Federal agents raided the home of a top fundraiser and longtime confidante to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who abruptly ditched a planned White Hou
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shezsoambitious
To ditch a WHITE HOUSE meeting to come check on a 25 year “confidante” who’s spot’s been raided?! Oh baby he’s worried….
Mayor Adams’ inner circle: The longtime pals who have sparked controversy in top NYC gigs
ByEmily Crane
Published Nov. 2, 2023, 6:18
From a key figure in a sprawling NYPD bribery case to an indicted former city buildings commissioner: Mayor Eric Adams’ inner circle is filled with controversy and turmoil.
Hizzoner, who has repeatedly put his longtime aides and allies on the Big Apple’s payroll, has long raised eyebrows for some of his hiring decisions — or mere associations.
Now, an FBI raid on the Brooklyn home of a top fundraiser Brianna Suggs on Thursday has thrust his inner circle back into the spotlight.
Here’s a look at some of Adams’ pals whose hirings or associations have drawn criticism or controversy.
Brianna Suggs
Brianna Suggs, a top fundraiser for Mayor Adams, is the latest of Hizzoner’s cronies to land in hot water.Suggs, whose Brooklyn home was raided by the feds Thursday, is a close consultant whose firm, Suggs Solutions LLC, has earned more than $150,000 from the mayor’s campaign team since back in 2021.
6Mayor Eric Adams has long raised eyebrows for hiring some of his longtime aides and allies.Matthew McDermott
6Brianna Suggs, a top fundraiser for Mayor Adams, is the latest of Hizzoner’s cronies to land in hot water after her home was raided by the FBI THursday.
She is on a monthly retainer for Adams’ political work, city records show. Suggs has also received more than $16,500 in personal payments from the mayor’s accounts, according to campaign finance filings.
Suggs’ ties to Adams date back to when he was Brooklyn’s borough president where she was enlisted as one of his aides, sources said.
She is also believed to have a close knit relationship with Chaplain Ingrid Lewis-Martin — the mayor’s chief advisor, the sources added.
Philip Banks
Hizzoner faced blowback when it emerged he had tapped ex-NYPD chief, Philip Banks, to serve as his administration’s deputy mayor of public safety — despite his ties to a sweeping federal police corruption case involving cops and hookers.Banks, then the NYPD’s chief of department, stunned the Big Apple back in 2014 when he suddenly retired after turning down a promotion to first deputy commissioner.
It later emerged that he was an unindicted co-conspirator in the NYPD bribery scheme orchestrated by two fundraisers for outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio — Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg.
6Philip Banks is the Adams’ administration’s deputy mayor of public safetyJames Messerschmidt for NY Post
Banks’ and other cops’ relationships with the duo had come under scrutiny as the feds probed whether the businessmen had doled out gifts and foreign trips in exchange for favors.
Banks has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and pointed to the fact that the feds never brought criminal charges against him as proof of his innocence.
Eric Ulrich
Disgraced former city buildings commissioner, Eric Ulrich, 38, was indicted in September for allegedly running a years-long scheme doling out political favors in exchange for more than $150,000 in bribes.Ulrich stepped down from his lucrative job as the Big Apple’s onetime top building-safety official late last year — just days after it emerged he was being probed as part of a criminal gambling investigation.
He has since pleaded not guilty to a total of 16 felonies that stem from his time serving in three political posts – including his days as Adams’ building chief, a Queens councilman and as one of the mayor’s senior advisors.
6Disgraced former city buildings commissioner, Eric Ulrich, 38, was indicted in September for allegedly running a years-long scheme doling out political favors in exchange for more than $150,000 in bribes.David McGlynn
Ulrich “monetized each and every elected role that he held in government,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said when he announced the charges.
Among the cache of gifts and cash he allegedly collected over a two-year period was a premium $10,000 Mets season tickets package, a bespoke suit and a painting by an apprentice of Salvador Dali.
Prosecutors alleged Ulrich spent much of the cash on gambling at legal and illegal casinos.
Timothy Pearson
The mayor raised eyebrows when he hired Timothy Pearson — a gaming executive and close friend from his days in the NYPD — as a top public safety advisor to his administration last year.
6Timothy Pearson — a gaming executive and close friend from his days in the NYPD — was hired as a top public safety advisor to his administration. last year.Facebook
Among other things, his hiring sparked controversy after it was revealed he was collecting two taxpayer-funded paychecks: His new City Hall salary and his six-figure pension as a retired NYPD inspector.
Prior to taking up his current role, Pearson had spent a decade as the top official in charge of security at the Resorts World New York City casino, the slots operation attached to the Aqueduct Raceway in Queens.
His appointment to the government role raised ethics questions, at the time, given his former company was seeking to expand in Queens.
Separately, Pearson made headlines earlier this month after he got into a heated scuffle with a security guard at a Manhattan migrant assistance center while he tried to enter the facility for a standard inspection.
6Chaplain Ingrid Lewis-Martin is Adams’ chief advisor.Paul Martinka
Ingrid Lewis-Martin
Chaplain Ingrid Lewis-Martin may not hold a title of deputy mayor but she has staked out a powerful role within Adams’ administration as his chief advisor.Since taking on the role, Lewis-Martin — who has been Adams’ closest ally and longtime right-hand since his days as Brooklyn borough president — has earned a reputation within City Hall for overriding other officials and speaking with the weight of the mayor, sources told the New York Times.
