By Allan Lengel
For the first time in history a sitting mayor of New York City has been indicted.
The New York Times reports that Mayor Eric Adams, 64, has been indicted on five federal charges of bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations when he was a top elected official in Brooklyn and continued after he became mayor.
The probe began in 2021 and has focused in part on whether he conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign campaign contributions in exchange for official acts, the Times reports.
One allegation is at the urging of Turkish officials he opened a Turkish-owned building in New York even though it hadn’t passed the fire inspection. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams alleged that fire inspectors stepped aside and let the mayor open the building out of concern for their jobs.
The Washington Post reports:
For nearly a decade, the indictment alleges Adams “sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him.”
What could be particularly troubling for his defense are allegations in the 57-page indictment that Adams sought to hide the benefits he received, by paying “a nominal fee to create the appearance of having paid for travel that was in fact heavily discounted.”
The indictment also alleges he covered up possible wrongdoings by deleting messages with others involved in the misconduct, “in one instance, assuring a co-conspirator in writing that he ‘always’ deleted her messages.”
In all, prosecutors alleged that the gifts exceeded $100,000.
“I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments,” Adams said at a televised press conference Thursday morning.
He called it a painful day and said he looked “forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city as I’ve done throughout my entire professional career.”
He said he planned to continue carrying out his duties as mayor. If he does not, Jumaane Williams, the public advocate, would become acting mayor and set a date for a special election.
Adams served four terms in the New York State Senate from 2007 to 2013 and represented parts of the Brooklyn, Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Park Slope, Prospect Heights and Sunset Park.
In 2013, he was elected Brooklyn Borough President for the city of New York. He became mayor in 2022.
Before his political career, he served on the New York Police Department for 22 years.
