NYC Mayor Eric Adams indicted on bribery and fraud charges. What led to the indictment — and what could happen next.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on five federal criminal charges related to campaign finance, bribery and conspiracy. The indictment detailing the charges was unsealed Thursday morning.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams outlined the allegations to reporters Thursday. “As the indictment alleges, Mayor Adams engaged in a long-running conspiracy in which he solicited and knowingly accepted illegal campaign contributions from foreign donors and corporations,” Williams said. “We also allege that the mayor sought and accepted well over $100,000 in luxury travel benefits from some of the same foreign actors who arranged many of the illegal campaign contributions.”
Adams maintained his innocence, telling reporters on Thursday after the indictment was made public to “wait and hear our side of the story.”
It comes just hours after FBI agents searched Gracie Mansion, the official residence of Adams, early Thursday morning to seize his phone.
Adams’s attorney, Alex Spiro, said the search was an unnecessary show of force. “They send a dozen agents to pick up a phone when we would have happily turned it in,” Spiro said in a statement.
City Hall has been thrust into crisis in recent weeks following high-level resignations within the Democratic mayor’s administration, amid multiple federal probes that have been ongoing for several months.
Four higher-level resignations within the Adams administration have been announced in the past month, including the city’s police commissioner, the mayor’s chief counsel, the city’s health commissioner and the schools chancellor.
What are the federal charges against Adams?
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals (one count)
Wire fraud (one count)
Solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national (two counts)
Bribery (one count)
Read the indictment here.
What are the undisclosed luxury travel benefits Adams allegedly received?
Williams outlined what he says are undisclosed trips Adams allegedly took and their value totaling over $100,000. "The mayor had a duty to disclose these gifts on his annual public disclosure forms so that the public could see who was giving him what, but as we allege, year after year, after year, he kept the public in the dark. He told the public he received no gifts, even though he was secretly being showered with them," Williams said.
Those alleged gifts included:
2016: Round-trip free flight upgrade to business class for two from New York to India, with a value of over $12,000
2017: Free business-class tickets for three, round trip, from New York to France, Turkey and China, as well as a discounted stay in a suite at the St. Regis hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, with a value of over $41,000
2017: Two free round-trip, business-class tickets from New York to China, with a value of over $16,000
2018: Free upgrade for two round-trip, business-class tickets from New York to Hungary, valued at over $12,000
2019: Free upgrade to business class on one flight from New York to Turkey, free stay at a suite at the St. Regis hotel, along with free meals, transportation and entertainment, totaling over $9,000
2021: Free upgrade to business class for one flight from New York to Turkey, free or deeply discounted hotel and resort stays, totaling over $21,000. The trip was solicited and accepted but ultimately canceled, Williams indicates.
2021: Trip between New York and Ghana via Turkey that included a free upgrade to business class for two, a free meal and transportation during an Istanbul layover, with a value over $12,000
"In exchange for some of those improper benefits, he intervened in the New York City Fire Department's inspection process for a building owned and operated by the Turkish government, allowing it to open, even though it had not passed the fire inspection," Williams said.
What happened Wednesday night?
News of Adams’s indictment was made public late Wednesday. He denied any wrongdoing.
“I always knew that if I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target — and a target I became," Adams said in a video statement released Wednesday night. "If I am charged, I am innocent and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit.”
He is now the first sitting mayor of New York City to face criminal charges.
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, became the most prominent elected official to call for Adams’s resignation on Wednesday.
“I do not see how Mayor Adams can continue governing New York City,” Ocasio-Cortez said on X. “The flood of resignations and vacancies are threatening gov function. Nonstop investigations will make it impossible to recruit and retain a qualified administration. For the good of the city, he should resign.”
What led to the indictment?
One of several federal investigations homing in on Adams's administration focuses on his mayoral campaign in 2021 and whether it conspired with the Turkish government to conceal foreign campaign contributions, which are illegal in the U.S.
Agents were also looking into whether Adams pressured the city’s fire commissioner to approve a high-rise building for the Turkish consulate, despite safety concerns. Investigators were also looking into flight upgrades they believe Adams received from Turkish Airlines.
Here’s what could happen next
Adams will be arraigned on the federal corruption charges on Friday.
While Adams said Thursday he plans to stay on the job, if he were to leave office, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams would take Adams’s place and would have three days to set a date for a special election to choose a new mayor.
