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New York City Mayor Eric Adams' 2021 election campaign accepted donations from three members of a foundation founded by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's son Bilal Erdoğan, including Erdoğan's daughter Esra Albayrak, The City reported.

According to Boyd Johnson, the president's lawyer, the seizure occurred as Eric Adams was leaving a public event in Manhattan.

"On Monday night, the FBI reached out to the mayor after an event. The mayor immediately complied with the request and turned over his electronic devices. The mayor has not been accused of any wrongdoing and continues to cooperate with the FBI in its investigation."

The action was court-ordered and part of an investigation into political fundraising during the 2021 election campaign.

Prosecutors leading the investigation have not made any public statements, AP reported.

But according to the search warrant obtained by The New York Times, authorities are looking into whether the Adams campaign colluded with the Turkish government to receive donations from foreign sources.

In this context, they are looking into whether New York City Mayor Eric Adams received money from Turkish-owned companies operating in the United States.

According to The City, Eric Adams' 2021 election campaign accepted donations from three members of a foundation founded by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's son Bilal Erdoğan, including Erdoğan's daughter Esra Albayrak.

Campaign records show that between 2018 and 2021, Adams' campaign received a total of $6,000 from three US citizens who are board members of the "Turken Foundation," an organization that registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department last year.

According to the records, Adams' campaign returned $1,000 to one of the individuals for exceeding the $2,100 limit.

The Erdogan-linked foundation's mission is said to be "to help shelter Muslim students in the US" and "promote intercultural relations."

Adams' mayoral campaign also received $12,600 in donations from two board members of the Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC) in July 2018, according to The City.

However, Adams' campaign returned more than $8,000 of that amount due to donation limit rules.

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Meanwhile, the FBI reportedly handed over some of Adams' electronic devices.

On November 2, FBI agents searched the home of Brianna Suggs, a fundraiser for Eric Adams' campaign, and Suggs was questioned by public corruption investigators, local officials said.

According to public records, the 2025 campaign has so far paid Suggs' consulting firm "Suggs Solutions" about $98,000.

Law enforcement officials have also investigated several other members of President Adams' inner circle in recent months, Reuters reported.

In July, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the indictment of six people he said used a "straw donor scheme" to illegally generate public matching funds for Adams' 2021 election campaign. All six suspects have pleaded not guilty.

"Straw donation" is the US term for a scheme in which donations are made in the name of a person or persons who do not actually give money.

Adams, who was not charged in the indictments, said he and his campaign team had no knowledge or involvement in the alleged scheme.

Another Turkish company named in the investigation is KSK Construction Company. According to the New York Times, the FBI is investigating the Turkish-American construction company KSK as part of an investigation into alleged straw donations and illegal foreign influence in the 2021 mayoral race.
 

Editor: David Goodman