'FIRST STOP IS ALWAYS INSTANBUL'[sic]: READ ERIC ADAMS’ INDICTMENT
FEDERAL INDICTMENT AGAINST NEW YORK CITY MAYOR ALLEGES WORLD CORRUPTION TOUR
Sept. 26, 2024
New York City’s mayor has been indicted on felony corruption charges.
"For nearly a decade, Eric Adams sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel," the federal indictment alleges, "including from wealthy business people and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him."
The core of the five-count indictment are its allegations Adams solicited bribes and illegal campaign donations from foreign nationals. It also alleges he committed wire fraud and conspiracy to commit the charged crimes.
The indictment details a long, alleged chain of corruption starting when the former NYPD officer was elected Brooklyn Borough president in 2014. By 2018, the indictment alleges, Adams publicized his plan to run for mayor and "not only accepted, but sought illegal campaign contributions to his 2021 mayoral campaign, as well as other things of value, from foreign nationals."
For example, Adams directed an unnamed person who was working for him to obtain up to a $100,000 donation from a Turkish national while acknowledging at the same time it was illegal. The Turkish contact Adams' agent was dealing with even texted him: "Fund Raising in Turkey is not legal, but I think I can raise money for your campaign off the record."
To get around the law, the contact said they'd use a straw donor.
"I'll send it to an American," the contact wrote. "He will make a donation to you."
In exchange for selling his office, Adams received "free or discounted travel on Turkey's national airline." He jetted off to "France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary, and Turkey itself," the indictment alleges. Adams "and his companions" wined and dined for free "at high end restaurants." They stayed in "free rooms at opulent hotels," including in the "Bentley Suite" in the St. Regis Istanbul. They also enjoyed "free luxurious entertainment."
The unreported gifts totalled more than $123,000, according to the indictment.
Adams used Turkey's national airline even though it was sometimes inconvenient, the indictment alleges.
"You know first stop is always instanbul[sic]," he texted his domestic partner in 2017 when she was surprised to learn he was in Turkey instead of France. (Istanbul is Turkey's capital.)
Back in New York, Adams "and others working at his direction" worked to hide the bribes "from public scrutiny." Among other things, Adams did not disclose the benefits as he was legally required to as a city employee. He also "created and instructed others to create fake paper trails."
One of the special favors Adams did for Turkey was pressure the FDNY to approve, without a fire inspection, a new 36-story tall skyscraper in Manhattan owned by the Turkish government "in time for a high-profile visit by Turkey's president."
Adams' scheming continued in 2023 and 2024, when he allegedly solicited illegal donations toward his 2025 re-election campaign.
When FBI agents stopped Adams's motorcade on Nov. 6, 2023 to seize his mobile phones pursuant to a court-authorized warrant, he did not have his personal phone with him. He provided it the next day, but provided it passcode locked while claiming he forgot the code.
"As the federal investigation into the criminal conduct" of Adams, "the defendant, continued so did efforts to frustrate that investigation," the indictment alleges.
20 years in federal prison is the maximum sentence Adams faces under the top count in the indictment.
Adams responded to his indictment by lambasting the charges as "entirely false based on lies" in a video sent to a Daily News reporter Wednesday night.
He cast the charges as retaliation by the federal government for highlighting the hardships unrestricted migration was causing New Yorkers.
"I always knew, that if I stood my ground for all of you, that I would be a target," he said, "And a target I became."
A growing chorus of public officials is calling on Adams to resign. In his video, he vowed to stand and fight the charges.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has the legal power to remove Adams but Adams has been her ally in past political fights so it's not clear if she will.
If Hochul does decide to remove Adams or he changes his mind and resigns, the City's Public Advocate Jumaane Williams becomes acting mayor by law. The City Charter requires a snap election in 90 days.
The case has been assigned to newly-minted Federal judge Dale E. Ho, nominted by Pres. Joe Biden. Ironically, prior to his Senate confirmation as a judge, Ho served as the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project.
Adams has not yet been arraigned on the charges.
Here’s the Eric Adams indicment in full.