New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing increasing scrutiny over a 2021 campaign finance scandal that saw a former police department colleague, a book keeper, and four construction executives indicted in July for using straw donors to make illegal contributions. Brothers Shahid and Yahya Mushtaq, two of the construction executives implicated in the illegal campaign finance scheme, pleaded guilty in late October to a single misdemeanor conspiracy charge and agreed to cooperate in a larger ongoing investigation.
The scheme intended to inflate the Adams campaign’s finances which would increase matching funds it received from the city. The construction executives and former police inspector Dwayne Montgomery – a friend of Adams – believed their efforts would earn them lucrative city contracts once Adams was elected.
Compounding the Mayor’s problems, the home of Brianna Suggs – Adams’s fundraising chief – was raided by the FBI earlier today.
Suggs is reported to have been questioned by agents from the New York FBI office’s public corruption division. A prolific fundraiser, Suggs has already raised $2.5 million for Adams’s 2025 re-elect, and is an integral member of Mayor Adams’s inner-circle.
In addition to the straw donor scheme and Suggs’s FBI raid, other contributions to Adams’s 2021 campaign are drawing the attention of federal investigators. At least three individuals who, according to campaign finance records, contributed $5,000 each to the mayor’s campaign claim they don’t recall ever making the donations.
Vito Pitta, a lawyer for the mayor’s campaign, claimed “the campaign followed every rule and best practice” when processing political contributions. The New York City Campaign Finance Board is in the process of auditing the contributions.
Meanwhile in NYC: pic.twitter.com/hupWw0KJzw
— Joel Fischer 🇺🇸 (@realJoelFischer) November 2, 2023