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Former Mayor Adams aide expected to plead guilty in straw donor case
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Feb 7, 2025
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Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Feb 7, 2025
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A former City Hall aide charged with witness tampering and destroying evidence in the federal investigation of Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign will plead guilty to a conspiracy charge, prosecutors wrote in a court filing Friday.
In a letter addressed to the judge presiding over the mayor’s federal corruption case, prosecutors said Mohamed Bahi, Adams’ former liaison to the Muslim community, “indicated that he intends to plead guilty” to one count of conspiracy. The letter identified Bahi and Erden Arkan, a Turkish American construction firm owner, as co-conspirators in the case against the mayor. Arkan pleaded guilty last month to fraud.
Prosecutors accused Bahi in October of instructing multiple people who had submitted illegal straw donations to Adams’ 2021 campaign to lie to federal investigators. Straw donations refer to contributions made in someone else’s name in order to evade fundraising limits, geographic restrictions or other regulations.
Federal investigators also said at the time that Bahi deleted his Signal app, an encrypted messaging service that he used to communicate with Adams, when they arrived to search his home last summer.
Bahi’s pending plea could indicate that the government’s ongoing investigation into the mayor is heating up, according to Daniel Richman, a Columbia Law School professor and former prosecutor in New York’s Southern District. The letter does not say whether Bahi is cooperating with federal investigators, something which would likely be disclosed when he pleads in court. But Richman said that such a filing “often but not always indicates cooperation.”
Richman said that if Bahi does cooperate, that would likely strengthen the government’s case against Adams. Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York have previously indicated that they may bring additional charges against the mayor.
Last week, the New York Times reported that Justice Department officials were discussing the possibility of dropping the charges against the mayor, a move that would be almost unprecedented given how far the case has proceeded, according to legal experts. A trial date has been set for April 21.
Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, declined to comment.
Neither Adams' attorney, Alex Spiro, nor Bahi’s lawyer, Derek Adams, responded to requests for comment.
The mayor has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. He has said he never told Bahi or anyone else on his campaign to do anything illegal.
“The only instruction I give people all the time: Follow the law,” Adams told reporters last year.
Tagged
new york city
Adams investigations
eric adams
Elizabeth Kim
Elizabeth Kim is a reporter on the People and Power desk who covers mayoral power. She previously covered the pandemic, housing, redevelopment and public spaces. A native of Queens, she speaks fluent Mandarin. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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