charged with corruption, the mayor of New York pleads not guilty

Eric Adams is the first city councilor to be charged when he used his mandate. He is accused of receiving “gifts” from Turkish people for several years.

The first mayor in the history of New York marked in the exercise of his commandEric Adams pleaded not guilty on Friday September 27 to corruption and illegal campaign financing, after refusing to resign as mayor of the largest city in the United States. “I’m not guilty, your honor”launched the 64-year-old Democrat-elect, wearing a navy blue suit and purple polka dot tie, into a courtroom packed with reporters, where Judge Katharine Parker solemnly read him his rights and informed the five charges to “Master Adams”.

The judge then released the elected official, prohibiting him from communicating about the case with the witnesses named in the indictment. The next procedural hearing is scheduled for next Wednesday, and Eric Adams’ attorney, Alex Spiro, has promised to file a motion to dismiss the charges.

A former captain of the New York Police Department (NYPD), locally elected since 2006, Eric Adams is accused of being “presented with gifts” for years by entrepreneurs and Turkish nationals, in in the form of business class plane travel or hotel stays. suites, without disclosing his compensation as he was required to do, Manhattan federal prosecutor Damian Williams said Thursday.

The indictment refers to acts of electronic fraud, illegal solicitation of donations for an election campaign from foreigners and acceptance of bribes paid by an official connected to the Ankara government. In exchange, Eric Adams, according to the prosecutors, would have used his influence with the city’s firefighters to speed up the opening of a skyscraper for Turkey’s mission to the United Nations and its consulate general, in time for inauguration in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in September 2021, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

According to federal prosecutors, a system of false certificates allowed him to raise $10 million in public funds for his campaigns. The mayor refused to resign and said he was “impatient” to defend himself, asking his constituents to resign. “Listen to our side of the story”.