors allege, with the full knowledge that they were illegal.
“Adams directed his staff to pursue this illegal money to support his campaign for mayor,” Williams said.
The mayor also sought and accepted contributions from businessmen and corporations, the indictment alleges, the latter of which is illegal in New York City. To hide the donations that exceeded legal contribution limits, Adams received the money through straw donations — when a person makes a donation in their name on behalf of another and is then reimbursed for it.
Adams accepted straw donations from two businessmen, one of whom is part of the Turkish community who operated two local construction companies, the indictment alleges.
Ultimately, a Turkish government official — who was Turkey’s Consul General at the time — Adams had dealings with throughout the years cashed in on their benefits and donations they had helped steer toward Adams, the indictment alleges. That came in the form of requesting that he use his position as Brooklyn borough president to ask the FDNY to speed up approvals for a Manhattan high-rise Turkish consulate building that had failed to pass fire safety inspections.
“Adams delivered and pressured the Fire Department to let the building open,” Williams said.
Reaction
News of the unsealed indictment Wednesday night immediately sparked a wave of new calls for Adams to resign, but he remained defiant that he will continue serving as mayor while fighting the charges. Those calling on him to step down include city Comptroller Brad Lander, US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a growing number of City Council members — including conservative Democratic member Robert Holden (Queens).
Additionally, all of the candidates who have declared runs against Adams in the 2025 Democratic primary so far have also called on him to resign. They include Lander, state Sens. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens) and Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) and former city Comptroller Scott Stringer.
Adams has blasted the allegations as “lies” and implied they are retribution from President Biden’s administration for his frequent criticism that it has not done enough to help with a huge influx of migrants in recent years.
Lander, who is perhaps Adams’ greatest political foe, said he thinks Adams’ allegations about the investigation amounting to payback by the Biden administration is “terrible.”
“I think questioning the Justice Department’s investigation, suggesting that it’s weaponized prosecution, I mean, Donald Trump is the only other person that I’m aware of doing that,” Lander said. “It doesn’t make any sense. It’s obviously false. There’s no evidence it’s true.”
If Adams does resign, election and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams would step up as mayor in the interim and would have to call a special election that would take place over a two to three month period. If he does not, either Gov. Kathy Hochul or what is known as an “inability committee” made up of — the city Comptroller, a deputy mayor, the City Council Speaker and the most senior borough president — can force him out.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, when asked about the committee potentially moving forward to remove the mayor, said Thursday, “We are not prepared today to give an answer to that question.”
“We will continue to monitor the situation to be in talks with our colleagues both at city and state level as we all monitor the situation and see how this further unfolds,” she added.
Public Advocate Williams, meanwhile, in a Thursday afternoon statement stopped short of calling on the mayor to resign.
“It is federal officials’ obligation to prove their case, and it is the mayor’s obligation to prove to New Yorkers that there is a real plan and path to govern the city effectively and regain trust, and his time to show that plan is rapidly running out,” Williams said.
The charges came after nearly a year of speculation following a federal raid on Adams’ top 2021 campaign fundraiser Brianna Suggs last November. Suggs still works on Adams’ 2025 reelection campaign, he has previously said, but is now handling clerical work instead of fundraising.
They also followed a month of ramped-up federal law enforcement action surrounding the Adams administration, including home raids and electronics seizures of some of his top officials. Those actions led to a rapid succession of resignations, including former Police Commissioner Edward Caban, City Hall Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg, Schools Chancellor David Banks, and Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan.
Williams signaled there will be more charges to come in the near future.
“This investigation continues, we continue to dig and we will hold more people accountable,” Williams siad.
Adams — the city’s second Black mayor — took office in 2022, after narrowly winning a ranked-choice primary the year prior. A former police captain, Adams is a centrist Democrat who won the mayor’s race on the promise of reigning in crime and has continued to make that the centerpiece of his mayoralty over his nearly three years in office.
Although the four separate federal investigations surrounding the administration have been Adams’ biggest Achilles Heel, his time in office has also been marred by a contentious relationship with the City Council and the influx of over 200,000 migrants to the city.
This is a developing story; check with amNY.com for further updates.
