 "New York City Mayor Eric Adams has resisted calls to step down after his indictment on Thursday. Reuters")
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is in hot water. On Thursday (September 26), he became the first sitting New York City mayor to be indicted after United States prosecutors charged him with corruption.
Adams, a former police captain, has denied any wrongdoing, calling the charges against him “entirely false” and “based on lies”. He is facing five separate criminal counts, including bribery and fraud.
Who is Eric Adams? What is he accused of? What happens next? Let’s take a look.
Who is Eric Adams?
Eric Adams, 64, took charge of New York City – the US’ largest city – in 2022, becoming the second Black person to be elected New York mayor.
The Democrat has previously served as an officer in the New York City Transit Police. He joined the New York City police department in 1984 and retired in 2006 with the rank of captain.
As per The Guardian, Adams, who was born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, has often talked about his impoverished upbringing. He said he joined the New York City police department to reform the police force after being beaten by cops when he was 15.
In 2006, Adams became the New York state senator. He has also served as Brooklyn borough president.
As New York City mayor, he adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards homeless people sleeping in subway cars, increasing police presence in the city’s subway system, reported Al Jazeera.
Adams has had a controversial political career.
Now, he is facing criminal charges that have the potential to derail his political career in the future.
What are the charges against him?
Adams is facing five federal charges, including wire fraud and bribery. US prosecutors have accused him of “conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal programme bribery, and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals”, two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national and bribery.
In a 57-page indictment, US prosecutors allege that before and during his term as the New York mayor, Adams “sought and 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”.
According to the prosecutors, the Democrat took trips to France, India, China, Sri Lanka, Hungary, Ghana and Turkey that were fully or partly paid by people who wanted to buy his influence in the city government, reported Associated Press (AP).
The indictment alleges that Adams accepted free travel from a Turkish airline worth tens of thousands of dollars when he was Brooklyn borough president. It says Adams paid $600 (over Rs 50,000) for a two-day visit at a luxury suite in the St. Regis hotel in Istanbul, whose actual cost was $7,000 (Rs 5.9 lakh).
Prosecutors claim that the Democrat accepted more than $100,000 (Rs 83.6 lakh) in luxury travel.
“I want to be clear, these upgrades and freebies were not part of some frequent flyer or benefits programme available to the general public. This was a multiyear scheme to buy favour from a single New York City official on the rise,” US Attorney Damian Williams said at a news conference, as per AP.
For his 2021 mayoral campaign, Adams allegedly sought campaign contributions from Turkish sources. The indictment accuses him of collecting illegal donations to his campaigns through “straw” donors.
American law bans foreign citizens from donating to US political candidates.
According to the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, a Turkish official helped facilitate “many straw donations” for Adams’ mayoral run.
The NYC mayor is accused of using straw donors – who used to funnel money from another source – to hide the source of funds. It is alleged that Adams at times created “fake paper trails” that suggested he paid, or intended to pay, for the gifts.
Prosecutors say that by covering up his illegal contributions, Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign received over $10 million in matching public funds, reported The Guardian.
In exchange, Adams allegedly pressured an official from New York’s fire department to allow the new high-rise Turkish consular building to open in time for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s visit in September 2021, despite safety concerns. The indictment alleges that the mayor did it at the behest of a Turkish diplomat.
The indictment claims a Turkish official told Adams it was “his turn to repay” him. “After Adams intervened, the skyscraper opened as requested by the Turkish official,” it says.
Adams allegedly informed the diplomat when the Fire Department gave a nod for the opening of the building. “You are a true friend of Turkey,” the diplomat responded, the prosecutors claim.
The indictment was unsealed Thursday morning after federal agents searched the mayor’s official residence, Gracie Mansion, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It comes after months of investigation by federal prosecutors, who have also been looking into Adams’ inner circle.
Will Eric Adams resign?
There have been calls for Adams to resign as the New York City mayor since the indictment was made public.
New York’s US Congressional Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is among those asking him to step down.
Adams has denied the charges and dismissed calls to resign. “I put the people of New York before party and politics. Now, If I am charged, many may say I should resign because I cannot manage the city while fighting the case. Make no mistake, you elected me to lead this city and lead it, I will,” the NYC mayor said in his statement.
Rejecting the charges against him, Adams said in a pre-recorded video, “I will fight these injustices with every ounce of my strength and my spirit.”
Voices have emerged in defence of the NYC mayor, claiming he is being targeted over his stance on the migrant problem in the city.
What next for Eric Adams?
Adams is slated to appear in court on Friday at noon Eastern Time (9.30 pm IST).
While he has resisted calls to step down, the NYC mayor can be forced to do so. New York State Governor Kathy Hochul has the power to remove the mayor from office.
She said in a statement that she will “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,” Hochul added.
If found guilty, Adams could go to jail for decades. The wire fraud has a maximum sentence of 20 years, while the bribery count carries a sentence of 10 years in prison.
He could face five years in prison for seeking foreign campaign donations and another five years for conspiracy.
In the short term, the case is expected to complicate his 2025 mayoral bid. Several Democratic politicians, including New York City comptroller Brad Lander and state Senator Zellnor Myrie, plan to contest against Adams.
It will be a challenging election for him if Adams stays in the race.
With inputs from agencies