Adams Brushes Off Questions on FBI Subpoenas, Counsel Says Not Been Told He’s a Target
Mayor’s office said he continues to cooperate with all requests from law enforcement.
| 21 Aug 2024 | 04:52
Eric Adams at his Aug. 20 media availability at City Hall said he is letting the grand jury investigation “run its course.” Lisa HChief legal counsel to City Hall said the mayor has not be told he is a target of the probe. (
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Mayor Eric Adams did not spend much time dwelling on the implications of the latest round of subpoenas that recent reports said went to him and other staffers in July as part of a grand jury corruption probe.
News of three grand jury subpoenas served in July were first reported on Aug. 15 by the New York Times. The report said the subpoenas were issued to Adams, to City Hall and to his election committee seeking text messages, other documents and travel records tied to Adam’s 2021 campaign for mayor.
”As I’ve said over and over again, when it comes down to the review that’s taken place on many levels, let it takes its course. And when it is completed, then it will be reported on. It’s going to take its course.”
Lisa Zornberg, chief legal counsel to the mayor and City Hall added, “I’ll just add: nothings changed. We have not been told the mayor is a target. We’ve always said we’ll cooperate with any request from law enforcement and we are continuing to do that.”
Asked if City Hall has been informed that other individuals in the Administration have been targeted, Zornberg responded, “I don’t know of any individual. I have not been informed of any individual being a target. You could speak to others outside the city. I’m speaking for the mayor’s office.”
The probe first came to light when the FBI on November 2, 2023, raided the Brooklyn home of Brianna Suggs, who was involved in fundraising for both his 2021 run and his 2025 re-election bid. Questions were swirling in particular about donations reportedly from the government of Turkey.
Adams had been in Washington D.C. for meetings with the mayors of Chicago and Denver when news of the raid broke early that morning. He had been expected to press federal officials on aid for asylum seekers. But instead Adams at 9 a.m. abruptly returned to the city and cancelled all his meetings in Washington.
On November 11, little more than a week after the initial raid, the FBI seized the iPhone and iPad belonging to Adams.
“The mayor has not been accused of any wrongdoing and continues to co-operate with the investigation,” a spokesperson said at the time.
By the end of November, Suggs, a 25-year-old recent college graduate had left her position running the re-election fundraising for Adams.
In December, The CITY, a non profit news service that covers City Hall, said that a Turkish national who worked at KSK Construction Group, a Turkish-American company, was reimbursed in cash by his boss at the company for a donation he had made to the Adams campaign in 2021. The CITY reported the company has “come under scrutiny” by the FBI.