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New York Post
Adams pleads not guilty after feds accuse him of accepting $123K in luxury gifts, fraudulently obtaining $10M in public funds
By Ben Kochman, Desheania Andrews, Emily Crane,
10 hours ago
A stone-faced Mayor Eric Adams pleaded not guilty to explosive corruption charges in Manhattan federal court Friday — and was ordered to stay away from witnesses and alleged cohorts in his historic case.
Hizzoner — who is the first sitting New York City mayor to be criminally indicted — stared blankly ahead as the judge fired off the slew of conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery allegations he is facing.
“I am not guilty, Your Honor,” Adams told Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker.
The jurist ordered that Adams be released on his own recognizance — but not before warning him to stay away from people named in the indictment against him, as well as witnesses in his case.
Prosecutors agreed to work with Adams’ lawyers on accommodations for him to speak with members of his family and staff who may know facts of the case — but not about anything pertaining to the allegations.
Parker added in a humiliating directive to Hizzoner, “I’m obliged to warn you that if you fail to appear in court … a warrant will be issued for your arrest.’’
Dressed in a navy suit and maroon tie, Adams sat calmly with his hands folded in his lap for much of the proceeding.
At the end of the hearing, Adams stood up, buttoned his jacket and offered a grim small smile to a nearby court officer before being escorted out of the packed courtroom by US marshals.
Outside, he stood silently as his top lawyer, Alex Spiro, ripped the charges against the mayor.
“This case isn’t even a real case. This is the airline upgrade corruption case,” Spiro told reporters as a handful of supporters chanted “Free Eric!”
“The entire body of evidence is one staffer. One staffer that says there was a conversation. What you have not learned is that staffer has lied,” the lawyer claimed.
“It does not surprise us that they did not answer any questions at [Thursday’s] press conference —- their little press conference the other day,” he sneered of prosecutors.
Shapiro vowed to file a motion Wednesday to dismiss the case. Adams is due back in court Wednesday morning for a conference hearing on it.
“We expect these charges to be dismissed,” said Spiro, who has repped celebs such as Jay-Z, Alec Baldwin and Elon Musk.
Friday’s hearing came just hours after the mayor surrendered himself to the feds at the courthouse in Lower Manhattan in the morning – a day after the bombshell five-count indictment against him was unsealed.
Adams pleaded not guilty to all five charges in the indictment: wire fraud, bribery, two counts of receiving campaign contributions from a foreign national, and conspiracy.
If convicted solely of wire fraud, the most serious charge, he is facing up to 20 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.
The under-fire Democrat is accused of taking improper gifts from Turkish officials and businesspeople — including $123,000 in free, or heavily discounted, hotels and flights – dating back to his time as the Brooklyn borough president a decade ago.
He also fraudulently obtained $10 million in public campaign funds, federal prosecutors alleged in the five-count indictment.
In exchange for the alleged freebies, Adams coughed up favors — including pressuring city officials to push through speedy approvals for the Turkish Consulate in Manhattan, the court papers charge.
Ahead of his arraignment, the mayor — who had earlier argued the feds were targeting him for speaking out about the Big Apple’s spiraling migrant crisis — professed his innocence and vowed to fight the charges.
Adams had an impromptu address with staff at City Hall on Friday afternoon.
Deputy Mayor of Communications Fabien Levy would not reveal how many people or who was invited to the meeting but stated it was to discuss “their work,” without specifying who.
Adams’ chief of staff Camille Joseph-Varlack and Deputy Mayor Maria Torres Springer were among those spotted scrambling upstairs.
Meanwhile, a few other staffers came rushing in, including one who did not identify herself, saying she was there after receiving a call from “the deputy mayor.”
Molly Schaeffer, the mayor’s director of asylum-seeking operations who was recently subpoenaed, also rushed into City Hall but declined to comment.
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