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Feds were expanding Mayor Adams' corruption case just before Trump shut it down, docs show

Brittany Kriegstein

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David Giambusso

Published May 10, 2025

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A photo of Mayor Adams being sworn in to testify before Congress.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Brittany Kriegstein

and

David Giambusso

Published May 10, 2025

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The federal investigation into Mayor Eric Adams’ alleged corruption was expanding just as the newly installed Trump administration was rushing to shut it down, according to court documents released Friday night.

A trove of warrant requests, memos and exhibits from the U.S. Attorney's office released by a federal judge contain a litany of new details in the case against the mayor, including a broadening investigation into illegal straw donations, the mayor referring to campaign donations as money for “homeless youth,” and the pursuit of more details and charges against Adams and his allies as recently as Jan. 24 – just weeks before the U.S. Justice Department asked that the charges be dismissed.

The release of the documents, ordered by federal Judge Dale Ho, is the latest and perhaps final saga in one of the more bizarre federal court proceedings in a long and sordid history of New York politicians accused of corruption.

Adams was indicted last year for allegedly orchestrating illegal donations to his 2021 mayoral campaign in exchange for official favors. During his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump voiced support for Adams in his legal battle saying, “I was persecuted and so were you, Eric” at the annual Al Smith dinner. Shortly after he was sworn in, Trump got to work quashing a yearslong investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

While Adams — who denies any wrongdoing — was indicted in September 2024, the documents released Friday suggest FBI agents were still expanding the investigation under a conservative prosecutor when the case was dropped. Warrant requests also suggest more people who potentially committed federal crimes escaped justice as a result of Trump quashing the case.

A request by the FBI filed on Jan. 24 of this year — four days after President Donald Trump was inaugurated — shows investigators wanted court approval to monitor an Adams ally’s electronic devices. The request says the individual , whose name was redacted, had pleaded guilty to charges brought in a similar investigation into Adams’ straw donors by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

Straw donors are people who illegally donate on behalf of others — either to mask the donor’s identity or to help a candidate qualify for New York City’s generous public matching fund.

According to the FBI’s review of the mayor’s electronic messages, the individual texted Adams in 2019, saying: “Whats up my brother. . . . don’t commit any dates to me. However, I’m going to send my people to your website and do like we said, $25 over 10 months if they do not have 250.”

The $250 figure was the maximum donation a candidate could accept under city campaign finance rules to qualify for 8 times that amount in public matching funds.

Descriptions in the FBI’s warrant request indicate they were discussing Dwayne Montgomery, a former colleague of the mayor’s in the NYPD who pleaded guilty in state court last year to conducting an illegal donation scheme to help the Adams 2021 campaign. The date of Montgomery’s indictment in Manhattan and the use of a specific cash app payment match public records and information that emerged from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case.

Mongomery and his attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment Saturday. Adams' lawyer likewise did not respond to requests for comment.

When Bragg brought charges against Montgomery and his co-defendants, Adams was not accused of wrongdoing. But the newly unsealed papers show federal prosecutors had a different view of a potential nexus between Adams’ former NYPD colleague who pleaded guilty to a straw donor scheme and the corruption charges against the mayor.

The original indictment, which a grand jury handed up in September 2024, alleges that Adams used his influence to fast track the opening of a new Turkish consulate building before all of its permits were in place. In exchange, prosecutors say the mayor received donations and perks like airfare upgrades and luxury hotel stays.

Details released Friday allege that the mayor may have also done other favors for Turkish officials.

“Turkey's Consul General in New York, was involved in facilitating at least one fundraiser at which straw donations were made,” an FBI agent says in one warrant request.

The same document goes on to say the mayor’s “romantic partner,” Tracey Collins, in her capacity as a high-ranking adviser at the city Department of Education, was asked to help one Turkish national get his son placed in the Salk School of Science, a prestigious school in Manhattan’s tony Gramercy Park. It’s unclear if Collins intervened or if the boy was accepted.

In June 2023, Adams messaged back and forth with a donor, asking if the person and others were attending his fundraiser or “donating to homeless youth” – a phrase prosecutors interpreted as code for sending money to Adams’ campaign, according to the documents.

The person Adams was messaging with, whose name was also redacted, responded that they would donate the tickets and said that the mayor could reach them on the encrypted messaging app Signal.

One of the donors involved in that exchange was later reimbursed $1,000 via Zelle, according to prosecutors – the same amount as their donation to the campaign. Though it’s unclear who reimbursed the donor as the name is redacted.

Another document details an exchange between Adams and one of the donors, who asked to be made a deputy mayor of New York in exchange for his contributions. Adams responded that he was hiring a Latina Deputy Mayor instead.

“Deputy mayors are in charge of several agencies. Not a small task,” the documents record the mayor saying.

Last May, as Adams was filling his Charter Revision Commission with many of his allies, he was also sending out Signal messages asking for a “big favor,” according to the unsealed documents. He said he needed help getting 1,000 people to donate $250 to his campaign.

“Can you help me get 20 of them? You have great reach… you have always been my strongest go to person,” Adams is quoted as saying to someone whose name is redacted in one of the warrant documents.

Trump and Adams accused former President Joe Biden of investigating the mayor as retaliation for criticizing Biden’s immigration policy. But when Trump’s DOJ told prosecutors in the Southern District to drop the case so Adams could cooperate with immigration enforcement, acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, a well-respected lawyer and avowed conservative, resigned in protest along with many of her colleagues.

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Sassoon said that, not only was the case strong enough to win a conviction, but that she was planning to level even more charges at the mayor.

“We have proposed a superseding indictment that would add an obstruction conspiracy count based on evidence that Adams destroyed and instructed others to destroy evidence and provide false information to the FBI,” Sassoon wrote in February of this year.

Sassoon wrote the letter just about three weeks after the FBI filed for its last warrant.

David Brand and Elizabeth Kim contributed reporting.

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Brittany Kriegstein covers all breaking news around New York City, with a focus on crime and gun violence. Got a tip? Email Brittany at [email protected].