Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized New York mayor Eric Adams cell phones and other devices as part of a federal investigation into his 2021 campaign fundraising.
The FBI are investigating whether the New York mayor’s election campaign in 2021 conspired with the Turkish government and other entities.
“On Monday night, the FBI approached the mayor after an event. The Mayor immediately complied with the FBI’s request and provided them with electronic devices,” Boyd Johnson, the campaign’s attorney, was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.
Johnson highlighted that the New York mayor was not “accused of any wrongdoing and continues to cooperate with the investigation”.
The information regarding the probe on the Democrat mayor became public last week after the FBI raided the home of former top fundraiser — a 25-year-old one-time intern, Brianna Suggs — and confiscated laptops, cell phones and a manila folder labelled “Eric Adams”.
The raid at Suggs’ home was to find evidence of conspiracy between Adams’ mayoral campaign, the Turkish government and a Brooklyn-based developer whose owners are Turkish, the New York Times said in a separate report.
The search warrant showed that the FBI is probing whether the Turkey’s government or Turkish nationals donated to Adams’ campaign via a scheme under which false contributors would be listed. It remains unclear if the seizure of Adams’ devices was directly connected to the FBI raid of Suggs’ home.
Adams quickly returned to New York from Washington where he was holding a meeting with White House and US Congress officials over the influx of migrants in New York City.
“I expect all members of my staff to follow the law and fully cooperate with any sort of investigation. I will continue to do exactly that. I have nothing to hide,” the New York City mayor Adams, a former cop, said.
The attorney also said that “after learning of the federal investigation, it was discovered that an individual had recently acted improperly”. He did not specify who the individual was. “In the spirit of transparency and cooperation, this behaviour was immediately and proactively reported to investigators. The mayor has been and remains committed to cooperating in this matter,” Johnson further added.