Prosecutors unveiled a five-count indictment of New York Mayor Eric Adams on corruption charges.
The 57-page indictment charges Adams with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals; one count of wire fraud; two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national; and one count of bribery.
It alleges a 10-year pattern of corruption. If convicted on all counts, he could face up to 45 years in prison.
“In 2014, ERIC ADAMS, the defendant, became Brooklyn Borough President,” it reads. “Thereafter, for nearly a decade, 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.”
Some of the charges are connected to contributions to Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign.
The indictment alleges that in September 2021, an unnamed Turkish official told Adams that it was “his turn to repay” him, by “pressuring the New York City Fire Department … to facilitate the opening of a new Turkish consular building – a 36-story skyscraper – without a fae inspection, in time for a high-profile visit by Turkey’s president.”
It added that the building would have failed such an inspection if one were made, but that in “exchange for free travel and other travel-related bribes in 2021 and 2022 arranged by the Turkish Official, ADAMS did as instructed.”
According to the indictment, the FDNY official responsible for the safety assessment was told that he would be fired if he did not acquiesce, which he did.
In another case, the Turkish government official pressured Adams to end his relationship with a Turkish community center over its links to a rival political group.
In total, Adams’s 2021 election campaign is accused of raising $10 million through dubious means, at least partially through alleged Turkish connections.
“All told, the 2021 Campaign reaped over $10 million in Matching Funds based on the false certifications that the campaign complied with the law, when in fact Eric Adams, the defendant, knowingly and repeatedly relied on illegal contributions,” the indictment reads.
In another case mentioned in the indictment, a Turkish businessman allegedly contributed $50,000 to Adams’s 2021 campaign to gain influence, believing that the New Yorker may one day become president of the United States.
Speaking minutes after the indictment was unveiled Thursday morning, surrounded by black clergy members, Adams reaffirmed his earlier pleas of innocence and commitment not to resign.
“My day-to-day will not change,” he said. “I will continue to do the job for 8.3 million New Yorkers that I was elected to do, and the 300,000-plus employees of our city government will continue to do their jobs because this is what we do as New Yorkers. It’s an insult to the hard-working people of the city that anyone would say that they won’t do their jobs while this case proceeds in the background. They are dedicated public servants, and I have been one of them for many years, and they’re going to continue to do their job, moving the city forward every day.
“For 10 months, I have gone through this, and I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city, as I’ve done throughout my entire professional career,” Adams added.
He and the other speakers were repeatedly interrupted, including by one man with a megaphone.
As he walked out, the gathered crowd chanted, “Resign.”
Speaking almost immediately after Adams, Damien Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, laid out the charges in a press conference.
Williams rejected the allegations of politicization, denying he had any partisan motivations.
“We are not focused on the Right and the Left,” he said. “We are focused on right and wrong.”
He alleged that the bribes and benefits given to Adams over the course of a decade totaled over $100,000.
“As the indictment alleges, Mayor Adams engaged in a long-running conspiracy in which he solicited and knowingly accepted illegal campaign contributions from foreign donors and corporations,” Williams said. “As we allege, Mayor Adams took these contributions even though he knew they were illegal and even though he knew these contributions were attempts by a Turkish government official and Turkish businessmen to buy influence with him.”
While Adams’s corruption was most active during the 2021 mayoral campaign, Williams alleged, the mayor revived the corrupt relationships in 2023.
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“In 2023, the mayor rekindled these corrupt relationships, seeking more illegal campaign contributions from some of the same foreign sources to support his reelection campaign,” he said. “Adams also took contributions that broke other laws. As we allege, he sought contributions from businessmen far in excess of what the law allowed. He also allegedly sought contributions from corporations which are not allowed to contribute at all in New York City elections.”
Adams was indicted Wednesday night following a federal corruption investigation, making him the first mayor in the city’s history to be indicted while in office. His home was also raided Thursday morning, and his phone was seized.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
