FBI searches Brooklyn home of top fundraiser, campaign consultant linked to Mayor Eric Adams
CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn (WABC) -- FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Crown Heights, Brooklyn, home of Brianna Suggs, who is a campaign consultant and top fundraiser linked to Mayor Eric Adams.
Agents descended on Sugg's home on Lincoln Place Thursday morning, searching for evidence pertaining to campaign donations made by KSK Construction Group, a construction company based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Federal law enforcement is looking into whether the construction company and Turkish nationals made improper donations to the mayor's 2021 campaign.
KSK donated about $14,000 to Mayor Adams's 2021 campaign.
Law enforcement has been investigating KSK, although an FBI official told Eyewitness News that they did not execute a search warrant there on Thursday.
Suggs was apparently home at the time of the search warrant and has not been arrested. Suggs will likely be called to testify in front of a grand jury, which came as a surprise to her neighbors.
"She comes from a great background as far as the family," neighbor Marc Leece said. "I was shocked to hear it this morning when I heard the news."
The law enforcement action led the mayor to abruptly return to the city while he was on his way to Washington D.C. for meetings related to the migrant crisis.
A sit-down with senior White House staff and other city leaders, including the mayors of Denver and Chicago, proceeded without Adams in attendance.
"When you have something that took place like that, an inquiry with a campaign member, I think it was important for me to come back," Adams said.
On Thursday night, Mayor Adams addressed the investigation for the first time.
"I feel extremely comfortable about how I comply with rules and procedures," Adams said. "I hold myself to a high standard, and I hold my campaign to a high standard, and I hold my staff at City Hall to a high standard. I'm very clear that it is my responsibility to hold myself to a high standard and I will comply with any inquiry that is made and I am demanding that my team do the same."
WATCH | Political analyst breaks down FBI raid on top fundraiser for Mayor Adams
Suggs started as an intern in Brooklyn Borough Hall in 2017 and coordinated the mayor's political fundraising activities from his 2021 campaign.
When asked about Suggs, Adams called her a "real professional."
"She does her job well and she's going to comply with any inquiry that's made."
City and state campaign finance records show, since April of 2021, Adam's campaign paid Suggs $169,000.
Campaign finance records also show, Suggs worked for at least four other political groups over the past 2 years, and earned $125,000 from them combined.
She says she raised $18.4 million for Adams' 2021 campaign, and at least $900,000 so far for his 2025 reelection effort.
The mayor went on to say he was "shocked" and "surprised" by what happened Thursday morning, because his campaign follows strict rules.
Adams said, "We turn down a lot of money and send it back," if it's at all suspect.
"It's entirely plausible if this happened, and again we don't know that it did, but if this happened, that it happened on behalf of the mayor but without the mayor's knowledge, in which case he would be legally, uninvolved," said David Birdsell, provost of Kean University.
Birdsell told Eyewitness News that there may have been straw donor arrangement, where somebody is paying money but it looks as if somebody else is making the campaign contribution.
A straw donor arrangement was alleged in another case involving the mayor's campaign.
Back in July, four people were charged in a scheme to raise money through straw donations for Adams' campaign. The defendants then intended to pressure the mayor's office for construction jobs.
Adams wasn't charged and a campaign spokesman said then "we would never tolerate these actions."
The former city buildings commissioner under Adams, Eric Ulrich, was also charged in September with using his position to dole out favors, including access to the mayor, in exchange for cash and other bribes.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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