Mayor Adams May Think It’s ‘Regular’ to receive tens of thousands of dollars in benefits in exchange for pressuring a city agency, but that is “nevertheless illegal,” federal prosecutors argued Friday in opposing the mayor’s motion to toss a bribery count in his sweeping corruption case.
On the heels of his indictment, Adams last month asked the judge overseeing his case to dismiss the bribery charge against himdescribing the underlying allegations that he illegally did behind-the-scenes bidding on Turkish officials as “extraordinarily vague” and tantamount to “normal and perfectly legal acts that many city officials would perform for the consulate of an important foreign nation.”
“Count Five describes a kickback in which Adams sought and took luxury trips from a foreign official in exchange for influencing New York City’s regulation of a Manhattan skyscraper — including by pressuring the FDNY to allow [Turkish consulate] to open without inspection,“ wrote the Manhattan US Attorney’s office on Friday.
Adams claims it is “routine to accept benefits worth tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for lobbying a city agency‘ and ‘common,‘” wrote prosecutor Celia Cohen. “However routine it may have been for Adams, the law allows a jury to conclude that it was nonetheless illegal.”
The accused mayor has pleaded not guilty to bribery, fraud and covert campaign contributions from foreign donors in the case that alleges he put a price on his political influence dating back to his days as Brooklyn city president.
He is accused of collecting over $100,000 lavish trips around the world, cruises and hotel stays paid for by a Turkish government official and wealthy Turkish businessmen who believed the former NYPD cop would one day make it to the White House.
The first New York City mayor in modern times to be criminally indictedAdams has refused calls to resign. The feds have not ruled out bringing more charges in a series of ongoing investigations that have ensnared him and several of his top aides and advisers.
Adams’ attorney, Alex Spiro, could not immediately be reached for comment.
This story will be updated.
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