Judge refuses NYC Mayor Adams’ bid to toss bribery charge in corruption case

A Manhattan judge rejected Eric Adams’ request to dismiss a charge accusing him of taking bribes from Turkish diplomats — delivering a legal blow to the mayor in advance of his April trial.

“The indictment is sufficiently pleaded, and dismissal is not warranted,” Judge Dale E. Ho wrote while rejecting Adams’ bid to toss the rap.

The bribery charge is just one of five counts Hizzoner faces in the first indictment ever filed against a sitting New York City mayor.

The mayor is separately charged with wire fraud for allegedly funneling foreign contributions to his 2021 campaign through illegal city-based “straw donors” — allegedly allowing him to rip off taxpayers by getting $10 million in public matching funds.

He’s also accused of illegally asking for donations from foreign nationals.

Adams’ lawyers had argued that the feds did not sufficiently allege a “quid-pro-quo” in their indictment, which says the mayor scooped up $123,000 worth of travel perks from Turks and pressed the Fire Department to fast-track the opening of the Manhattan Turkish Consulate building.

Court papers say the goodies Adams received include a stiffly discounted stay in the St. Regis Istanbul’s luxe “Bentley Suite,” which is bedecked to look like the luxury car.

But Judge Ho disagreed with Adams’ attorneys, and said that the question of whether Adams took bribes will be “appropriately resolved” at trial.

Adams lawyers and the feds were in court to argue about the bribery charge Nov.1. Judge Ho issued his ruling six weeks later.

In a statement, Adams’ defense attorney Alex Spiro claimed that the feds’ case was “contrived,” and that the court “took several months to unwind its legal theories, questioning several of them in its ruling.”
Spiro added that the case — which involves charges that Adams defrauded New York taxpayers by accepting phony “straw” donations from Turks — “was simply invented to harm Mayor Adams and not about justice at all.”

Adams is due back in court on Friday.