Mayor Eric Adams of New York City Maintains Innocence in Corruption Case

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) pleaded not guilty to federal bribery and wire fraud charges in court on Friday.

Adams became the first New York mayor to face federal charges when the Department of Justice handed down a 57-page, five-count indictment against him that was unsealed on Thursday.

Adams swiftly defended himself, saying in a chaotic press conference on Thursday that the charges were based on “lies” and would not distract him from his job running the city.

“He’s innocent,” an attorney for the mayor, Alex Spiro, said at a press conference on Friday outside a lower Manhattan courthouse after Adams entered his plea and was released.

“Next week, we’ll be filing a motion to dismiss. We expect these charges to be dismissed,” Spiro added.

He argued that the “entire body of evidence” in the case is one unnamed staffer who “lied” about Adams’ knowledge of the activities contained in the indictment, and said that the government could produce evidence that benefits Adams.

Prosecutors accused Adams of an array of self-dealing spanning almost a decade. He allegedly manipulated a program that takes small-dollar campaign contributions from individual New Yorkers and multiplies them to give regular people a bigger voice in elections. Prosecutors say Adams improperly accumulated $10 million in public funds this way because the original donations did not come from American citizens.

It is illegal for foreign nationals to donate to U.S. political campaigns, but prosecutors say Adams knew full well that he was receiving straw donations that came in large part from Turkish nationals.

Adams allegedly accepted thousands of luxurious perks from the Turks — business-class flights worth thousands of dollars, stays in opulent hotels and resorts, and meals at high-end restaurants.

Prosecutors also say the mayor made efforts to hide his actions, at one point claiming that he could not help the FBI access his phone data because he had forgotten his password.

In exchange, Adams allegedly helped the Turkish nationals quickly open a 36-floor building that would serve as the new home of the Turkish Consulate.