New York mayor Eric Adams was bribed to fix the opening of the Turkish Consulate and threatened to dismiss Fire Department officials over 60 fire defects preventing safety approval, alleges an indictment shared today by Newsweek.
The 36-story Turkish consulate is next door to a 13-story apartment block that is popular with families.
Adams allegedly coerced New York City’s Fire Prevention Chief and his superior into issuing an “unprecedented” approval letter, after accepting flights and luxury hotel rooms from the Turkish government, the indictment states.
Adams’ alleged threat came the day before he gathered with other dignitaries to honor the New York Fire Department on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, say the court papers.
The Turkish government allegedly bribed Adams to override the fire department’s concerns so that the consulate could be opened by Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was visiting New York for U.N. Week.
Adams has denied wrongdoing and said he has no plans to resign. Newsweek sought email comment from Adams’ office, the Turkish consulate and the New York Fire Department on Friday.
Erdoğan, who lives in a $615 million, 1,100 room palace in Turkey, was to cut the ribbon on the new Turkish consulate. The new building cost nearly $300 million to build, according to The New York Times.
The apartment block, Ambassador East, at 330 East 46th Street, is allocated to the Beekman Hill International public school for the children living there, under New York school zoning system. There are numerous other apartment blocks on the same street.
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Adams is the first sitting mayor in the city’s history to face criminal charges. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals; one count of wire fraud; two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national; and one count of bribery, according to the 57-page indictment unsealed Thursday.
The FBI raided Adams official residents on Thursday morning. The search at the residence known as Gracie Mansion began before dawn and came hours before the indictment was unsealed.
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The indictment alleges that, In September 2021, a senior Turkish official told Adams “that it was his turn to repay the Turkish Official, by pressuring the New York City Fire Department (“FDNY”) to facilitate the opening of a new Turkish consular building- a 36-story skyscraper without a fire inspection, in time for a high-profile visit by Turkey’s president. At the time, the building would have failed an FDNY inspection.”
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“In exchange for free travel and other travel-related bribes in 2021 and 2022 arranged by the Turkish Official, ADAMS did as instructed,” the indictment states.
“Because of ADAMS’s pressure on the FDNY, the FDNY official responsible for the FDNY’s assessment of the skyscraper’s fire safety was told that he would lose his job if he failed to acquiesce, and, after ADAMS intervened, the skyscraper opened as requested by the Turkish Official,” the indictment adds.
The Turkish government first needed fire department approval, and the fire department refused to do so, “citing numerous reported fire safety defects, some of which were serious, at the Turkish House, and the likelihood that the building would fail any FDNY inspection,” the indictment states.
A Turkish official then told an Adams staffer it was “his turn” to support Turkey. “An Adams Staffer relayed this message to ADAMS, and ADAMS responded, ‘I know,'” the indictment states.
“Through the Adams Staffer, ADAMS assured the Turkish Official, ‘Don’t worry, I am on top of this,'” it adds.
“On September 9, 2021, after a contractor working for the Turkish Consulate sent the fire department a letter describing the status of the Turkish House’s fire alarm system, an FDNY employee with responsibility for inspecting the system sent the Fire Prevention Chief the following email:
“Chief, After reviewing the letter, I do not see any way we would be willing to accept it. They have some major issues like central station and fan shutdowns which would be an automatic violation order. Aside from that, he gave us a list with over 60 defects and some of them list 5-10 problems in each one.”
“FAIU [Fire Alarm Inspection Unit] would not go beyond 20 defects without issuing a violation order. In my opinion, this document does not take any liability that we would be comfortable with. I believe it actually tells us this building is not safe to occupy. Feel free to reach out to discuss further. Thanks.”
The Fire Prevention Chief then passed on their warning to his superiors.
On September 10, 2021, the day before Adams and other officials were gathering for the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the FDNY Chief of Department summoned the Fire Prevention Chief to a meeting. The Chief of Department was the FDNY Commissioner’s direct subordinate and the Fire Prevention Chief’s superior.
The Chief of Department informed the Fire Prevention Chief that if the FDNY did not assist the Turkish Consulate in getting approval, “both the Chief of Department and the Fire Prevention Chief would lose their jobs,” the indictment states.
“The Fire Prevention Chief then drafted a ‘conditional letter of no objection’ for the Turkish consulate. The Fire Prevention Chief had never before written a conditional letter of no objection, which was not standard FDNY procedure.”
“The Fire Prevention Chief wrote this letter, which he later described as ‘unprecedented,'” the indictment adds.