1 year ago
NEW YORK — State and federal prosecutors are looking at several figures in the orbit of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who had his phones seized by the FBI last week in connection with one of the investigations.
Some of the cases involve campaign donations and accusations of official misconduct — though Adams himself has not been accused of wrongdoing in any of them — and, taken together, have become a major distraction for the first-term mayor. Adams has called himself the future of the Democratic Party and, prior to this year, had been a close ally to President Joe Biden.
The mayor, who gave a brief statement to reporters over the weekend, refused Monday to discuss the latest case — saying he will do so at a pre-planning press briefing scheduled for Tuesday.
“Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow,” he said as he shuffled between events.
Here’s a look at all the legal tentacles reaching into Adams’ world.
How many cases are we talking about?
Three.
In July, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg secured an indictment against six people and one construction safety firm on charges they hatched a straw donor scheme to funnel money into the mayor’s 2021 campaign coffers.
One of the people charged has longstanding ties to Adams, though there is no indication the mayor or his administration was involved. The group was captured allegedly plotting their ruse on extensive wire taps, and according to the district attorney, appeared eager to win at least one lucrative construction contract.
Two months later, Bragg was back with another high-profile indictment that rocked the New York City political world.
Eric Ulrich, who was brought on as a senior adviser before becoming the mayor’s buildings commissioner, was charged alongside six others in a wide-ranging bribery case.
Ulrich — a Republican former City Council member who raised big bucks for Adams’ 2021 campaign — was accused of accepting $150,000 in cash and gifts in exchange for performing official favors from his various positions in city government, including his time atop the buildings department, which has the power to make or break a development project. Among the items allegedly accepted by Ulrich, who resigned shortly after the indictment, was a discounted apartment, Mets tickets, a bespoke suit and a painting in the surrealist style.
And in yet another case, FBI agents raided the home of the mayor’s 25-year-old campaign fundraiser earlier this month.
At the time, Adams was supposed to be in Washington attending a daylong series of meetings with federal officials on the migrant crisis. However, he abruptly turned around and came back to the city before the start of his first scheduled sitdown.
According to the details of a warrant reported by The New York Times, agents were looking for evidence the campaign colluded with the government of Turkey and illegally accepted donations from Turkish citizens as part of a straw donor scheme.
Days later, FBI agents seized electronic devices from the mayor.
What is a straw donor scheme, and why is it illegal?
City and federal rules dictate strict limits on how much individuals can contribute to campaigns and who is allowed to give. The goal is to curtail the influence of foreign entities or monied donors and reduce the pressure on elected officials to repay those benefactors with favors once in office.
A straw donor scheme is a way to illegally evade those restrictions.
To pull it off, someone routes their money through other people — the so-called straw donors — who are either reimbursed for their contribution or have their names used without their knowledge.
Has anyone been convicted?
In October, Bragg secured a guilty plea from two people accused in the July straw donor case.
Ulrich and his co-defendants have pleaded not guilty, and the former commissioner has maintained he did nothing wrong.
As for the most recent case involving the FBI raid, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York has not confirmed its involvement in the probe, though an Adams aide said City Hall has been in touch with the office and that Adams hired his own attorney.
How is Turkey involved?
FBI agents are reportedly looking into whether Adams pressured city officials into opening a midtown skyscraper built by the Turkish government before it had passed muster with safety officials in 2021. At the time, Adams had won the Democratic primary, making him a shoo-in for mayor, but had not yet taken office.
Turkish officials wanted the high-rise consulate opened in time for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to cut the ribbon on the facility.
The probe also involves a Brooklyn-based construction company, KSK Construction, that has ties to the Turkish government. Multiple employees of the firm gave to Adams’ campaign during a 2021 fundraiser, although one person told THE CITY they did not donate themselves.
Why did the FBI raid the home of Adams’ fundraiser and seize his phones?
Federal prosecutors are likely building evidence for a case they would eventually bring to a grand jury — though what that case entails and who will be accused remain open questions.
On the morning of Nov. 2, FBI agents descended upon the home of Brianna Suggs, his chief campaign fundraiser, and were seen carting out electronic devices and a manilla envelope marked “Eric Adams.”
The following Monday, FBI agents approached the mayor after an evening event and asked his security detail to step aside. The feds then entered Adams’ city vehicle with the mayor and seized two cellphones and an iPad before returning them days later, according to a report in The New York Times.
The extraordinary move marked a dramatic escalation of the public corruption probe, and according to a former criminal prosecutor who spoke with POLITICO, is an indication that Adams has evidence relevant to the case.
Adams’ attorney suggested in a statement following the phone seizure that the campaign had conducted an internal probe of its own and made a referral to the feds.
“After learning of the federal investigation, it was discovered that an individual had recently acted improperly,” Boyd Johnson said in a statement. “In the spirit of transparency and cooperation, this behavior was immediately and proactively reported to investigators. The Mayor has been and remains committed to cooperating in this matter.”
What’s next?
There is no telling how much time the FBI and the Southern District may take to gather evidence before pursuing an indictment — if they pursue an indictment at all. And Adams has maintained that neither he nor his campaign have done anything wrong.
“As a former member of law enforcement, I expect all members of my staff to follow the law and fully cooperate with any sort of investigation — and I will continue to do exactly that,” he said in a Friday statement. “I have nothing to hide.”
And over the weekend, Adams said any outreach done in relation to the Turkish consulate building was standard procedure for elected officials.
In the meantime, the multiple probes have emboldened Adams’ critics, some of whom are mulling a run against him in 2025.
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