NYC mayor indicted on bribery, wire fraud charges

Federal prosecutors on Thursday unsealed a 57-page indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, charging that the leader of America's largest city engaged in widespread corruption, including conspiring with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign campaign contributions.

The indictment accuses Adams, 64, of seeking and accepting improper benefits since at least 2014 when he was Brooklyn borough president. He faces one count of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, two counts of solicitation of a contribution from a foreign national and one count of bribery, according to the indictment.

Adams said he won't resign and will fight the charges.

US District Court Judge Dale Ho of the Southern District of New York ordered Adams to appear at noon Friday for an arraignment before a federal magistrate, but a lawyer for the mayor asked the judge to move the hearing to next week, The New York Times reported.

Federal prosecutors charge that Adams took more than $100,000 in "improper valuable benefits", such as flight upgrades and luxury hotel stays not divulged publicly as required and used his office to help Turkiye.

A police officer who declined to give his name and is serving with hundreds of other officers providing security for the ongoing United Nations General Assembly in New York, said he and fellow officers weren't surprised by the indictment of Adams. "But we were shocked at the resignation of our police commissioner," he told China Daily.

Commissioner Edward Caban resigned last week amid a federal investigation into the department's nightclub enforcement, sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. The city's first Latino policer commissioner took over the department in July 2023.

Another police officer in the security detail three blocks from the UN said to China Daily: "How could he [Adams] afford all those luxury suits and ties he wore every day? He got a helping hand from someone," she said.

The indictment was unsealed Thursday morning after federal agents appeared at Gracie Mansion, the mayor's official residence on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and seized his phone.

Surrounded by supporters and hecklers nearby who interrupted and called him a "disgrace", Adams told the media minutes before the indictment was unsealed that he didn't commit the crimes listed in the document.

"If it's campaign violations, I know I don't violate the campaign. If it's foreign donors, I know I don't take money from foreign donors," Adams said. "I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense."

The retired police captain was elected New York's 110th mayor in 2021, running on an anti-crime platform.

The indictment alleges that "all told, Adams' 2021 campaign reaped over $10 million in Matching Funds based on the false certifications that the campaign complied with the law, when in fact … the defendant, knowingly and repeatedly relied on illegal contributions".

Adams' inner circle also is facing federal investigations, and some, including the police commissioner, have recently resigned.

Damian Williams, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, whose office is prosecuting Adams, said that Thursday's indictment — the first criminal charges filed against an incumbent mayor of New York — probably wouldn't be the last.

On Wednesday night after news broke that Adams had been indicted, numerous elected officials called for him to resign, including several Democrats running against him in next year's primary.

Governor Kathy Hochul has the power to remove the mayor. She told reporters that the news was "shocking in its scale", but said she will be "deliberative" before taking any action.

"I will say this: I will take my time to review this indictment, see what's embedded in it," she said. "I am not going to send any indication, at this time, of what I'm going to do because it would be absolutely irresponsible of me."

If Adams steps down or Hochul removes him, the city's Public Advocate Jumaane Williams would become the acting mayor. He would then schedule a nonpartisan special election for a new mayor, which could happen within 90 days.

Authorities said they started their investigation when Adams was Brooklyn borough president and continued it after he became mayor. The investigation focused on whether Adams had conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign campaign contributions in exchange for acting on its behalf.

Damian Williams said that Adams had been "showered" with gifts, which he alleged that the mayor was aware were illegal.

"This was a multiyear scheme to buy favor with a single New York City politician on the rise: Eric Adams," the US attorney said at a news conference. "Year after year, he kept the public in the dark."

The benefits included luxury travel — free and discounted Turkish Airlines tickets and free meals and hotel rooms — from wealthy foreigners and from at least one Turkish government official, prosecutors said.

Adams tried to hide the gifts or make them appear as if he had paid for them, according to the indictment.

By September 2021, federal prosecutors said, an unnamed Turkish official told Adams that it was "his turn" to repay the official, by pressuring the city Fire Department to accelerate the opening of a new Turkish consular building in Manhattan in time for a visit by Turkey's president, even though the 36-story skyscraper would have failed a fire inspection.

A Fire Department official overseeing the safety assessment said he was told he would lose his job if he didn't follow the order, according to the indictment.

"His foreign-national benefactors sought to cash in on their corrupt relationships with him, particularly when, in 2021, it became clear that Adams would become New York City's mayor," prosecutors said in the indictment. "Adams agreed, providing favorable treatment in exchange for the illicit benefits he received.

"In exchange for free travel and other travel-related bribes in 2021 and 2022 arranged by the Turkish official, Adams did as instructed," the indictment charges.

Contact the writers at aiheping@chinadailyusa.com.