Prosecutors charged New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday with accepting illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel from Turkish nationals seeking to influence him, culminating an investigation that has thrown the city’s government into chaos. The 57-page indictment details an alleged scheme dating back to 2014, which helped fund Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign and provided him with free accommodations in luxury hotels and meals at upscale restaurants.
In exchange, Adams pressured city officials to approve the opening of Turkey’s new 36-story consulate despite safety concerns, prosecutors stated. Facing five criminal charges, Adams could spend decades in prison if convicted.
Adams, 64, denied the allegations and vowed to fight the charges in court, declaring that he would not resign. “I will continue to do my job as mayor,” Adams said at a press conference, even as some onlookers called for his resignation. He is scheduled to appear in court on Friday at noon Eastern Time (1600 GMT).
Turkey’s foreign ministry, the president’s office, and its embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Earlier on Thursday, federal agents searched the mayor’s Gracie Mansion residence on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. A Reuters witness reported seeing around a dozen individuals in business attire walking on the property with briefcases and duffel bags.
As a former police officer who rose to the rank of captain, Adams is the first of New York City’s 110 mayors to face criminal charges while in office. Although New York Governor Kathy Hochul could remove Adams from office, the process remains complicated, according to Bennett Gershman, a professor at Pace University Law School.
The indictment alleges that Adams accepted tens of thousands of dollars in free travel from a Turkish airline while serving as Brooklyn borough president, including a $600 two-night stay in a luxury suite at the St. Regis hotel in Istanbul, which normally costs $7,000. Prosecutors revealed that Adams frequently flew on the airline, even when inconvenient. In a 2017 text message, Adams mentioned, “You know first stop is always Istanbul,” after his partner commented on their flight route from New York to Paris via Istanbul.
For his 2021 mayoral campaign, Adams concealed campaign contributions from Turkish sources by routing them through U.S. citizens. These funds helped him qualify for an additional $10 million in public financing. “This was a multi-year scheme to buy favor with a single New York City politician on the rise,” Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said during a news conference.
Prosecutors outlined how Adams responded to Turkish concerns. At the request of a Turkish diplomat, Adams pressured city safety inspectors to approve the consulate’s opening in time for a September 2021 visit by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, despite the building failing a fire inspection. After receiving multiple messages from Adams regarding the consulate, a senior Fire Department official allegedly warned a subordinate that his job would be at risk if the consulate did not open. Adams notified the diplomat once the Fire Department approved the building’s opening later that day. The diplomat reportedly responded, “You are a true friend of Turkey.”
Adams allegedly performed other favors, according to the indictment. Before becoming mayor, he severed ties with a Brooklyn community center that the diplomat claimed was linked to a hostile political movement. Shortly after his 2022 inauguration, an Adams staffer assured the diplomat that the new mayor would avoid making statements on the 1915 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, which Washington has classified as genocide.
Adams expressed his desire for a public trial to clear his name, stating, “If it’s foreign donors, I know I don’t take money from foreign donors.”
The case poses a significant challenge to Adams’ potential bid for re-election in 2025, as Democratic opponents, including New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, prepare to challenge him. U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat representing parts of the city, has called for Adams to step down. However, two influential lawmakers from Brooklyn, U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House of Representatives Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have stopped short of doing so.
New York’s political landscape has been in turmoil for the past month. Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned on September 12, shortly after FBI agents seized his phone. Days later, Adams’ chief legal adviser resigned. On Wednesday, city public schools chief David Banks announced his retirement, following reports by The New York Times that federal agents had seized his phones.