After winning the mayoral election, some of Adams’ supporters had reportedly tried to dissuade him from tapping Lewis-Martin as the key advisor amid fears she would cause a divide within City Hall.
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In an interview with the outlet, Lewis-Martin — who has called herself the mayor’s “sister ordained by God” — said she was told she could have job she wanted within Adams’ administration.
She admitted to creating her current role due to its flexibility, adding: “I can pick and choose which weeds to be in.”
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison announces surprise resignation months after catching suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer
ByCraig McCarthy and
David Propper
Published Nov. 2, 2023, 9:15 p.m. ET
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison, who helped the department finally crack the infamous Gilgo Beach serial killings case, suddenly announced Thursday night that he is stepping down after nearly two years on the job, according to a memo obtained by The Post.
Harrison, a former NYPD chief of department, told officers he will inform Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone on Friday about his decision to resign, the message states.
“Serving as the Suffolk County Police commissioner for the past two years was not only a privilege but one of the greatest highlights of my law enforcement career and that is because of you,” Harrison said in the memo.
“It has been an honor to be part of this organization and work with so many talented individuals,” he also said. “Each day, I have been impressed by stories of heroism, bravery, and dedication to the residents of this county. To say I appreciate and admire each one of you, is an understatement.”
A source told The Post the announcement Thursday was a surprise to the department. It’s unclear what his next move is or when his last day will be.
3Harrison told staff Thursday he was stepping down.FOX 5 NY
Harrison took the job in January 2022 and vowed his police force would work tirelessly to capture a suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders, which had gone unsolved for over a decade. He created a special joint task force dedicated to cold-case killings.
In July, Rex Heuermann was arrested near his Manhattan office and charged with the murders of three women in the case.
[IMG alt="NY
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison releases three 911 calls made the night that Shannan Gilbert went missing near Oak Beach, NY in May of 2010."]https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/11/NYPICHPDPICT000016414749.jpg?w=1024[/IMG]3
Harrison is a former NYPD chief of department.Dennis A. Clark
Heuermann, a Nassau County resident, has pleaded not guilty to the slayings of Melissa Barthlemey, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello.
He also is considered the prime suspect in the killing of at least one more victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
3Suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann was arrested while Harrison led the department.Suffolk County Sheriff/MEGA
Harrison took the commissioner job after leaving his post as chief of department at the NYPD. He joined the Big Apple police force in 1991.
Harrison lauded the efforts of the Suffolk department Thursday and noted, “I leave knowing Suffolk County is in good hands.”
Suffolk County police declined to comment on Harrison’s departure.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is about to get a lesson in "how to keep your fucking mouth shut ". When he repeatedly complained about too many illegal aliens flooding NYC , he sounded like a Boss..... now he is about to be Bitch Slapped ! The raid is not just to uncover any criminal acts by the Mayor's team, but also confiscate any compromising evidence on Democrat and Republican politicians. including Biden.
Let's see what is behind all of this....
METRO
Craig McCarthy,
Steven Vago,
Nolan Hicks and
Emily Crane
Published Nov. 3, 2023, 4:40 p.m. ET
Eleven employees of the Brooklyn construction company embroiled in an FBI probe involving one of Mayor Eric Adams’ top fundraisers all made donations to Hizzoner’s campaign on the same day in 2021 — and for nearly identical amounts, records show.
One of the investigation’s focuses is whether Adams’ campaign conspired with the KSK Construction Group and Turkish government to use “straw donors” to illegally funnel foreign cash into Hizzoner’s campaign coffers in exchange for favors, law-enforcement sources have said. A straw donor is a person or company which illegally makes a donation with someone else’s money but using their own name to hide its source.
Sertac Varol, a Queens resident who is listed in campaign filings as a “partner” at KSK — and as giving $1,250 to the Adams campaign — told The City that he doesn’t recall making the donation.
Varol, whose address is listed in a gated condominium complex in Bayside, Queens, said he doesn’t think he’s ever made a political contribution.
Yet he was one of at least nine KSK employees who are listed in campaign finance filings as having each donated $1,250 — all the same day, May 7, 2021 — to Adams’ campaign, according to records reviewed by The Post.
00:0503:54
Adams said in a statement Friday, “I am outraged and angry if anyone attempted to use the campaign to manipulate our democracy and defraud our campaign.
4
11 employees of the Brooklyn construction company embroiled in an FBI probe involving one of Mayor Eric Adams’ top fundraisers all made donations to Hizzoner’s campaign on the same day in 2021.Paul Martinka
“I want to be clear, I have no knowledge, direct or otherwise, of any improper fundraising activity—and certainly not of any foreign money. We will of course work with officials to respond to inquiries, as appropriate — as we always have.”
Details of the nearly $14,000 in total donations from 11 KSK employees came to light a day after it emerged the feds were investigating if any funds were illegally funneled to Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign as part of an alleged kickback scheme involving the Williamsburg-based company and Turkish government.
The company’s Turkish owner, Erden Arkan, coughed up slightly more to the Adams campaign when donating May 7, 2021, with his contribution coming in at $1,500, the filings show.
4
Details of the nearly $14,000 in total donations from KSK Construction Group employees came to light a day after it emerged the feds were investigating if any funds were illegally funneled to Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign.Dennis A. Clark
The job titles of other KSK workers listed in the campaign filings range from “project managers” and “construction” to the “finance director.”
The donations were made at a fundraiser organized by the company’s owner, The City reported, citing internal campaign documents.
