NEW YORK: US prosecutors on Thursday charged New York City Mayor Eric Adams with accepting illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel from Turkish nationals seeking to influence him, capping an investigation that has sent the largest US city’s government into turmoil.

In a 57-page indictment, prosecutors laid out an alleged scheme stretching back to 2014 that helped to underwrite Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign and showered him with free rooms at opulent hotels and meals at high-end restaurants.

In return, Adams pressured city officials to waive safety inspections and allow the country’s new 36-story consulate to open, prosecutors said. The Democrat faces five criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Adams, 64, denied wrongdoing and said he would fight the charges. He said he would not step down. “I will continue to do my job as mayor,” he said at a news conference, where some onlookers called on him to resign. Turkiye’s foreign ministry and presidents office and its embassy in Washington had no immediate comment.

Earlier on Thursday, federal agents searched the mayor’s Gracie Mansion home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, according to a witness. Several people in business attire were seen walking on the mansion’s grounds with briefcases and duffel bags.

Adams, a former police officer who rose to the rank of captain, is the first of the city’s 110 mayors to be criminally charged while in office. Adams could be removed from office by Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul but the process is complicated, said Pace University Law School professor Bennett Gershman.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2024