The Adams Investigation: Accountability,Bravado and Conspiracy

By Nayaba Arinde
Editor at Large
“I’m not going to resign; I’m going to reign,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams, vowing to fight federal charges of fraud, bribery, and corruption.
Last Thursday, for the first time in New York City history, a sitting mayor was indicted on a host of Federal crimes.

Resorting to surrounding himself with a cadre of clergy and weekend church visits, the embattled Adams deflected steadily growing calls to resign. “This is a great moment to step up and show all New Yorkers who are going through complexities in their lives how you remain focused on your agenda, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

So far, there are five federal charges and five resignations from the Adams administration.
Following the FBI raiding of homes and snatching of phones of several Adams administration officials last month, resignations came from Police Commissioner Edward Caban, Schools Chancellor David Banks, Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg, Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, and former NYPD Inspector Timothy Pearson.

“Public servants have a responsibility to represent the people and their interests, and we must hold ourselves to the highest standards every single day,” NYS Attorney General Letitia James told Our Time Press in a statement. “The allegations outlined in the indictment are serious and troubling. The foundation of our justice system presumes that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and we will continue to follow the facts of this case as they become available. I am focused on working with my fellow leaders to ensure our city continues to operate for all New Yorkers who depend on it.”

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who stands in line to become the interim mayor if Adams resigns or is removed, told Our Time Press, “I feel the same disbelief and indignation that I know many New Yorkers feel, upset that this is where our city is in this moment. This is a painful time, and the looming unknowns and uncertainties only add to the confusion and chaos at City Hall in an untenable situation. Justice presumes innocence until proven guilty; at the same time, these charges are even more sweeping and severe than imagined. In the face of this evidence, it is not enough to deflect blame and deny responsibility.”

On Monday, Adams’s attorney, Alex Spiro, called on Damian Williams, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to drop the bribery charge. “Courtesies to politicians are not federal crimes,” Spiro said at a press conference.

The Mayor is charged with receiving airline upgrades, accepting luxury hotel room stays, taking illegal campaign funds from Turkish officials, and using straw donors to disguise monies from foreign nationals.

The grand jury indictment states that Adams’ 2021 campaign acquired $10 million through illegally obtained funds from foreign contributions via using city Campaign Finance Board designated matching funds.
Adams pleaded not guilty to all charges during his arraignment last Friday. Spiro pointed out that the charges relate to a time when Adams “wasn’t even the mayor-elect, and the position of Brooklyn borough president does not have vast powers.”

The lawyer slammed as a liar, Adams’ former international affairs aide Rana Abbasova, the one-time Turkish community liaison, identified in court papers as a “self-interested staffer with an axe to grind.”

Last Thursday, Attorney Damian Williams told the press, “This was a multi-year scheme to buy favor with a single New York City politician on the rise, Eric Adams.”
As Mayor, Attorney Williams also said Adams “abused that privilege and broke the law, laws designed to ensure that officials like him serve the people, not the highest bidder, not a foreign bidder and certainly not a foreign power.”

In response, Adam’s attorney Spiro slammed the 57-page indictment. “Congressmen get upgrades. They get corner suites. They get better tables at restaurants. They get free appetizers. They have their iced tea filled up.” Critics determined that iced tea top-ups are not the same as free flights, luxury suites, and what the government states were $100,000 in undisclosed gifts.

Public Advocate Williams said, “It is federal officials’ obligation to prove their case, it is the mayor’s obligation to prove to New Yorkers that there is a real plan and path to govern the city effectively and regain trust, and his time to show that plan is rapidly running out.”

While Williams dodged the direct Our Time Press question regarding being actually prepared to become mayor, he did say, “As the Public Advocate, my role is to fight for the transparency, accountability, and governance that New Yorkers deserve. In a moment of intense turmoil, I am committed to working with my fellow elected officials and the many thousands of incredibly dedicated public servants to ensure our city continues to operate in any eventuality.”

Former Brooklyn City Councilman and Assemblyman Charles Barron pulled zero punches, “Our criticism of Mayor Adams has always been focused on his policies more so than his alleged corruption. He brought back Giuliani’s Street Crime Unit, stop and frisk, solitary confinement, and the broken windows policy. His policy has been police containment, not economic development and job creation for our impoverished communities. We need jobs, not jails. He also cut city services during a budget surplus while funding the NYPD, which led to a bloated NYPD budget, and attempted to privatize the retirees’ healthcare using the racist AETNA insurance company. We beat him back on that.”

Barron, the co-founder of Operation Power, the East New York-based community advocacy group continued, “Remember he sent his brutal police against the peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters and the Columbia University and CUNY students who were peacefully protesting against the terrorist state of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people. That’s just to name a few things.”

“New Yorkers want to be reassured that the vital work of City government can continue without major interruption,” social and political observer Professor Basil A. Smikle Jr. told Our Time Press.

The hits keep coming though.
Last Friday, as she deplaned a flight from Japan, Adams chief advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin was served a subpoena. Her phones were confiscated, and the Feds and the City’s Department of Investigation searched her home on Troy Avenue in Brooklyn.
Immediately Martin-Lewis said, “We’re human beings. We are imperfect, but we are not thieves.”

Meanwhile, in a move to perhaps invoke “spousal privilege,” Adams aides Schools Chancellor David Banks and First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright–who had their devices snatched and their Harlem home searched by the Feds last month, tied the knot on Martha’s Vineyard this past weekend.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has the political ability to ask Adams to step down. She said, “I’m giving the mayor an opportunity now to demonstrate to New Yorkers–and to me, that we are righting the ship, that we have the opportunity to instill the confidence that I think is wavering right now, and to power forward with an effective government.”