NYC Mayor Eric Adams allegedly pressured FDNY to open unsafe Turkish building

NEW YORK (PIX11) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams was called a “true friend of Turkey” after allegedly pressuring the FDNY to overlook fire safety issues in a Turkish-owned building so it could be ready for a visit from the country’s president, authorities said.

“Everything should be good to go,” Adams wrote in a Sept. 2021 text message, prosecutors said.

“You are a true friend of Turkey,” the Turkish official responded.

“You are my brother,” Adams replied.

In August 2021, construction was completed on the 36-story Turkish House building in United Nations Plaza, less than a month before the president’s arrival. But the FDNY safety inspection was holding up the process until the mayor intervened, according to the federal indictment.

Even after a fire department official warned that major defects at the consulate building had left it “unsafe to occupy,” Adams pushed safety officials to allow it to open, according to authorities.

The FDNY official responsible for the FDNY’s assessment of the skyscraper’s safety was told that he would lose his job if he failed to acquiesce,” according to the indictment.

“Some of the people at FDNY thought the building had so many issues and defects that the building was not safe to occupy,” United States Attorney for the Southern District Damian Williams said.

Adams was charged with accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources, stemming from his 2021 mayoral campaign.

Prosecutors accuse the mayor of accepting illegal campaign donations as early as his time as Brooklyn borough president. Adams allegedly sought and knowingly accepted money from foreign donors, including Turkish government officials, prosecutors contend.

Speaking in front of Gracie Mansion on Thursday, Adams urged New Yorkers to wait for his defense before making judgments.

“From here, my attorneys will take care of the case so I can take care of the city,” Adams said. “My day-to-day will not change. I will continue to do the job for 8.3 million New Yorkers that I was elected to do.”

About a year ago, the federal investigations into the Adams administration first emerged, when FBI agents raided the home of his chief fundraiser. Days later, agents seized the mayor’s phones and iPad as he was leaving an event in Manhattan.

Earlier this month, federal investigators seized electronic devices from the city’s police commissioner, schools chancellor, deputy mayor of public safety, first deputy mayor and other trusted confidantes of Adams both in and out of City Hall. A wave of high-profile departures followed.

Mira Wassef is a digital reporter who has covered news and sports in the NYC area for more than a decade. She joined PIX11 News in 2022. See more of her work here.

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