Over the past several years, the integrity of our elections has been repeatedly called into question on a national, state, and local level. Right now, a lengthy investigation into the 2021 New York City elections is being conducted, and federal prosecutors have served a subpoena to Mayor Eric Adams.
Reports suggest that the Mayor and his administration are being investigated over allegations that his team may have accepted contributions from foreign sources during his campaign.
In November, The Times wrote a hard-hitting piece about a search warrant they obtained regarding Mayor Adams. In the warrant, Adams and his administration are accused of conspiring with the Turkish government in an attempt to funnel illegal foreign donations to his campaign through straw donors.
News reports have also surfaced suggesting that Adams attempted to help the Turkish government get city approval for the opening of a Manhattan building in 2021. Those reports highlighted that Adams used his position in a different city office to push forward the Turkish government’s plans despite concerns about the building’s fire safety systems.
Reports show that Adams contacted the city’s fire commissioner in 2021 to “find out what was happening.” Adams has stated that he was simply acting within his duties to help his constituents, and he doesn’t believe he has done anything wrong.
The newspaper further stated that the search warrant mentioned investigating the mayor’s use of the city’s matching funds program. The program gives candidates an 8x matching donation for every city resident’s first campaign contribution. Although none of these allegations have been proven yet, abusing the matching funds program could result in a massively unfair advantage for the mayor.
Despite all these allegations and the ongoing investigation, Mayor Adamas has remained adamant that he has done nothing wrong and had no knowledge of any improper fundraising activity committed by his campaign. Neither the former fire commissioner from 2021 nor the Turkish consulate have commented on the ongoing situation.
This recent subpoena has asked the mayor’s administration to provide details about the mayor’ schedule, recent overseas travel, and connections to the Turkish government.
Have You Been Subpoenaed? What to Know
A subpoena is an official order issued by a courtroom. Typically, a person is subpoenaed when the court needs them to appear in court to testify as a witness or to expound on specific facts in an ongoing case.
You can object to a subpoena in writing, but you cannot ignore a subpoena and fail to show up at the allotted time and date. If you do so, then a judge can find you in contempt of court. This is a criminal offense.
Are you unsure about how to handle a recent subpoena you received? Any time you’re unsure about how to handle a legal situation, it makes sense to talk about what’s happening with a local attorney.
Schedule a call with our team of New York City criminal defense attorneys now to get answers to any questions you might have about a subpoena you received.
