Sept. 30 (UPI) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is seeking a dismissal of a bribery charge brought against him and one that his lawyer contends is “extraordinarily vague” and was brought on by “zealous prosecutors,” according to new court documents.
The mayor was accused, among other things, of accepting more than $10,000 in “improper valuable benefits” in the form of airline upgrades and luxury hotels.
Adams lawyer Alex Spiro asked a judge Monday to toss out the bribery charge, which he claimed “does not meet the definition of bribery” because the mayor’s indictment did not indicate that he agreed to perform an official act in exchange for alleged bribes.
On Friday, Adams, 64, was arraigned in a Manhattan federal court. He pleaded not guilty to all charges the day after his indictment was unsealed in front of U.S. Magistrate Katharine Parker.
He is due back in court on Wednesday.
On Monday, Spiro argued that the indictment only alleges that while Adams was Brooklyn borough’s president, and not mayor, the future mayor “agreed generally to assist with the ‘operation’ or ‘regulation’ of a Turkish Consulate building in Manhattan, where he had no authority whatsoever,” he wrote in his motion to dismiss the bribery count.
The bribery charge is one of five counts he faces, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals; wire fraud; bribery and two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national.
Spiro suggested that what Adams allegedly had done was not wrong while calling the rest of the indictment “equally meritless.”
“That extraordinarily vague allegation encompasses a wide array of normal and perfectly lawful acts that any City official would undertake for the consulate of important foreign nation,” the dismissal motion says
The sprawling 57-page indictment lists 23 specific “overt acts” related to just the conspiracy charges alone.
Adams has said for months during the course of the investigation that leaks and rumors had been aimed at him in an attempt to undermine his credibility and paint him as guilty.
“But with respect to bribery,” Spiro wrote, “the deficiencies in the government’s case are clear on the face of the indictment.”
Adams has maintained his innocence and vowed to fight charges with “every ounce of my strength and spirit” as he faces a slew of calls even from Democrats for him to resign.
“In this circumstance, the federal rules entitle Adams to a swift dismissal of the charge,” his attorney said.
The indictment outlines how Adams allegedly sought and accepted improper gifts over several years beginning at least in 2016, including luxury travel totaling more than 100,000 and illegal foreign campaign contributions including from a government official in Turkey.
In November last year, FBI agents seized a phone and an iPad belonging to Adams in a federal campaign fundraising investigation.
He is the first sitting mayor of New York to be indicted on federal charges. Of 110 mayors since 1665, only two have ever resigned. If convicted on all five counts Adams could face up to 45 years in prison. And if he resigns would be the first city leader since 1950 to step down from the mayor’s office.