New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) is fond of responding to his detractors with a bit of advice: “Let your haters be your waiters when you sit down at the table of success.”
The Department of Justice now seems to have a few things to say about Adams’ success. In a 57-page, five-count indictment unsealed Thursday, federal prosecutors accused him of taking bribes from foreign nationals and doling out favors over a span of nearly a decade.
Others in his orbit have also been investigated by federal authorities, leading to several high-profile resignations this month — among them police commissioner Edward Caban and mayoral legal adviser Lisa Zornberg.
Adams said the charges were “entirely false” and “based on lies,” adding that he looks forward to defending himself.
“I will fight these injustices with every ounce of my strength and my spirit,” he said.
Adams, a former captain with the New York Police Department, was elected mayor of the country’s largest city in 202 on a pro-NYPD platform, and is seeking reelection in 2025.
The indictment paints a picture of a man who is comfortable accepting luxuries either for free or little cost, allegedly using fake paper trails and cash to conceal them, and performing various favors in return. It also accuses him of using a donation-matching program aimed at giving New Yorkers a stronger voice in local elections to steal some $10 million in public funds.
Here’s what we learned about the accusations:
Adams allegedly took a lot of money from Turkish nationals who believed he could be president someday.
Prosecutors say foreign nationals seeking favors from Adams funneled cash to his campaign through American citizens in a “straw man” setup.
A text exchange between a Turkish businessman and an aide to Adams provided insight into the deals:
“Fund Raising in Turkey is not legal, but I think I can raise money for your campaign off the record,” the businessman wrote. Asked how Adams would formally declare the funds as a campaign donation to comply with the law, the businessman 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 aide said Adams “wouldn’t get involved in such games” because it “might cause a big stink later on,” but promised to talk to Adams about it.
Adams’ texted his feelings about a different but similar proposal from another Turkish national.
“I don’t want his willing to help be waisted [sic],” Adams allegedly wrote.
At least one of the Turkish nationals believed Adams might be president of the United States one day, according to the indictment.
He was a frequent flier on a Turkish airline.
Adams either flew for free or for a heavily discounted rate on a Turkish airline owned in large part by the Turkish government, according to the indictment, which noted destinations included “France, China, Sri Lanka, India, Hungary and Turkey itself.” He allegedly did so even when it was less convenient than other options, like transferring through Istanbul to get to France.
Prosecutors say the business class flights to India, taken with his partner in 2016, would have cost $15,000, but the couple paid less than $3,000 and accepted free upgrades. Another trip taken in 2017 with several companions would have cost $35,000 regularly.
An Adams staffer arranging flights for him in June 2021 told an employee of the airline to charge a price that was “somewhat real” because “we don’t want [the media] to say he is flying for free.”
Turkish nationals “further arranged for Adams and his companions to receive, among other things, free rooms at opulent hotels, free meals at high-end restaurants, and free luxurious entertainment while in Turkey,” the indictment stated.
Adams tried hiding his antics, but incriminating texts remained.
One exchange between Adams and a staffer stood out in the indictment. The pair were texting about another possible trip to Turkey in 2019.
“To be o[n the] safe side Please Delete all messages you send me,” the staffer texted Adams.
He texted back, “Always do.”
A staffer deleted texts during her FBI interview.
In November 2023, an Adams staffer submitted to a voluntary interview with the FBI. At one point, the indictment said, she “excused herself to a bathroom and, while there, deleted the encrypted messaging applications she had used to communicate” with Adams and his Turkish contacts.
Adams helped open a costly new skyscraper despite flaws.
Adams allegedly ensured that a 36-floor building that would serve as the new home of the Turkish consulate could open quickly, in time for a visit by the Turkish president in September 2021.
The New York Fire Department was concerned about dozens of defects with the building. But a top NYFD official wrote a “conditional letter of no objection” to the building, which he had never done before, and it opened in time.
He allegedly made other construction problems go away.
One of the straw donors, who was not a member of the city’s Turkish community, later texted Adams about a problem with the city’s Department of Buildings.
“[W]e reached a certain limit that only you can lift,” the man texted Adams, who said he would look into the issue. The man later texted his thanks.
He is famous in Turkey, apparently.
One of the straw donors was a Turkish entrepreneur referred to in the indictment as “the Promoter,” who arranges events for wealthy and powerful people to meet one another. The indictment states that he was “hoping to leverage Adams’ considerable fame in Turkey to benefit the Promoter’s clients.”
Right after Adams won the 2021 mayoral election, the man suggested in a text message to another Turkish national that he intended “to go and talk to our elders in Ankara about how we can turn this into an advantage for our country’s lobby.”
According to prosecutors, Adams was living it up on his visits to the country. One trip included a stay at the Four Seasons, a yacht tour, a stay at a luxury beach resort, and a car and driver. He paid $720.
He ignored the Armenian genocide on its remembrance day.
As mayor, Adams did not make a statement on the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day in 2022, allegedly on request from his Turkish contacts. Turkish nationalists continue to deny the systematic massacre that began in 1915.
A secretive 2025 Adams campaign event was allegedly filled with foreign nationals.
Prosecutors say Adams welcomed wealthy foreigners to a fundraising event in a Manhattan hotel which was billed as a climate-related event. A PowerPoint presentation was allegedly created to help hide the true purpose of the event, saying it was hosted by “International Sustainability Leaders” and had a ticket price of $5,000.
He told the FBI he forgot his phone password.
When the FBI executed a search warrant for Adams’ devices in November, they found his mobile phone to be locked. Adams claimed he’d recently changed the password from a four-digit number to a six-digit number — and forgotten it.
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