Indicted NYC mayor to FBI: I, uh, forgot my phone’s passcode
Enlarge / NYC Mayor Eric Adams, in happier times, holding an AirTag.
New York City mayor Eric Adams was stopped on the street by the FBI after an event in November 2023. Agents had a warrant for his electronic devices, which they seized. At the time, Adams made clear that he had nothing to hide, saying in a statement, “As a former member of law enforcement, I expect all members of my staff to follow the law and fully cooperate with any sort of investigation—and I will continue to do exactly that.”
Thanks to this week’s federal indictment (PDF) of Adams—the first for a sitting NYC mayor, and one that alleges bribery from Turkish sources—we now have the same story from the government’s perspective. It sounds quite a bit different.
According to the feds, agents seized not one but two cell phones from Adams on November 6, 2023—but neither of these was Adams’ “personal” phone, which he was not carrying. It was the personal phone that Adams allegedly used “to communicate about the conduct described in this indictment.”
The next day, November 7, Adams turned in his personal cellphone “in response to a subpoena,” but the phone was locked with a passcode. Passcodes are not unusual—indeed, they are recommended for nearly all users—but in this case there was a hitch. Adams, who continued to pledge his full cooperation, told the FBI that he couldn’t remember the code.
This might sound suspicious, but Adams said that it was actually a result of his attempts to preserve the phone and its data for the FBI. Two days earlier, on November 5, Adams had gotten wind of the investigation into his finances after the FBI raided one of his associates. When he heard this, he changed his personal cell phone passcode, increasing its length from four digits to six.
According to Adams, this was done to “prevent members of his staff from inadvertently or intentionally deleting the contents of his phone” so that Adams could “preserve the contents of his phone due to the investigation.”
Unfortunately, Adams told the FBI, he couldn’t remember this new password he had set just two days before. And so the pristinely preserved personal phone was locked and without a key.
The government does not explicitly say what it thought of the truthfulness of this explanation, but the indictment against Adams includes the anecdote under the subheading, “ADAMS and His Co-Conspirators Attempt to Conceal Their Criminal Conduct.”
Deleting apps from the bathroom
It wasn’t just Adams who had some “issues” with digital devices. As part of its investigation, the FBI asked if one of his staffers would speak to them in a voluntary interview. The woman agreed, and she then “falsely denied the criminal conduct of herself and ADAMS,” says the indictment.
But the most interesting bit was her behavior. In the middle of the interview, the staffer left to use the bathroom “and, while there, deleted the encrypted messaging applications she had used to communicate with ADAMS, the Promoter, the Turkish Official, the Airline Manager, and others.”
Others in Adams’ orbit were a bit more careful. When an Adams employee met with the mayor to talk about Turkish issues, he and Adams “left their cellphones outside the room in which they met so that it would be ‘safe’ to talk.”
Another staffer who worked on booking subsidized Turkish travel once texted Adams, “To be o[n the] safe side Please Delete all messages you send me.” Adams replied, “Always do.”
This sort of care extended even to the creation of bogus PowerPoint presentations. At a 2023 fundraiser held in a Manhattan hotel, the FBI claims that a “promoter” putting together illegal foreign donations for Adams actually “provided a PowerPoint presentation billing the event as a dinner hosted by ‘International Sustainability Leaders’ with the subject ‘Sustainable Destinations’ and an attendance price of $5,000.” This was despite the fact that the event was listed on Adams’ private calendar as “Fundraiser for Eric Adams 2025.”
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