Eric Adams in June 2021, on the day he won the democratic primary. On that same day, an Adams aide reached out to Turkish Airlines to arrange cheap plane tickets for him. Photo / Sarah Blesener, The New York Times
Eric Adams in June 2021, on the day he won the democratic primary. On that same day, an Adams aide reached out to Turkish Airlines to arrange cheap plane tickets for him. Photo / Sarah Blesener, The New York Times
The indictment against Mayor Eric Adams includes revelations that range from the amusing to the horrifying.
The indictment of Mayor Eric Adams unsealed Thursday provides a banquet of strange, amusing and troubling vignettes unearthed during the investigation by the US attorney for the Southern District of New York and theFBI. Here are 10 of them:
1. Suspiciously cheap tickets – and an upgrade
On the June day in 2021 when Adams won the Democratic primary for mayor and all but assured his ascension to City Hall, his thoughts strayed.
An Adams aide messaged the general manager of Turkish Airlines in New York, Cenk Öcal, to book flights for Adams to Istanbul. The staff member fits the description of Rana Abbasova, then Adams’ liaison to Turkey.
Öcal said he would charge the mayor US$50 ($80), a price so low as to appear preposterous. And appearances mattered.
“No, dear. $50? What? Quote a proper price,” Abbasova responded. “His every step is being watched right now. $1000 or so. Let it be somewhat real. We don’t want them to say he is flying for free. At the moment, the media’s attention is on Eric.”
Adams ended up paying about US$2200 for tickets for himself and his romantic partner, tickets that were promptly upgraded to business class and would have otherwise cost more than US$15,000.
When Abbasova asked Öcal where he would recommend that Adams stay in Istanbul, the manager suggested the Four Seasons.
When Abbasova argued that the hotel was too expensive, Öcal responded, “Why does he care? He is not going to pay. His name will not be on anything either.”
“Super,” Abbasova responded.
Days later, Adams cancelled the trip.
Since 2016, prosecutors say, Adams has received more than US$100,000 in travel benefits from Turkish interests that he did not disclose as required by law. Prosecutors say that he repaid his benefactors with official acts as Brooklyn borough president, mayor-elect and mayor.
2. A New York election win was greeted with glee in Turkey
“I’m going to go and talk to our elders in Ankara about how we can turn this into an advantage for our country’s lobby,” Arda Sayiner, a businessperson and self-described brand adviser, told another businessperson the day after Adams was elected mayor in November 2021.
The Turkish Foreign Minister was “personally paying attention to him” and Adams “should not bother with” his other Turkish contacts, Reyhan Özgür, then the Turkish consul general, told Abbasova around the same time.
3. A ‘spiritual journey’ to Ghana, with a layover in Istanbul
Before Adams took office in 2022, he and his partner travelled to Ghana on what he described as a “spiritual journey”. A spokesperson for Adams said at the time that the mayor-elect had paid for the trip itself, but that as a matter of policy, they would not disclose the receipts.
In fact, Turkish Airlines footed most of the US$14,000 bill for the business-class tickets, according to the indictment. During a nine-hour layover in Istanbul, Özgür arranged for a driver in a BMW to take Adams and his partner to a high-end restaurant.
Özgür promised Abbasova that he would keep the layover confidential.
4. Ignoring defects in a tower’s fire-safety system
In September 2021, Özgür asked Adams to get Fire Department approval for a new high-rise Turkish Consulate in midtown Manhattan, despite the fact that it had “serious” fire-safety defects, according to the department.
Time was of the essence. Özgür wanted the consulate to open in time for a visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tied to the United Nations General Assembly.
In a phone call, Özgür told Abbasova that it was now Adams’ “turn” to help Turkey. She related the message to Adams, who responded, “I know”.
“Adams did as instructed,” according to prosecutors, and repeatedly messaged the fire commissioner, who was trying to keep his job under Adams.
A Fire Department official who oversaw safety inspections was told that he would lose his job if he did not facilitate the building’s opening, even though a department employee had deemed the building “not safe to occupy”. The official did as he was told.
“You are a true friend of Turkey,” Özgür messaged Adams on September 10.
Erdogan attended the skyscraper’s ribbon cutting 10 days later.
5. A surprising endorsement of illegal donations
As Adams was raising money for his 2021 mayoral campaign, Sayiner suggested to Abbasova via text message that he raise illegal foreign donations for the candidate.
Abbasova suspected that Adams “wouldn’t get involved in such games,” since “they might cause a big stink later on”.
She promised to “ask anyways”.
To her surprise, Adams signed on.
Last November, the FBI searched Abbasova’s home, and a short while later, she turned against the mayor and began co-operating with prosecutors.
Adams speaks to the news media after voting at his polling station on his final day of campaigning for mayor of New York City in 2021. Photo / Sarah Blesener, The New York Times
6. A policy of hiding communications
Adams made sure to cover his tracks, the indictment says.
During a 2019 text exchange concerning another possible trip to Turkey, with the arrangements to be made by Öcal, Abbasova reminded Adams to “please delete all messages you send me”.
“Always do,” Adams responded.
7. A restaurant meeting and a quest for money
Less than two weeks after he took office, Adams met Abbasova and Sayiner in a private room at a high-end restaurant in New York City to discuss the collection of foreign donations.
At the meeting, prosecutors say, Sayiner talked about previous efforts to collect campaign money for Adams in Turkey. He noted that he could collect more foreign contributions in the future. And he said that he could raise still more for the mayor’s 2025 campaign if Adams visited Turkey and met with businesspeople there.
“Adams welcomed the offer of foreign contributions,” the indictment said.
8. Happy birthday, Sayiner
Last September, Adams met a group of foreign donors at a dinner in New York City purportedly hosted by “international sustainability leaders”.
The price was US$5000 a head. Beforehand, Sayiner collected payments from the attendees, many of them foreign nationals, according to the indictment, and then used some of the money to make straw donations to the campaign.
Sayiner appears to have written about the event for Hurriyet, a Turkish newspaper. He was given a birthday cake.
“As a birthday gift from Adams, with whom I cut my cake, I got a promise to visit Turkey again before the end of the year,” Sayiner wrote.
9. Staying silent on Armenia’s national trauma
In April 2022, as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day was approaching, Özgür repeatedly asked Abbasova for assurances that Adams would not speak about the event, which is a highly sensitive subject for the Turkish Government.
Abbasova “confirmed that Adams would not make a statement” and he “did not make such a statement,” according to prosecutors.
In 2021, President Joe Biden recognised the mass killings more than a century ago as a genocide, despite efforts by Erdogan to prevent the announcement. Erdogan has repeatedly denied that the slaughter amounted to genocide.
10. A forgotten phone password
After FBI agents seized Adams’ personal phone last November, he claimed he was unable to remember the password because he had recently changed it. He had changed it, he said, to prevent staff members from inadvertently or intentionally deleting anything because of the investigation.
“As the federal investigation into the criminal conduct of Eric Adams, the defendant, continued, so did efforts to frustrate that investigation,” the indictment reads.
