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Dear New Yorkers,

The first 24 hours after Mayor Eric Adams’ indictment was packed with news.

Yesterday morning, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams unsealed a 57-page indictment. The mayor is charged with five counts of wire fraud, bribery and soliciting contributions from foreign nationals.

Those unnamed people include Turkish officials and business leaders who showered Adams and his associates with more than $120,000 in free airfare, hotel stays and “luxurious entertainment” on trips around the world, according to prosecutors.

Foreign nationals also allegedly raised funds for Adams through illegal “straw” donations to his mayoral campaign.

“This was a multi-year scheme to buy favor with a single New York politician on the rise,” Williams said, describing alleged wrongdoing dating back to 2016 when Adams was Brooklyn borough president.

According to the indictment, Adams returned favors. Per instruction from his Turkish benefactors, he agreed not to talk about the Armenian genocide. He stopped associating with a Turkish community center run by dissidents who opposed the Turkish president. And he allegedly pressured the FDNY to fast-track the Turkish consulate building in Manhattan through a fire safety inspection that it otherwise would have failed.

The mayor and his associates also took steps to cover their tracks, prosecutors say — from agreeing to delete text messages, to falsifying travel records, to Adams claiming to have forgotten the password to a phone subpoenaed by investigators.

At a raucous press conference held outside of Gracie Mansion just minutes before the indictment was unsealed, the mayor surrounded himself with some of his longest-standing allies.

Adams struck a defiant tone, refusing to step down and asking New Yorkers to wait for his side of the story. “From here my attorneys will take care of the case so I can take care of the city,” he said. “My day to day will not change.” The press conference ended, though, with loud chants from the crowd of “Resign! Resign! Resign.”

Those calls were echoed by a growing list of New York politicians. But others, including City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul (who has the power, as governor, to remove New York City’s mayor from office) did not directly call for Adams’ resignation.

Adams was not arrested. He is expected to eventually surrender to federal authorities for arraignment — which could happen as early as today.

Read more here about the details of the charges against the mayor. THE CITY has, for months, reported on several threads of the allegations against Adams, and we will continue to keep you updated as events unfold.

Weather scoop by New York Metro Weather Friday's Weather Rating: 3/10. And the next day. And the next day. You guessed it, it's once again mostly cloudy and damp with a few periods of showers. Not a washout, but still very humid despite high temperatures in the mid-70s. The vibes are still not great!

Our Other Top Stories

Also in court today: congestion pricing! Nearly three months after the Manhattan vehicle-tolling program was supposed to start — before it was unexpectedly paused by the governor — arguments will be heard in Manhattan Supreme Court in a pair of lawsuits that seek to put the tolling program back on track. Emergency podcast drop of FAQ NYC: Hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel discuss the case against the mayor, his public defense, where the city looks to be going from here, how the example of former President Donald Trump looms over all of this, and much more. Listen here.

Reporter’s Notebook

Sunny Outlook

The mayor’s federal criminal indictment on Thursday clouded Climate Week, but the Adams administration and City Council meanwhile advanced two green initiatives.

The Department of Building and Department of Housing Preservation and Development launched a fund to support affordable housing slash planet-warming carbon emissions, using proceeds from offsets purchased by buildings subject to Local Law 97. That law requires large buildings to reduce their carbon emissions or pay fines, but one way building owners are able to comply is by purchasing offsets. Any affordable housing development can use the fund for a project, even if it’s not subject to the law.

The City Council also passed a bill, sponsored by Councilmember Sandy Nurse (D-Brooklyn), requiring the city to install 100 megawatts of solar on public buildings by 2030 and 150 megawatts by 2035. Both the city and state have made significant progress installing solar energy systems over the past several years and are on track to exceed those goals. The measure, supporters say, would help the city slash emissions from its property to achieve Local Law 97 targets.

— Samantha Maldonado

Things To Do

Here’s what’s going on around the city this week.

Saturday, Sept. 28: Climate Justice Lives Here! Festival 2024, which marks Climate Action Week and 10 years since the People’s Climate March while celebrating frontline community justice activists. Free from 2 to 7 p.m. at Pier 4, Brooklyn Army Terminal. Saturday, Sept. 28: A discussion with the curators about redefining “American art” in Queens. Free from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Queens Museum.  Sunday, Sept. 29: The ARTMAGEDDON Art & Music Festival, featuring more than 200 local artists and bands. Free from 12 to 6 p.m. in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

THE KICKER: If, by chance, you could use a short break from local news, perhaps you would like to watch a livestream of that viral baby hippo.

Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Friday.

Love,

THE CITY

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