NYC Mayor Adams pleads not guilty to sweeping federal corruption indictment

Mayor Adams pleaded not guilty Friday as he was arraigned on an indictment in Manhattan federal court charging him with bribery and wire fraud for allegedly soliciting campaign contributions from overseas donors following a wide-ranging federal probe into corruption at City Hall.

Adams, wearing a crisp blue suit, entered his plea as he stood before federal magistrate judge Katharine Parker.

“I am not guilty, your honor,” Adams said.

Assistant US Attorney Celia Cohen told the court that prosecutors and Adams’ defense agreed on a bond package under which Adams would be released provided he agrees not to contact any witnesses or individuals named in the indictment.

“Mayor Adams will be released today on the following conditions: he shall have no contact with any individual witnesses or others listed in the list to be provided by the government , concerning the facts and circumstances outlined in the indictment,” Parker said. “This does not preclude Mayor Adams from having routine communications concerning business and private family matters.”

The charges stem from an ongoing investigation by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office that has scrutinized allegations Turkey’s government funneled illegal donations into Adams’ 2021 campaign coffers. The indictment comes after revelations earlier this month that authorities are also looking into communications between Adams and the governments of five other foreign countries.

In the five-count indictment, federal investigators described a scheme that spanned “nearly a decade,” starting when Adams became Brooklyn borough president in 2014. The charges he faces are conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, and receiving campaign contributions by foreign nationals; wire fraud; two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national, and bribery.

Spiro said the defense will be filing a motion to dismiss the indictment next Wednesday.

In comments after the brief proceeding, Spiro said the feds have evidence Adams was unaware of any efforts to funnel illegal donations to his campaign. He claimed a City Hall staffer, identified later by sources as Rana Abbasova, Adams’ Turkish community liaison for years, who is at the heart of the government’s case has been misleading investigators.

“That staffer has lied, and the government is in possession of that lie,” Spiro said as Mayor Adams stood stone-faced by his side. “When that staffer was first interviewed, that staffer said that Mayor Adams knew nothing about this, he was not involved in this, and that he is innocent. They have that information. They have not turned that over to us. They have not turned that over to you.”

The indictment says that when Abbasova, identified in court papers as a City Hall staffer, agreed to be interviewed by FBI agents, she “excused herself to a bathroom and, while there, deleted the encrypted messaging applications she had used to communicate with Adams”…and others, the indictment read.

After the FBI raided Abbasova’s New Jersey home, she agreed to cooperate with investigators, the Daily News previously reported.

Abbasova’s attorney declined to comment on Spiro’s claims Friday.

Spiro said the entire indictment against Adams “isn’t even a real case.” “This is the airline upgrade corruption case,” he said. “He’s innocent.”

Mayor Adams gave a thumbs up to reporters as he left Manhattan federal court. The mayor has said he is innocent of all charges and has rebuffed calls for his resignation.

Adams is the first New York City mayor in the modern era to face criminal charges while in office. His administration has been reeling from additional federal corruption investigations and a series of high-profile resignations in recent weeks by top advisers to the mayor. He is facing the possibility of up to 45 years in prison if convicted of bribery, campaign finance, wire fraud, and conspiracy offenses, federal officials said.

Adams allegedly 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,” the 57-page indictment charges.

Federal prosecutors say Adams solicited and accepted tens of thousands of dollars in illegal straw donations from Turkish nationals and, once he became mayor, his “foreign-national benefactors sought to cash in on their corrupt relationships with him” by securing favors from him.

Since becoming mayor, Adams has kept this favor-swapping relationship going and has continued soliciting illegal straw donations from Turkish nationals for his reelection campaign , according to the indictment. It’s illegal to accept campaign donations from non-U.S. citizens. To get around this, Turkish officials allegedly sent the donations through third parties, known as straw donors, who were citizens.

Adams allegedly accepted the donations, knowing their origins, and maximized his gains through New York City’s matching funds program — netting his 2021 campaign public money that the feds say he should’ve never received due to the illegal nature of the Turkish contributions. Adams raised a total of $10 million in matching funds during the 2021 campaign.

Adams repaid the favors by, among other actions, pressuring the FDNY into fast-tracking the opening of a new 36-floor Turkish Consulate in Manhattan despite serious fire safety concerns , the indictment charges.

In comments outside Gracie Mansion Thursday, Spiro, challenged several of the prosecution’s key points and produced text message to bolster his position.

“You can almost picture them trying to cobble this together and try to tell a story so that they could say, ‘Corruption, corruption, corruption,’” Spiro told reporters as he stood with Adams at his side. “They do that to tarnish him in your eyes.”

Spiro said there was nothing untoward about the seat upgrades as they were commonplace when seats are available. He disputed the notion that the mayor had sought foreign donations, saying he had given his staff explicit instructions not to do so. Spiro also said, echoing comments Adams has previously made, that there was noting untoward about the mayor’s outreach to the FDNY regarding the consulate.

Since the indictment was unsealed Thursday, several elected officials and community leaders have demanded that Adams resign from office, but the mayor says he will continue to lead as he fights the charges.

Gov. Hochul, who has the power to remove Adams from office, called the indictment “ the latest in a disturbing pattern of events ” but did not call for him to step down.

“My focus is on protecting the people of New York and ensuring stability in the city,” she said in a statement late Thursday. “While I review my options and obligations as the governor of New York, I expect the mayor to take the next few days to review the situation and find an appropriate path forward to ensure the people of New York City are being well-served by their leaders.”

With Emma Siewell and Chris Sommerfeldt