In total, the event raised $69,720 from a total of 82 donors.
4
Sertac Varol, a Queens resident who is listed in campaign filings as a “partner” at KSK — and as giving $1,250 to the Adams campaign — told The City that he doesn’t recall making the donation.Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
Abigal Nitka — a woman listed as an “engineer/lawyer” for KSK — refused to talk when The Post buzzed her penthouse apartment in Williamsburg.
“I’m not making any comments right now,” she said.
Pressed about the allegations, Nitka responded, “Sorry babe, no comment.”
When contacted by The City, she said, “We’re innocent.”
The Post also has reached out to the employees listed in the filings but has yet to receive comment.
A doorman at Arkan’s luxe SoHo apartment building Friday refused to buzz the business owner.
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A man who works next door told The Post he spotted about eight to 10 “security” types, clad with guns, leaving the apartment building with a suited-up man early Thursday.
The man was whisked away in one of several blacked out SUVs, but the local worker couldn’t confirm if it was the construction company’s boss.
KSK also didn’t respond to requests for comment Friday.
The firm specializes in luxe condo projects, according to its website. The company has at least one project under construction in Brooklyn’s Fort Green neighborhood, records show.
4
The developments come after the feds raided the Brooklyn home of Brianna Suggs, one of the mayor’s top fundraisers as investigators have sought documents about records of travel to Turkey by any of the campaign’s employees.serinc
The developments come after the feds raided the Brooklyn home of Brianna Suggs — one of the mayor’s top fundraisers — Thursday as part of a broader public-corruption probe.
Adams’ 2021 campaign counsel Vito Pitta said in a statement, “Immediately upon learning about the federal inquiry, the campaign started an extensive review of all documents and actions by campaign workers connected to the contributors in question.”
Investigators have sought documents about records of travel to Turkey by any of the campaign’s employees or associates and documents that could shed light on the campaign’s interactions with the Turkish government, the New York Times reported, citing a copy of the search warrant.
During the raid on Suggs’ home, the feds seized three iPhones, two laptops and a slew of papers and other evidence — including a manila folder labeled “Eric Adams.”
The warrant also stated agents were looking for evidence of the theft of federal funds, wire fraud, conspiracy to steal federal funds and wire fraud conspiracy.
“This is a campaign of embarrassment. The [feds] are trying to shake that tree, get people to talk who may be on a wire. Because that’s what people do,” a law-enforcement source told The Post.
Neither Suggs or the mayor have been arrested or charged with a crime.
Adams, on his part, said he hasn’t been contacted by any law enforcement agency — but he abruptly bailed on a slate of White House immigration meetings in Washington DC to fly back to the Big Apple.
Additional reporting by Joe Marino and Valentina Jaramillo
11 employees of construction company tied to Adams fundraiser probe all donated nearly same amount on same day: records
ByCraig McCarthy,
Steven Vago,
Nolan Hicks and
Emily Crane
Published Nov. 3, 2023, 4:40 p.m. ET
Eleven employees of the Brooklyn construction company embroiled in an FBI probe involving one of Mayor Eric Adams’ top fundraisers all made donations to Hizzoner’s campaign on the same day in 2021 — and for nearly identical amounts, records show.
One of the investigation’s focuses is whether Adams’ campaign conspired with the KSK Construction Group and Turkish government to use “straw donors” to illegally funnel foreign cash into Hizzoner’s campaign coffers in exchange for favors, law-enforcement sources have said. A straw donor is a person or company which illegally makes a donation with someone else’s money but using their own name to hide its source.
Sertac Varol, a Queens resident who is listed in campaign filings as a “partner” at KSK — and as giving $1,250 to the Adams campaign — told The City that he doesn’t recall making the donation.
Varol, whose address is listed in a gated condominium complex in Bayside, Queens, said he doesn’t think he’s ever made a political contribution.
Yet he was one of at least nine KSK employees who are listed in campaign finance filings as having each donated $1,250 — all the same day, May 7, 2021 — to Adams’ campaign, according to records reviewed by The Post.
00:0503:54
Adams said in a statement Friday, “I am outraged and angry if anyone attempted to use the campaign to manipulate our democracy and defraud our campaign.
411 employees of the Brooklyn construction company embroiled in an FBI probe involving one of Mayor Eric Adams’ top fundraisers all made donations to Hizzoner’s campaign on the same day in 2021.Paul Martinka
“I want to be clear, I have no knowledge, direct or otherwise, of any improper fundraising activity—and certainly not of any foreign money. We will of course work with officials to respond to inquiries, as appropriate — as we always have.”
Details of the nearly $14,000 in total donations from 11 KSK employees came to light a day after it emerged the feds were investigating if any funds were illegally funneled to Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign as part of an alleged kickback scheme involving the Williamsburg-based company and Turkish government.
The company’s Turkish owner, Erden Arkan, coughed up slightly more to the Adams campaign when donating May 7, 2021, with his contribution coming in at $1,500, the filings show.
4Details of the nearly $14,000 in total donations from KSK Construction Group employees came to light a day after it emerged the feds were investigating if any funds were illegally funneled to Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign.Dennis A. Clark
The job titles of other KSK workers listed in the campaign filings range from “project managers” and “construction” to the “finance director.”
The donations were made at a fundraiser organized by the company’s owner, The City reported, citing internal campaign documents.
In total, the event raised $69,720 from a total of 82 donors.
