NEW YORK – In his four years as New York mayor, Eric Adams' administration was roiled by corruption probes that led to early-morning FBI searches, resignations of top officials and indictments that alleged a rampant culture of pay-to-play politics at the highest levels of City Hall.
Even with Adams now far from elected office and facing no charges himself, that saga continues.
Recommended Videos
On Wednesday his former chief of staff, Frank Carone, was arrested on federal charges alleging that he accepted $120,000 in bribes in exchange for steering a multimillion-dollar migrant shelter contract to a Queens hotel. Three others, including Carone’s brother, were also indicted. All have pleaded not guilty.
Another of Adams' closest allies, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, is still fighting separate bribery charges, which include allegations that she exchanged political favors for cash, diamond earrings and a speaking role on a TV show.
And Adams himself was indicted on bribery charges in 2024, accused of taking illegal campaign contributions from Turkish officials and providing political favors to them in return. Adams, a Democrat, denied any wrongdoing and those charges were later dropped at the behest of the Trump administration.
Here is a look at some of the criminal investigations that cast a pall over the nation's largest city during Adams' tumultuous tenure and its aftermath:
Corruption probe launched early in Adams' mayoral term
Soon after Adams took office in January 2022, federal agents quietly began a corruption investigation into his campaign. It spilled into public view in the fall of 2023, when authorities seized his phones as he was leaving an event. A year later, federal prosecutors brought fraud and bribery charges against him.
The indictment accused Adams of allowing Turkish officials and other businesspeople to buy his influence with illegal campaign contributions and steep discounts on overseas trips. Among the favors he allegedly provided in return was accelerating the opening of Turkey's diplomatic building in New York, prosecutors said.
Adams denied wrongdoing and insisted, without evidence, that the Biden administration had politically targeted his administration because of his criticism of its immigration policy.
But soon after President Donald Trump returned to the White House in early 2025, Justice Department leadership ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors to drop the case, arguing that it was hindering the mayor’s ability to assist Trump's immigration crackdown.
The investigation severely wounded Adams' efforts last year to seek reelection. He skipped the Democratic primary and got on the ballot as an independent, but eventually ended his campaign early.
Top adviser accused of trading influence for diamond earrings and a TV show cameo
As former chief adviser, Lewis-Martin was perhaps the only city official with more direct access to Adams than Carone.
In 2024 she too was indicted for allegedly trading her influence for bribes worth more than $100,000 from those with business before the city. Lewis-Martin has denied wrongdoing.
In one instance, prosecutors said, Lewis-Martin agreed to quash a planned bike lane near a Brooklyn soundstage at the request of the studio’s owners in exchange for perks including a promised role on the police drama “Blue Bloods.”
In a separate scheme, prosecutors said, she accepted diamond earrings and cash from two real estate developers and then helped to speed up approvals of their projects, at times overriding safety concerns from city regulators.
Her attorney Arthur Aidala — who is also representing Carone — has said she was simply helping constituents cut through the city’s thick red tape.
The case against Lewis-Martin was brought by the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and a hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Other allies resigned but have faced no charges
Many who departed Adams' administration under a cloud of scandal — often after having their devices seized and homes searched by federal agents — have not faced charges.
Among them: an adviser to the Chinese community who handed a potato chip bag full of cash to a reporter after an Adams campaign event; the former police commissioner, whose twin brother was accused of extortion by a Brooklyn bar owner; and Adams’ schools chancellor and deputy mayor, also brothers, whose third brother ran a consulting firm that connected clients with city officials.
Each has denied wrongdoing, and none has been charged with a crime.
Federal authorities have declined to disclose the purpose of their searches and whether any of the investigations remain active.
Some low-level associates pleaded guilty to charges involving illegal campaign funds
Even after the charges against Adams were dropped, prosecutors continued to pursue cases against some of the lower-level operatives involved in the indictment.
One, a Brooklyn real estate magnate, was sentenced to a year of probation last summer after pleading guilty to working with a Turkish government official to funnel illegal donations to Adams' 2021 campaign.
And in November an Adams aide who served as his liaison to the city's Muslim communities was sentenced to three years of probation for soliciting illegal campaign funds.
Before handing down that sentence, Judge Dale Ho, who also presided over the case against Adams that was dismissed, likened the mayor's absence to an “elephant in the room.”
“There’s a notable absence here of the person at the apex of the pyramid,” he said.
___
Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut.