Mayor Eric Adams has been charged with seeking and receiving straw donations and luxury travel from Turkish officials and businesspeople, and, in exchange, helping them get exceptional approvals from city agencies.
A 57-page indictment unsealed Thursday alleges that Adams received illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals and two construction executives who routed them through individuals, triggering public matching funds to his mayoral campaign.
Prosecutors documented their allegations with a long trail of messages exchanged by Adams, his campaign fundraiser, one of his staffers, and the Turkish officials.
During a press conference outside Gracie Mansion minutes before federal prosecutors laid out their case, Adams, flanked by civil rights activists and religious leaders, remained defiant.
“I ask New Yorkers to hear our defense before making any judgments,” he said, but declined to offer a defense.
“Our attorneys will take care of the case so I can take care of the city,” the mayor said. “My day-to-day will not change.”
The indictment alleges that a senior Turkish diplomat organized straw donations provided by one of the construction companies, which is not named in the indictment but, based on previously reported descriptions of its fundraising, appears to be KSK Construction.
Adams allegedly received discounted travel to Turkey, France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary and Ghana, according to the indictment. Adams allegedly accepted some free airline tickets but in most cases paid for economy-class tickets that were immediately upgraded to business class — benefits worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Adams also was treated to heavily discounted or free stays in luxury hotel suites and meals at high-end restaurants, prosecutors alleged. His girlfriend accompanied him on a number of trips and received the same benefits, which were arranged by Turkish officials and an Adams staffer — who kept him informed.
“He is also asking where else they can go in Turkey. Do you have a recommendation?” the staffer asked in one exchange.
“Four Seasons,” the airline official replied.
“It’s too expensive,” the staffer wrote back.
“Why does he care? He is not going to pay. His name will not be on anything either,” came the response.
“Super,” the staffer wrote.
The case alleges that Adams knowingly participated in and often orchestrated the scheme, which reached back to his time as Brooklyn borough president. The indictment partially centers around allegations that he helped benefactors get construction approvals.
In September 2021, three months after Adams’ victory in the Democratic primary ensured his election as mayor in November, the diplomat made clear that it was Adams’ “turn” to reciprocate the support and perks he had received from Turkey. “I know,” Adams wrote, according to the indictment.
Adams allegedly delivered by pressuring the fire commissioner — who had asked Adams to keep him in his post upon taking office — to accelerate a key approval the Turks needed to open a new, 36-story Turkish consular building at 821 United Nations Plaza.
Turkish officials needed a temporary certificate of occupancy in time for a visit from the country’s president, according to the indictment. But a FDNY inspector had refused to sign off on the fire prevention system, finding it riddled with defects.
The inspector was told by his boss, who reported directly to the commissioner, that they would both lose their jobs if they didn’t grant the approval. The agency ultimately issued a letter saying it would drop its objections if the building’s private engineer certified that the building was safe — a rare if unprecedented action by the Fire Department.
“By allegedly taking improper and illegal benefits from foreign nationals … Adams put the interests of his benefactors, including a foreign official, above those of his constituents,” Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.
City Hall employees allegedly told another construction company executive that if he donated $10,000 to Adams’ mayoral campaign, he would gain influence over the mayor, but that the price would go up if he waited.
But the maximum contribution was $2,000, so the executive donated $2,000 and directed four of his employees to do the same and reimbursed them, according to the indictment, which provides evidence that Adams approved the straw-donor schemes.
In early 2023, the executive ran into a problem with the Department of Buildings. He allegedly texted Adams, “I always supported you,” and that he was “having a hard time with DOB” getting a stop-work order lifted.
Adams responded, “Let me look into this.” Within a week, the executive messaged Adams that the issue had been partially resolved and thanked the mayor, according to the indictment.
Officials allege that Adams did not disclose the travel benefits and other perks he received to the Conflicts of Interest Board, as required by law, and in some cases, created fake paper trails to show he paid for things when he had not.
In one example, the indictment describes an email in which Adams tells his staffer he had left an envelope with $10,000 in cash to reimburse the Turkish airline for a 2017 trip, but in fact never paid.
In a message to the airline to arrange a trip for Adams to Istanbul in June 2021, days after the primary, one of the mayor’s staffers asked the airline to quote him a price for an economy-class ticket, according to the indictment. The airline suggested $50, but the staffer suggested “$1,000 or so.”
“Let it be somewhat real. We don’t want them to say he is flying for free. At the moment, the media’s attention is on Eric,” the staffer wrote. The ticket was issued and immediately upgraded to business class, the most expensive class offered by the airline.
At one point, the airline official reminded Adams’ aide that if the mayor stopped helping Turkey with government matters, he would find himself on “seat 52,” meaning the back of the plane, prosecutors alleged.
The gig ended when the investigation became public in October 2023, at which point the mayor canceled a November dinner with a Turkish businessman who was preparing to deliver straw donations through his company’s drivers, the indictment says.
It adds that when the mayor turned over his personal phone in response to a subpoena, he first changed the security code from four digits to six, then told the FBI he had forgotten it.
The indictment comes as the mayor’s signature housing plan, the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, is making its way to the City Council. It is unclear how much leverage the mayor has lost to protect it from being denuded, but calls for his resignation have piled up in the past two days.
Many in the industry view Adams as an ally, and believe the scandal and his potential ouster jeopardize his pro-development policies.
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The mayor was charged with one count of conspiracy to receive campaign contributions from foreign nationals and commit wire fraud and bribery, one count of wire fraud, two counts of soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals and one count of soliciting and accepting a bribe.
The charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 45 years. He is the first sitting mayor in modern New York City history to face criminal charges.