Seth Wenig
- Eric Adams told a staffer he "always" deleted messages after discussing alleged bribes.
- Prosecutors included some of the messages in the new indictment against the NYC mayor.
- Adams also claimed he forgot his new phone password after the FBI seized it.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams promised to "always" delete messages exchanged with one of his staffers who arranged Turkish government-funded trips, according to the indictment against him unsealed Thursday.
Prosecutors got their hands on the messages anyway.
"To be o[n the] safe side Please Delete all messages you send me," the Adams staffer wrote in a message to Adams, according to the indictment.
"Always do," Adams responded, according to prosecutors.
In the sweeping 57-page indictment, the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York accused Adams of taking bribes from Turkey over the course of several years.
Adams accepted free or heavily discounted flights around the world and luxury trips in hotels and yachts, among other perks, prosecutors allege. He never disclosed the trips — worth over $100,000 — on official documentation and worked to fabricate documents to cover them up, prosecutors allege.
According to prosecutors, in exchange, Adams pressured government officials to approve plans for a Turkish government-owned skyscraper in Manhattan that Turkey intended to become a global power center.
Adams has called the charges against him politically motivated. He has not yet entered a plea in court.
In the indictment, prosecutors cited the plot to delete messages as evidence that Adams tried to "conceal the benefits he received from foreign nationals seeking to gain influence over him."
The indictment says Adams "deleted messages with others involved in his misconduct" but doesn't detail those deletions.
His promise to "always" delete messages came in March 2019, after the Adams staffer worked with a manager of Turkish Airlines to arrange another free or heavily discounted trip, according to the indictment. At the time, Adams served as Brooklyn borough president as was not yet New York City mayor.
The Adams staffer later agreed to a voluntary interview with the FBI. During that interview, she excused herself to the bathroom and "deleted the encrypted messaging applications she had used to communicate with ADAMS" and others involved in the alleged bribery conspiracy, the indictment says.
The FBI seized phones used by Adams on several occasions during its investigation into his conduct — including again around midnight Thursday.
On one occasion after Adams' phone was seized, the mayor said he changed his password after learning of the criminal investigation surrounding his conduct.
"ADAMS had done this, he claimed, to prevent members of his staff from inadvertently or intentionally deleting the contents of his phone because, according to ADAMS, he wished to preserve the contents of his phone due to the investigation," the indictment says.
But then Adams said he forgot his new password, making it more difficult for the FBI to access his phone.
"But, ADAMS further claimed, he had forgotten the password he had just set, and thus was unable to provide the FBI with a password that would unlock the phone," the indictment alleges.
An attorney for Adams didn't immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider.