Timeline of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ federal corruption charge allegations
By Ashley R. Williams and Celina Tebor, CNN
(CNN) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is scheduled to appear in court Friday afternoon for the first time since he was indicted on five federal charges related to bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud and soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals.
Adams, who has served as the city’s 110th mayor since January 2022, is accused of receiving luxury travel and other benefits from a Turkish official and in exchange, pressuring New York City’s Fire Department to open a Turkish consular building without a fire inspection, according to the 57-page federal indictment unsealed on Thursday.
The allegations noted in the indictment stretch back to a decade ago, when Adams served as Brooklyn Borough president.
Adams allegedly committed 23 overt acts outlined in the indictment from 2016 to October 2023. The acts allegedly include coordinating straw donations and submitting false disclosure statements to the New York City Campaign Finance Board.
“I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city as I’ve done throughout my entire professional career,” Adams said at a Thursday news conference.
Here’s a timeline of the allegations against Adams, according to the indictment:
October 2016 – October 2017
After Adams first traveled to Turkey in 2015 and established “corrupt relationships,” a senior Turkish diplomatic official introduced him to a Turkish airline’s general manager in the New York City area, according to the indictment.
On three separate trips – once in 2016 and twice the following year – federal authorities allege Adams solicited and accepted free and heavily discounted travel from the airline “as part of the Turkish Official’s efforts to gain influence” over Adams.
October 2016: Adams accepted a free business class upgrade for himself and his partner that raised their ticket values to around $15,000 two days before traveling to India on a Turkish airline, the indictment alleges.
His partner, who is not named in the indictment, had initially bought economy tickets for the trip valued at around $2,286 for herself and Adams prior to the upgrade, according to the indictment.
July and August 2017: Adams accepted free business class tickets from the same airline worth more than $35,000 for himself, a close relative and a staff member to travel to Nice, France; Istanbul, Turkey; Columbo, Sri Lanka; and Beijing, China, the indictment alleges.
Adams also accepted a heavily discounted stay during the trip at the five-star St. Regis Istanbul hotel, owned by a wealthy Turkish businesswoman who gave Adams multiple free or steeply discounted luxury hotel stays and organized contributions to his 2021 mayoral campaign, the indictment alleges.
Adams’ two-night stay in the hotel’s Bentley Suite cost him less than $600 instead of the actual approximate cost of $7,000, according to the indictment.
October 2017: Adams and a staff member, who accompanied him on the July and August 2017 trip and who served as his liaison to New York City’s Asian-American communities, traveled to Nepal through Istanbul and Beijing, the document alleges.
Adams allegedly accepted free business class tickets worth more than $16,000 for himself and the staff member for flights from New York to Istanbul, from Istanbul to Beijing and for the return flights.
Federal authorities say Adams attempted to hide the luxury travel benefits he received. According to the indictment, Adams “attempted to create a fake paper trail suggesting he had paid for his 2017 flights on the Turkish Airline, when in fact he had not.”
January 2018 – December 2020
January 2018: Several months before a January 2018 trip to Budapest, Hungary, through Istanbul, Adams’ partner bought her and Adams two economy tickets on a Turkish airline for approximately $560 each, the indictment alleges.
In December 2017, Adams directed a staff member to ask the airline manager to upgrade the tickets to business class, according to the indictment.
The upgrade was allegedly provided for free, and the tickets were valued at more than $14,000. The indictment accuses Adams of not disclosing the travel discount to New York City’s Conflict of Interest Board in 2018.
November 2018: While Adams was Brooklyn Borough’s president, he and his staff member met at Brooklyn Borough Hall with a wealthy Turkish national – named in the indictment as “Businessman-1” – who owned a for-profit Turkish University, according to federal authorities.
The businessman offered to contribute funds to Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign, according to the indictment. “Although (Adams) knew that Businessman-1 was a Turkish national who could not lawfully contribute to (US) elections, (he) directed (his staff member) to obtain the illegal contributions offered” by Businessman-1, the document states.
January 2019: Adams and his partner traveled to Turkey, Jordan, and Oman, and a Turkish airline’s airline manager gave Adams’ partner a free upgrade from economy to business class valued at approximately $7,000, says the indictment.
While he was in Istanbul, authorities allege Adams met with a wealthy Turkish businessman, referred to in the indictment as “Businessman-3,” who “agreed to contribute $50,000 or more to the 2021 Campaign” in an effort to gain influence with Adams, whom he believed might one day become a US president.
December 2020: Adams solicited and received straw donations from a businessman who ran a New York City-area construction company, according to the indictment.
The businessman, who had influence in “a different ethnic community” in the city, contributed $10,000 to Adams’ 2021 campaign by giving $2,000 personally and reimbursing four employees a total of $8,000 for their contributions, the indictment alleges.
May 2021 – November 2021
May 2021: Adams allegedly attended a fundraiser organized by a Turkish official with Adams’ staff and accepted straw donations from a prominent member of New York City’s Turkish community who operated another construction company, referred to in the indictment as “Businessman-5.”
That month, authorities say Adams submitted a false disclosure statement to the Campaign Finance Board that concealed straw donations from “Businessman-5.”
June 2021: Authorities say Adams solicited “steeply discounted business class tickets, stays at a luxury hotel and luxury resort, and transportation” that included a domestic flight, car and driver.
He’s accused of by authorities of soliciting a free hotel stay and free use of a VIP room in the business class lounge of a Turkish airline for the Adams Fundraiser.
August 2021: Adams allegedly directed a staff member “to obtain contributions of foreign funds” from a Turkish university.
September 2021: The indictment alleges Adams pressured the New York City Fire Department “to issue a letter acquiescing in the occupation” of a new Turkish consular building. Authorities say the 36-story skyscraper was opened without a fire inspection.
“At the time, the building would have failed an FDNY inspection,” the indictment states. “In exchange for free travel and other travel-related bribes in 2021 and 2022 arranged by the Turkish Official, (Adams) did as instructed,” it continues.
That same month, authorities allege Adams solicited and accepted “steeply discounted” business class flight tickets for himself and a companion on roundtrip flights from New York to Pakistan.
CNN has reached out to Turkish House and the FDNY.
October 2021: Authorities say Adams submitted “a false disclosure statement” to the Campaign Finance Board that concealed straw donations from a Turkish university.
November 2021: Adams allegedly solicited and accepted a free car and driver and a meal at a luxury restaurant in Istanbul.
January 2022 – October 2023
January 2022: Adams allegedly attended a meeting with a Turkish entrepreneur named in the indictment as “the Promoter” and agreed to accept contributions of foreign money toward his 2025 campaign. “The Promoter” arranged straw contributions to both of Adams’ campaigns, the indictment alleges.
July 2022: Adam’s senior advisor and another staffer met a Turkish official at the Turkish House and identified the senior official “as the point of contact for the Turkish Official’s ‘pending problems regarding’ the Turkish House such as ‘FDNY approvals,’” according to the indictment.
July 2022: The Turkish official arranged to provide business class upgrades on a Turkish airline for Adams’ close associates, the document alleges.
September 2023: Adams attended a fundraiser where he allegedly thanked foreign donors for contributions of foreign money to his 2025 campaign made through straw donors.
October 2023: Adams allegedly attended a fundraiser where he directed a staff member to coordinate straw donations from a person referred to in the indictment as “Businessman-6,” a member of New York City’s Turkish-American community.
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CNN’s Evan Perez, Mark Morales, Kara Scannell, Brynn Gingras, Gloria Pazmino, Eric Levenson, Artemis Moshtaghian, Nicki Brown and Jeff Winter contributed to this report.
