Mayor Eric Adams’ head fundraiser, whose home was raided by the FBI earlier this month in connection with a federal probe into his 2021 campaign, is no longer raising money for his 2025 re-election bid, Hizzoner said Tuesday.
The mayor made the remarks about his now-former fundraiser, 25-year-old Brianna Suggs, during his weekly off-topic press conference. The revelation came not even a month after Adams said he had “full confidence” in Suggs and wanted to keep her on his campaign team.
“[Brianna] is no longer doing fundraising for the campaign,” Adams told reporters.
A source close to the campaign told amNewYork Metro that Suggs is still with Adams’ re-election operation but is “transitioning” to another role. They declined to elaborate on whether Suggs’ title change was her own decision or the campaign’s and what her new position would be.
When pressed by a reporter about the changeup, Adams also declined to go into detail.
“I’m not gonna go into personal conversations,” the mayor said. “As we’ve said over and over again, this is an active review. And the question was asked, ‘is she still fundraising?’ And I said ‘no’ to that.”
Neither Adams nor Suggs have been accused of any wrongdoing. Adams and his surrogates have repeatedly emphasized they are cooperating with the inquiry.
Suggs’ home was raided by FBI agents on Nov. 2 as part of a broad federal investigation into whether the mayor’s 2021 campaign schemed with the Turkish government to funnel foreign donations into its accounts in exchange for political favors. During the raid, the federal agents questioned Suggs and left her Crown Heights, Brooklyn home with two laptops, three iPhones and a manila folder labeled “Eric Adams” — according to a report from the New York Times.
Following Suggs’ home being searched, Adams had two of his phones and his iPad seized by federal agents on a Manhattan street.
Investigators are also looking into whether Adams used his influence when he was Brooklyn Borough President to fast-track fire inspections for a Turkish consulate building in Midtown, Manhattan. And an alleged City Hall list of development projects from major real estate interests that should be prioritized for FDNY inspections over others.
Suggs worked as Adams’ chief fundraiser on his 2021 campaign and was leading the effort for his 2025 bid until the investigation came into public view earlier this month. She has worked for the mayor since he was Brooklyn borough president in 2017, where she started as an intern and reported to Adams’ Chief Adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who reportedly calls Suggs her “goddaughter.”
Suggs is also a registered lobbyist with the city and worked for the Striving for a Better New York PAC, which has close ties to the mayor, according to published reports.
When asked about Suggs over the weeks following the raid on her home, Adams has fiercely defended her.
“[She’s] a very bright, energetic, smart young lady who worked hard,” Adams said in a TV interview earlier this month. “She led the fundraising numbers when you looked at throughout the entire campaign. And I feel confidence in her integrity and how hard she works.”
Adams has also claimed that he pulled out of a series of planned meetings with federal officials on the migrant crisis on Nov. 2 to be there for Suggs after the “traumatic” experience of her home being searched. But he’s also maintained that he did not speak to Suggs on the day of the FBI raid.