4Sertac Varol, a Queens resident who is listed in campaign filings as a “partner” at KSK — and as giving $1,250 to the Adams campaign — told The City that he doesn’t recall making the donation.Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
Abigal Nitka — a woman listed as an “engineer/lawyer” for KSK — refused to talk when The Post buzzed her penthouse apartment in Williamsburg.
“I’m not making any comments right now,” she said.
Pressed about the allegations, Nitka responded, “Sorry babe, no comment.”
When contacted by The City, she said, “We’re innocent.”
The Post also has reached out to the employees listed in the filings but has yet to receive comment.
A doorman at Arkan’s luxe SoHo apartment building Friday refused to buzz the business owner.
130
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A man who works next door told The Post he spotted about eight to 10 “security” types, clad with guns, leaving the apartment building with a suited-up man early Thursday.
The man was whisked away in one of several blacked out SUVs, but the local worker couldn’t confirm if it was the construction company’s boss.
KSK also didn’t respond to requests for comment Friday.
The firm specializes in luxe condo projects, according to its website. The company has at least one project under construction in Brooklyn’s Fort Green neighborhood, records show.
4The developments come after the feds raided the Brooklyn home of Brianna Suggs, one of the mayor’s top fundraisers as investigators have sought documents about records of travel to Turkey by any of the campaign’s employees.serinc
The developments come after the feds raided the Brooklyn home of Brianna Suggs — one of the mayor’s top fundraisers — Thursday as part of a broader public-corruption probe.
Adams’ 2021 campaign counsel Vito Pitta said in a statement, “Immediately upon learning about the federal inquiry, the campaign started an extensive review of all documents and actions by campaign workers connected to the contributors in question.”
Investigators have sought documents about records of travel to Turkey by any of the campaign’s employees or associates and documents that could shed light on the campaign’s interactions with the Turkish government, the New York Times reported, citing a copy of the search warrant.
During the raid on Suggs’ home, the feds seized three iPhones, two laptops and a slew of papers and other evidence — including a manila folder labeled “Eric Adams.”
The warrant also stated agents were looking for evidence of the theft of federal funds, wire fraud, conspiracy to steal federal funds and wire fraud conspiracy.
“This is a campaign of embarrassment. The [feds] are trying to shake that tree, get people to talk who may be on a wire. Because that’s what people do,” a law-enforcement source told The Post.
Neither Suggs or the mayor have been arrested or charged with a crime.
Adams, on his part, said he hasn’t been contacted by any law enforcement agency — but he abruptly bailed on a slate of White House immigration meetings in Washington DC to fly back to the Big Apple.
Additional reporting by Joe Marino and Valentina Jaramillo
Owner of Brooklyn construction business in Eric Adams FBI campaign probe bought $2.1M apartment, flashes trips to Japan and Greece
ByMatthew Sedacca and
Rich Calder
Published Nov. 4, 2023, 8:11 p.m. ET
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Erden Arkan, the globe-trotting 74-year-old owner of KSK Construction Group in Williamsburg, regularly posts dispatches with his wife Itir on social media from fancy locations around the world, including snapshots of their March vacation in Osaka, Japan; scenes of hot air balloons floating in the sky above Cappadocia, Turkey; and souvenir shanties on Greece’s Chios Island.
“#Theking #andhisserf,” Itir, 73, cooed on Instagram in June 2022, while posting a photo of her hubby regally sitting on a chair-shaped marble boulder during their visit to the archaeological site of Aphrodisia in Turkey.
In 2020, the couple forked over $2.1 million for a 6th-floor, 1,193-square-foot apartment in the high-rise condo at 570 Broome Street, which his company constructed and whose higher-profile residents include “Jersey Shore” star Vinny Guadagnino.
They also own a swanky, one-bedroom condo at the Forty2East luxury apartment complex in Williamsburg that they purchased in 2016 for $865,000 and are now renting for $4,200 monthly, records show.
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Itir is a former teacher at Marymount School of New York, a tony private Catholic school for girls on the Upper East Side where tuition runs $60,375 a year.
5A co-owner of the Brooklyn construction company being scrutinized by the feds as part of a larger probe into Mayor Eric Adams’ fundraising has long flaunted a lavish, jet-setting lifestyle.Michael Dalton
The couple have two daughters: Gunce, 47, and Canem, 43.
Former investment banker Canem was married in 2010 to William Cawthon, a University of Arkansas business school lecturer.
The gala ceremony was held at The Palms in Turks and Caicos, a five-star luxury resort where rooms run on average $1,065 a night and guests are just a stone’s throw from Grace Bay Beach.
The ceremony site was decorated with Calla lilies, orchids and a variety of West Indies flowers. The bride wore an ivory one-shoulder gown by Peter Langer and an ivory veil edged with lace.
Gunce has business degrees from both Harvard University and Stanford University and is chief revenue officer of OmieLife, a company that makes bento lunch boxes, according to LinkedIn.
5Erden Arkan, 74, owner of KSK Construction Group in Williamsburg, regularly posts dispatches with his wife Itir on social media from fancy locations around the world.instagram @teachstats
She and her husband own a condo at Carnegie Park on the Upper East Side.
Arkan’s company, KSK, is an offshoot Brooklyn firm another he and his current business partners – including Ulgur Aydim — also ran called KiSKA Construction Corporation.
KSK specializes in hotel and condo development and boasts constructing more than 40 projects on its website – including The Stores at Fulton Mall hotel in Brooklyn and the Hilton Garden Inn in Queens.
