5 Charges Against Eric Adams Explained

NEW YORK CITY — Federal prosecutors have indicted Mayor Eric Adams for accepting illegal campaign donations from Turkish officials, as well as on bribery and fraud charges that date back to his time as Brooklyn borough president, according to an unsealed indictment released Thursday.

Adams faces one count of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, two counts of solicitation of a contribution from a foreign national and one count of bribery, according to the indictment.

"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," according to the indictment.

In 2018, when Adams had announced his plans to run for mayor, he allegedly accepted and sought illegal campaign contributions to his upcoming mayoral campaign, the indictment says.

Adams allegedly smuggled these illegal campaign contributions through "straw" donors, according to the indictment. As a result, Adams' 2021 mayoral campaign received more than $10,000,000 in public funds.

Adams received benefits and perks from the Turkish officials, including free and discounted airline tickets and hotel accommodations, the indictment states.

The perks were worth more than $100,000, prosecutors said.

In exchange, Turkish officials pressured Adams into getting officials at the fire department to open a new building for the Turkish consulate, despite the building having not passed an inspection.

In a press conference Thursday outside, Gracie Mansion, Adams said: “It’s an unfortunate day. And it's a painful day."

“But inside all of that is a day when we will finally reveal why, for 10 months, I’ve gone through this. And I look forward to defending myself.”

In a video speech released Wednesday night, Adams vowed to fight any charges against him, claiming he had been made a “target” in a case “based on lies.”“I will fight these injustices with every ounce of my strength and my spirit,” he said.

“Federal agents appeared this morning at Gracie Mansion in an effort to create a spectacle (again) and take Mayor Adams phone (again),” Adams’ lawyer, Alex Spiro, said in a statement, adding that the mayor had not been arrested. “They send a dozen agents to pick up a phone when we would have happily turned it in.

Scope Of Investigations Into Adams' Administration

For much of the last year, Adams has faced growing legal peril, with multiple federal investigations into top advisers producing a drumbeat of subpoenas, searches and high-level departures that has thrust City Hall into crisis.

Federal investigators had seized Adams’ electronic devices nearly a year ago as part of an investigation focused, at least partly, on campaign contributions and Adams’ interactions with the Turkish government. Because the charges were sealed, it was unknown whether they dealt with those same matters.

The federal investigations into his administration first emerged publicly on Nov. 2, 2023, when FBI agents conducted an early morning raid on the Brooklyn home of Adams’ chief fundraiser, Brianna Suggs.

At the time, Adams insisted he followed the law and said he would be “shocked” if anyone on his campaign had acted illegally. “I cannot tell you how much I start the day with telling my team we’ve got to follow the law,” he told reporters at the time.
Days later, FBI agents seized the mayor’s phones and iPad as he was leaving an event in Manhattan. The interaction was disclosed several days later by the mayor’s attorney. Then on Sept. 4, federal investigators seized electronic devices from the city’s police commissioner, schools chancellor, deputy mayor of public safety, first deputy mayor and other trusted confidantes of Adams both in and out of City Hall.

Federal prosecutors declined to discuss the investigations but people familiar with elements of the cases described multiple, separate inquiries involving senior Adams aides, relatives of those aides, campaign fundraising and possible influence peddling of the police and fire departments. A week after the searches, Police Commissioner Edward Caban announced his resignation, telling officers that he didn’t want the investigations “to create a distraction.” About two weeks later, Schools Chancellor David Banks announced that he would retire at the end of the year. Adams himself insisted he would keep doing the city’s business and allow the investigations to run their course.

Over the summer, federal prosecutors subpoenaed Adams, his campaign arm and City Hall, requesting information about the mayor’s schedule, his overseas travel and potential connections to the Turkish government.

After he was subpoenaed in July, Adams said on a radio show that he had been "extremely transparent" and would turn over any documents and "walk away."
"I believe showing that I did nothing wrong," he added.

Adams spent 22 years in New York City’s police department before going into politics, first as a state senator and then as Brooklyn borough president, a largely ceremonial position.
“I’m a former law enforcement person. I believe in following the rules, and I’ve stated it all over and over again. We’re going to turn over any information that is needed to come to a swift conclusion in this review," Adams told J.R. Giddings on GMGT Live’s “The Reset Talk Show" in July.

Adams was elected mayor in 2021, defeating a diverse field of Democrats in the primary and then easily beating Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, a Republican, in the general election.After more than two years in office, Adams’ popularity has declined. While the city has seen an increase in jobs and a drop in certain categories of crime, the administration has been preoccupied with efforts to find housing for tens of thousands of international migrants who overwhelmed the city’s homeless shelters.