The Facts Behind the Scandal: Mayor Eric Adams
On September 26th, 2024, Mayor Eric Adams’ indictment was unsealed, revealing his charges: one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of wire fraud, two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national, and one count of bribery. According to NPR and the New York Times, Adams allegedly received illegal gifts that were worth over $100,000 from at least one Turkish government official and multiple citizens. In exchange, Adams supposedly carried out favors for the Turkish government, including expediting the process of obtaining a certificate of occupancy for the Turkish consulate in Manhattan, even though the New York Fire Department initially refused to sign off on the building.
Dating back to his term as Brooklyn Borough President (2013-2021), Adams and his team were allegedly involved with the Turkish-immigrant-owned Brooklyn construction company KSK. The FBI raided the homes of several of his staff and took their devices to search for evidence supporting the accusation. According to The New York Times, KSK is funded by a large bank in Turkey and supported by the state. During Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign, at least 10 prominent figures within KSK donated nearly $2000 each. Similarly, Turkish leadership from the Turkish American National Steering Company donated up to $10,000 each. The Adams Campaign refunded various donations to prevent others from questioning the legitimacy of his election. However, Adams still took advantage of more than 30% of the money he received from other Turkish donors.
As the more recent bribery and fraudulent charges against Adams have come about, speculation about Adams’ relationship with Turkey has resurfaced. 7 lawyers for the Justice Department have also resigned, after refusing to drop the charges against Adams. However, Emil Bove, acting deputy attorney general of the United States, appointed by President Trump, advocated for the charges to be dropped because they limited Adams’ capacity to speak to New York’s “illegal immigration and violent crime,” two of Trump’s key goals. Bove’s reasoning was that without dropping the charges, Adams’ credibility would be limited, lessening his ability to enforce Trump’s goals. Danielle Sassoon, a top US prosecutor in Manhattan, was one of the 7 lawyers who resigned in response to pressure to drop the charges. Sassoon stated she could not support dropping the charges with so little legal justification and that the motion to drop these charges exercised unnecessary political intervention in the justice system. In response to Sassoon’s resignation, Bove remarked that Sassoon had “lost sight of the oath that [she] took when [she] started at the Department of Justice” and that Bove’s motion to drop Adams’ charges was “direct orders implementing the policy of a duly elected President”. In her letter of resignation, Sassoon attested that Adams’ lawyers “urged what amounted to a quid pro quo,” or “this for that”, implying that Adams would help Trump and his administration by enforcing immigration if his charges were dropped. Adams rejected the “quid pro quo” accusation, saying, “I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers. I never offered - nor did anyone offer on my behalf - any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case. Never.”
Within the Riverdale community, students and teachers have varying degrees of knowledge on this issue. Junior Elijah Leblang was first informed about this scandal through his “news app, in the New York Times.” He elaborated on his knowledge of the scandal: “I’ve only talked about the event at the Lunch and Learn. I think people’s sources are generally reliable, if a bit too reliant on social media.” Dr. Laura Honsberger, Riverdale’s Middle and Upper School History Chair, feels “relatively well-informed… at least on the basic information and the key questions,”. Her initial encounter with information about the Adams scandal was through “push notifications from newspapers on my phone or NPR. I listen to a lot of NPR during my commute, and while getting ready.”
When comparing this event to previous political scandals, Dr. Honsberger remarked, “We can see parallels to thinking about Watergate and the Saturday Massacre. While there are certainly real differences in the actual cases, I think this idea of how prosecutors, or how representatives of the legal system respond in moments where they feel like they are being pressured politically in some way to make different decisions than they might otherwise.”
Since then, the charges against Mayor Adams were permanently dismissed by Dale E. Ho of the Federal District Court in Manhattan. The Justice Department stated that “this case was an example of political weaponization and a waste of resources.” Although Judge Ho disagreed with some of the Trump administration’s arguments to dismiss the charges, he didn’t have the power to dispute them. After his charges were dropped, Adams announced he will be running for mayor in the 2025 election as an independent.
