Brooklyn real estate magnate pleads guilty to conspiring to funnel illegal donations to NYC mayor

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NEW YORK (AP) — A Brooklyn real estate magnate pleaded guilty Friday to working with a Turkish government official to funnel illegal campaign contributions to New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Erden Arkan, 76, entered the plea to a conspiracy charge in Manhattan federal court, telling a judge that he knowingly violated the law by reimbursing employees of his construction firm for their donations to the Democrat’s campaign.

“When I wrote the checks, I knew the Eric Adams campaign would use the checks to apply for public matching funds,” he said.

Arkan is one of several individuals implicated in a sprawling bribery and illegal campaign finance indictment brought against Adams in September. He is the first to plead guilty during a public proceeding.

At Friday’s hearing, prosecutors told Judge Dale E. Ho that they had a raft of evidence, including recordings and email, proving that Arkan conspired with a Turkish consular official to deliver the illegal straw donations.

They allege that Adams personally solicited the donations from Arkan and the Turkish official at a April 2021 dinner. The following month, Arkan held a fundraiser at the headquarters of his construction company, KSK, in which 10 employees donated between $1,200 and $1,500 to the campaign. They were later reimbursed by Arkan, making them illegal straw donations.

Adams then used those funds to fraudulently obtain public money under the city’s matching funds program, which provides a generous match for small-dollar donations, prosecutors allege.

Arkan and his attorney, Jonathan Rosen, declined to comment as they exited the courtroom Friday.

An attorney for Adams, Alex Spiro, has said the guilty plea would have “no bearing on the mayor’s case whatsoever.”

A well-known member of New York’s Turkish community, Arkan’s ties to Adams first emerged in November 2023 after federal investigators searched the businessman’s home, along with the home of Adams’ chief fundraiser and his liaison to the Turkish community.

Adams was subsequently charged with accepting bribes in the form of luxury travel benefits and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals hoping to buy his influence for their benefit. He has pleaded not guilty and vowed to remain in office as he fights the charge “with every ounce of my strength and my spirit.”

Adams is set to stand trial April 21st. Arkan will be sentenced in August.