New York City Mayor Eric Adams indicted for taking foreign donations

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was allegedly indicted Wednesday by federal prosecutors following a corruption investigation, according to published reports that cited multiple sources.

The mayor’s official residence, Gracie Mansion, was searched and his devices seized early Thursday, before the indictment was unsealed by Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

For nearly a decade, the indictment charged, Adams “sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish govermnent official seeking to gain influence over him.”

Adams, the city’s 110th mayor, is the first chief executive in New York City’s history to be criminally indicted while in office.

He is being charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent for taking actions in his official capacity after receiving donations from foreign sources, according to sources who say the allegations are part of a larger probe that looked into his 2021 campaign for mayor.

“I welcome this enforcement action but America needs new legislation to outlaw bribery, which is apparent but either ignored or accepted as legal, including gifts to Supreme Court justices, big campaign contributions transmitted through dark money PACs, and payoffs that are difficult to link with specific official acts,” said Lisa McCormick, who is best known for her 2018 challenge to U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, one of only 12 US senators to have been indicted and the only one to be charged twice for separate crimes.

On July 26, 2024, a jury convicted Menendez of 16 counts of bribery, honest services fraud, extortion, conspiracy, and acting as a foreign agent for the government of Egypt, but the New Jersey lawmaker’s case in 2017 ended with a mistrial after the jury deadlocked despite 57 witnesses and hundreds of exhibits in a case where the central factual allegations about trading the power of his office for lucrative bribes were never in dispute.

Menendez refused to give even the slightest hint of remorse, emphatic that he was the victim as he stares down the specter of up to 222 years behind bars with sentencing slated for Oct. 29.

According to a search warrant used by federal agents who raided the Brooklyn home of the mayor’s chief fund-raising consultant, Brianna Suggs, who was deeply entwined with efforts to advance the mayor’s agenda, authorities believed the campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign donations.

Adams discussed the charges against him in a two-minute and a half minute video shared by his attorney Alex Spiro, who is also defending Adams in a civil lawsuit that claims he sexually assaulted a female police officer decades ago.

“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. I always knew that if I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target — and a target I became,” said Adams. “If I am charged, I am innocent and will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit.”

Adams suggested that the federal probe was related to his criticism of President Joe Biden’s handling of immigrants.

“Despite our pleas, when the federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system with no relief, I put the people of New York before party and politics,” Adams said. 

He added that the public shouldn’t worry about his ability to manage the city post-indictment because “I have been facing these lies for months, since I began to speak out for all of you and their investigation started — yet the city has continued to improve.”

The indictment is expected to allege that Adams acted “as an unregistered foreign agent,” in a scheme involving the mayor and several of his top aides. 

Eight lawmakers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called for Adams to resign prior to the indictment, and news that he is being charged accelerated calls for him to step down among potential Democratic primary opponents, members of the City Council and state legislature. 

Many lawmakers expressed that Adams should be presumed innocent until proven guilty – but still called for him to step down due to the distraction of the legal challenge he faces. 

The first indication of federal scrutiny of the mayor came in November, when federal agents raided the home of his chief fundraiser, Suggs, and Rana Abbasova, his director of protocol for international affairs.

Federal agents later stopped Adams personally in the street and confiscated his devices.

In July, it was reported that Adams was served grand jury subpoenas. On Sept. 4, federal agents raided the homes and seized electronic devices of multiple of his top aides, prompting a cascade of resignations. 

Adams can continue to serve as mayor after being indicted if he does not choose to resign, but he could forced out by Governor Kathy Hochul or an “inability committee” made up of the city comptroller, the City Council speaker, a deputy mayor and the longest-serving borough president, according to rules laid out in the city charter.

If Adams were to leave office under any terms, he would be succeeded by the city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, and a special election would be held to elect a new mayor.

Among a growing field of candidates seeking to challenge Adams in the Democratic primary next year are Zellnor Myrie, Scott Stringer, Jessica Ramos and Brad Lander.

“The mayor needs to resign for the good of the city. His legal fight is not our fight,” said Stringer, who served as the New York City Comptroller, a New York State Assemblyman, and as Manhattan borough president.

“While the mayor focuses on proving his innocence, the rest of us need to focus on the business of the city — building affordable housing, educating our kids, and keeping this city safe.”

Comptroller Brad Lander, who is also running against Adams and would serve on the inability committee if it were tapped to oust the mayor, also called for him to step down.

“At this urgent moment, the City’s leaders must focus on how we can best enable steady governance so that New York City can move forward and thrive. As the comptroller of the city, I will do everything I can to help ensure this happens,” Lander wrote on social media.