Feds accuse New York mayor of selling his influence to foreign nationals; He says he won’t resign.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted Thursday on federal charges that he received illegal campaign contributions and bribes from foreign nationals, including lavish foreign trips that included helping Turkish officials bypass fire safety inspections. A new diplomatic tower in the city.

Adams, a Democrat and former police captain, faces conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery charges in a five-count indictment that outlines a decade of corruption that began when he served as an elected official in Brooklyn and continued throughout his mayoral administration.

Prosecutors allege, among other things, that Adams received free and deeply discounted flight upgrades worth more than $100,000, as well as campaign contributions from straw donors, some of which helped him qualify for more than $10 million in public campaign funds.

Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said at a news conference that Adams peddled his influence to a senior Turkish official and others who carried out a “multi-year plan to curry favor with a single rising New York politician.”

According to the indictment, in exchange for bribes, the official asked Adams to take actions that appeared to benefit the Turkish regime, including expediting fire safety inspections at the consulate building.

The US attorney added that Adams had a duty to disclose the gifts he received, but “left the public in the dark” every year.

At a separate news conference held outside Gracie Mansion, Adams denied wrongdoing and said he did not plan to resign. Adams, the city’s second Black mayor, joined prominent Black clergy in attacking federal prosecutors, claiming they had leaked information about the investigation in order to “put this case to trial publicly.”

“This is an unfortunate day and a painful day,” Adams added. “But in all of this, there will be a day when we will finally explain why I went through this for 10 months. And I look forward to defending myself.”

As Adams addressed the media, protesters heckled him, some chanting “resign” as they surrounded police.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has the authority to remove Adams from office. His spokesman, Avi Small, issued a statement late Wednesday saying the governor was aware of news of the indictment but said it was too early to comment at the time. After the charges were announced Thursday, Hochul told reporters he would offer his thoughts on the matter later in the day.

If Adams were to resign, he would be immediately replaced by progressive Democrat Jumaane Williams, who serves as the city’s public defender. He would then schedule a special election.

In his statement Thursday, the public defender did not explicitly call for Adams to resign, but said time for Adams to show he can effectively lead the city and regain the city’s trust is “quickly running out.”

Prosecutors allege Adams sought and accepted illegal contributions to his campaign through an unnamed official in the Turkish diplomatic corps. The indictment alleges that the official provided Adams and his friends with free or discounted travel opportunities with Turkey’s national airline to destinations such as France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary and Turkey.

In addition, Adams solicited illegal campaign donations from foreign officials and then “amplified his earnings” by gambling with the city’s matching funds program, which provides a generous match for small-dollar donations. According to the indictment, his campaign received a total of more than $10 million in public funds available only to candidates who play by the rules.

In September 2021, a Turkish official told Adams that it was time to repay contributions and assistance by pressuring the fire department to facilitate the opening of the consulate without fire inspection, in time for the Turkish president’s high-profile visit. This request would have been made several months before Adams took office, but after it became clear he would become mayor.

Even after a fire official warned that major defects in the consulate building “made it unsafe to occupy,” Adams pushed security guards to allow the building to open. The indictment stated that Adams conveyed the news of the approval to the Turkish official days later and described Adams as a “true friend of Turkey”. Adams replied: “You are my brother. According to the indictment, I am ready to help.

A few months later, the Turkish official wrote to an Adams employee with another demand: that the mayor “not make any statements about the Armenian Genocide” before Memorial Day in April, according to the indictment. Prosecutors said the officer confirmed that Adams would not mention it, but he did not. The Turkish government denies that the killing of approximately 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 qualifies as genocide.

Prosecutors allege that Adams sometimes created false paper trails and instructed others to do so to falsely suggest that he had paid for travel benefits that were actually free. He also deleted messages with others who engaged in misconduct, and at one point assured his accomplice that he “always” deleted her text messages, according to the indictment.

The charges were made public just hours after FBI agents entered Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence, and seized the mayor’s phone early Thursday; This capped an extraordinary few weeks in New York City, filled with raids, subpoenas and high-level resignations. Members of Adams’ inner circle.

The US attorney said at the press conference that the corruption investigation will continue.

Federal prosecutors are believed to be pursuing multiple separate investigations into Adams and his top aides, relatives of those aides, campaign donations and possible influence peddling by the police and fire departments.

In the past two weeks alone, the city’s police commissioner and school system president announced their resignations.

Before entering politics, Adams spent 22 years with the New York City police department, first as a state senator and then as Brooklyn borough president. He was elected as the city’s second Black mayor in 2021.

FBI agents seized Adams’ electronic devices almost a year ago as part of an investigation that focused at least in part on campaign contributions and Adams’ interactions with the Turkish government. Because the charges were sealed, it was not known whether they were related to the same matters.

In early September, federal investigators seized devices both inside and outside City Hall from the police commissioner, the school principal, two deputy mayors and other trusted confidants.

They all denied injustice.