The FBI has seized iPhones, laptops, paperwork and a folder labeled “Eric Adams” from the home of the mayor’s top fundraiser, it has emerged.
The Brooklyn home was raided Thursday morning as part of an investigation into an alleged kickback scheme involving the Turkish government, a Washington DC university and a Brooklyn construction company.
Brianna Suggs’ home in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood was searched while Adams was on his way to meetings in Washington, DC, forcing him to abruptly cancel and return to “take care of some business.” The timing was deliberate, sources say.
The officers seized three iPhones, two laptops, papers and a “manila folder labeled Eric Adams,” The New York Times reported.
They also took seven ‘contribution card folders’ with them.
Agents searched the home of Brianna Suggs (left), a campaign consultant who helped Adams (right) raise $2.5 million for his 2025 election
Agents in FBI vests were among those who removed boxes from the home
The search warrant, the newspaper said, sought financial records for Suggs, 25, and any entity under her control or associated with her; and documents related to contributions to the mayor’s 2021 campaign.
The agents also wanted travel documents to Turkey from campaign employees, officials or associates; and documents relating to interactions between the campaign and the government of Turkey, “including individuals acting on behalf of the Turkish government.”
The team was looking for documents related to Bay Atlantic University, a small Turkish-owned institution that opened in Washington DC in 2014.
Adams attended one of the school’s sister universities in Istanbul in 2015, where he received several certificates and was told that a scholarship would be created in his name.
Adams has boasted about how much he loves Turkey, and last week he organized a flag raising for Turkey in Lower Manhattan.
“I think this is my sixth or seventh visit,” he said, adding that no other mayor in New York history has been as close to the country as he has been.
The mayor said Thursday that he would cooperate with the investigation.
He told ABC news: ‘I feel very comfortable with the way I comply with rules and procedures.
“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 am 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 demand that my team do the same.”
There was no indication that the investigation targeted the mayor, and he is not accused of wrongdoing.
Adams told an audience Thursday evening at Gracie Mansion that no law enforcement officials had been contacted.
Authorities are investigating whether the campaign colluded with a Brooklyn construction company and the Turkish government to funnel foreign money into the campaign’s coffers, apparently through a straw donor program.
The construction company was identified in the warrant as KSK Construction Group in Brooklyn, the newspaper said, and KSK employees donated nearly $14,000 to Adams’ 2021 campaign, according to campaign financial records.
Some of the officers present belong to the public corruption unit, the newspaper said.
Adams was on his way to D.C. for meetings to discuss the city’s migrant crisis when he heard about the raid.
He had taken a video of himself on a plane on the way there on Thursday morning.
Without explanation, he returned to New York City, while other mayors remained in DC for the talks.
The warrant was intended to prove the theft of federal funds and a conspiracy to steal federal funds; wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy; as well as campaign contributions from foreign nationals and conspiracy to make such contributions, according to The New York Times.
Investigators were reportedly interested in whether the campaign benefited the construction company’s officials and employees, as well as Turkish officials.
Vito Pitta, attorney for Adams’ 2021 and 2025 campaigns, said, “The campaign has always held itself to the highest standards.
“The campaign will of course respond to any queries if necessary.”
Pitta added, “Mayor Adams has not been contacted as part of this investigation.”
Neighbors told DailyMail.com that officers arrived at 9am and came out with boxes.
Officers are shown outside Suggs’ home in Crown Heights on Thursday after the raid
They described Suggs as coming from a “nice family.”
‘I know the whole family, they are very good people. They are a very good family.
“I saw the FBI around and it was scary, it was really scary,” said Christopher Kelly Burwell, 54.
With Suggs’ help, Adams has raised more than $2.5 million for his re-election campaign.
The pair have worked together since 2017, when she joined his Brooklyn Borough President’s office as an administrative intern.
Suggs was Adams’ fundraiser and director of logistics for his successful 2021 mayoral campaign. She now works as a fundraiser for the Kings County Democratic County Committee.
Adams’ prolific night owl and appearances in hotspots such as expensive members’ clubs, known as the “party mayor”, have left a bitter taste in some mouths.
In 2021, six people were accused of making illegal donations to Adams’ first campaign.
Adams was scheduled to be in Washington DC today to meet with officials about the city’s migrant crisis. When news of the raid emerged, he abruptly returned to New York
The men included former police officers with whom Adams served in the NYPD. They were accused of using false names to disguise their donations.
Prosecutors claimed they wanted to influence the mayor’s office and possibly win city contracts.
Adams was acquitted and prosecutors said he had no knowledge of the scheme.
Earlier this year, Suggs was criticized for taking donations for Adams’ re-election campaign while simultaneously opposing him on behalf of a Manhattan property owner doing business with the city.
Some speculated that the conflict of interest would lead to pay-for-play politics.
“The reason I think it should be illegal is because when people work for you on a campaign, you become close, and then if that person lobbies the same (official) she’s raising money for, she gets preferential treatment …and that means that the client receives preferential treatment.
‘That just doesn’t look good. It doesn’t pass the smell test,” Betsy Gotbaum, a veteran of the city council, told me The New York Daily News in April.
A recent report from The city also alleges that Adams’ 2021 campaign ignored repeated requests to name donors who had donated more than $300,000.
Their donations, divided among 500 donors, used a municipal donation matching program that increases payments.
