Six individuals had been charged Friday in an alleged scheme to divert tens of hundreds of {dollars} in public funds to New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ marketing campaign months earlier than his election.
The indictment introduced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg doesn’t implicate Adams or some other metropolis staff. Rather, it describes a straw donor scheme orchestrated by people with enterprise earlier than town who hoped to maximise their donations to the longer term mayor in change for political favors.
“We allege a deliberate scheme to game the system in a blatant attempt to gain power,” Bragg mentioned in a press release. “The New York City Campaign Finance Board program is meant to support our democracy and amplify the voices of New York City voters. When the integrity of that program is corrupted, all New Yorkers suffer.”
Prosecutors mentioned the scheme was led by Dwayne Montgomery, a former NYPD inspector at the moment listed because the director of integrity for the Teamsters Local 237, which represents municipal staff.
According to the indictment, Montgomery recruited pals and family members to make the most of town’s beneficiant matching funds system, which supplies an eight-to-one match for the primary $250 donated by a metropolis resident.
In addition to Montgomery, the indictment names as defendants Shamsuddin Riza, Millicent Redick, Ronald Peek, Yahya Mushtaq, and Shahid Mushtaq.
According to prosecutors, between 2020 and 2021, those that made donations in their very own title had been reimbursed by Montgomery, who supplied greater than $40,000 of his cash. He labored with a string of co-defendants to assist recruit donors, together with Riza, who indicated he hoped to safe work from town.
“FYI ! This is the one I want , Safety , Drywall , and Security one project but we all can eat,” Riza wrote in a July 2021 e mail to Montgomery, sending alongside the knowledge for a development challenge known as Vital Brooklyn, prosecutors allege.
Montgomery additionally labored alongside a marketing campaign consultant to prepare a digital fundraiser for Adams in August, 2020, prosecutors contend. The consultant isn’t named within the indictment.
None of the defendants might instantly be reached for remark.
Adams‘ marketing campaign launched a press release denying any involvement within the alleged scheme.
“There is no indication that the campaign or the mayor is involved in this case or under investigation,” a spokesperson for Adams’ marketing campaign, Evan Thies, mentioned in a press release. “The campaign always held itself to the highest standards and we would never tolerate these actions.”
The defendants every face costs of conspiracy, tried grand larceny, and providing a false instrument.
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