NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ Campaign Is Under FBI Investigation For Alleged Foreign Donations

The election campaign of Democratic Mayor Eric Adams of New York City is being investigated by the FBI over its alleged receipt of donations from the government of Turkey, according to a report by The New York Times on Thursday based on an FBI search warrant.

The FBI executed a search warrant on Thursday of the home of Brianna Suggs, a top fundraiser for Adams’ political operations and lobbyist for real estate interests in city government, over whether she solicited foreign donations from the government of Turkey, which is illegal under federal law. The scope of the investigation not only includes Suggs, but the campaign as a whole, according to The Times, which obtained a copy of the search warrant.

“Mayor Adams has not been contacted as part of this inquiry,” wrote Vito Pitta, an attorney for Adams’ campaign to The Times. “The campaign has always held itself to the highest standards,” he said, adding that “the campaign will of course comply with any inquiries, as appropriate.”

The illicit donations appear to have been received by the campaign from two domestic sources — a construction company in Brooklyn known as KSK Construction Group, whose employees donated $14,000 to his 2021 campaign, and Bay Atlantic University, a Turkish-owned institution in Washington, D.C., which has been affiliated with Adams since his time as the Borough President of Brooklyn, according to the Times.

During the raid on Suggs’ home in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, the FBI sought financial records of the campaign, travel records to and from Turkey, records of interactions between the campaign and representatives of the government of Turkey and intermediaries as well as electronic devices used by Suggs, according to the Times.