New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a news conference at City Hall, after it was announced he had received a new federal grand jury summons, New York City, U.S., August 16, 2024.
Adam Gray | Reuters
New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted on multiple criminal charges in federal court in Manhattan, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC on Wednesday evening.
The indictment, which remains sealed, charges Adams with criminal conduct related to contribute to the Democratic Party in 2021 mayoral campaignand other conduct dating back to 2015, including at least one count involving contributions from foreign nationals.
The indictment refers to up to $20 million in donations Adams’ campaign received through the city’s matching-funds program, a source said. Campaign Finance Program provides candidates with small donations from New York City residents. The program provides candidates with up to eight times the amount of a small donation from an individual.
The indictment also alleges that Adams, 64, traveled to Türkiye to receive illegal donations, the source said.
The former police captain is at least the second New York mayor to be criminally charged while in office.
And he is the first official in his administration to be charged following multiple pending investigations involving the New York Police Department and the city’s top school official.
It was known before Manhattan United States Attorney’s Office is investigating Adams for possibly colluding with the Turkish government to funnel illegal donations to that campaign.
New York Times on Monday reported that prosecutors filed grand jury subpoenas with City Hall, Adams and his campaign in July seeking information related to five other countries: Israel, China, Qatar, South Korea and Uzbekistan.
Adams issued a defiant statement Wednesday night after news of the indictment broke.
“I now believe that the federal government intends to charge me with crimes,” Adams said in a video statement. If so, the charges are completely false, based on lies.
“But they wouldn’t be surprised. I always knew that if I stood up for everyone, I would be a target — and I was a target.
“If charged, I am innocent and I will fight it with all my might and spirit,” said Adams, who previously worked in the Police Department and was a state senator and Brooklyn borough president.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI declined to comment on the indictment.
Earlier Wednesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezDN.Y., has called for the mayor to resign, saying the “wave of resignations and vacancies” arising from multiple federal investigations into government officials “is threatening the functioning of government.”
“For the good of the city, he should resign,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
After news of the indictment broke, a growing number of elected officials and other political figures in New York called for Adams to resign, including City Auditor Brad Lander and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, both of whom are running for mayor next year, and former auditor Scott Stringer, who is considering a run for City Hall.
If Adams resigns before his first term ends, he will be replaced by New York City Public Defender Jumaane Williams as acting mayor.
NYC Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams raises his hand to New York City Public Defender Jumaane Williams and NYC auditor candidate Brad Lander during a Get Out the Vote (GOTV) rally in front of Brooklyn City Hall on October 22, 2021 in Downtown Brooklyn in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
There were multiple federal investigations into Adams and those associated with him and his administration.
On Tuesday, the city School Principal David Banks told Adams that he expected to retire at the end of 2024.
Banks’ surprise announcement comes weeks after federal authorities seized electronic devices owned by him, his brother, Deputy Mayor Phil Banks, and his fiancee, Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright.
Another of Banks’ brothers, Terence, is under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan for his involvement in allocating millions of dollars worth of city contracts to companies that received them after hiring Terence Banks’ consulting firm.
The prosecutor’s office is also investigating whether James Caban, the twin brother of former New York Police Commissioner Edward Cabanused his relationship with his brother and the New York Police Department to benefit his nightclub security business.
Edward Caban resigned as sheriff on September 12, a week after his phone was seized by federal investigators.
Three days after Edward Caban resigned, mayoral adviser and Adam’s chief legal adviser Lisa Zornberg resigned, saying she had “concluded that I cannot continue to serve in my position.”
Last Friday, federal investigators executed a search warrant at the home of Thomas Donlon, the acting NYPD police chief.
Donlon, a former senior FBI counterterrorism official in New York, said this week that investigators “took documents that I had obtained about 20 years ago and were unrelated to my work with the NYPD.”
