via nymag:
The news that the FBI executed a search warrant on the home of Brianna Suggs, the chief fundraiser for Mayor Eric Adams’s campaign operation, sent shock waves through the city’s political scene. But what prompted even more questions was the apparent reason for the raid. The New York Times reported that the FBI, in concert with Manhattan federal prosecutors, is investigating whether his 2021 mayoral campaign conspired with the Turkish government and a Brooklyn construction company to funnel illegal contributions to the campaign in an apparent straw-donor scheme. Investigators are also reportedly looking into whether anyone involved received kickbacks. The search warrant reportedly sought “records of travel to Turkey by any employee, officer or associate of the campaign; and documents related to interactions between the campaign and the government of Turkey, ‘including persons acting at the behest of the Turkish government.’”
Adams, who has not been accused of wrongdoing by authorities, said he plans to fully participate in the inquiry and that he is “outraged and angry if anyone attempted to use the campaign to manipulate our democracy and defraud our campaign,” denying knowledge of any such effort.
Over the years, Adams has highlighted what he once called his “special connection” to the city’s significant Turkish population and his love of, and many visits to, Turkey. Here’s what we know about Adams’s past dealings with the country and the Turkish community.
Multiple trips to Turkey and at least two were paid for by Turkish entities
Over the course of his political career, Adams has gone on numerous foreign trips, from Israel and Qatar during the FIFA World Cup to China. He has also repeatedly traveled to Turkey, recently bragging that “I’m probably the only mayor in the history of this city that has not only visited Turkey once, but I think I’m on my sixth or seventh visit to Turkey.”
In late 2014, while serving as Brooklyn borough president, Adams reportedly told a group of Turkish American community leaders that he’d never been to Turkey but was planning to visit soon. Here are the trips we know about since then:
August 2015
Adams traveled to Istanbul on the apparent dime of the Turkish Consulate, which according to disclosures to the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board paid up to $4,999 for Adams’s transportation, flight, and lodgings. A report from The City indicates it’s not clear who else may have helped pay for the trip. Adams was accompanied by his legal counsel Ama Dwimoh; then-staff volunteer Rana Abbasova, who now works in the mayor’s Office for International Affairs; and Adams’s longtime friend and adviser, former NYPD inspector Tim Pearson:
A portion of that trip … was initially said to be paid by Bahcesehir University — to the tune of about $6,000. Adams’ legal counsel then and now, Ama Dwimoh, later told the city Conflicts of Interest Board that the flights — including a business class seat for Adams — would be paid for by Turkish Airlines. But a Conflicts of Interest Board approval letter identified Bahcesehir University as one of the funders of the $15,000 trip, along with Turkish Airlines, the “Turkish Culture and Promotion Office in New York,” and local municipal governments.
A request for clarification with the mayor’s office sent late Friday about who funded the trip wasn’t immediately responded to.
December 2015
The borough president then returned to Turkey on a trip funded by the World Tourism Organization, which hosted Adams for a tourism conference in Antalya. The City reports that Adams was again accompanied by Dwimoh and Abbasova and that most of the trip’s more than $14,000 in costs were paid for by the Association of Young Tourism Leaders. (It’s not clear if that organization and the World Tourism Foundation are affiliated.) Per The City:
Adams also met on that December 2015 trip with Semsettin Aydin, owner of Baysas Construction, whose company was initially slated to cover $2,150 in trip expenses. But that portion was covered by a separate entity at the last moment, the documents show. According to a local Turkish report at the time, Adams told Aydin that he wanted to introduce him to Brooklyn contractors.
Adams also visited the Nizip Syrian refugee camp near Turkey’s southern border on the trip. In an interview with The Daily Sabah, the borough president heaped praise on Turkey for how it was handling Syrian refugees and called for the U.S. and Europe to aid the country in its efforts.
2017
Two years later, Adams apparently made another visit to Turkey as part of a monthlong trip abroad with his son, according to Politico. In late July of that year, The Daily Sabah published an interview with Adams, who the publication said had met with them on his fifth trip to the country. Adams reportedly told them he was planning to buy a home in Istanbul.
Campaign contributions from KSK Construction Group employees
One of the companies raided by federal authorities on Thursday was the Brooklyn-based KSK Construction Group, whose founders reportedly hail from Turkey. The company has not been charged with wrongdoing, but a number of KSK employees made donations to Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign at a private fundraiser in May 2021, and the Adams campaign apparently ignored multiple inquiries from the city’s Campaign Finance Board about some of the donations. The City reports:
The KSK Construction employees donated at a May 7, 2021 fundraiser organized by an owner of the company, Erden Arkan, which was held at the home of Abraham Erdos in Brooklyn. Erdos, who was listed in Adams campaign finance filings as “retired,” had donated $2,000 to Adams’ mayoral campaign a year earlier. In total, the event raised $69,720 for Adams’ mayoral campaign from 84 donors, and the campaign used those donations to seek $63,760 in public matching funds, according to campaign documents obtained by THE CITY.
KSK did not respond to requests for comment via phone and email. But when contacted by THE CITY Thursday, multiple people listed in Adams 2021 campaign donation records as KSK employees either said they did not donate to Eric Adams or refused to state whether they had ever donated …
Records from New York City’s Campaign Finance Board show that board staff asked the Adams’ campaign six times over five months to explain who had connected the Adams campaign with 10 donations from KSK Construction employees totaling $12,700, all made at the May 2021 event weeks before Adams’ victory in the mayoral Democratic primary. Campaigns are obligated to respond to such CFB inquiries within 30 days and explain their sources of funds, according to a Campaign Finance Board webinar. But in each instance, the Adams campaign failed to respond.
Asked to comment on the ignored inquires by The City, Adams’s 2021 campaign spokesperson Evan Thies said:
None of those inquiries were flagged as possible straw donors. The inquiries were about possible unreported intermediaries, of which there were none required to be reported. The campaign appropriately responded to each and every flag made by the CFB as required.
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