New York City mayor Eric Adams to face criminal charges

Federal prosecutors are preparing to unveil charges against Democrat Eric Adams, a stunning blow to the leader of the US’s largest city.

New York mayor Eric Adams. Picture: AFP

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan will unveil criminal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter, a stunning blow to the leader of the nation’s largest city.

It couldn’t immediately be learned what charges Adams is facing. “I always knew that if I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target — and a target I became,” the mayor said in a statement Wednesday night. “If I am charged, I am innocent and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit.”

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment. The New York Times earlier reported the charges.

Adams, a Democrat, has been dogged by a series of probes swirling around a circle of his associates. Within the past several weeks, Adams’s police commissioner, schools chancellor, health commissioner and chief counsel have all either resigned or announced their plans to step down. Federal agents earlier this month searched homes of several top administration officials. Investigators last year seized Adams’s electronic devices and searched the home of a fundraiser for his campaign.

One of the investigations has examined whether foreign money, including from Turkey, was funnelled into Adams’s campaign through illegal donations.

Adams, a former New York City Police officer, took office in 2022 and has been gearing up for a re-election campaign in 2025, where he faces challenges in the primary from several other Democrats. He ran as a centrist in 2021, pledging to tackle crime in New York, citing a law-enforcement background that spanned more than 20 years.

Since taking office, the mayor hasn’t shied away from his ties to people who had past run-ins with the law. He has proudly described his mentoring of a bishop with a rap sheet and openly partied with two convicted felon brothers. His deputy mayor for public safety, Philip Banks, was an unindicted co-conspirator in a prior federal corruption probe.

Adams has defended those in his orbit, saying he is giving people second chances.

At the same time, his campaign and administration have been swept up in corruption cases big and small. Several donors have been charged in schemes involving illegal political donations. Last year the city’s former Department of Buildings commissioner was charged in state court with taking bribes in exchange for using his position to provide favours to associates.

Adams faces the media this month. Picture: AFP

Earlier this year, federal prosecutors charged 70 current and former New York City public housing employees with accepting illicit payments in exchange for awarding work to contractors.

Last week, two former New York City fire chiefs were charged with accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for expediting safety inspections.

The string of resignations and clouds of legal uncertainty have raised questions about whether Adams has any remaining ability to manage the city’s needs. He has sought to play down such concerns.

“This city government is a deep bench, and we have a reservoir of talent,” Adams said this week.

Previous mayors have faced investigations. But the magnitude of the probes embroiling Adams hasn’t been seen since the 1980s, when Mayor Ed Koch, a Democrat, saw his third term in office marred by corruption scandals involving one of his commissioners and local political party bosses. Koch wasn’t accused of wrongdoing.

The Wall Street Journal