Greg Smith, The CITY
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Federal prosecutors on Friday pushed back forcefully on a motion by Mayor Eric Adams to dismiss a key bribery count against him. In fighting his indictment by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, Adams moved to dismiss a bribery count by insisting he was not doing favors for the Turkish government. Adams was merely performing routine…
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Mayor Eric Adams and his high-priced lawyers have said they intend to fight to clear his name in the federal bribery and campaign finance charges he’s now facing, demanding a speedy trial and already taking pot shots at a key witness against him. How he’s going to pay for all that remains a mystery. On…
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The chair of the City Council’s government operations committee Friday demanded answers to conflict-of-interest questions raised by a vacation in Japan that included both the mayoral appointee who oversees the city’s leasing and a top executive at the brokerage that gets paid a commission by the property owners on those leases. The trip last month…
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Ahsan Chughtai, a $140,000-a-year special assistant to Mayor Eric Adams who was fired in September, was visited by agents with the FBI and the city Department of Investigation last summer in the ongoing probe of corruption at City Hall, sources familiar with the matter told THE CITY. Chughtai was a liaison between Mayor Adams’ office…
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Jesse Hamilton, a close ally of Mayor Eric Adams who appointed him to oversee the city’s real estate operations, went on a trip to Japan with Adam Clayton Powell IV, a former elected official-turned registered lobbyist. Powell lobbied Hamilton earlier this year on behalf of a Bronx contractor, THE CITY has learned. The trip to…
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Mayor Eric Adams’ defense attorney demanded a speedy trial in the pending federal bribery and campaign finance fraud case Tuesday, aiming to resolve the question of guilt or innocence as soon as possible with a June primary date looming ahead. During a court hearing in the old Manhattan Federal Court at Foley Square, lawyer Alex…
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The historic federal indictment of Mayor Eric Adams alleging he obtained more than $10 million in public matching funds for his 2021 campaign under false pretenses now casts a shadow over his 2025 campaign’s requests for more matching funds from the Campaign Finance Board. Prosecutors allege that the 2021 campaign certified that all the contributions…
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A former top FDNY fire safety chief is planning to plead guilty in a deal with federal prosecutors who charged him and a colleague with taking secret kickbacks to expedite safety inspections for paying customers. Prosecutors in Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams office on Monday filed a letter with the court revealing that Brian Cordasco…
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Mayor Eric Adams’ criminal defense lawyer Monday ripped the federal indictment charging his client with doing favors for the Turkish government in exchange for illegal campaign donations and free or discounted travel perks as meritless — because, he claimed, prosecutors have not documented Adams’ promising specific favors for specific bribes. “There was no quid pro…
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A company once owned by Deputy Mayor Philip Banks III that snared a $150-million city Housing Authority contract has been greenlighted by the Adams administration to qualify for no-bid security contracts at the city’s burgeoning network of migrant shelters. Last November the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) placed the company, Overwatch Services, on a…