Eric Adams
Portrait: Office of the Mayor of New York City (public domain)
⚠️ All Corruption Flags (4)
In September 2024, Eric Adams was indicted in the Southern District of New York on five federal counts: one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of wire fraud, two counts of soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals, and one count of soliciting and accepting a bribe. He became the first sitting New York City mayor in history to be criminally charged.
Prosecutors alleged that Adams accepted bribes in the form of luxury Turkish Airlines tickets in exchange for favors for foreign actors, including stepping in to help the Turkish government obtain New York City approval to open a 36-story Manhattan skyscraper housing the Turkish Consulate General in 2021 — despite lacking the required fire safety approval.
In February 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice ordered prosecutors to dismiss the case without prejudice. Multiple federal prosecutors resigned in protest. In April 2025, U.S. District Judge Dale Ho dismissed the case WITH prejudice — declining DOJ's preferred 'without prejudice' framing — and wrote in his opinion that allowing dismissal without prejudice risked Adams becoming 'more beholden to the demands of the federal government than to the wishes of his own constituents,' as it would appear that Adams' 'freedom depends on his ability to carry out the immigration enforcement priorities' of the Trump administration.
As of October 2025, Adams' unpaid legal bills tied to the federal indictment had climbed to $4.5 million.