Adams vows to ‘fully participate’ in any probe after FBI raid of top fundraiser Brianna Suggs
Mayor Eric Adams vowed to “fully participate” in any campaign probe after he rushed back to New York City from Washington, DC, Thursday upon learning his chief fundraiser’s Brooklyn home was raided by the FBI.
Adams claimed he has not spoken to the campaign consultant Brianna Suggs in his first public remarks since news broke of the raid tied to an investigation into an alleged kickback scheme involving the Turkish government and a Brooklyn construction company.
“I hold my campaign to the highest ethical standards,” Hizzoner said at an unrelated Día de Muertos event at Gracie Mansion Thursday night.
“Any inquiry that is done, we’re going to fully participate and make sure that it’s done correctly.”
Adams said he was “shocked” by the potentially international probe and added that he had not heard from any federal authorities who are reportedly looking into whether money was illegally funneled to his 2021 mayoral campaign through a Williamsburg-based construction company.
“I have not been contacted by anyone from any law enforcement agency, and that’s why I came back from the DC to be here, to be on the ground and look into this inquiry as it was made,” he said.
The mayor had just landed in the nation’s capital when he learned of the raid on Suggs’ Crown Heights home and immediately jetted back to the Big Apple — bailing on a long-awaited slate of meetings with White House officials and other Democratic mayors about the migrant crisis.
He said he left the important meetings because he “wanted to come here and find out exactly what was taking place and what happened and that’s exactly what I did.”
He claimed he had not spoken to Suggs — who has been called the political “goddaughter” of Adams’ chief advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin — “at all” Thursday when questioned at the Día de Muertos celebration.
Earlier in the evening, he told reporters at a separate event that Suggs was “a real professional.”
“She does her job well and she’s gonna comply with any inquiry that’s made,” Adams said when questioned about his relationship with her at the New York Board of Rabbis 2023 Humanitarian Awards Reception.
Federal investigators are looking into whether Adams’ campaign took foreign money via straw donors, someone who illegally donates cash in another person’s name, in cahoots with the Turkish government and KSK Construction Group, according to The New York Times. They are also probing if the campaign kicked back benefits to Turkish officials as well as employees of the construction company.
The feds’ warrant – which was obtained by the Times – said agents were looking for evidence of the theft of federal funds, wire fraud, conspiracy to steal federal funds and wire fraud conspiracy. The agents sought to collect Suggs’ financial records, documents detailing Adams’ 2021 campaign contributions, records of travel by campaign employees to Turkey as well as Suggs’ electronic devices in the raid, according to the paper.
Suggs, who first worked as an aide to Adams during his tenure as Brooklyn borough president, is on a monthly retainer for the mayor’s political work and her firm has earned more than $150,000 from his campaign team since 2021.
She has not been charged with any crimes in relation to the probe.
It’s unclear to what extent the Thursday raid had to with Adams himself, however, Hizzoner said he was not concerned whether he could be a focus of the probe — despite his rush back to the city.
“I feel extremely comfortable about how I comply with rules and procedures,” he told reporters. “I’ve stated this over and over again. I hold myself to a high standard, I hold my campaign to a high standard and I hold my staffers at City Hall to a high standard.”
He added that his campaign has “probably one of the strictest reviews” when it comes to vetting contributions and donations.
