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| New York City Mayor Eric Adams |
"U.S. Investigating Whether Adams Received Illegal Donations From TurkeyA
raid at the home of Eric Adams’s chief fund-raiser was part of an
inquiry into whether foreign money was funneled into his mayoral
campaign, a search warrant shows." NY Times Headlines
Federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. are conducting a broad public corruption investigation into whether Mayor Eric Adams’s 2021 election campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign donations, according to a search warrant obtained by The New York Times.
The investigation burst into public view on Thursday when federal agents conducted an early-morning raid at the Brooklyn home of the mayor’s chief fund-raiser, Brianna Suggs. Ms. Suggs is a campaign consultant who is deeply entwined with efforts to advance the mayor’s agenda.
Investigators
also sought to learn more about the potential involvement of a Brooklyn
construction company with ties to Turkey, as well as a small university
in Washington, D.C., that also has ties to the country and to Mr.
Adams. Remember, Turkeye is an ally and a member of NATO. So what is this about the construction company?
"According to the search warrant, investigators were also focused on whether the mayor’s campaign kicked back benefits to the construction company’s officials and employees, and to Turkish officials.
The warrant suggested that
some of the foreign campaign contributions were made as part of a straw
donor scheme, where donations are made in the names of people who did
not actually give money. (Actually, this is more of a T-rump ploy)! Investigators
sought evidence to support potential charges that included the theft of
federal funds and conspiracy to steal federal funds, wire fraud and
wire fraud conspiracy, as well as campaign contributions by foreign
nationals and conspiracy to make such contributions. (Actually,
they should have been investigating T-rump and his menials for this -
not Mayor Adams. This is more from his playbook!)
Mr. Adams has boasted of his ties to Turkey, most recently during a flag-raising he hosted for the country in Lower Manhattan last week. The mayor said that there were probably no other mayors in New York City history who had visited Turkey as frequently as he has.
“I
think I’m on my sixth or seventh visit,” he said. At least one of those
visits happened while he was Brooklyn borough president, when the
government of Turkey underwrote the excursion, The Daily News reported. Remember, Turkeye is an ally of the US?
THE FOLLOWING IS EXTRACTED FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE:
I'm
posting it here because we have a tendency to go for sound bytes - but
the sin of omission is part of the reason we know so little and end up
shooting ourselves in the foot:
Ms. Suggs, who could not be reached for comment, is an essential cog in Mr. Adams’s fund-raising machine, which has already raised more than $2.5 million for his 2025 re-election campaign. A person with knowledge of the raid said agents from one of the public corruption squads in the F.B.I.’s New York office questioned Ms. Suggs during the search of her home. An F.B.I. spokesman confirmed that “we are at that location carrying out law enforcement action,” referring to Ms. Suggs’s home in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.
The
construction company was identified in the warrant, as KSK
Construction Group in Brooklyn, who listed donated nearly $14,000 to
Mr. Adams’s 2021 campaign, according to campaign finance records.
Charles Kretchmer Lutvak, a spokesman for Mr. Adams, said Ms. Suggs was not an employee of City Hall and referred calls to the mayor’s campaign team.
“The campaign has always held itself to the highest standards,” said Vito Pitta, a lawyer for Mr. Adams’s 2021 and 2025 campaigns. “The campaign will of course comply with any inquiries, as appropriate.”
Mr. Pitta added: “Mayor Adams has not been contacted as part of this inquiry.”
The search warrant sought financial records for Ms. Suggs and any entity controlled or associated with her; documents related to contributions to the mayor’s 2021 campaign; 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.”
Investigators specified documents relating to Bay Atlantic University, a tiny Turkish-owned institution that opened in Washington, D.C., in 2014. The following year, Mr. Adams visited one of the school’s sister universities in Istanbul, where he was given various certificates and was told that a scholarship would be created in his name.
The warrant also sought electronic devices, including cellphones, laptops or tablets used by Ms. Suggs.
Ms. Suggs, 25, is the latest in a series of individuals tied to Mr. Adams who have attracted interest from law enforcement, including several connected to the mayor’s fund-raising efforts.
The Department of Investigation is also investigating the role of one of the mayor’s top aides in a violent altercation last month at a migrant center in Manhattan.
Mr. Adams has tried to distance himself from these inquiries, arguing that he had limited insight into the events that precipitated them. But the investigation of such a close and longtime adviser might be harder to keep at arm’s length.
In the past two years, Mr. Adams’s re-election campaign has paid Ms. Suggs nearly $100,000 for fund-raising and campaign consulting services via her company, Suggs Solutions, according to city records.
Ms. Suggs worked as an aide to Mr. Adams when he was Brooklyn borough president, and is particularly close with Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who was his deputy at the time and is currently his top adviser.
Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the assemblywoman who leads the Brooklyn party, said Ms. Suggs was a volunteer fund-raiser who mainly handled logistics. She said she was surprised to learn of the F.B.I. raid.
“What I know of Brianna Suggs, she’s a bright young lady. I think she’s a very honest person, organized. She’s very mild-mannered, a very professional person,” Ms. Bichotte Hermelyn said. “She knows the rules.”
The White House appeared to have been taken by surprise. The mayor’s office called Thursday morning to inform them of the cancellation, a White House aide said.
“I can’t speak to his schedule and why he had to, he could not attend,” said Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary.
The mayor was scheduled to meet with representatives from Congress along with the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, and the mayor of Denver, Mike Johnston.
I said at the outset that Eric Adams is being investigated because he's Black - and I stick to that assertion! I think it puzzles many caucasoids that an African American can travel to, and make friends in other countries. They make it look as though there's nowhere in the world where we're welcome unless something underhanded was going on.
I
find it interesting and equally damning that the former predator in
chief, who was aided in stealing an election by enlisting Russian Ai
Technology, visits Putin, Kim Jung Il and other despots on a regular
basis, admires and quotes Hitler and others as though they were heroes,
and not the degenerates they were, did not receive the same scrutiny.
And, yes, I include the MaraLago debacle in this mix.
Mayor
Adams is on the mark to move New York to higher levels - despite the
efforts of Texas and Florida to dismantle our city by deporting people
who have already been kicked around the globe - dumping them in New York
as though they were throwaways. Their inhumanity should/must be dealt
with. It's a stain on the US that this is continuing to happen.
The
effort to destabilize New York, to weaken the economy and pit native
New Yorkers against those who have nowhere else to turn, has been a
challenge that Mayor Adams has taken on without a lot of assistance from
the government; and with the lack of understanding on the part of many
fellow New Yorkers, who are likewise struggling to make it. Trying to
pile on more and more to see how much he can take before he breaks is
not new in the game of maggot sabotage. It's nothing new!
What New Yorkers need/must do now is stand with him, and help in developing solutions to refugee problems! WE have to give him the benefit of our trust, and have his back when others are trying to stab him in it!
It ain't the first time they've tried to destroy New York! We made it through Pataki; We made it through the pandemic! And we will make it through the assaults on Mayor Eric Adams - and assault on Mayor Adams is an Assault on New York City!
NOW THAT YOU KNOW
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
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| Gloria DULAN-Wilson |
