A recent investigative report has alleged that the re-election campaign of New York City Mayor Eric Adams was covertly financed by business magnates who subsequently reimbursed their donors.
The report suggests that these business leaders, primarily from the city's hotel and construction sectors, solicited individuals in their circles to contribute over $10,000 to the Democrat's re-election campaign.
This revelation is the result of a collaborative investigation by The City, Documented, and the Guardian U.S. Three donors to Adams' campaign have alleged that they, along with two of their spouses, were reimbursed following their donations. If true, these would constitute illegal straw donations, designed to obscure the true source of the funds.
These allegations add to the growing list of challenges facing Mayor Adams, whose tenure has been marred by the migrant crisis, scrutiny into his fundraising practices, and allegations of straw-donor schemes. The FBI is currently investigating whether Adams' campaign conspired with a Brooklyn-based construction company and the Turkish government to channel foreign funds into the campaign, allegedly through another straw-donor scheme.
In November, the FBI conducted a raid on the residence of Adams' chief fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, as part of this investigation. During the raid, the FBI confiscated Adams' electronic devices and seized seven "contribution card binders." In October, Shahid and Yahya Mushtaq, owners of a Queens construction company, pleaded guilty to facilitating a straw-donor scheme for Adams' 2021 campaign.
Three donors to Adams' re-election campaign now allege that they and two of their spouses made contributions ranging from $2,000 to $2,098 at the behest of three business owners. One of these alleged reimbursements was linked to Xiaozhuang Ge, co-owner of the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Queens. The hotel, which has a multi-million dollar contract with the city to provide shelter for formerly incarcerated individuals, is one of several properties owned by the Ge family. Another property owned by the family is currently contracted to house asylum seekers.
An anonymous architect's assistant from Long Island alleges that she and her husband were each reimbursed for their $2,000 donations to Adams' campaign by Ge. However, Ge's attorney has disputed the assistant's account, stating it is not "entirely accurate." Another donor, an unnamed nurse from Queens, alleges that a woman named Lan Mei reimbursed her for her $2,000 donation to Adams. Mei has denied this allegation.
A third donor claims that he and his wife were each reimbursed $2,098 by his employer, a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning company based in the Bronx. The donor declined to name his employer, but the Guardian reports that he works for a company owned by a woman named Hung Yau, whose company recently registered to become a city subcontractor.
Vito Pitta, an attorney for Adams' re-election campaign, has denied any wrongdoing, stating that 'no one on the campaign has ever or would ever participate in or condone such behavior." Pitta added that it is "fairly common for contributors to engage in straw donor actions without a campaigns knowledge."
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