NYC mayor indicted on bribery, fraud charges

Federal prosecutors on Thursday unsealed a 57-page indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, alleging that the leader of the largest city in the United States engaged in widespread corruption, including conspiring with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign campaign contributions.

The indictment accuses Adams, 64, of seeking and accepting improper benefits since at least 2014 when he was Brooklyn borough president. He faces one count of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, two counts of solicitation of a contribution from a foreign national and one count of bribery, according to the indictment.

Adams said he won't resign and will fight the charges.

On Friday morning, Adams arrived at a federal courthouse in Manhattan to be arraigned on the charges. He gave a thumbs up but did not pause to speak to reporters as he headed into the court, as reported by The Associated Press. He was scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker at noon.

Federal prosecutors charge that Adams took more than $100,000 in "improper valuable benefits", such as flight upgrades and luxury hotel stays not divulged publicly as required and used his office to help Turkiye.

A police officer who declined to give his name and is serving with hundreds of other officers providing security for the ongoing United Nations General Assembly in New York, said he and fellow officers weren't surprised by the indictment of Adams.

"But we were shocked at the resignation of our police commissioner," he told China Daily.

Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned last week amid a federal investigation into the department's nightclub enforcement, sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. The city's first Latino police commissioner, Caban took over the department in July 2023.

Adams was elected New York's 110th mayor in 2021, running on an anti-crime platform.

The indictment alleges that "all told, Adams' 2021 campaign reaped more than $10 million in Matching Funds based on the false certifications that the campaign complied with the law, when in fact … the defendant, knowingly and repeatedly relied on illegal contributions".

Damian Williams, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, whose office is prosecuting Adams, said Thursday's indictment — the first criminal charges filed against an incumbent mayor of New York — probably wouldn't be the last.

On Wednesday night after news broke that Adams had been indicted, numerous elected officials called for him to resign, including several Democrats running against him in next year's primary.

Governor Kathy Hochul has the power to remove the mayor. She told reporters that the news was "shocking in its scale", but said she will be "deliberative" before taking any action.

If Adams steps down or Hochul removes him, the city's Public Advocate Jumaane Williams would become the acting mayor. He would then schedule a nonpartisan special election for a new mayor, which could happen within 90 days.