New York City’s Democrat Mayor Eric Adams surrendered himself to authorities at federal court in Manhattan on Friday.
Adams was forced to surrender after federal prosecutors announced a five-count indictment against the mayor on fraud, bribery, and corruption charges.
Shortly after 12 pm, Adams appeared before the judge and pleaded not guilty.
On Thursday, the FBI seized Adams’ phone before the charges were made public, according to his attorney.
However, he was not immediately taken into custody at that time.
According to a 57-page indictment unsealed Thursday, Adams is accused of soliciting bribes in the form of illegal campaign donations from foreign entities and falsifying paper trails to cover it up.
As part of the plot, the 64-year-old mayor allegedly defrauded taxpayers for $10 million over the past decade.
Prosecutors say he frequently took free or vastly discounted vacations bankrolled by his foreign benefactors.
Adams countered with a video statement, as Slay News reported.
He insists that any charges filed against him would be “entirely false, based on lies.”
The mayor also insinuated that he is being targetted by the Biden-Harris administration over Adams’ criticism of disastrous border policies that led to floods of illegal aliens arriving in NYC.
“The federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system with no relief,” he said in a video statement.
“I put the people of New York before party and politics.”
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During a Thursday news briefing, investigators denied the claim that the case was political retaliation.
Later, Adams held a news briefing alongside prominent supporters who asked for the public to allow due process to play out.
Hecklers interrupted with a megaphone, however.
The mayor is accused of one count of conspiracy to receive campaign contributions from foreign nationals and commit wire fraud and bribery, one count of wire fraud, two counts of soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals, and one count of soliciting and accepting a bribe.
He could face up to 45 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
The mayor has refused to resign but New York’s Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul could still remove Adams from office.
