By Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors on Thursday charged New York City Mayor Eric Adams with accepting illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel accommodations from Turkish nationals seeking to influence him, capping an investigation that has sent the largest U.S. city’s government into turmoil.
In a 57-page indictment, prosecutors laid out an alleged scheme stretching back to 2014 that helped to underwrite Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign and showered him with free rooms at opulent hotels and meals at high-end restaurants.
In return, Adams pressured city officials to waive safety inspections and allow the country’s new 36-story consulate to open, prosecutors said.
Adams, 64, a former police officer who rose to the rank of captain, denied wrongdoing and said he would fight the charges. He said he would not step down.
“I will continue to do my job as mayor,” he said at a news conference.
Turkey’s foreign ministry and president’s office and its embassy in Washington had no immediate comment.
Adams faces five criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors said he sought and accepted benefits including luxury travel from wealthy foreign businesspeople and a Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him.
Earlier on Thursday, federal agents searched the mayor’s Gracie Mansion home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. A black sport utility vehicle with a placard reading “Federal Law Enforcement” on its dashboard was parked outside the residence, according to a Reuters witness.
Around a dozen people in business attire were seen walking on the mansion’s grounds with briefcases and duffel bags.
Adams’ lawyer Alex Spiro accused authorities of trying “to create a spectacle” and said they had taken the mayor’s phone. Spiro said Adams “looks forward to his day in court.”
Adams, a Democrat who became the first of the city’s 110 mayors to be criminally charged while in office, vowed to remain in office and fight the charges.
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat, has the power to remove Adams from office but the process is complicated, said Pace University Law School professor Bennett Gershman.
TOP CITY OFFICIALS RESIGN
The case is likely to complicate any Adams bid for re-election in 2025. Other Democratic politicians, including New York City comptroller Brad Lander, plan to challenge Adams – once a key ally of Democratic President Joe Biden – for the party’s nomination.
U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also a Democrat, became the first member of Congress to urge him to step down, saying it would be “for the good of the city.”
New York has been in a state of political upheaval for the past month. Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned on Sept. 12, a week after FBI agents seized his phone. Days later, Adams’ chief legal adviser resigned, saying she could “no longer effectively serve” in the position.
On Wednesday, the city’s public schools chancellor David Banks said he would retire at the end of the year, weeks after the Times reported his phones were seized by federal agents.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen, Jonathan Stempel and Bing Guan in New York; additional reporting by Katharine Jackson in Washington; writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Nick Zieminski and Lisa Shumaker)
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