Prosecutors unveiled a five-count indictment of New York Mayor Eric Adams on corruption charges.
The 57-page indictment charges Adams with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals; one count of wire fraud; two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national; and one count of bribery.
It alleges a 10-year pattern of corruption.
“In 2014, ERIC ADAMS, the defendant, became Brooklyn Borough President,” it reads. “Thereafter, for nearly a decade, ADAMS sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him.”
Some of the charges are connected to contributions to Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign.
The indictment alleges that in September 2021, an unnamed Turkish official told Adams that it was “his turn to repay” him, by “pressuring the New York City Fire Department … to facilitate the opening of a new Turkish consular building – a 36-story skyscraper – without a fae inspection, in time for a high-profile visit by Turkey’s president.”
It added that the building would have failed such an inspection if one were made, but that in “exchange for free travel and other travel-related bribes in 2021 and 2022 arranged by the Turkish Official, ADAMS did as instructed.”
According to the indictment, the FDNY official responsible for the safety assessment was told that he would be fired if he did not acquiesce, which he did.
Speaking minutes after the indictment was unveiled Thursday morning, surrounded by black clergy members, Adams reaffirmed his earlier pleas of innocence and commitment not to resign.
“My day-to-day will not change,” he said. “I will continue to do the job for 8.3 million New Yorkers that I was elected to do, and the 300,000-plus employees of our city government will continue to do their jobs because this is what we do as New Yorkers. It’s an insult to the hard-working people of the city that anyone would say that they won’t do their jobs while this case proceeds in the background. They are dedicated public servants, and I have been one of them for many years, and they’re going to continue to do their job, moving the city forward every day.
“For 10 months I have gone through this, and I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city, as I’ve done throughout my entire professional career,” Adams added.
He and the other speakers were repeatedly interrupted, including by one man with a megaphone.
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Adams was indicted Wednesday night following a federal corruption investigation, making him the first mayor in the city’s history to be indicted while in office. His home was also raided Thursday morning, and his phone was seized.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.