Mayor Eric Adams has been charged in an indictment following a federal corruption investigation, the New York Times reported Wednesday evening.
It was unclear what the charges were or if they were related to a probe into foreign influence and donations from Turkey related to his 2021 mayoral campaign or another one of the investigations that has been swirling around his administration.
The indictment remained sealed, the Times reported.
An arrest would make Adams the first mayor in the modern era to face criminal charges while in office and comes as his administration is reeling from the news of additional investigations and a series of high-profile resignations.
Lawyers for adams and City Hall spokespeople could not be immediately reached.
The investigation related to potential Turkish influence exploded into public view in November 2023 when federal agents searched Suggs’ Crown Heights brownstone. According to a search warrant reported by The New York Times, the raid on Suggs’ townhouse home in Crown Heights was part of a federal public corruption investigation into whether Adams’ 2021 campaign conspired with the Turkish government and a Brooklyn construction firm to funnel foreign cash into the campaign’s coffers via straw donors.
The warrant, seeking troves of financial records, documents related to contributions to Adams’ 2021 campaign and travel logs, reportedly sought evidence of a conspiracy to steal federal funds, make illegal campaign donations with foreign money and fraud, and whether Adams’ campaign secured perks for Turkish government officials and executives at the construction company, a Williamsburg-based outfit called KSK Construction Group.
Adams had traveled to Washington the day of the Suggs raid to meet with White House officials about the city’s migrant crisis — but turned back and canceled all his meetings after the news broke. Four days later, the feds stopped him on the street and seized his phones.
