as federal investigations swirled Last year, the New York mayor around Eric Adams stuck to a familiar script.
“As a former member of law enforcement, I expect all members of my staff to follow the law and cooperate fully with any type of investigation — and I will continue to do so,” he said on Nov. 9, 2023.
Three days later, Adams sounded a similar refrain: “I have not been charged with wrongdoing and I will continue to cooperate with investigators.”
Last August, as the drumbeat of the investigation grew louder, the mayor said: “We will not interfere with the process. We will cooperate in the process.”
But The federal indictment was unsealed Thursday tells a different story. Adams and his staff did not fully cooperate with federal investigators—they conspired to obstruct the foreign bribery and corruption investigation in ways ranging from clumsy to clownish.
In one case, an unidentified Adams employee agreed to be interviewed by FBI agents. However, the indictment says that during the meeting, he excused himself to use the bathroom. While there, he deleted the encrypted messaging app he used to communicate with Adams and his Turkish co-conspirators, prosecutors allege.
Later, on November 6, 2023, FBI agents armed with a search warrant approached the mayor after an incident in Manhattan. seized his electronic devices. According to the indictment, Adams had two cell phones, but no personal phone, which he used to contact the conspirators. When he responded to the subpoena and submitted it the next day, he said he did not remember the new password he had created, the indictment said.
“As the federal investigation into the criminal conduct of defendant Eric Adams continued, so did efforts to undermine that investigation,” the indictment said.
Now Adams, a Democrat, is fighting for his political life. He is accused of bribing Turkish businessmen and at least one government official over nearly a decade.
Since 2015, Adams has received $100,000 worth of free or discounted airline tickets and luxury hotel rooms, as well as illegal campaign cash, the indictment says.
He pleaded not guilty on Friday up to five counts including bribery, wire fraud and solicitation of donations by a foreign national. “It’s not even a real case,” his attorney, Alex Spiro, said after the trial.
But some political pundits see no way forward for Adams, a former NYPD captain who took office three years ago on a promise to fight crime and unrest in America’s biggest city.
“Put a fork in it,” said Doug Muzzio, a retired Baruch College political science professor with extensive knowledge of New York politics. “She cooked.”
On Friday, Rep. Jerry Nadler became the latest Democrat in New York to call on Adams to resign, joining a list that includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Velasquez.
As he maneuvers to stay in office, Adams must at least contend with him three more federal investigations and resignations many senior officials.
Fake paper trail
The indictment alleges that Adams failed to disclose travel rewards he received not only from Turkish citizens, but also including free or discounted flights and upgrades to places such as India, France, China and Ghana. The indictment alleges that the mayor created a false paper trail to make it look like he actually paid for the trip.
In one instance, Adams emailed her planner to suggest she paid for Turkish Airlines business class flights she took during her extensive summer 2017 trip. The mayor went to Nice, France with a relative and an employee. ; Istanbul; Colombo, Sri Lanka; and Beijing, according to the indictment. According to prosecutors, one ticket alone was worth $10,000.
According to the indictment, Adams misspelled the word drawer and wrote, “I put money for an international airline in an envelope in the drawer on your top table.” “Please send them.”
But airline records confirmed that Adams did not pay the airline in cash or otherwise because the tickets were free, the indictment said.
“As the indictment makes clear, this is simply a clumsy cover-up,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Friday.
Another episode described in the indictment shows an alleged attempt to cover up misconduct. In March 2019, Adams’ staffer exchanged text messages with the then-Brooklyn borough president about another possible trip to Turkey.
“To be him[n the] safe side Please delete all messages you sent me,” the employee wrote Adams, according to the indictment.
“Always do,” Adams replied, the indictment states.
These events took place before numerous investigations came to light, and Adams began to insist on cooperation.
But last June, after the mayor repeatedly said he was helping investigators, another incident occurred that highlighted Adams and his team’s efforts to obstruct the investigation, according to prosecutors.
FBI agents met with a New York businessman who prosecutors said was a straw donor — someone who funneled someone else’s money into Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign to hide the source. The businessman then approached an Adams employee who asked him to donate straw, the indictment says.
That day, an employee of Adams visited the businessman in his office and told him that he had just met with the mayor. The employee instructed the businessman to lie to investigators, according to the indictment. The employee also took photos of a subpoena issued to the businessman to send to Adams, the indictment says.
The next day, Adams’ employee met with the businessman again. In a somewhat puzzling admission, the employee said that when she met with Adams the day before, they left their cell phones outside the room so it would be “safe” to talk, according to the indictment.
The staffer later explained that while Adams was upset that law enforcement had approached the businessman, the mayor believed the man “would not cooperate with law enforcement,” the indictment said.
“Gentle Oakey”
The sprawling criminal case marks the first time in 150 years that a sitting New York mayor has been charged with a crime. Before Adams, there was Oakey Hall.
Hall was indicted in the early 1870s during an investigation into William “Boss” Tweed, a powerful leader of the Tammany Hall political machine. “Elegant Oakey,” as he was known, was eventually acquitted but never served again. Museum of the City of New York.
Adams remained defiant in the wake of the indictment, vowing to fight the charges and remain mayor.
Adams held a news conference outside the historic estate hours after a group of FBI agents arrived at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence, early Thursday morning and again seized his phone.
He said that he has been “demonized” for the past 10 months and that he has always obeyed the law.
He also reiterated that he was doing everything he could to help investigators.
“When you look at all of our cooperation and our attempts to sit down and cooperate,” Adams said, “when you look at what happened, it’s a narrative that … something was done that wasn’t right and it was just wrong.”