United States: According to reports, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on federal criminal charges.
No sitting mayor of New York City has ever faced similar charges. The specifics of the indictment are still under seal, so it’s unclear what accusations he will be facing.
Federal officers confiscated the phones of several high-ranking city officials earlier this month, including the chancellor of schools, the commissioner of police, and one of Adams’ top aides.
Since then, school Chancellor David C. Banks and police Commissioner Edward A. Caban have resigned, according to the reports.
The FBI seized Adams’ electronic devices to investigate possible financial irregularities during his mayoral campaign in 2021.
Independent investigations have also focused on enforcing nightclubs and city contracts laws.
Adams, a former police captain, ran for mayor of New York City nearly three years ago on a platform of combating crime and restoring integrity to municipal government.
However, because he appointed loyalists and trusted allies to important posts, his tenure in government has been tainted by scandal. Since then, federal investigations have focused on several of these individuals.
The New York Post reports: “Details about the exact accusations remained unclear, but are believed to be connected to an alleged kickback scheme involving the Turkish government illegally funneling money into his mayoral campaign, according to sources.”
Additionally, The City reports that “Sources who are familiar with the matter [said] that Adams is being charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent for taking actions in his official capacity after receiving donations from foreign sources,” as per reports.
Adams is not required to resign from office after an indictment.
However, under the city charter, he might be removed from office by Governor Kathy Hochul or an “inability committee” composed of the city council speaker, the comptroller, the deputy mayor, and the borough president with the longest tenure.
Adams is expected to surrender early next week.
Adams made a statement saying:
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