New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on federal charges of bribery conspiracy, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations.
An indictment was unsealed Thursday morning, revealing the charges in the alleged campaign contribution scheme.
The charges allege illegal activity dating back to 2014 when Adams was Brooklyn borough president.
By 2018, when Adams announced plans to run for mayor, the indictment says he accepted and sought illegal campaign contributions and other things of value from foreign nationals seeking influence over him. The activities allegedly continued into his time as mayor.
“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,” the indictment reads.
In a press conference after the indictment was unsealed, Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, detailed some of the claims against the mayor.
Williams referenced visuals that showed benefits like international business class flights, luxury travel accommodations and other perks that he alleged Adams accepted and attempted to cover up as if he paid for them.
"As we allege, year after year after year, he kept the public in the dark. He told the public he received no gifts, even though he was secretly being showered with them," Williams said. "We allege that Adams accepted these benefits knowing that they were given to him because of his position."
He said the gifts exceeded $100,000 in value.
Williams also outlined a claim from the indictment accusing Adams of imposing on the city's inspection process of a Turkish government building.
"In exchange for some of those improper benefits, [Adams] intervened in the New York City Fire Department's inspection process for a building owned and operated by the Turkish government, allowing it to open even though it did not pass a fire inspection," Williams said.
Adams is now the first sitting New York City mayor to be criminally charged.
Adams reacts: "Wait and hear our side"
Before Williams addressed the city in a press conference, Adams spoke out in a briefing shortly after the charges against him were announced.
"We are not surprised, we expected this. This is not surprising to us at all. The actions that have unfolded over the last 10 months — the leaks, the commentary, the demonizing — this did not surprise us that we reached this day," said the mayor.
"I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments. In about 30 minutes, you're going to hear a story of the case that is in front of us," Adams said, referencing the then-upcoming press conference held by Williams. "This story will come from the federal prosecutors. And I ask to wait and hear our side to this narrative."
"From here, my attorneys will take care of the case, so I can take care of the city," Adams continued. "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."
Adams said it would be an "insult" to the people of New York if any city employees refuse to do their jobs while the case proceeds.
"It's an unfortunate day, and it's a painful day. But inside of all of that, it's a day where we will finally reveal why, for 10 months, I have gone through this," Adams said.
Before the indictment against the mayor was unsealed, federal agents were seen raiding his official residence, Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, early Thursday morning.
“Federal agents appeared this morning at Gracie Mansion in an effort to create a spectacle (again) and take Mayor Adams phone (again). He has not been arrested and looks forward to his day in court," Adams' lawyer Alex Spiro said in a statement obtained by Scripps News.
“They send a dozen agents to pick up a phone when we would have happily turned it in," Spiro said.
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On Wednesday night, a defiant Adams rejected calls for his resignation, saying he still plans to seek re-election in 2025. But it is not yet known whether New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will exercise her power to take him out of office, which, while a complicated process, she has the power to do.