It also has more than 30 jobs in the pipeline citywide.
On Thursday, federal agents raided the Crown Heights home of top Adams campaign fundraiser Briana Suggs.
5Itir, 73, cooed on Instagram in June 2022, while posting a photo of her hubby regally sitting on a chair-shaped marble boulder during their visit to the archaeological site of Aphrodisia in Turkey.instagram @teachstats
Law enforcement sources told The Post agents were looking for evidence that could show whether Hizzoner’s team conspired with KSK and the Turkish government to use “straw donors” to illegally funnel foreign cash into his campaign coffers in exchange for favors.
A straw donor is a person or company which illegally makes a donation with someone else’s money but using their own name to hide its source.
“The mayor of New York City is one of the most powerful people in the world. And they have a direct line to White House, leaders in Congress, and Wall Street…If you’re the Turkish government, that’s someone you want to be friends with to get ahead on the world stage,” said one Dem strategist.
Turkey-born Erden Arkan donated $1,500 to Adams’ campaign in 2021 and also held fundraiser that May which netted nearly another $70,000 towards the mayor’s war chest, records show.
Neither KSK, Arkan, Adams, Suggs or anyone else have been charged with any wrongdoing, and the mayor has tried to downplay the FBI raid — saying Friday he still has “full confidence” in the young political operative caught up in the possible foreign election interference.
5In 2020, the couple made over $2.1 million for a 1,193-square-foot apartment in the high-rise condo at Hudson Square, which his company constructed and whose higher-profile residents include “Jersey Shore” star Vinny Guadagnino.instragram @erden1949
“Where’s there’s smoke, there’s not always fire,” Adams told Dan Mannarino on PIX11 in his first sitdown since the raid on Suggs’ home.
On Saturday, Hizzoner refused to talk to reporters about the probe. He was heavily guarded by his security detail and staff.
While walking into an event at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, Adams smiled at reporters while an operative told media members, “Thank you for your questions, we’re not taking questions.” “We appreciate your questions.”
Adams, who has done plenty of traveling to Turkey — he recently estimated at least six times — both as mayor and Brooklyn borough president, followed the lead of former Beep Marty Markowitz, who regularly traveled there to promote the borough.
Brooklyn has a large Turkish population, concentrated mostly in neighborhoods including Brighton Beach, Midwood and Sheepshead Bay.
5They also own a swanky, one-bedroom condo at a luxury apartment complex that they purchased in 2016 for $865,000 and are now renting for $4,200 monthly, records show.Instagram/@edenarken
Markowitz, who received $2,250 in donations in 2005 from Arkan and his family, said Saturday he recalls KiSKA doing fundraising for him but doesn’t remember Arkan.
“Kiska was well known in the Turkish community, but my interaction was minimal at best,” he said.
Markowitz also predicted other pols will mull challenging the mayor in the 2025 election but believes they’re better off “saving their money.”
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“He speaks for a large part of the city in terms of his political base being of relative moderation, so I don’t know how successful [any challenger] would be against him,” he said.
Arkan did not return messages Saturday and a doorman at his building kicked a Post reporter out after she asked for him.
Additional reporting by Georgia Worrell, Georgett Roberts and Khristina Narizhnaya.
terpinainteasyyy
This City Turning Into An Episode Of Power …. All I Hear In My Head Is Previously On
trini_in_nyc_718
This just goes to show they don’t only target Trump like everyone thinks, they’re going after everyone and anyone!
preston_k_90
When you head to dc to try and do something about the invasion of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS they send the real corruption to shut you up. What a joke this doj is and everyone is watching
Adams fast-tracked Turkish diplomatic headquarters
ByRich Calder
Published Nov. 11, 2023, 11:27 p.m. ET
Federal investigators probing Mayor Adams’ 2021 campaign are now zeroing in on a series of texts suggesting he helped fast-track the opening of the Turkish government’s new diplomatic headquarters in Manhattan, sources close to the case told The Post.
The September 2021 texts between Adams — who was then the Brooklyn borough president and Democratic mayoral nominee — and Turkish Consul General Reyhan Özgür and then-FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro were uncovered by FBI agents Monday after they seized Adams’ electronic devices.
The texts were described by sources to The Post.
Since Monday, the feds’ questions about the content on the devices – which included three cellphones and two iPads – have centered on these texts, sources said.
However, the messages don’t appear to show any criminal activity beyond typical outreach that elected officials do on behalf of constituents, according to several sources briefed on the matter.
00:3703:43
4Mayor Eric Adams has adamantly denied any wrongdoing and has said he’s fully cooperating in a federal investigation into his 2021 campaign.Getty Images
4In September 2021, two months before he was elected mayor, Eric Adams texted then-FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro (far left) and asked if he could look into why the FDNY had yet to issue a “temporary certificate of occupancy” needed to open the Turkish government’s new diplomatic headquarters in Manhattan.Tomas E. Gaston
In a Sept. 5, 2021, text, Özgür informed Adams that construction was recently completed on the new Turkevi Center diplomatic headquarters, located on 46th Street and First Avenue across the street from the United Nations building, sources said.
However, Özgür noted that while the new HQ received needed approvals from the city Buildings Department to operate, it still had to secure a “temporary certificate of occupancy” from the Fire Department. He then asked Adams if he knew Nigro and could help.
Adams, according to sources, reached out to Nigro and asked him to look into the matter, but didn’t order him to do anything.
