NYC Mayor Adams Pleads Not Guilty to Fed Bribery Charges

Democrat New York Mayor Eric Adams pleaded not guilty Friday to federal bribery charges, firmly rejecting allegations that he accepted overseas travel, campaign cash and other perks from foreign interests seeking to harness his influence.

Adams, a former police captain, entered the plea in a packed courtroom that’s just a short walk from City Hall, which has been roiled in recent weeks by a cascade of investigations, searches and subpoenas. The first-term Democrat maintains he did nothing wrong and has vowed to stay in office, rebuffing growing calls for him to quit.

“I am not guilty, your honor,” Adams said, looking solemnly at the judge.

His appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker came a day after prosecutors unsealed an indictment accusing him of taking $100,000 in flights and stays in opulent hotel suites from people tied to Turkey and fueling his run for mayor with illegal donations that helped him qualify for more than $10 million in public campaign funds.

Adams was released on the condition that he not contact any witnesses or people described in the indictment. He is allowed to speak with relatives and staff, but not about anything pertaining to the allegations.

Adams left the courtroom without commenting. He smiled at a court officer but ignored the rows of reporters he passed on his way out. Afterward, he stood silently outside the courthouse while his attorney, Alex Spiro, railed against the charges to a crowd of cameras while onlookers shouted, “Free Eric!” and “Lock him up!”

“This isn’t even a real case. This is the airline upgrade corruption case,” Spiro said. He told the judge he would file a motion next week asking for the case to be dismissed.

Yet, even as the mayor appeared in court, the investigation into his administration continued.

One of Adams’ closest City Hall advisers, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, was met at the airport Friday by investigators from the U.S. attorney’s office and Manhattan district attorney’s office after she departed a flight from Japan. The federal investigators served her with a subpoena. The local prosecutors took her phones and searched her house, according to her attorney, Arthur Aidala. A TV news crew got footage of investigators carrying out boxes marked “documents” and “electronics.”

“She will cooperate fully with any and all investigations and Ms. Lewis is not the target of any case of which we are aware,” Aidala said.

Adams, 64, is due back in court Wednesday for a conference before U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho, who will preside over the case going forward.

Adams has weathered calls to resign, including from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., potential Democrat challengers in next June’s mayoral primary, and some Republicans. Top Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York, have not called on Adams to quit, saying the legal process should be allowed to play out.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who has the power to remove Adams from office, appeared to issue a warning to a mayor she has often portrayed as a close ally, saying in a statement that she was reviewing her “options and obligations” and expects “the mayor to take the next few days to review the situation and find an appropriate path forward to ensure the people of New York City are being well-served by their leaders.”

Adams, who soared to office as a law-and-order champion of the middle class, is charged with five counts: wire fraud, bribery, conspiracy and two counts of receiving campaign contributions from a foreign national. If convicted of the most serious charge, wire fraud, he faces up to 20 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.