FBI Indictment Exposes NYC Mayor’s Secret Turkish Airlines Deal—Free Business Class Upgrades, VIP Lounge Access, Luxury Suites
Six months ago I detailed how the FBI’s investigation of New York City Mayor Eric Adams centered around his trading favors in exchange for free Turkish Airlines upgrades on both official trips and leisure travel.
Adams praised Turkish Airlines for its service, calling it “my way of flying,” and received upgrades both as Brooklyn borough president and as mayor.
Now that Adams has become the first New York City Mayor to face criminal prosecution while in office we learn a lot more detail – including that he basically behaved like an obsessed top status frequent flyer.
Adams and his partner bought coach tickets to India, and Turkish upgraded them to business for free 48 hours prior to travel. He took a relative to Europe and Asia in business class for free on Turkish. And he also accepted free business class tickets to Nepal and Beijing. He was given a two-night stay in the Bentley Suite at the St. Regis Istanbul for less than $600 and a free two-night stay in their Cosmopolitan Suite.
But this is priceless:
Because the Turkish Airline provided free travel benefits wo1th tens of thousands of dollars to ERIC ADAMS, the defendant, he flew the Turkish Airline even when doing so was otherwise inconvenient.
For example, during the July and August 2017 trip, Adams’s Partner was surprised to learn that ADAMS was in Turkey when she had understood him to be flying from New York to France. ADAMS responded, in a text message, “Transferring here. You know first stop is always instanbul [sic].”
When Adams’s Partner later inquired about planning a trip to Easter Island, Chile, ADAMS repeatedly asked her whether the Turkish Airline could be used for their flights, requiring her to call the Turkish Airline to confirm that they did not have routes between New York and Chile.
Adams and the airline negotiated over pricing, but it was a reverse negotiation. The indictment alleges that the Mayor sought to paper the transaction, so he had a staffer work with a Turkish Airlines manager to pay for the tickets.
- Turkish suggested $50
- The staffer, “No, dear. $50? What? Quote a proper price.”
- Manager: “How much should I charge? :)”
- Staffer: “His every step is being watched right now. $1,000 or so…. We don’t want them to say he is flying for free.”
So he and his partner paid $1,100 apiece and flew business class.
The airline also provided support for an Adams fundraiser that included, among other things, “free use of a VIP room in the Turkish Airlines business class lounge.” They also contributed a hotel stay but provided the Adams campaign with “a fake bill” to make it look like they’d paid.
Here’s an itemization through 2021, though favors are alleged to have continued after that:
As I speculated in my original post, the favors Adams did in exchange included code approval for the new Turkish consular building in New York. It would have failed fire inspection, but according to the indictment a Turkish official told Adams “that it was his time to repay” the favors he’d received. Adams is claimed to have threatened a fire official with dismissal if they didn’t sign off on the skyscraper before Turkey’s president visited.
The Mayor also, apparently, ceased association with opponents of the anti-democratic government in Turkey that had been sponsoring him, on their orders. He also agreed not to make reference to the Armenian Genocide in 2022. That relationship got him straw donations from illegal Turkish sources.
(HT: @cameronmattis)
