Within the days earlier than President Trump’s administration moved to drop Mayor Adams’ corruption indictment, federal authorities raided the upstate New York residence of Dwayne Montgomery, a former NYPD inspector pleasant with Adams, as a part of an increasing investigation into alleged crimes linked to Adams and his campaigns, in keeping with bombshell new data launched late Friday.
The Jan. 23 raid at Montgomery’s Middletown residence was a part of a flurry of beforehand unknown legislation enforcement actions detailed in a trove of 1,785 pages of search warrants and different supplies from the years-long federal corruption investigation into Adams.
The supplies present a glimpse into what prosecutors might have laid out had Adams’ case gone to trial. Along with the revelations about Montgomery and the feds’ suspicion about one other straw donor scheme, the paperwork reveal FBI brokers accused Adams of mendacity about his private cellphone.
After being intercepted by the FBI close to Washington Sq. Park in a highly-publicized episode in November 2023, Adams mentioned by his lawyer that he didn’t have that cellphone on him and that he had forgotten the password — since he had modified the code the evening earlier than — and left it at Metropolis Corridor. He instructed his scheduler to assist him carry the cellphone to the Apple Retailer to get entry again, however he in the end didn’t achieve this, Adams mentioned by his lawyer.
However the cellphone’s location monitoring confirmed that the cellphone was not stationary at Metropolis Corridor however really traveled from Metropolis Corridor, previous Washington Sq. Park after which north to twenty ninth Avenue earlier than it was both put in airplane mode or turned off, the paperwork say.
“I respectfully submit that there is probable cause to believe that Adams made false statements about the location of the Adams Personal Cellphone through his attorney, thus committing certain of the Subject Offenses,” an agent wrote in a newly-released doc from March 2024.
The agent added that that violation constitutes “evidence of consciousness of guilt” on Adams’ half.
The indictment in opposition to Adams principally revolved round allegations that he took unlawful marketing campaign money and bribes from Turkish authorities operatives in alternate for political favors. Adams has persistently denied these expenses.
“Today’s unsealing of documents affirms what we have long known — Mayor Adams did nothing wrong. These documents also show that federal authorities made false, reckless accusations with absolutely no evidence in a relentless, shameless assault on the mayor,” Todd Shapiro, a spokesman for the mayor’s reelection marketing campaign, mentioned in a press release.
The brand new paperwork, which had been unsealed Friday afternoon at Manhattan Federal Courtroom Choose Dale Ho’s order, reveal the feds had been increasing their investigation within the days earlier than Trump’s Division of Justice intervened and ordered prosecutors on Feb. 10 to dismiss the case so Adams might higher assist the president in his immigration crackdown.
Montgomery, a retired NYPD inspector who labored with Adams within the Police Division, pleaded responsible final 12 months to state expenses alleging he orchestrated a straw donor scheme wherein he financially boosted the mayor’s 2021 marketing campaign by giving cash to it within the names of others, unlocking illicit public matching funds. These expenses got here out of an investigation carried out by the Manhattan district lawyer’s workplace that didn’t implicate the mayor in any wrongdoing.
The brand new search warrant data unsealed Friday reveal the feds suspected Montgomery had additionally engaged in a separate, however comparable straw donor scheme involving Adams’ 2025 reelection marketing campaign. Montgomery’s identify is redacted within the data, however details about the circumstances of his responsible plea spelled out within the federal paperwork, together with the date, expenses and his residence tackle, level to him.
The feds seized two telephones from Montgomery’s residence, in keeping with the brand new data. He was by no means charged with any wrongdoing as a part of the federal prob, nor had been further expenses introduced in opposition to Adams.
The feds wrote within the newly-unsealed data they’d purpose to imagine Montgomery was implicated within the 2025 scheme as he and Adams had continued to be in contact with one another about marketing campaign fundraising after Adams grew to become mayor in January 2022.
“Because [Montgomery] remained in contact with Adams into 2023, there is probable cause to believe that evidence of criminal activity by [Montgomery] relating to the 2025 campaign also exists,” an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit looking for to tug information from Montgomery’s telephones confiscated throughout the search of his residence.
Different data reveal the feds had been in a position to get their arms on texts between Montgomery and Adams wherein they referred to one another as “brother” and “Boss man.”
In a single alternate from January 2022, Montgomery requested Adams to be appointed a deputy mayor. “Deputy mayors are in charge of several agencies. Not a small task,” Adams texted again, in keeping with the brand new data.
Montgomery was in the end by no means made a deputy mayor.
An lawyer for Montgomery didn’t return a request for remark Friday. Kayla Mamelak, Adams’ spokeswoman at Metropolis Corridor, referred remark to the mayor’s prison lawyer, Alex Spiro.
“This case — the first of its kind airline upgrade ‘corruption’ case — should never have been brought in the first place and is now over,” Spiro mentioned in a press release.
The brand new data reveal different beforehand unknown legislation enforcement actions.
A decide signed off on a warrant to go looking the Fort Lee, N.J. condominium that Adams shares together with his longtime companion, former Division of Training official Tracey Collins, who allegedly benefitted from among the bribes the mayor took. Whereas the warrant didn’t straight identify Collins, it described her job and mentioned she was Adams’ companion. She has not been accused of any wrongdoing by the feds.
The brand new data additionally reveal a December 2024 raid on the Woodside, Queens residence of an govt of a well being care firm who allegedly reimbursed staff to donate cash to Adams’ campaigns, a beforehand unknown instance of unlawful straw contributions, an affidavit from an FBI agent states. The raid on the unidentified well being care govt’s residence was licensed by a decide after an individual phoned in a tip to the FBI, in keeping with the affidavit.
The tipster alleged being “a victim” and being “forced to make straw donations myself along with many others” to Adams’ campaigns “along with campaigns for other politicians,” in keeping with an affidavit from an FBI agent.
The trove of search warrant paperwork had been launched every week later than initially anticipated, as Trump’s DOJ requested for an additional week to tug the whole lot collectively after it was initially due final Friday.
Trump’s DOJ officers secured the dismissal of Adams’ indictment on April 2 after arguing the case inhibited the mayor from serving to within the president’s “mass deportation” agenda. The DOJ officers by no means opined on the deserves of the case in opposition to the mayor.
The Trump DOJ-led effort to drop the case ignited a pointy backlash, setting off waves off resignations contained in the Manhattan U.S. lawyer’s workplace, which indicted Adams in September 2024.
That included former interim U.S. Legal professional Danielle Sassoon, who wrote in her resignation letter that Adams had entered right into a corrupt quid professional quo with Trump. Prosecutors have indicated in court docket and in filings that they’d supposed to pursue additional expenses for the mayor earlier than the DOJ pulled the plug on the case.
Initially Revealed: Could 9, 2025 at 10:59 PM EDT
