Federal prosecutors unsealed the charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday, alleging he committed wire fraud and bribery and accepted foreign campaign money, among other offenses. Adams is the first mayor of New York City to be indicted while in office.
At a press conference held shortly before prosecutors made their statements, Adams was defiant, saying he has no intention of stepping down, and suggested the prosecution is politically motivated. “It’s an unfortunate day. And its a painful day,” Adams said in front of a group of supporters. “But inside all of that is a day when we will finally reveal why, for 10 months, I’ve gone through this. And I look forward to defending myself.” A day earlier, before the indictment had been unsealed, he called the forthcoming charges “entirely false.”
The full federal indictment lays out prosecutors’ case that, beginning in 2015, Adams solicited and received so-called straw donations from Turkish nationals, which were then used as the basis to apply for matching public funds. It also alleges that, in exchange, Adams used his influence to allow a Turkish consular building to open with a rubber stamp from the New York Fire Department.
You can read the full indictment here, but for readers following along at home who are interested in only the more eye-popping details, consider the following excerpts, which are taken verbatim from the indictment (with the minor change of taking Adams’ name out of all-caps):
1. ‘First stop is always instanbul [sic]’
Because the Turkish Airline provided free travel benefits worth tens of thousands of dollars to Eric Adams, the defendant, he flew the Turkish Airline even when doing so was otherwise inconvenient. For example, during the July and August 2017 trip, Adams’s Partner was surprised to learn that Adams was in Turkey when she had understood him to be flying from New York to France. Adams responded, in a text message, ‘Transferring here. You know first stop is always instanbul [sic].’ When Adams’s Partner later inquired about planning a trip to Easter Island, Chile, Adams repeatedly asked her whether the Turkish Airline could be used for their flights, requiring her to call the Turkish Airline to confirm that they did not have routes between New York and Chile.”
2. ‘The tickets were complimentary’
For example, on November 25, 2017, Adams sent an email to the Adams Scheduler saying that with respect to the ‘July trip,’ meaning the July and August 2017 trip on the Turkish Airline, ‘I left you the money for the international airline in an envelope in your top desk draw. [sic] Please send it to them.’ Given the cost of the international business class tickets for Adams alone, Adams’s email suggested that he left, at a minimum, well over $10,000 in cash in the Adams Scheduler’s desk drawer to ‘send’ to the Turkish Airline as payment for flights taken months earlier. He did not do that, as records from the Turkish Airline confirm that Adams did not pay the airline, in cash or otherwise, because the tickets were complimentary.”
3. ‘They might cause a big stink later on’
On June 22, 2018 … the Adams Staffer and the Promoter discussed by text message a possible trip by Adams to Turkey. The Promoter stated, in part, ‘Fund Raising in Turkey is not legal, but I think I can raise money for your campaign off the record.’ The Adams Staffer inquired, ‘How will [Adams] declare that money here?’ The Promoter responded, ‘He won’t declare it . . . Or … We’ll make the donation through an American citizen in the U.S. A Turk… I’ll give cash to him in Turkey … Or I’ll send it to an American …He will make a donation to you.’ The Adams Staffer replied, ‘I think he wouldn’t get involved in such games. They might cause a big stink later on,’ but ‘I’ll ask anyways.’ The Adams Staffer then asked, ‘how much do you think would come from you? $?’ The Promoter responded, ‘Max $100K.’ The Adams Staffer wrote, ‘100K? Do you have a chance to transfer that here? . . . We can’t do it while Eric is in Turkey,’ to which the Promoter replied, ‘Let’s think.’ After this conversation, the Adams Staffer asked Adams whether the Adams Staffer should pursue the unlawful foreign contributions offered by the Promoter, and contrary to the Adams Staffer’s expectations, Adams directed that the Adams Staffer pursue the Promoter’s illegal scheme.
4. Adams ‘might one day be the President’
[Adams] also solicited unlawful foreign campaign contributions while in Istanbul in January 2019. During Adams’s trip, the Promoter arranged for Adams to meet a wealthy Turkish businessman (‘Businessman-3’). The Turkish Official, through the Adams Staffer, discouraged Adams from meeting Businessman-3, who was then under suspicion of wrongdoing. Adams did so nonethless [sic]. During their meeting, Adams and the Promoter solicited campaign contributions from Businessman-3, who as a Turkish national could not lawfully contribute to any U.S. campaign. During the meeting, Businessman-3 agreed 18 to contribute $50,000 or more to the 2021 Campaign, believing that Adams might one day be the President of the United States and hoping to gain influence with Adams. […] Before any of the discussed straw donations could occur, however, Businessman-3’s legal troubles in Turkey and the United States became more public. Adams declined to meet with Businessman-3 when Businessman-3 later visited New York, and Businessman- 3 did not ultimately contribute to the 2021 Campaign.
