Months after the Supreme Court sided with an Indiana mayor who took payments from a Peterbilt dealer in a small-town bribery case, new york city Mayor Eric Adams is relying on precedent as he ramps up the fight against his own federal corruption charges.
But some experts say the effort may end before it can gain momentum.
Federal prosecutors rely on a law called Section 666 to bring down corrupt officials who take bribes, but they have also been accused of trying to blur the definition of bribery. They must also prove that there was an “official act” in retaliation for whatever the allegedly corrupt politician was claiming.
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Mayor Eric Adams, right, is shown with his attorney Alex Spiro on the day of his arraignment outside federal court in New York City on September 27, 2024. (Reuters/Caitlin Ochs)
In 2016, the Justice Department filed corruption charges against James Snyder, the former Republican mayor of Portage, Indiana, under the Section 666 statute.
According to court filings, he struck a $1.1 million deal in 2013 to buy garbage trucks for the city from Great Lakes Peterbilt. In 2014, he received a check from the dealership for $13,000.
The FBI and federal prosecutors accused him of taking money as bribes for the sale of the truck. Snyder said it was payment for consulting services in a state where public officials are allowed outside employment.
Former Portage Mayor James Snyder and his family arrive in federal court in Hammond for sentencing on October 13, 2021. He was later successful in his appeal to the Supreme Court. (Kyle Telechan/Post-Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
He was convicted at trial, but his legal saga continued for years. After successfully seeking a retrial, he was convicted again and then lost his first appeal.
But in a 6-3 opinion written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court ruled in their favor, pointing out that anti-bribery laws do not make all payments illegal, especially if they come after the fact without evidence of a corrupt agreement. Are.
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The court found that Snyder accepted not a bribe, but a “gratuity”.
The court described gratuities as two types of payments, neither of which meets the definition of bribery. The first is something given as a “thank you,” which can include anything from a fancy lunch to a framed photograph. Others are gifts designed to “show a favor,” but not in exchange for anything specific.
In Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent, the liberal wing of the court countered that there was still evidence of corruption that would make Snyder’s payment illegal. Kavanaugh wrote that gratuities were not a federal crime but could still violate state and local ethics rules. Snyder was not charged with any crime at the state level.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams arrives in federal court for his arraignment in Lower Manhattan on September 27, 2024. Adams faces five federal charges, including alleged conspiracy, wire fraud, two counts of soliciting contributions from a foreign national and bribery. (Rashid Omar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
Kavanaugh also warned that if a federal law prohibited gratuities, it could unlawfully infringe on the rights of states to regulate interactions between their officials and constituents.
Adams’ lawyers are arguing that the mayor never took any bribes and never took any action in his official capacity to seek retaliation.
Anthony Capozzolo, a former federal prosecutor who handled public corruption cases in a neighboring district, said prosecutors clearly mentioned the alleged vendetta in Adams’ indictment, but the mayor may have a better chance of proving it. That he has not done any “official work”.
“This issue about him not being mayor at the time, and what is the official act? It may get more scrutiny from the court,” Capozzolo told Fox News Digital.
Adams’ lawyerAlex Spiro wrote in a motion Monday that prosecutors failed to solve a genuine bribery case.
Mayor Eric Adams sits in federal court with his attorney Alex Spiro during his arraignment in New York City on September 27, 2024. (Reuters/Jane Rosenberg)
“The indictment in this case alleges a ‘bribery’ scheme that does not meet the definition of bribery and does not actually amount to a federal crime,” Spiro wrote in a court filing on Monday.
“It appears that after years of trying to find something, anything, to support a federal charge against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, prosecutors had settled on a theory that was inconsistent with the department’s long-term vision. Relying on whether Section 666 criminalized gratuities, Spiro wrote, “when the Supreme Court rejected that interpretation, it was not tied to any specific question.” So prosecutors simply added some vague charges and called their theory bribery – ‘a much more serious crime than gratuity.'”
Adams’s defense argued that Justice Department case “Doesn’t work.”
“The indictment does not allege that Mayor Adams agreed to perform any official acts at the time he received the benefit. Rather, it alleges only that while serving as Brooklyn Borough President – Mayor Or not even the Mayor-elect – he generally agreed to assist in the ‘operation’ or ‘regulation’ of a Turkish Consulate building in Manhattan, where he had no authority, in exchange for travel benefits, ” Spiro wrote.
Damien Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York)
At issue are three text messages that prosecutors say Adams sent to F. during his previous tenure as Brooklyn borough president.Former FDNY CommissionerDaniel Nigro. But there is additional context and conversations around the texts that could convince a court they are less innocent than they appear when read alone, Capozzolo said.
Eric Adams sent a message to the FDNY Commissioner:
- “They said they need the error letter from FDNY to DOB (Department of Buildings). They know they have some issues but according to them with the letter DOB will give TCO (Temporary Certificate of Occupancy).”
- “They really need someone… to date if possible. If that’s possible please let me know and I will manage their expectations.”
- “He said the higher (sic) up at FDNY did not give the inspector authorization to come. The inspector indicated he needed authorization to come during the day.”
Spiro asked the court to dismiss the bribery charge due to the Snyder precedent and argued that the remaining charges should be dismissed because they were allegedly based on “a set of false claims, clearly based on a selfish motive.” The employee was responsible for the axe.” ,
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But Capozzolo pointed to page 33 of the indictment, where prosecutors cited an alleged series of phone calls between Adams, an employee, and a Turkish official, in which the official told Adams it was “his turn” to repay the favor. And the mayor reportedly replied, “I know.”
“That’s as much return as you’re going to get,” Capozzolo said.
Read the Eric Adams indictment:
On the other hand, the government may face an uphill battle to prove that Adams actually repaid the Turks a favor with an official act.
“Adams may have a chance to have the charges dismissed as a result,” Neama Rahmani, another former federal prosecutor, told Fox News Digital.
He said the Snyder decision “significantly” weakens federal bribery laws and said it is not unusual to see convictions under the statute overturned on appeal.
“The Supreme Court also needs an official act to punish bribery,” he said. “Adams was a candidate for mayor, but he was Brooklyn Borough President at the time, which means he did not have official authority over a building in Manhattan. The defense is using that important fact to argue that No official act can be a bribe for the purpose of the law.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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Before the Justice Department announced Adams’ indictment last week, the mayor alleged federal investigatorThe response retaliated against his criticism of President Biden and Vice President Harris’ handling of the southern border, which he said had led to a migrant crisis in New York City, overburdening its asylum system. The influx of illegal immigrants has been accompanied by an increase in robberies in the Big Apple, city police said earlier this year.
Nevertheless, the federal investigation has implicated many people in the mayor’s field, including campaign staff, city officials and even his former police commissioner, in a ring of alleged corruption on a scale so large that Capozzolo said it would be larger than the 1800s. Reminiscent of Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed of the decade.
Adams could face up to 45 years in prison if convicted All charges, which include one count of conspiracy to receive campaign contributions from foreign nationals and 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 bribes Is included.
