Mayor Eric Adams (D) of New York City has been indicted on a range of serious federal charges related to campaign contributions for his 2021 run, according to a 57-page document released on Thursday. The allegations include accepting funds from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking influence over him.
The indictment includes five district criminal counts against Adams: bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. Prosecutors state that the alleged activities began when he was a top elected official in Brooklyn and continued after he became mayor. The indictment accuses Adams of defrauding the public matching funds program by submitting inflated donation figures boosted by Turkish money, receiving eight times that amount in matching public funds.
The document states, “As Adams’s prominence and power grew, his foreign-national benefactors sought to cash in on their corrupt relationships with him, particularly when, in 2021, it became clear that Adams would become New York City’s mayor.” A separate page notes that an Adams staffer deleted messaging apps during an FBI interview.
The counts listed are.
Count one: Conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, and to receive contributions by foreign nationals.
Count two: Wire fraud.
Count three: Solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national.
Count four: Solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national.
Count five: Bribery.
In response to the indictment from a grand jury, Adams has said that the charges against him would be “entirely false.” He stated in a video, “My fellow New Yorkers, it is now my belief that the federal government intends to charge me with crimes. If so, these charges will be entirely false, based on lies. But they would not be surprising.
Eric Adams has become the first sitting mayor in the city’s history to face criminal charges. The indictment comes after Adams’ home was raided by the FBI earlier this year, and multiple deputies’ homes were searched earlier this month. Further details are expected to be revealed at an 11:30 a.m. press conference, just hours after his phone was seized by the FBI.