NEW YORK: New York's scandal-plagued mayor Eric Adams was federally charged Thursday with crimes including wire fraud, soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations and bribery conspiracy, a stunning indictment unsealed amid calls for him to resign. The grand jury indictment follows a sweeping probe into the mayor's campaign and his close associates on whether he conspired with Turkish government officials to receive illegal contributions in exchange for official acts. A defiant Adams told reporters on Thursday that he looks "forward to defending myself," and refused a chorus of calls to step down, urging New Yorkers to "wait to hear our side of the story."

The 57-page document accuses the mayor of the most populous city in the United States of crimes going back a decade, when Adams took office as Brooklyn's borough president. He accepted luxury international travel including from at least one Turkish government official, the charges allege. As he began planning to run for mayor in 2018, Adams "not only accepted, but sought illegal campaign contributions to his 2021 mayoral campaign, as well as other things of value, from foreign nationals," according to the court documents.

"As Adams's prominence and power grew, his foreign-national benefactors sought to cash in on their corrupt relationships with him, particularly when, in 2021," it became clear he would become mayor, reads the indictment. "Adams agreed, providing favorable treatment in exchange for the illicit benefits he received." Upheaval in the Adams administration has been mounting for months and grew particularly acute in recent weeks, as scandal swirled around his administration that saw a number of high-ranking allies resign as many were indicted or raided by federal agents. The drama culminated in a pre-dawn raid of his official residence early Thursday.

Calls to resign

Adams, who is up for reelection in 2025, has put up a front of business as usual throughout the mushrooming investigations. But on Wednesday, influential congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, from New York, called on the 64-year-old mayor to resign "for the good of the city." The indictment risks embarrassing Democrats just 40 days before the US presidential election between Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, who are neck and neck in the polls.

The charges cap a dark week for Adams, whose team has been shaken by the resignations of Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan and Education Chancellor David Banks, a close friend of the mayor whose department manages the city's public education system that serves one million students. Those departures, effective at the end of 2024, follow the immediate resignations of police chief Edward Caban — who quit just one year after he took charge of the city's police force and its 36,000 uniformed officers — and Adams's chief legal adviser, Lisa Zornberg.

Caban, whose electronics were seized by federal investigators, stepped down as federal agents appeared to be zeroing in on his twin brother's nightclub-security business. Revelations of the probes have laid bare personal and business ties among the inner circle of the mayor, raising potential conflicts of interest. One investigation involves the activities of a consulting firm run by Terence Banks, whose brother David was the schools chancellor, and whose other brother Philip was appointed in 2022 by Adams as deputy mayor for public safety.

Adams, the second Black mayor in the city's history, won the 2021 Democratic primary vowing to reduce crime. Under his leadership violent crime in the city has fallen, after rising during the pandemic. But the city of 8.5 million people faces a housing crisis that has seen rents skyrocket to unprecedented levels. Adams already faces a smattering of primary contenders in the run-up to next year's vote, all of them to the left of the centrist mayor. Should he eventually step down, the city's public advocate, the progressive Jumaane Williams, would become acting mayor ahead of a special election. — AFP