Mayor Eric Adams meets with Hilmi Türkmen, mayor of Uskudar, Turkey. City Hall. Friday, May 13, 2022. Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on a number of charges, including securing bribes from foreign nationals tied to Turkey. This is one more symptom of America’s Turkey problem. Turkey has been a fickle ally at best, and there have been calls to boot the country from NATO. With the news that Turkey has been bribing high-ranking American officials, new scrutiny may be applied to the nation. Newsmax reports on the allegations against Mayor Adams, writing:
New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted Thursday on federal charges alleging that he secured bribes from foreign nationals and illegal campaign contributions in exchange for favors that included helping Turkish officials get fire safety approvals for a new diplomatic building in the city.
Adams, a former captain in the New York City police department, faces conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery charges in a five-count indictment that describes a decade-long trail of crimes.
At a news conference announcing the charges, Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan, said Adams had a duty to disclose gifts he received, but year after year “kept the public in the dark.”
At a separate news conference outside Gracie Mansion, meanwhile, Adams said he doesn’t plan to resign from his job running the country’s largest city, telling reporters he hopes New Yorkers will wait to hear his legal team’s defense before making any judgments.
“From here, my attorneys will take care of the case so I can take care of the city,” he said at a hastily assembled news conference outside Gracie Mansion after the charges were made public. “It’s an unfortunate day. And its a painful day. 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,” he said.
As Adams and others close to him addressed the media, protesters heckled them, with some chanting “abuse of power” as police circled them and one shouting, “He’s a corrupt mayor. He deserves to be in handcuffs.”
Federal prosecutors allege in the indictment that Adams “not only accepted, but sought illegal campaign contributions” to his mayoral campaign. A senior official in the Turkish diplomatic establishment “facilitated many straw donations” to Adams and arranged for Adams and his companions to receive free or discounted travel on Turkey’s national airline to destinations including France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary, and Turkey, the indictment alleges.
Adams “compounded his gains” from the illegal campaign contributions by gaming the city’s matching funds program, which provides a generous match for small dollar donations. His campaign received more than $10 million in matching public funds as a result of the false certifications, according to the indictment.
Adams allegedly “solicited and demanded” bribes, including free and heavily discounted luxury travel benefits from a Turkish official, the indictment alleges, noting that the official was seeking Adams’ help pertaining to regulations of the Turkish consulate in Manhattan.
Adams created and instructed others to create fake paper trails in order to falsely suggest he had paid for travel benefits that were actually free, prosecutors allege. He also deleted messages with others involved in his misconduct, at one point assuring a co-conspirator that he “always” deleted her text messages, according to the indictment.
Read more here.
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