Federal prosecutors unsealed the on Thursday, alleging he committed wire fraud and bribery and accepted foreign campaign money, among other offenses. Adams is the first mayor of New York City to be . held shortly before prosecutors made their statements, Adams was defiant, saying he has no intention of stepping down, and suggested the prosecution is politically motivated.
“It’s an unfortunate day. And its a painful day,” in front of a group of supporters. “But inside all of that is a day when we will finally reveal why, for 10 months, I’ve gone through this.
And I look forward to defending myself.” A day earlier, before the indictment had been unsealed, he the forthcoming charges “entirely false.” The full federal indictment that, beginning in 2015, Adams solicited and received so-called straw donations from Turkish nationals, which were then used as the basis to apply for matching public funds, to the tune of $10 million.
It also alleges that, in exchange, Adams used his influence to allow a Turkish consular building to open with a rubber stamp from the New York Fire Department. You can read the full indictment , but for readers following along at home who are interested in only the more eye-popping details, consider the following excerpts, which are taken verbatim from the indictment (with the minor change of taking Adams’ name out of all-caps): Because the Turkish Airline provided free travel benefits worth tens of thousands of dollars to Eric Adams, the .
