Well, Now We Have the Indictment

The details have been released, and he is a corrupt sanctimonious rat-f%$#.

And to think, just a few months ago, the chattering classes were calling him the future of the Democratic Party, because 

Mayor Eric Adams is accused of trading his power for international flights, luxurious hotel stays and illegal campaign contributions in a 57-page federal indictment unsealed on Thursday morning.

A federal grand jury indicted him on five counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national and bribery. The U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York is prosecuting the case.

The charging papers are peppered with text messages between Adams, a staffer, a member of his campaign, Turkish nationals and others who prosecutors say attempted to circumvent campaign finance laws and hide misconduct.

In one case, the indictment describes a 2021 exchange between a staffer who was trying to book a last-minute flight to Istanbul for the mayor, and a Turkish airline manager who offered to charge the mayor just $50 for tickets worth about $15,000.

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Prosecutors allege Adams sought and accepted illegal contributions from foreign nationals dating back to 2016, when he was Brooklyn borough president; that he used the illegal contributions to leverage millions of dollars in public matching funds; and that he continued the scheme after he was elected mayor and into his re-election campaign. The charging papers also chronicle extensive efforts prosecutors say Adams and others undertook to hide the pay-for-play scheme. 

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The lengthy indictment tells a sweeping tale about a politician who for years has accepted lavish gifts from Turkish nationals who expected — and sometimes demanded — that he use his influence to their benefit. The U.S. attorney’s office accuses Adams of taking business-class plane tickets worth tens of thousands of dollars, expensive meals and illegal donations, among other bribes. Prosecutors also allege that Adams omitted the gifts from financial disclosure forms and created fake paper trails to hide them.

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The indictment also accuses Adams of accepting straw donations from a construction businessman described as a prominent member of a different ethnic community. Prosecutors say he sought help arranging national heritage events and resolving issues with the city's Department of Buildings.

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Throughout the indictment, prosecutors accuse Adams and his circle of trying to conceal what they were doing. Many of the allegations are accompanied by text messages between Adams, a staffer, a fundraiser and those attempting to curry his favor.

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Prosecutors say Adams answered “no” when asked if he had received gifts worth $50 or more from anyone who had business with New York City, even though he allegedly accepted far more from people seeking his political sway.

The indictment also describes a panic when federal agents executed search warrants and seized electronic devices last fall. The U.S. attorney’s office says Adams campaign fundraiser Brianna Suggs called the mayor five times while FBI agents knocked on her door, and that the mayor rushed back from a trip to D.C. Prosecutors say she also refused to tell law enforcement who paid for a 2021 trip to Turkey.

When agents interviewed one of Adams’ staffers, according to the indictment, she excused herself to the bathroom and deleted encrypted messaging apps she had used to communicate with Adams and Turkish nationals. Agents also struggled to get information from Adams’ phone when they confronted the mayor near NYU’s campus and seized his electronic devices days after raiding the fundraiser’s home, the indictment says.

Adams told the FBI that he had just changed the password on his phone and extended it from four digits to six, but he couldn’t remember his new code, according to the indictment.

Yeah, this isn't an oops, or something that started when he was running, this is a years long pattern of corruption and coverups.