1st planned guilty plea in corruption case against Mayor Adams
NEW YORK -- A Brooklyn real estate magnate accused of working with a Turkish government official to funnel illegal campaign contributions to New York City Mayor Eric Adams plans to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge tied to the scheme, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Erden Arkan, the owner of a real estate construction firm, was one of several individuals implicated in the sprawling corruption indictment brought against Adams in October. He would be the first to plead guilty in a public proceeding.
In court papers, prosecutors said Arkan planned to plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud by collecting campaign contributions for Adams that were made under the name of someone other than the true contributor.
Adams then used those funds to fraudulently obtain public funding under the city's matching funds program, which provides a generous match for small-dollar donations, prosecutors allege.
A lawyer for Arkan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An attorney for Adams, Alex Spiro, said in an emailed statement that the decision would have "no bearing on the Mayor's case whatsoever."
"We know from the government's own interviews that Mr. Arkan repeatedly said that Mayor Adams had no knowledge of his actions," Spiro said.
A well-known member of New York's Turkish community, Arkan is a co-owner of KSK, a Brooklyn-based construction firm specializing in luxury condominiums. His firm's ties to Adams emerged in November 2023, as investigators searched his residence, along with the home of Adams' chief fundraiser and his liaison to the Turkish community.
Adams was subsequently charged with accepting bribes in the form of luxury travel benefits and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals hoping to buy his influence for their benefit. He has pleaded not guilty and vowed to remain in office as he fights the charges.
The indictment details an April 2021 dinner organized by the Turkish official in which Adams personally solicited illegal campaign contributions from Arkan - identified in court papers only as "Businessman-5."
The following month, Arkan hosted a fundraiser at KSK's headquarters for Adams in which 11 of his employees donated between $1,200 and $1,500 to the campaign. Each was reimbursed by the construction firm, prosecutors allege, making the contributions illegal straw donations.
Arkan later confirmed to the FBI that he had spoken to the Turkish official about the fundraiser. He initially denied reimbursing his employees, prosecutors said.
As he sought to recruit others to raise money for Adams, Arkan appeared to acknowledge misgivings about the fundraising scheme, telling prospective donors in New York's Turkish community that it "may feel like swimming against the current but unfortunately this is how things work in this country," according to the indictment.
As Adams gears up for an April trial, he has pledged to fight the case "with every ounce of my strength and my spirit."
But his administration has faced overlapping scandals and investigations, leading to the resignations of his police commissioner, schools chancellor, multiple deputy mayors and his director of Asian affairs. His former buildings commissioner was also charged in a separate bribery conspiracy case involving real estate officials last year.
Last week, Adams' former top advisor and close confidante, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, was charged by state prosecutors for allegedly accepting bribes from two real estate developers seeking to speed the process of construction approvals. She has pleaded not guilty.
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