New York City Mayor Eric Adams' federal probe: A timeline of corruption investigation
On the night he was elected the 110th mayor of New York City, former police Capt. Eric Adams vowed to fight for those "this city has betrayed."
"This city betrayed New Yorkers every day, especially the ones who rely on it the most. My fellow New Yorkers, that betrayal stops on January 1," Adams said that night in November 2021.
For the past year, federal authorities have been investigating the possibility of corruption at City Hall, issuing subpoenas for Adams and members of his inner circle.
It all led up to the historic moment on Sept. 25 when Adams became the first sitting New York City mayor to be indicted. Adams was charged with five criminal counts including wire fraud, bribery and solicitation of contribution from a foreign national.
Prosecutors allege Adams and a staffer were involved with an alleged straw donor scheme along with Turkish nationals that helped him reap millions in public funds for his election campaign. He has also been accused of accepting lavish gifts from Turkish nationals in exchange for personal favors.
Adams has plead not guilty, denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight for his innocence.
"I always knew that If I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target—and a target I became. If I am charged, I am innocent and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit," he said in a statement on Sept. 25.
Here is a timeline of the subpoenas, searches and seizures dogging Adams and his inner circle:
Nov. 2, 2023 – FBI agents search the Crown Heights, Brooklyn, home of Brianna Suggs, a campaign consultant and top fundraiser for Adams. Federal agents also search the New Jersey home of Rana Abbasova, the mayor's international affairs aid. That same day, Adams unexpectedly returned to New York from Washington, D.C., to "address the matter," despite planned meetings with White House officials and other big city mayors on immigration. The investigation involves a construction company, KSK Construction Group, based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, sources told ABC News. KSK donated about $14,000 to Adams' 2021 campaign. Suggs has not been charged with any crimes connected to the probe.
Nov. 6, 2023 – The FBI seizes Mayor Adams' electronic devices, including an iPad and a cell phone, as part of a federal probe. Sources told ABC News that the investigation was seeking to determine whether the mayor's campaign received illegal foreign donations from Turkey with a Brooklyn construction company as a conduit.
Nov. 15, 2023 – Adams launches a legal defense fund intended to defray expenses in connection with inquiries by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York into his mayoral 2021 campaign committee.
Jan. 15, 2024 – Vito Pitta, Adam's longtime campaign compliance lawyer, releases a statement saying the mayor's legal defense fund had raised $650,000 in just two months.
Feb. 29, 2024 – The FBI, investigating Adam's fundraising, searches the Bronx home of Winnie Greco, the director of Asian affairs for Adam's administration. The probe also involves a construction company, KSK Construction Group, sources tell ABC News.
April 5, 2024 – ABC News reports that the FBI is investigating whether Adams received free upgrades on Turkish Airlines, Turkey's national carrier.
July 2024 – Federal prosecutors in New York serve Adams grand jury subpoenas as part of what sources tell ABC News is an ongoing corruption investigation involving whether his campaign sought illegal donations from Turkey in exchange for pressuring the fire department to rush an inspection of the new Turkish consulate in New York City. The subpoenas seek communications and documents from the mayor, according to sources. In an interview with ABC New York station WABC, Adams says, "Like previous administrations that have gone through subpoenas, you participate and cooperate. You see a subpoena, and you respond. At the end of the day, it will show there is no criminality here."
Sept. 4, 2024 – The FBI conducts searches at the homes of two of Adams' closest aids. Federal agents search the upper Manhattan home of First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, who is engaged to Schools Chancellor David Banks. Agents also search the Hollis, Queens, home of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks. The FBI seized evidence, including electronics, as part of the searches, sources told ABC News. David and Phil Banks are brothers and both have known Adams for years.
Sept. 5, 2024 – ABC News reports that federal investigators subpoenaed the cell phones of four high-ranking New York Police Department officials, including NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban. The subpoenas are part of the same investigation that sent the FBI to search the homes of Deputy Mayors Wright and Banks, sources told ABC News. Tim Pearson, a close adviser to Adams, also receives a subpoena for his cell phone, sources said. The subpoenas, according to sources, are connected to an undisclosed investigation separate from one into whether Adams allegedly accepted illegal donations from Turkey in exchange for official favors.
Sept. 10, 2024 – Adams declines to say at a news conference if he remains confident in Police Commissioner Caban amid news reports claiming Caban is under pressure to resign. When asked if he was confident in Caban's leadership, Adams says, "I have the utmost confidence in the New York City Police Department."
Sept. 12, 2024 -- Commissioner Caban resigns. His attorneys, Russell Capone and Rebekah Donaleski, released a statement saying they have been informed that Caban is "not a target of any investigation being conducted by the Southern District of New York" and that he "expects to cooperate fully with the government." Caban says in a statement, "My complete focus must be on the NYPD -- the Department I profoundly honor and have dedicated my career to serving. However, the noise around recent developments has made that impossible and has hindered the important work our city requires. Therefore, I have decided it is in the Department's best interest that I resign as Commissioner."
Adams confirms he accepts Caban's resignation and announces he has appointed former FBI agent and former New York Homeland Security Director Tom Donlon as interim commissioner. "I respect his decision and I wish him well," the mayor says of Caban. "Commissioner Caban dedicated his life to making our city safe, and we saw a drop in crime for the 13 of the 14 months that he served as commissioner."
Sept. 14, 2024 -- City Hall chief counsel Lisa Zornberg, a former federal prosecutor, resigns from her position after 13 months on the job, the mayor's office announces in an email. The mayor's office offers no explanation for Zornberg's departure from the administration.
"I am deeply grateful to Mayor Adams for giving me the opportunity to serve the city, and I strongly support the work he has done and continues to do for New Yorkers," Zornberg says in a statement.
In a statement, Adams says, "We appreciate all the work Lisa has done for our administration and, more importantly, the city over the past 13 months. These are hard jobs and we don't expect anyone to stay in them forever. We wish Lisa all the best in her future endeavors. The other senior members of the counsel's team will remain in their roles to ensure the office continues to fully operate without issue, and we expect to name an acting chief counsel in the coming days."
Sept. 16, 2024 -- Two retired chiefs from the New York City Fire Department are arrested following a yearlong corruption investigation, law enforcement sources tell ABC News. Retired chiefs Brian Cordasco and Anthony Saccavino were arrested at their homes.
An unsealed Manhattan federal court indictment alleges Saccavino and Cordasco "repeatedly abused their positions of trust as high-ranking officials in the New York City Fire Department" by soliciting and accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribe payments in exchange for providing preferential treatment to certain individuals and companies, according to an indictment unsealed Monday in Manhattan federal court. The two men were chiefs with the FDNY Bureau of Fire Prevention, which regulates the installation of fire safety and suppression systems in commercial and residential buildings. For nearly two years, the indictment said, Saccavino and Cordasco misused this authority for their own financial gain.
The two allegedly accepted $190,000 in bribes in exchange for expediting inspections, according to the indictment. The court document alleges Cordasco publicly complained about a so-called "City Hall List" of building projects that should be prioritized by FDNY inspectors.
Both Saccavino and Cordasco pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Sept. 20, 2024 -- Federal authorities executed search warrants at the residences of Interim NYPD Police Commissioner Thomas Donlon. Donlon said in a statement the FBI took classified files dating back 20 years that were not related to NYPD matters.
Federal law enforcement executed search warrants after receiving a tip that Donlon allegedly retained classified documents from an investigation he was involved in more than 20 years ago, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
Donlon had access to classified information during his FBI career. When he was named interim NYPD commissioner, someone who said they knew Donlon retained materials from a previous investigation filed a complaint, prompting the search according to the sources.
A spokesperson for Adams said there was "no indication of any direct connection to anyone at City Hall."
