New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on bribery and fraud charges following a federal corruption investigation. Prosecutors, in the indictment unsealed Thursday, accuse Adams of soliciting illegal campaign contributions to his 2021 mayoral campaign and accepting travel benefits from foreign nationals seeking to gain influence over him. Those bribes, including flight upgrades and luxury hotel stays overseas worth over $100,000, began when Adams was a top elected official in Brooklyn and continued after he became mayor, prosecutors alleged. None were ever publicly disclosed, until now. "Year after year after year he kept the public in the dark," Damian Williams, US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a press conference Thursday. "He told the public he accepted no gifts despite the fact that he was being showered with them." His indictment marks the first time a sitting NYC mayor is facing federal charges, and it comes after a series of probes that saw federal authorities raid the homes of several city officials. The probes accelerated in recent weeks, prompting his key allies to resign, while two former fire department officials were charged with bribery. Adams, who is seeking re-election next year, has denied wrongdoing and has vowed to fight the charges while remaining in office — despite calls from high-profile lawmakers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to resign. Read more from Bob Van Voris, Laura Nahmias, and Patricia Hurtado about the probes leading to the indictment today on Bloomberg: NYC Mayor Was Corrupt for Years, US Claims in Scathing Case — Linda Poon In US Swing States, Migrants Aren't Settling in Trump Country Data from 1.8 million pending court cases from 2023 upholds a longstanding pattern of immigrants settling in more populous, left-leaning areas. From the Archive: Un-Corrupting City Hall These cities all suffered notorious municipal scandals. What have officials and voters done to tackle corruption and keep it from happening again? A Green Jobs Program Touted High Wages. Some Trainees Feel Misled Graduates who learned to fix EV chargers and install solar systems and heat pumps have struggled to find jobs, pointing to a chicken-or-egg problem in the US energy transition. |
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