A staffer in Eric Adams’ administration was arrested yesterday after resigning on Monday, accused of witness tampering and destroying evidence. Mohamed Bahi, a senior liaison in City Hall’s Community Affairs office, appeared before a federal magistrate and was released on a $250,000 bond without entering a plea. Officials allege that the 40-year-old Bahi told campaign donors to lie to the FBI, and deleted an encrypted messaging app from his phone as investigators were about to search his house.
According to an analysis by Documented, a cross-reference of the information in Eric Adams’ indictment with his campaign records indicates a strong possibility that Mohamed Bahi is connected to the charges of campaign finance violations that the mayor currently faces. One of the figures mentioned in the indictment is “Businessman-4” who, according to the document, is the owner of a construction company not affiliated with the Turkish community but “a prominent member of a different ethnic minority.” The description of “Businessman-4” as well as the timing of donations to the Adams campaign strongly indicate that they may be Tolib Mansurov, the Uzbek owner of the United Elite Group construction firm and founder of the Silk Road Foundation, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit serving Central Asian communities. In March of this year, the Silk Road Foundation co-sponsored an event with Muslims Giving Back, another charity organization founded by Bahi.
Referring to Adams’ indictment again, “Businessman-4” was allegedly told by representatives of the mayor that donating to the campaign would increase his influence. These agents of the mayor are alleged to have then helped “Businessman-4” put together a straw donor scheme to exceed the $2,000 limit on donations from individuals, funneling $2,000 donations through 4 of employees for a total of $10,000. These connections, as well as Bahi’s recent arrest, indicate that he may be the go-between for “Businessman-4” and the Adams campaign.
The straw donor scheme in this case would violate campaign finance laws on multiple fronts, as Adams is alleged to have used the donations to garner more resources from a generous fund-matching program from the city, and the foreign source of the alleged funds would make the original donations illegal as well.
Mohamed Bahi was an important City Hall connection to the Muslim community across the five boroughs. In August of last year, the Adams administration began allowing broadcasts of the Muslim call to prayer (the Adhan) once per week during Ramadan, an initiative Adams said at the time was “presented” to him by Bahi. Asked about Bahi’s departure and arrest at yesterday’s off-topic press conference, the mayor said that he “always found him thoughtful” and that Bahi “delivered for New York.”
