A look at New York Mayor Eric Adams’ federal fraud and bribery charges

Federal prosecutors laid out a five-count indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, charging him with bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud over the past decade. Adams is accused of taking illegal gifts and foreign campaign contributions but says he’ll continue to run the city as his lawyers handle the case. Geoff Bennett discussed more with Brigid Bergin of WNYC.
Geoff Bennett:
An historic first for the New York City mayor’s office. Federal prosecutors have laid out a five-count indictment against Mayor Eric Adams, charging him with bribery, conspiracy, and wire fraud over the past decade.
Adams is accused of taking illegal gifts and foreign campaign contributions, but says he will continue to run the city as his lawyers handle the case.
Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York: Year after year after year, he kept the public in the dark.
Geoff Bennett:
The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York this morning made the case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Damian Williams:
He told the public he received no gifts, even though he was secretly being showered with them.
Geoff Bennett:
The unsealed indictment says, 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.
Damian Williams:
Public office is a privilege. We allege that Mayor Adams abused that privilege and broke the law.
Geoff Bennett:
The prosecutor said Adams received more than $100,000 worth of illegal gifts and that the illegal activity started well before he was elected mayor.
Damian Williams:
Federal law clearly prohibits foreign donations. Yet Adams directed his staff to pursue this illegal money to support his campaign for mayor.
Geoff Bennett:
Outside of Gracie Mansion today, Adams was defiant.
Eric Adams (D), Mayor of New York: My day-to-day will not change. I will continue to do the job for 8.3 million New Yorkers that I was elected to do.
Geoff Bennett:
Flanked by faith leaders and supporters, he asked for patience.
Eric Adams:
The story will come from the federal prosecutors. And I ask to wait and hear our side to this narrative.
Geoff Bennett:
But the crowd wasn’t entirely supportive.
Protesters:
You should resign. You’re an embarrassment.
Geoff Bennett:
Adams has faced growing public pressure to step down. New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the highest-profile official to call for his resignation with a social media post Wednesday afternoon.
Early this morning, federal agents searched the mayor’s residence and seized his phone. New York Governor Kathy Hochul says she’s monitoring the situation. Hochul does have the power to remove Adams from office. The Adams administration has seen a swirl of investigations, subpoenas and resignations in the past year.
The police chief, head of the city’s school system and the mayor’s legal counsel have all left. Last November, FBI agents searched the home of one of Adams’ fund-raisers. Adams himself had his cell phone and iPad seized at that time before being subpoenaed this past summer.
As the headlines hit newsstands across the city, New Yorkers took it in stride.
Eva Shih, New York City Resident:
It’s a lot of cronyism. I really do hope that the city gets better and we identify a proper, suitable and well-fit candidate to run for our mayorship.
Geoff Bennett:
And we’re joined now by WNYC reporter Brigid Bergin. She’s been following the story very closely.
Brigid, it’s great to have you here.
So, federal prosecutors alleged that, over nearly a decade, dating back to when Eric Adams served as Brooklyn Borough president, that he accepted improper gifts. To what end, allegedly?
Brigid Bergin, WNYC:
As it’s laid out in the indictment, it’s really kind of astounding. We’re talking about plane tickets, opulent hotel rooms, food, high-end meals. And in exchange, he was receiving illegal foreign campaign contributions and then trying to mask that he had both received the gifts and the contributions by using a straw donor scheme, so funneling that money through people who were not actually donating it.
In addition to that, he was trading favors once he was in office, allowing some of these people who were seeking influence to then ask for favors from the government. In particular, there was one Turkish official who had showered the mayor with gifts, but then made very clear that he was looking for help, and specifically regarding a high-rise building, a Turkish consulate, a 36-story building that was having some issue with its fire inspection system.
They needed to expedite that. They wanted to be able to open up the building in time for the visit from the Turkish president. And the mayor both understood it and then did help expedite it, according to the indictment.
Geoff Bennett:
Also according to the indictment, he’s accused of exploiting New York City’s unusually generous public matching funds program. Tell us more about that.
Brigid Bergin:
Well, the Campaign Finance Board offers a very generous matching program. Candidates are eligible for an 8-1 match for the first $250 of a campaign contribution from someone who is a resident of the city of New York.
And so in order to pump up what was money that was not coming from New Yorkers, they used this straw donor scheme, according to the indictment, to the tune of $10 million in public funds. And to be clear, Geoff, that is public money. That is money that is paid for by New York City taxpayers.
So part of the crime that U.S. attorney Damian Williams really underscored was, this was a violation of the public trust. This is a program that is intended to help people who might not otherwise be able to participate or seek public office to have a foothold. It’s not intended to be exploited to the benefit of someone like the way the mayor had done so.
Geoff Bennett:
And leading up to this, the city’s first deputy mayor, the school’s chancellor, the deputy mayor for public safety, the police commissioner all had their homes searched or cell phones seized.
What’s the connection between all of that and the indictment that was unsealed today?
Brigid Bergin:
Well, Geoff, that is still a little bit unclear at this point.
As you said, it’s been a wild September in New York City politics, and particularly surrounding people who are involved with the Adams administration. Just since the first week of September, those investigations have kicked off.
And this is after really about a year of investigations into the administration. A lot of things just seemed to kick into a higher gear this month. At this point, it’s not totally clear what connection those investigations have to this specific indictment.
But one of the points that the U.S. attorney made very clear is, this investigation is not over. There is an ongoing investigation. And so there may be more charges. There may be more individuals and there may be more to the story that we learn in the days ahead.
Geoff Bennett:
Meantime, the mayor is saying he won’t step down. He says he’s going to stay in office and fight for the people of New York.
Based on your reporting, can he really do that with this indictment hanging over his head?
Brigid Bergin:
The mayor has said that he’s not going anywhere. He was elected by New Yorkers. He plans to serve New Yorkers.
And at this point, one of the people who would have the most power to remove him from office, Governor Kathy Hochul, has sort of said that she is observing the situation, she’s monitoring the news, but she has not released any sort of statement indicating that she would be calling for his resignation or would be seeking to remove him from office at this point.
But, remember, this is a mayor who is up for reelection next year. There are also — there are already several primary challengers who have announced their campaign or are preparing to announce their campaign. This is certainly fodder for all of them to talk about how the city needs to go in a different direction.
And this is a time when normally the mayor would be focusing on that reelection while continuing to try to run the city. And now that you add to that fighting a criminal indictment, he’s got a lot on his plate. It will be a lot to juggle. And I think that’s why we’re hearing so many more people call for his resignation.
Geoff Bennett:
Brigid Bergin of WNYC, thanks so much for sharing your reporting and insights with us.
Brigid Bergin:
Thanks, Geoff.