FBI investigators confiscated New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ cell Phones as part of a federal investigation into campaign funding, a person with knowledge of the situation told CNN on Friday.
According to the individual, the authorities used a search warrant approved by the court to confiscate the phones and an iPad earlier this week.
With the seizure, the federal investigation into whether foreign funds were used to support his campaign has dramatically intensified and now directly targets the Democratic mayor. The FBI and the Southern District of New York US Attorney’s Office are conducting the inquiry. Adams is the most recent politician to come under investigation for his connections to foreign governments, though he has not yet been charged with any crimes.
Days prior, as part of an investigation into whether the mayor’s 2021 campaign colluded with a Brooklyn-based construction company to transfer foreign funds into campaign coffers, the FBI raided the residence of Adams’ key fundraiser.
The initial news of Adams’ electronic device seizure came from The New York Times. Prosecutors would have to persuade a judge that they had reasonable cause to believe that the electronic devices contain evidence of criminal activity in order to get a search warrant.
Following an event on Monday night, the FBI approached Adams. The mayor “immediately complied with the FBI’s request and provided them with electronic devices,” according to Boyd Johnson, Adams’ campaign attorney and spokesperson, who talked with CNN.
The mayor’s public itinerary listed his speech as taking place on Monday at New York University’s Kimmel Center. Subsequently, two individuals close to the mayor told CNN that FBI agents “walked right up to him” when they approached Adams on the street.
The reports said that the FBI requested that his NYPD protection detail remove themselves. Then they got into Adams’ SUV that the city had given him and showed him the permit that allowed them to take his electronics.
The mayor usually carries two phones and reads remarks in public from an iPad. The sources claimed that all three gadgets had been given to the FBI.
Adams said that he had promptly requested an examination of campaign data to ascertain whether anyone “had acted improperly” following the FBI raid on the residence of his leading fundraiser on November 2.
CNN was informed by sources that the investigation led to the discovery by City Hall and campaign attorneys alike of proof that “one person” had behaved unlawfully. Regarding the individual’s identity and the part they played in the campaign, the sources refused to comment.
Investigators were then informed by lawyers about their conclusions.
After going home that evening, Adams examined more electronics and gadgets and told the police he would give them to them as well. The gadgets were referred to as “old phones” by the sources.