5. ‘Please Delete all messages’
[I]n March 2019, while exchanging text messages to plan another possible to trip to Turkey in which the Airline Manager would arrange travel for Adams, the Adams Staffer texted Adams, ‘To be o[n the]safe side Please Delete all messages you send me.’ Adams responded, ‘Always do.’”
6. Turkey official ‘personally paying attention’
[After Adams was elected mayor] The Promoter also celebrated Adams’s prospects with additional people, telling others — including Adams himself —that Adams would soon be President of the United States. Similarly, the Turkish Official wrote to the Adams Staffer that given Adams’s increasing prominence, ‘at this point,’ the Foreign Minister ofTurkey ‘is personally paying attention to him’ and Adams ‘should not bother with’ his other Turkish benefactors.”
7. ‘Why does he care? He’s not going to pay[.]’
At Adams’s direction, the Adams Staffer also coordinated luxury lodging for Adams and Adams’s Partner, which would be secretly provided at no cost to Adams, as the Adams Staffer and the Airline Manager discussed: Adams Staffer: He is also asking where else they can go in Turkey[.] Do you have a recommendation? AirlineManager: Four Seasons Adams Staffer: It’s too expensive Airline Manager: Why does he care? He is not going to pay[.] His name will not be on anything either Adams Staffer: Super
8. ‘His turn’ to support Turkey
On or about September 5, 2021, the Turkish Official began asking Adams, both directly and through the Adams Staffer, to intervene with the Commissioner of the FDNY […] to secure a [temporary certificate of occupancy] for the [Turkish government’s] Turkish House. Adams, the Turkish Official, and the Adams Staffer discussed these requests through phone calls and electronic messages. In a phone call to the Adams Staffer, the Turkish Official stated that because Turkey had supported Adams, it was now ‘his turn’ to support Turkey. The Adams Staffer relayed this message to Adams, and Adams responded, ‘I know.’”
9. ‘Seat number 52 is empty’
On December 8, 2021, the Adams Staffer sent the Airline Manager a link to a list Adams’s transition committees and asked the Airline Manager, ‘Have you looked at the list?’ The Airline Manager responded, ‘It would suit me well to be lead Or Senior Advisor.’ Two days later, the Airline Manager sent a message reiterating, ‘Lead Plz 🙂 Otherwise seat number 52 is empty . . . On the way back,’ meaning that if the Airline Manager was not given a position on a transition committee, it would affect Adams’s travel benefits from the Turkish Airline. On December 17, 2021, the Adams Staffer sent Adams a list of members of the Turkish community to add to Adams’s transition committees, with the Airline Manager as the top name. Adams informed the Adams Staffer that he had sent the list to the persons responsible for organizing his transition committees. Adams sent the list to a staff member with the direction ‘Add to transition.’ The Airline Manager was subsequently added to Adams’s Infrastructure, Climate and Sustainability Committee transition committee.
10. Adams staffer’s alleged bathroom break
After learning that FBI agents had arrived at her residence, but before answering their repeated knocks at her door, the Adams Fundraiser called Adams five times, even though the agents had not yet given the Adams Fundraiser any indication of the purpose for their visit. When the Adams Fundraiser then spoke with the FBI agents, she agreed to discuss many subjects, but refused to say who had paid for her 2021 travel to Turkey. As the FBI agents departed the Adams Fundraiser’s residence, Adams attempted to call the Adams Fundraiser’s phone. On the morning that the FBI agents executed this search, Adams had flown to Washington, D.C. for a publicized official meeting, but upon learning about the search, Adams canceled the meeting and immediately returned to New York City […] The Adams Staffer also agreed to speak with FBI agents and falsely denied the criminal conduct of herself and Adams, among others. At one point during her voluntary interview, the Adams Staffer excused herself to a bathroom and, while there, deleted the encrypted messaging applications she had used to communicate with Adams, the Promoter, the Turkish Official, the Airline Manager, and others.
11. ‘The complexity of his password’
FBI agents executed a search warrant for the electronic devices used by [Adams]. Although Adams was carrying several electronic devices, including two cellphones, he was not carrying his personal cellphone, which is the device he used to communicate about the conduct described in this indictment. When Adams produced his personal cellphone the next day in response to a subpoena, it was ‘locked,’ such that the device required a password to open. Adams claimed that after he learned about the investigation into his conduct, he changed the password on November 5, 2024, and increased the complexity of his password from four digits to six. Adams had done this, he claimed, to prevent members of his staff from inadvertently or intentionally deleting the contents of his phone because, according to Adams, he wished to preserve the contents of his phone due to the investigation. But, Adams further claimed, he had forgotten the password he had just set, and thus was unable to provide the FBI with a password that would unlock the phone.
