Mayor Eric Adams put on a brave face as he entered Manhattan federal court on Friday morning, surrendering to federal authorities ahead of his arraignment on historic corruption charges scheduled for noon.
The mayor appeared stoic but dour as he walked from his black Chevy Suburban SUV, flanked by his security detail, into the Southern District of New York courthouse at 8:48 a.m. on Sept. 27. He did not say anything as he walked by crowds of reporters on both sides, but flashed his characteristic thumbs up for the cameras.
During his arraignment, Adams is expected to plead “not guilty” to a five-count indictment unsealed on Thursday that includes charges of conspiracy, bribery, soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations and wire fraud.
The mayor is accused of soliciting and accepting illegal foreign campaign donations and undisclosed gifts from a Turkish official and businessmen for over a decade in exchange for using his position as Brooklyn borough president to speed up fire safety approvals for the country’s new Midtown consulate high-rise in 2021. Federal prosecutors further allege that Adams actively covered up his illegal activity by destroying paper trails and using straw donors to bring the illicit foreign donations into his campaign coffers.
He then allegedly used those donations to attain $10,000,000 in public funds for his 2021 mayoral campaign from the city’s generous matching funds program, which offers an eight to one match.
For his part, the mayor insists he is entirely innocent and that the case is based on “lies.”
The mayor’s lawyer Alex Spiro, who has represented celebrities including Jay-Z and Elon Musk, argued on Thursday afternoon that the case is frivilous. Spiro charged that the free flight upgrades Adams is accused of accepting from Turkish Airlines were completely legal and that the mayor is not personally implicated in soliciting foreign donations.
“There are emails with Mayor Adams telling them, telling this staffer, telling all of them, do not take foreign money, period,” he said. “That’s in emails. You will see those.”
However, the indictment recounts an instance where an unnamed Adams staffer heavily involved in his dealings with Turkish nationals told him “To be o[n the] safe side Please Delete all messages you send me.”
To which Adams allegedly replied “Always do.”
