By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted after a federal corruption investigation, but the indictment is sealed and it is unclear what charges he will face, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
It was not immediately clear whether Adams would be arrested or voluntarily surrender. The charges are likely to be unsealed on Thursday, when Adams may appear in court.
The charges come after the FBI last November searched Adams’ electronic devices, and in the wake of a slew of resignations by top city officials in recent weeks as multiple federal corruption investigations entangle his administration.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, which brought the charges, declined to comment. Adams’ lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One of his lawyers has said that the mayor, a Democrat, was cooperating with an investigation but did not say what it was about.
The case is likely to complicate any Adams bid for re-election in 2025. Other Democratic politicians, including New York City comptroller Brad Lander, plan to challenge Adams – once a key ally of Democratic President Joe Biden – for the party’s nomination.
The Times, citing a search warrant, reported in early November 2023 that federal authorities were investigating the possible acceptance by Adams’ 2021 campaign of illegal donations, including by the Turkish government.
The probe, conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, focused on whether Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign conspired with a Brooklyn construction company to funnel foreign money into the campaign through a straw-donor scheme, the Times said.
Authorities have also sought information about Adams’ interactions with Israel, China, Qatar, South Korea and Uzbekistan, according to the Times.
Adams, a former police officer, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said he is cooperating with the probe. His lawyers said in a statement on Aug. 15 that they had conducted their own investigation into the matters prosecutors were probing and had not found evidence of illegal conduct by Adams.
“To the contrary, we have identified extensive evidence undermining the reported theories of federal prosecution as to the Mayor, which we have voluntarily shared with the U.S. Attorney,” said the lawyers, Brendan McGuire and Boyd Johnson.
The largest U.S. city has been in a state of political upheaval for the past month. Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned on Sept. 12, a week after FBI agents seized his phone. Days later, Adams’ chief legal adviser resigned, saying she could “no longer effectively serve” in the position.
On Wednesday, the city’s public schools chancellor David Banks said he would retire at the end of the year, weeks after the Times reported his phones were seized by federal agents.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York, Eric Beech in Washington and Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Editing by Dan Burns and Sonali Paul)
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