Mayor Adams might think it’s “common” to accept tens of thousands of dollars in benefits in exchange for pressuring a city agency, but it is “nonetheless illegal,” federal prosecutors argued Friday in opposing the mayor’s motion to toss a bribery count in his sweeping corruption case.
On the heels of his indictment, Adams last month asked the judge overseeing his case to dismiss the bribery charge against him, describing the underlying allegations he illegally did behind-the-scenes bidding for Turkish officials as “extraordinarily vague” and tantamount to “normal and perfectly lawful acts that many city officials would undertake for the consulate of an important foreign nation.”
“Count Five describes a quid pro quo in which Adams sought and took luxury travel from a foreign official in exchange for influencing New York City’s regulation of a Manhattan skyscraper — including by pressuring the FDNY to allow the [Turkish consulate] to open without an inspection,” the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office wrote Friday.
“Adams claims that accepting tens of thousand of dollars’ worth of benefits in exchange for pressuring a City agency is ‘routine’ and ‘common,’” prosecutor Celia Cohen wrote. “But however routine that may have been for Adams, the law permits a jury to conclude that it was nonetheless illegal.”
The embattled mayor has pleaded not guilty to bribery, wire fraud, and secretly soliciting campaign contributions from overseas donors in the case that alleges he put a price on his political influence dating back to his days as Brooklyn borough president.
He’s accused of raking in over $100,000 worth of lavish trips around the world, cruises, and hotel stays paid for by a Turkish government official and wealthy Turkish businessmen who believed the former NYPD cop would one day make it to the White House.
The first New York City mayor in the modern era to face criminal charges, Adams has refused calls to step down. The feds have not ruled out bringing more charges in a series of ongoing investigations that have ensnared him and several of his top aides and advisers.
Adams’ attorney, Alex Spiro, could not immediately be reached for comment.
This story will be updated.
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