26 September 2024 , 20:00
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Former police officer is the first sitting New York City mayor to be criminally charged and has vowed to stay in office
Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, has been charged with accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources after an indictment was filed against the controversial leader of one of the world’s biggest cities.
In a five-count criminal indictment, US prosecutors allege that before and during his terms as mayor 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”.
The criminal counts against Adam include conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals, wire fraud and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national.
The complaint focuses on trips Adams and his partner took to Turkey, India and Ghana on Turkish airlines, sometimes staying in luxury hotels, that as an elected official, should have been disclosed to the government and campaign contributions made by Turkish officials through a system of “straw” donors.
Adams “did not disclose the travel benefits he had obtained in annual financial disclosures he was required to file as a New York City employee,” the government alleges. “Sometimes, Adams agreed to pay a nominal fee to create the appearance of having paid for travel that was in fact heavily discounted.”
Prosecutors allege that Adams “created and instructed others to create fake paper trails, falsely suggesting that he had paid, planned to pay, for travel benefits that were free, deleted messages with others involved in his misconduct”.
In September 2021, two months before he was elected New York mayor, prosecutors allege, Turkish officials called in their debt, telling Adams “it was his turn to repay the Turkish Official, by pressuring the New York City Fire Department (‘FDNY) to facilitate the opening of a new Turkish consular building –a 36-story skyscraper without a fire inspection – in time for a high-profile visit by Turkey’s president”.
The indictment notes that at the time, the building close to the UN would have failed an FDNY inspection. “In exchange for free travel and other travel related bribes in 2021 and 2022 arranged by the Turkish Official, Adams did as instructed,” the indictment says.
Shortly before prosecutors held a press conference to announce the charges, Adams held his own, surrounded by clergy and family as well as protesters calling for his resignation.
Adams insisted he was innocent. “I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defence,” he said and added: “Everyone who knows me knows that I follow the campaign rules and I follow the law.” But at the end of the press conference Adams walked away to chants of “Resign! Resign! Resign!” from some protesters present.
The US attorney Damian Williams said Adams had committed “a grave breach of public trust” by accepting over $100,000 in luxury travel benefits without disclosing them, seeking illegal campaign contributions from Turkish officials as recently as last year, and taking “corrupt official action” over the approval of Turkey’s consulate.
The mayor, Williams said, crossed “bright red lines” again and again.
“Public office is a privilege and we allege Mayor Adams abused that privilege and broke the law – laws that are designed to ensure that officials like him serve the people, not the highest bidder, not a foreign bidder and certainly not a foreign power,” Williams added.
“This investigation continues,” he added, promising to hold more people accountable.
If convicted, Adams could face five years for conspiracy, five years for seeking foreign campaign donations and 20 years for wire fraud. Prosecutors contend that by concealing illegal contributions his 2021 mayoral campaign received more than $10m in matching public funds.
“These are very serious charges and if the facts are as the government says, it’s going to be very hard for the mayor to prevail,” said Columbia Law School’s Richard Briffault.
The US attorney also took steps to quell claims that the charges were brought by the justice department because Adams opposed the Biden administration’s southern border policy, which he has called a “disaster” and claimed has flooded New York with migrants.
“We are not focused on the right and the left,” Williams said, “we are only focused on right and wrong.”
The moment is a deep crisis for the former police officer, who was elected with a tough-on-crime agenda but who has courted controversy throughout his political career and has been a polarising figure on the left.
Adams is the first sitting New York City mayor to be criminally charged.
Many local politicians in the city have called for his resignation, including the leftist Bronx congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is a powerful influence in the city and the national Democratic party.
Ocasio-Cortez said that after the indictment news and the previous resignation of several city officials, including the police commissioner: “I do not see how Mayor Adams can continue governing New York City.
“For the good of the city, he should resign,” she said.
When the news broke of the indictment late on Wednesday night, Adams released a defiant video statement. “I always knew that if I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target – and a target I became,” Adams said. “If I am charged, I am innocent and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit.”
He also vowed to stay in office.
“I have been facing these lies for months … yet the city has continued to improve,” Adams said. “Make no mistake. You elected me to lead this city and lead it I will.”
The indictment followed months of scrutiny after some of his closest aides and allies came under federal investigation as prosecutors began examining his inner circle. Less than a month ago federal agents raided the homes of high-ranking officials within Adams’s administration and seized electronic devices from the home of the New York police department commissioner.