NYC Mayor Eric Adams Charged with Bribery and Corruption
Sep 26, 2024
New York City Mayor Eric Adams faces serious charges for accepting illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel from Turkish citizens seeking to influence him.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been charged by U.S. prosecutors. They say he took illegal campaign money and luxury trips from people in Turkey. This is a big deal for the city because the investigation has caused a lot of problems in the local government.
In a long 57-page document, prosecutors described a plan that started back in 2014. They say this plan helped pay for Adams' successful campaign for mayor in 2021. The prosecutors also claim it gave him free stays at fancy hotels and meals at nice restaurants.
Allegations of Bribery and Influence
In return for these gifts, Adams is said to have pressured city officials to skip safety checks. He wanted Turkey's new 36-story consulate to open without following the rules, according to the indictment.
Adams is 64 years old and used to be a police officer. He worked his way up to captain. He has denied doing anything wrong and says he will fight the charges. “I will continue to do my job as mayor,” he told reporters at a news conference. Some people in the crowd even called for him to resign.
The Turkish government and its embassy in Washington, D.C., have not said anything about the case yet.
On the same day the charges were announced, federal agents searched Adams’ home at Gracie Mansion, which is on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. A witness saw around a dozen people in suits entering the mansion with bags and briefcases.
Notably, Adams is the first of New York City's 110 mayors to face criminal charges while still serving as mayor.
Although Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul can remove Adams from office, it is not a simple process. A law professor named Bennett Gershman explained that it would be complicated to do.
The indictment shares some details about the gifts Adams accepted. It says he received free travel from a Turkish airline worth tens of thousands of dollars while he was Brooklyn’s borough president. He even stayed in a luxury suite at the St. Regis hotel in Istanbul for just $600, while the actual cost was about $7,000 for two nights.
For his 2021 campaign, Adams is said to have disguised campaign contributions from Turkish sources. He did this by moving the money through U.S. citizens, which helped him qualify for an extra $10 million in public financing. Prosecutors claim Adams took more than $100,000 in luxury travel overall.
Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said, “This was a multi-year scheme to buy favor with a single New York City politician on the rise.”
The indictment also claims that Adams listened to concerns from Turkish officials. For instance, he stopped working with a Brooklyn community center after a Turkish diplomat said it was connected to a political group they didn’t like. In 2023, he helped a Turkish businessman fix a permit issue with the city.
In 2021, at the request of a Turkish diplomat, Adams pressured a fire department official to let the new consulate open, even though it had failed a fire inspection.
Even with the serious charges, Adams insists he did nothing wrong. He wants a public trial to prove his innocence, saying, “If it's foreign donors, I know I don't take money from foreign donors.”
Political Consequences and Future Implications
This case could make things harder for Adams if he tries to run for re-election in 2025. Other Democratic politicians, including New York City comptroller Brad Lander, are planning to challenge him. U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also asked him to step down.
New York City has had a lot of political drama in the past month. Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned on September 12, just a week after federal agents took his phone. Soon after, Adams’ chief legal adviser quit. Then, the city's schools chief, David Banks, said he would retire at the end of the year after federal agents also took his phones.