Sept. 24, 2024 -- Schools Chancellor Banks announces his retirement at the end of the calendar year. The letter suggested the decision was in the works prior to the federal investigations that have engulfed the Adams administration. Adams announced the next day that Melissa Aviles-Ramos would take over the leadership of the Department of Education on Jan. 1.
Sept. 25, 2024 Adams is indicted by a federal grand jury, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Reacting to the news, Mayor Adams said in a statement that he is innocent.
"I always knew that If I stood my ground for New Yorkers that I would be a target—and a target I became. If I am charged, I am innocent and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit," he said.
Sept. 26, 2024 -- Federal investigators search Gracie Mansion and seize Adams' phone, according to the mayor's attorney.
Later in the morning, the indictment is unsealed revealing five criminal counts including wire fraud, bribery and solicitation of contribution from a foreign national.
Federal prosecutors alleged Adams illegally accepted more than $100,000 in improper benefits, many of which came in the form of flight upgrades and stays in luxury hotels, none of which were publicly divulged as required and engaged in a straw donor scheme to reap in over $10 million from the New York City matching fund program for his mayoral campaign.
Adams denied the allegations and said he was going to fight the charges.
Sept. 27, 2024 -- Adams appears in federal court in Manhattan for his arraignment. He pleads not guilty and continues to defy growing calls for him to stand down.
Later in the day Ingrid Lewis-Martin, chief adviser to the mayor, had her Brooklyn home searched and her phone seized upon return to the United States from a vacation in Japan, her attorney said.
Oct. 7, 2024 -- Deputy mayor for public safety, Phil Banks III, one of Adam's closest advisers, resigns. Banks is the brother of Schools Chancellor David Banks, who announced his resignation on Sept. 24 and is expected to leave office on Oct. 16.
FBI agents searched Phil Banks' Hollis, Queens, home on Sept. 4 and seized evidence, including electronics, sources told ABC News.
"We spoke yesterday and we spoke again this morning and he stated he wants to move on to other things in his life," Adams said of Phil Banks III during an interview with NY1. "I wish my good friend well."
Oct. 8, 2024 -- Mohamed Bahi, a senior New York City Hall official, resigns after the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced he was arrested on charges of witness tampering and destruction of evidence in connection with a federal investigation of unlawful contributions to Mayor Adams' 2021 campaign.
"As alleged, Mohamed Bahi obstructed a federal criminal investigation by instructing witnesses to lie and then destroying evidence," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. "The charges unsealed today should leave no doubt about the seriousness of any effort to interfere with a federal investigation, particularly when undertaken by a government employee. Our commitment to uncovering the truth and following the facts wherever they may lead is unwavering."
Oct. 8, 2024 -- Brian Cordasco, a retired chief in the FDNY's Bureau of Fire Prevention, pleads guilty to conspiring to accept bribes in exchange for expediting safety inspections.
"I plead guilty your honor," Cordasco said in federal court.
Cardasco will be sentenced in February and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
The plea agreement contains no expectation of cooperation against his codefendant, Anthony Saccavino, another retired FDNY chief. But federal prosecutors said Cordasco conspired with Saccavino to create a VIP line for fire inspections for those willing to pay.
“He would expedite such matters in a way that was unavailable to the general public,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Wolf said.
The case is unrelated to the corruption case against Mayor Adams but appears to have been an offshoot of the same investigation.
Oct. 8, 2024 -- New York City First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright resigns.
Wright recently married David Banks, the schools chancellor appointed by Adams whose retirement date was just accelerated after he and Wright had their phones seized as part of the federal corruption investigation engulfing the administration.
“We are grateful for First Deputy Mayor Wright’s years of service to the city and all she has done to deliver for children, families, and working-class New Yorkers. She is an exceptional leader who assembled a strong team and constantly demonstrated a bold vision for this city,” Adams said in a statement.
ABC News' Aaron Katersky, Mark Crudele and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
