He is accused of witness tampering and destroying evidence and appeared briefly Tuesday afternoon before a federal magistrate and was released on a $250,000 bond. He was not required to enter a plea.
The arrest came amid an ongoing exodus of top Adams administration officials, as federal prosecutors delve deeper into allegations that the mayor was using staffers in an attempt to cover up wrongdoing.
Bahi, 40, allegedly told Adams campaign donors to lie to the FBI and deleted Signal from his phone as agents arrived to search his house, according to the criminal complaint.
In addition to the bond, Bahi must surrender his passport, remain within the five boroughs, Long Island and New Jersey and have no contact with witnesses or the mayor.
He must also seek employment, the judge said.
Bahi served as senior liaison in the Adams administration's community affairs unit until his resignation Monday.
Previously, he organized a 2020 fundraiser for the Adams mayoral campaign at the Brooklyn offices of a construction company. Four employees of the company made contributions in their own names, but those contributions were in fact funded by the company's chief executive officer, prosecutors said.
Such straw contributions can violate federal law when a political campaign makes false statements about straw contributions to a public entity to fraudulently obtain public matching funds based on the contributions, or when the straw contributions are used to smuggle foreign money into a campaign. Adams has been charged with both.
According to the complaint, Bahi met with the construction company executive and his employee donors instructed them to lie to the FBI. A month later, in July, when the FBI showed up as Bahi's home with a search warrant, Bahi deleted Signal from his phone, the app he used to communicate with Adams.
Bahi is the first person other than Adams to be charged in the investigation. Adams praised him Tuesday as a "thoughtful" liaison who worked to "really bring down the noise in some of the conflicts we're seeing today."
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that Bahi's charges "should leave no doubt about the seriousness of any effort to interfere with a federal investigation, particularly when undertaken by a government employee."
"Our commitment to uncovering the truth and following the facts wherever they may lead is unwavering," Williams said.
(The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.)
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