On Sept. 10, Nigro texted the future mayor, saying the needed approval would be good to go by the following Monday, or Sept. 13.
4The Turkevi Center – the new home of the Consulate General of Turkey in New York City – is now a focus of a federal investigation into Mayor Eric Adam’s fundraising in 2021 based on new texts that have surfaced, sources said.Facebook Turkish Consulate General in New York
The 36-story Turkevi Center skyscraper celebrated its grand opening on Sept. 21, 2021. Besides being the New York home to the Turkish consulate, it also includes meeting space, commercial space and apartments.
Adams’ campaign declined to comment on the contents of the phone texts. Nigro and reps for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday night.
Rubén Díaz Jr., a former state assemblyman and Bronx borough president, questioned whether the feds are firing blanks when told of the texts.
“I don’t think that should be a smoking gun,” he said. “I don’t see any issue at all. Every elected official makes calls to city agencies on behalf of entities, businesses and constituents. That is what we do.”
City Councilman Kevin Riley, another Bronx Democrat, agreed, saying he believed the mayor did nothing wrong.
4Five days after being asked to look into the matter, then-FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro texted Adams in September 2021 and said the Turkish government would be greenlighted by his department to open Turkey’s new consulate in Manhattan.Dennisthephotog.com
“It’s not foreign for a [elected] member to reach out to a commissioner to see what they can do for constituents. It’s usually protocol,” Riley said.
Federal authorities are investigating whether the Turkish government or Turkish citizens illegally funneled donations to Adams’ campaign by using “straw donors,” a scheme where contributors listed in official records aren’t the actual source of funding and whether Adams did quid-pro-quo favors.
The investigators were specifically looking for proof that the campaign kicked back benefits to leaders and staffers at Brooklyn-based KSK Construction Group and Turkish officials.
The seizure of Adams’ electronic devices came four days after FBI agents armed with a warrant burst into the Brooklyn home of his lead campaign fundraiser, 25-year-old Brianna Suggs, seeking documents related to contributions to Adams’ 2021 campaign, as well as records of travel to Turkey by campaign employees that could reveal more about any ties to the Turkish government.
The raid prompted the mayor to cancel a meeting with White House officials about the Big Apple’s mounting migrant crisis. Adams – who has criticized President Biden’s lax border policies – flew back to New York City almost as soon as he had landed in D.C.
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Adams’ campaign attorney Boyd Johnson said Friday the mayor was cooperating with federal authorities and had already reported that an internal review found “an individual had recently acted improperly.”
“In the spirit of transparency and cooperation, this behavior was immediately and proactively reported to investigators,” Johnson said.
I had to find the audio, did Mayor Adams actually say that???
He did ..??
Thats so naive, I thought Adams knew better.
There are MAGA in Law enforcement that hate him
Hell, Democrats hate him too.
Every bit of news, against Adams that wind up on their desk,
They're gonna run to NYPost, NyTimes, Washington Post etc
They wont stop.
He did ..??
Thats so naive, I thought Adams knew better.
There are MAGA in Law enforcement that hate him
Hell, Democrats hate him too.
Every bit of news, against Adams that wind up on their desk,
They're gonna run to NYPost, NyTimes, Washington Post etc
They wont stop.
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This 'Ryan Goodman' seems to have receipts 'bout who he is so....
This is not just about the campaign.
It's possible Mayor Adams could be in trouble.
-----
Ryan Goodman
Former Special Counsel @DeptofDefense. Co-editor-in-chief @just_security. Chaired Professor NYU Law. Former Chaired Professor Harvard Law. Co-director @RCLS_NYU
This is not just about the campaign.
It's possible Mayor Adams could be in trouble.
-----
Ryan Goodman
Former Special Counsel @DeptofDefense. Co-editor-in-chief @just_security. Chaired Professor NYU Law. Former Chaired Professor Harvard Law. Co-director @RCLS_NYU
You can't solicit foreign government funding for campaign.
it's illegal.
But, was curious how often this happens.
And if Adams was indicted/charged, what's he looking at.
it's illegal.
But, was curious how often this happens.
And if Adams was indicted/charged, what's he looking at.
Political Consultant Sentenced for Scheme Involving Illegal Foreign Campaign Contribution to 2016 Presidential Campaign
Friday, February 17, 2023A Texas man was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for his role in funneling illegal foreign campaign contributions from a Russian national to a 2016 presidential campaign.
According to court documents, Jessie R. Benton, 45, of The Woodlands, schemed with another political advisor to funnel political contributions to a 2016 presidential campaign from a Russian national seeking to meet and take a picture with the presidential candidate. Benton arranged for the Russian national – whose nationality Benton concealed from the campaign and the candidate – to attend a campaign fundraising event and to take a picture with the candidate.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/political-consultant-sentenced-scheme-involving-illegal-foreign-campaign-contribution-2016#:~:text=All News-,Political Consultant Sentenced for Scheme Involving Illegal,Contribution to 2016 Presidential Campaign&text=A Texas man was sentenced,to a 2016 presidential campaign.
According to court documents, Jessie R. Benton, 45, of The Woodlands, schemed with another political advisor to funnel political contributions to a 2016 presidential campaign from a Russian national seeking to meet and take a picture with the presidential candidate. Benton arranged for the Russian national – whose nationality Benton concealed from the campaign and the candidate – to attend a campaign fundraising event and to take a picture with the candidate.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/political-consultant-sentenced-scheme-involving-illegal-foreign-campaign-contribution-2016#:~:text=All News-,Political Consultant Sentenced for Scheme Involving Illegal,Contribution to 2016 Presidential Campaign&text=A Texas man was sentenced,to a 2016 presidential campaign.
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he was a tool that was made to be broken-so now they did it
Eric Adams at a news conference on Tuesday amid the investigation. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Eric Adams
Could the FBI’s investigation send New York mayor Eric Adams to prison?
Suspected campaign donations from the Turkish government have led to the seizure of Adams’ phones. How bad could things get for the country’s most powerful mayor?
Wilfred Chan
Sat 18 Nov 2023 10.00 EST
On 2 November, FBI agents executed a predawn raid on the home of the New York City mayor’s chief fundraiser, 25-year-old Brianna Suggs – seizing phones, an iPad and documents. Agents also reportedly searched the home of a Turkish Airlines executive and a Brooklyn construction company owned by Turkish immigrants that had fundraised for the mayor, Eric Adams.
Days later, agents approached Adams in the street as he was leaving a Manhattan fundraiser and asked his security guards to step aside. Then they got into an SUV with him and seized two iPhones and an iPad. They returned those devices after a few days.
The seizures were a dramatic escalation in a federal investigation surrounding the mayor of the largest city in the US. Federal authorities are investigating whether Adams’ 2021 campaign conspired to illegally take money from the Turkish government in return for favors, including pressuring New York City’s fire chief to fast-track the opening of a new Turkish consulate building in the city.
No one, Adams included, has so far been charged with or accused of any crime. Adams, a former police officer, has strenuously denied wrongdoing. “We don’t do quid pro quo, we follow the law,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday, his first public remarks acknowledging the investigation since it entered headlines. The city’s chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, sat next to Adams and frequently interjected after reporters’ questions. “We’ve been fully cooperative. We are not going to impede an active investigation by providing more detail,” she said. “There has been no indication that I’ve seen that the mayor is a target.”
In an email, a spokesperson for Adams referred to Zornberg’s comments and said the mayor’s office was committed to cooperating with federal investigators, but declined to offer further details.
But legal experts say that the mayor could be in real trouble. “If a bribe is proven, the criminal consequences could be tremendous – years in prison,” said Jacob Eisler, a professor of election law and anti-corruption at Florida State University.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Adams confirmed that in 2021, while campaigning to be mayor, he had forwarded a request from the Turkish consulate to the then New York City fire commissioner, Daniel Nigro, to see if Nigro could “look into” an approval process for the Turkevi Center, the consulate’s new high-rise building near the UN’s headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. New York’s fire department had been concerned about safety issues in the structure, but the delays in approval jeopardized the desire of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to unveil it in time for the UN general assembly that fall, the New York Times reported.
A temporary permit was issued shortly after, which allowed the unveiling to go ahead. The new tower was a symbol of Turkey’s “growing power”, the Turkish president said at the event.
Adams participates in a Turkish flag raising ceremony in October 2022. Photograph: Ed Reed/AP
Adams’ connections to Turkey were well known even before the unveiling. While New York City’s population of Turkish voters is small, Adams cultivated deep ties to them as Brooklyn borough president, the largely ceremonial post he held for eight years before becoming mayor. He has taken at least six trips to Turkey, at least one of them paid for by the Turkish government and Turkish Airlines, according to a disclosure filed with the city’s conflicts of interest board. Adams told reporters last week that he had briefly met Erdoğan at an unspecified dinner event while serving as borough president. “I said hello, and that was the extent of our conversation,” he said.
Adams has also received tens of thousands of dollars in donations from groups with links to Turkey, including $6,000 for his mayoral campaign from board members of the Turken Foundation, a non-profit with links to Erdoğan’s children, according to the local non-profit news outlet the City. Another fundraiser for his campaign, organized by the Turkish immigrant owners of the Brooklyn-based KSK Construction company, raised close to $70,000 for the mayor’s campaign.
New York City’s campaign finance board repeatedly questioned Adams’ campaign about the donations, but the campaign failed to respond, the City outlet reported. Adams’ campaign also received $10,000 from the employees of Bay Atlantic University, a Washington DC-based school founded by a Turkish philanthropist, a week after the Turkevi tower’s unveiling, though those donations were later refunded, according to the news outlet. (A campaign adviser to Adams, Evan Thies, did not respond to a Guardian request for comment.)
Those relationships are now under scrutiny as investigators seek to determine whether any of that money came from foreign sources – in violation of federal law – and whether it influenced Adams’ actions as an official.
Adams claimed at the press conference that he wasn’t aware of Erdoğan’s expected visit when he reached out to the fire commissioner, which he described as a mundane act. “This is what we do as elected officials,” he said. “I would be neglectful in my duties if a constituency reaches out to me and ask for assistance, and I’m not giving them that assistance and asking the agency to look into their inquiry.”
Adams also rebutted the notion that he had received any donations from improperly disclosed sources. “We don’t do the straw donors,” he said.
Was there a ‘quid pro quo’?
Under US law, federal investigators must establish to a court that probable cause exists for a crime before they can obtain a search warrant. Now that they have downloaded the contents of Adams’ devices, they will be “pulling thread after thread” to search for more evidence, said Robert D’Amico, a retired FBI agent.Authorities are investigating a number of possible federal crimes, including bribery. To establish that such bribery occurred, an investigator would need to show “quid pro quo”, said Eisler, the law professor. A federal conviction for bribery carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
But quid pro quo bribery can be difficult for prosecutors to prove, as it’s rare for investigators to uncover clear written evidence of such agreements. Without such evidence, an official can argue – as Adams has – that the actions they took were ordinary and legal.
