NEW YORK (AP) — A former New York City official was charged Tuesday with witness tampering and destroying evidence in a sweeping federal investigation that led to Mayor Eric Adams’ indictment on charges he took bribes and illegal campaign cash from foreign interests.
— A former New York City official was charged Tuesday with witness tampering and destroying evidence in a sweeping federal investigation that led to Mayor Eric Adams’ indictment on charges he took bribes and illegal campaign cash from foreign interests.
The arrest came amid an ongoing exodus of top Adams administration officials, as federal prosecutors delve deeper into allegations that the mayor was using staffers in an attempt to cover up wrongdoing.
Mohamed Bahi, who resigned Monday as the mayor’s liaison to the Muslim community, is accused of encouraging a businessman to solicit illegal straw donations from four of the businessman’s employees and to then lie about it to the FBI.
At one point, Bahi told the businessman that Adams believed the man wouldn’t cooperate with law enforcement, according to prosecutors. As agents arrived to search Bahi’s home in July, they say he deleted an encrypted messaging app from his cell phone that he had used to communicate with Adams.
Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, Adams denied that he had any hand in telling anyone to lie. “I would never instruct anyone to do anything illegal or improper », he said.
Bahi, 40, was arrested early Tuesday and released on his own recognizance after a brief appearance in federal court in Manhattan. He was not required to enter a plea and was ordered to surrender his travel documents and not to contact any witnesses.
Bahi is the first person other than the mayor to be charged in the investigation. Adams praised him Tuesday as a “thoughtful” liaison who worked to “really bring down the noise in some of the conflicts we’re seeing today. »
Adams, a Democrat, has maintained a busy schedule in recent weeks, striking a buoyant tone at news briefings and insisting he can simultaneously lead the city, defend himself in court and reshape an administration battered by federal searches and resignations.
Adams portrayed the parade of high-level departures from his administration as unconnected to the criminal investigations — a claim at odds with statements from some of those former staffers.
