Federal investigators looking into NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ 2021 campaign are now focusing on a series of messages that imply he aided in the inauguration of the Turkish government’s new consular offices in Manhattan, according to individuals close to the investigation who spoke to the New York Post.
Following the seizure of Adams’ personal devices on Monday, FBI agents discovered the September 2021 communications between Adams, then a Democratic mayoral candidate, Turkish Consul General Reyhan Özgür, and then-FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro.
These texts have been at the core of the federal agents’ inquiries over the content of the devices—which included two iPads and three cellphones—since Monday, according to sources, although the communication does not appear to highlight any criminal activity.
Özgür notified Adams via text message on September 5, 2021, that the new Turkevi Center diplomatic headquarters, which is situated on 46th Street and First Avenue across from the United Nations building, had just finished construction, according to sources.
Özgür did point out that even if the city’s Buildings Department had given the new headquarters the approvals it required to function, the Fire Department still needed to grant a “temporary certificate of occupancy.” Adams was then asked whether he knew Nigro and might be of any assistance.
Sources claim that Adams contacted Nigro and urged him to investigate the situation, but he did not give him any instructions. The latter later contacted the prospective mayor on September 10th, informing him that the necessary permission would be ready by September 13th.
“I don’t think that should be a smoking gun,” former state assemblyman and Bronx borough president Rubén Díaz Jr. remarked. “I don’t see any issue at all. Every elected official makes calls to city agencies on behalf of entities, businesses and constituents. That is what we do.”
Federal investigators are looking into whether Adams received privileges in exchange for money from the Turkish government or Turkish citizens through the use of “straw donors,” a practice in which the contributions reported in official documents aren’t the real source of financing.
The investigators are primarily searching for evidence that Turkish authorities and leaders at Brooklyn-based KSK Construction Group had benefited from the campaign. Boyd Johnson, Adams’ campaign lawyer, said on Friday that the mayor was assisting federal investigators and had already disclosed that an internal investigation had revealed “an individual had recently acted improperly.”
