Former City Hall official arrested, accused of obstructing investigation into Mayor Eric Adams
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Mohamed Bahi, who resigned Monday from his job in the Adams administration, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly obstructing the investigation into the mayor and his campaign.
He is accused of witness tampering and destroying evidence.
Bahi 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.
He 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 was due to appear in court later Tuesday. It was not immediate clear whether he had a lawyer.
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