The Democratic mayor of New York, Eric Adams, was “watered” in secret for years with bribes, the Manhattan prosecutor accused Thursday, announcing the indictment of the elected official, now very weakened at the head of the largest city in the United States.
Unveiled Thursday, the indictment from the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office mentions in particular acts of electronic fraud, illegal solicitation of electoral campaign contributions from a foreign person and acceptance of bribes from a Turkish official.
In exchange, Eric Adams, who became mayor in 2021, would have used his influence with the New York firefighters to accelerate the opening of a skyscraper housing Turkey’s mission to the United Nations and its consulate general, perhaps we read in the court document.
New York Mayor Eric Adams
Photo Angela Weiss / AFP
“He hid from the public that he was secretly showered with gifts” and kept “the public in ignorance year after year,” accused Manhattan federal prosecutor Damian Williams during a press briefing.
“What is alleged in the indictment — the foreign money, the corporate money, the years of cover-up — shows that he (Eric Adams) has seriously broken the bond of trust with the public,” he said. added the prosecutor, while calls for the mayor’s resignation have multiplied among elected New York Democrats.
The 57-page act details suspicions of illegal contributions from foreign donors and gifts in the form of luxurious plane trips on the lines of a Turkish company, as well as stays in posh hotels, always in Turkey. So many favors that the former mayor of the borough of Brooklyn, who was preparing his campaign to become mayor of New York, should have declared as an elected official.
Eric Adams responded that he was “impatient” to defend himself, during a press briefing in front of his residence, searched early Thursday morning, implicitly ruling out resigning.
AFP
– Four investigations —
But this indictment sounds like a bolt from the blue and further weakens the mayor of the largest city in the United States (8.5 million inhabitants), a former African-American New York police captain elected in 2021 on promises of security, who saw his popularity rate drop during his mandate, while cases targeting City Hall increased.
“I voted for him because he was a former police officer, I thought the city needed him. And I found that having a black mayor was very positive after the “Black Lives Matter” movement. But it’s a disappointment. He must resign,” New York voter Bartholomew Bland told AFP while crossing the crowded Grand Central station in Manhattan.
His indictment also risks embarrassing the Democratic camp, forty days before the presidential election between Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, neck and neck in the polls.
AFP
“I always knew that if I defended the interests of New Yorkers, I would be a target — and I became one,” Eric Adams defended. “If I am charged, I am innocent and I will fight with all my strength and my spirit,” added the mayor, 64 years old.
At least four federal investigations are underway, including three led by Manhattan prosecutors, targeting the mayor and those close to him, several of whom have resigned in recent days.
The announcement of the indictment comes after the resignation of several allies of the mayor in recent days, including his health commissioner, and the chancellor of education, one of his very close friends. The police chief, Edward Caban, also targeted by an investigation, had already resigned earlier in September, just one year after his arrival at the head of the New York Police Department (NYPD) and its 36,000 agents.
On Wednesday, even before the announcement of the mayor’s indictment, New York elected representative to the House of Representatives and figure of the left Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had called on Eric Adams to resign, “for the good of the city” .
AFP
Eric Adams won the 2021 Democratic primary on the promise of reducing crime, which had skyrocketed in New York during the Covid pandemic. He was able to credit a decrease in violent crime, but New Yorkers also have to deal with the rising cost of living and a housing crisis that has pushed their rents to unprecedented levels.
At the end of 2023, the mayor’s popularity rate had fallen to its lowest, to 28% in a poll. In this context, several rivals have declared themselves candidates for the party primary in 2025.
