Photo Credit: Metropolitan Transportation Authority from United States of America - Subway Safety Announcement, CC BY 2.0
Published at OpenTheBooks.Substack.com
New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently earned a rather ignominious distinction: he became the first sitting NYC mayor to be indicted when he was charged in late September with five counts of bribery, wire fraud and soliciting illegal foreign donations.
There are a dozen other individuals somehow involved in various angles of the investigation, and New York City taxpayers paid them more than $3 million worth of salary in 2023. Over the course of a decade, taxpayers invested $13.34 million in salary as they advanced to leadership ranks. For their trouble, New Yorkers got a complex web of alleged criminal behavior and mutual favors among Adams associates, friends and family.
Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, described the charges against Mayor Adams as such:
“As alleged, Mayor Adams abused his position as this City’s highest elected official, and before that as Brooklyn Borough President, to take bribes and solicit illegal campaign contributions. By allegedly taking improper and illegal benefits from foreign nationals — including to allow a Manhattan skyscraper to open without a fire inspection — Adams put the interests of his benefactors, including a foreign official, above those of his constituents.”
Read the full article at OpenTheBooks.Substack.com