Randall Eliason, a law professor at the George Washington University and former assistant US attorney, said Eric Adams’ explanation of his call to the fire commissioner could be laying the groundwork for a “McDonnell defense” – referring to the former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, who beat a bribery conviction in 2016. McDonnell and his wife had been sentenced to prison after a jury found them guilty of accepting $175,000 in gifts from a nutrition supplement CEO, including ball gowns, vacations and a Ferrari ride, in exchange for promoting his products in meetings and phone calls with state officials and health researchers. But the US supreme court unanimously ruled to vacate McDonnell’s conviction, writing that the while the governor’s conduct was “distasteful”, he had not performed any “official acts” that were consequential enough to fulfill the federal definition of bribery.
The former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, center, is mobbed by media, friends and family after being convicted on multiple counts of corruption, in a 2014 photo. The supreme court vacated the conviction in 2016. Photograph: Steve Helber/AP
The fact that Adams was at the time still the Brooklyn borough president, a role without official power over the fire commissioner, could actually “strengthen Adams’ hand”, Eliason said. “He didn’t really have the power to order this guy to do anything. That might bolster the claim that this wasn’t an official act – he was just making inquiries on behalf of a constituent or someone who contacted him.”
Did the Adams campaign hide foreign donations?
However, a lack of provable quid pro quo wouldn’t be the end of Adams’ legal concerns. For example, Adams or his staff could have potentially violated statutes that require officials to disclose their donations and their sources.One such violation would be accepting straw donations, “where money is passed through an intermediary or a conduit in an effort to hide the true source of the donation”, said Saurav Ghosh, the director of campaign finance reform at the non-profit Campaign Legal Center and a former attorney at the Federal Election Commission. “The most common motivation is that the true source of the money doesn’t want to be seen giving money to a politician.”
While straw donor violations by state and local candidates are usually handled by state and local authorities, not federal authorities, there’s a key difference in Adams’ case: the possibility that donations originated from Turkey. Taking donations from foreign entities is a crime that’s strictly prohibited by one of the few federal campaign laws that also apply to state and local candidates. “I think that’s about as serious of a violation as you can get,” says Ghosh.
If it emerged that Eric Adams was in fact taking not only money but directions from a foreign government, he could be considered a “foreign agent” under US regulations; failing to declare such relationships is a federal crime carrying a punishment of up to 10 years in prison. While such cases are rare, they’re not unheard of: the former US national security adviser Michael Flynn admitted in 2017 as part of a plea deal that he had worked as an unregistered foreign agent for the Turkish government, though he later withdrew his plea and was pardoned by Donald Trump.
The FBI’s next possible moves
What happens now? It’s likely that “there’s still a lot of investigative work to do” for federal authorities, said Eliason. Charges aren’t guaranteed, “but I’d definitely say it looks serious.”D’Amico, the retired FBI agent, said the agency’s seizure of Adams’ devices meant the investigation could continue to widen. “If you legally have the phones and a search warrant, and you come across something else, then you have the right to start pursuing that.”
It’s likely that the FBI will seek more search warrants, though it could take weeks or months, D’Amico said: “The more devices you take, the more information there is to sort through.” The “most dramatic” step would be if investigators searched the mayor’s office for physical evidence, though that wouldn’t be a step the agency would take lightly, D’Amico said.
Adams, left, and the former New York City fire department commissioner Daniel Nigro in January 2022. Photograph: Michael Appleton/AP
D’Amico predicted that the FBI would examine foreign surveillance for any evidence on Turkey’s relationship with Adams. “You always have to look at that when someone travels over there. There’s a possibility that they were looking to recruit him when he went over there.” (The FBI did not return a request for comment. )
Investigators are likely to subpoena financial records to trace money back to its source, D’Amico said. “Then you can interview that person, say, ‘Where did you get that money? Why did you decide on this amount?’ You might get them in a lie, and then you can push them on, ‘OK, now you’re looking at a five-year felony for lying to a federal agent.’”
But even if investigators were to uncover evidence that Adams or his campaign staff acted improperly, it’s not certain that they would face legal consequences.
Casey Michel, head of the Human Rights Foundation’s combating kleptocracy program, pointed to a pattern of “investigative and prosecutorial failures in recent years, especially on the federal level, where juries and judges rule in favor of those engaged in this kind of unreported foreign lobbying.
“With Adams, there’s so much smoke you could choke on it,” Michel said. But “until we see any actual charges against him, he’ll likely ride this out. And he’d hardly be the first US politician to escape any kind of fallout for participating in a network like this.”
The real test could have to be at the ballot box, when Adams is expected to seek re-election in 2025. “If the government can’t demonstrate a violation of the law, voters will have the ultimate say over if Adams’ allegiances and conduct are problematic or not,” said Eisler. “Even without a formal conviction, it is difficult to govern when one’s integrity is suspect.”
On Tuesday, Adams dismissed a journalist’s question about whether he would resign if he were indicted. “I’m not gonna speculate on that. You’re all the way downfield,” he said. “I’m going to continue to do the job as the mayor, as long as it’s my responsibility to do the job.”
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Obstruction of Justice anyone
Of all the people on his team, look who did this.
As I said above, not a surprise.
