How the Brooklyn company involved in Mayor Adams’ FBI probe avoided fundraising disclosures - Gothamist

[Gunnar Larson]

https://gothamist.com/news/how-the-brooklyn-company-involved-in-mayor-adams-fbi-probe-masked-its-fundraising


A New York construction company threw a fundraising party for Eric Adams in
2021 that managed to avoid disclosure under city campaign laws requiring
the company to register with the city’s Campaign Finance Board.

KSK, a Brooklyn-based construction company with strong Turkish ties, is
believed to be at the center of a federal inquiry into campaign donations
for the mayor. The company came under scrutiny after FBI agents raided the
home of Adams’ top fundraiser Brianna Suggs and the New York Times obtained
a warrant suggesting foreign nationals associated with KSK may have donated
through a straw donor scheme.

Neither Adams nor Suggs have been accused of any wrongdoing and it remains
unclear who the FBI is targeting in the investigation.

According to interviews and campaign finance data, KSK and the Turkish
American Business Network invited some two dozen people to a fundraising
event at KSK’s Williamsburg office in May 2021. Election lawyers
interviewed by Gothamist said the company should have registered as a
campaign “intermediary” but there’s no record of it having done so.

The Adams campaign disputes that the event qualified KSK as an
intermediary, saying it compensated the company for the event and therefore
was the official sponsor. But no record exists in the Campaign Finance
Board's files of any payment to KSK on behalf of the Adams campaign, and
the campaign has not provided any receipts to Gothamist.

“None of those inquiries were flagged as possible straw donors," said Adams
campaign spokesperson Evan Thies in a statement. "The inquiries were about
possible unreported intermediaries, of which there were none required to be
reported."


According to election law, when someone “solicits contributions to a
candidate” that person is required to fill out an intermediary statement
declaring the donations they helped bundle.

It’s unclear whether the party is related to the FBI’s search. KSK did not
return multiple requests for comment.

The May event yielded nearly $75,000 with matching funds, according to
Campaign Finance Board records.

“It was at KSK’s offices,” said Tahir Demircioglu, an architect who
attended the fundraiser. “It's not a big office, between 30 and 50 people,
I would say.”

Attendees said people of Turkish descent make up much of the company’s
staff.

According to Campaign Finance Board records, the Adams campaign lists four
intermediaries, none of whom bundled donations in May 2021, the time of the
KSK party.


“In my opinion, it is a fundraiser,” said Sara Steiner, an election lawyer
who specializes in city election law. “There would be an intermediary form
filled out by whoever it was who was organizing and inviting people to the
fundraiser.”

According to campaign finance records, 38 people who listed their
occupation or company as affiliated in the construction industry donated
money to Adams that night, May 7, 2021. Their donations totaled $34,620,
and $5,000 of that was then matched 8-to-1 with tax dollars for a grand
total of $74,620.

“I would say most of them were Turkish and mostly in construction,” said
Metehan Akdag, an engineering consultant who also attended the event.
“Mostly people who work with KSK.”

He described a meeting that’s fairly typical in city politics.

“People brought checks, and I think I donated through a webpage,” Akdag
said, who added that there was a suggested donation. “They were saying that
it should be around $250.”

Akdag said most of the people who attended the event sought work from KSK —
subcontractors who get in the company’s good graces have a better chance of
getting jobs when they come up.


“That's how it is throughout the whole industry,” he said.

'You want to know who's involved'
The rules around fundraising transparency are meant to discourage quid pro
quo relationships between donors and elected officials.

“It's a perfect example of why the intermediary rule is really useful,”
Steiner, the election lawyer, said. “Businesses that are dependent on them
for contracts, who are in turn dependent on the city, you really do want to
know who's involved in this because that's the kind of thing that can lead
to corruption.”

KSK has at least 33 active construction jobs in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens
and the Bronx, Department of Buildings records show. Some of the projects
have scores of complaints, inspection requests and permits pending before
city agencies.

Steiner said the city’s Campaign Finance Board, which is in charge of
checking candidate disclosures, typically assigns an auditor to each
campaign.


The Campaign Finance Board declined to comment on its correspondence with
the Adams campaign regarding this party.

"The campaign appropriately responded to each and every flag made by the
CFB as required," Thies said.

The CFB suggested the rules need clarification.

“A host of a fundraiser that's organized independently of the campaign must
be reported as an intermediary,” Eric Friedman, assistant executive
director of the Campaign Finance Board, said in an interview. “This
discussion about intermediaries is a perfect example of a law that needs to
be reviewed to ensure that it's meeting the challenges of the way that
campaigns work today.”

Attendees at the fundraiser at KSK’s offices describe the event as minor.

“It’s insane, this was a small fundraiser,” Demircioglu said. “This is a
witch hunt, in my personal opinion there is nothing to look at.”


Suggs, the Adams campaign fundraiser and consultant whose home the FBI
raided last week, also donated $20 the night of KSK’s event, according to
records.

'He's practically Turkish'
Attendees of the May event described many of KSK’s employees as still
working at their desks when Adams arrived. He stayed for approximately half
an hour, and spent most of his time there on a phone call in a separate
office. Adams took photos with several attendees and answered their
questions.

“He gave a very short speech,” Akdag said. “His joke was that he's
practically Turkish because every time he flies somewhere he takes Turkish
Airlines and he lays over in Istanbul.”

When Adams helped raise a flag in the Financial District late last month to
mark the 100th anniversary of day Turkey becoming a republic, he repeated
another favorite quip: “New York City is the Istanbul of America."

The FBI raided Suggs' home a week later, placing a spotlight on the mayor's
long-held fascination with the republic, which dates back to when he was a
Brooklyn-based state senator roughly a decade ago — long before he would
become borough president and mayor.


As Brooklyn borough president, Adams made multiple trips to the country at
the border of Asia and Europe — which he’s repeatedly touted over the
years. But it’s far from the only foreign country he’s visited or promoted;
Adams has frequently traveled abroad as an elected official, and has hosted
dozens of flag-raising ceremonies since taking office.

“I'm probably the only mayor in the history of this city that has not only
visited Turkey — Türkiye — once, but I think I'm on my sixth or seventh
visit to Türkiye,” Adams said at the October ceremony, using the country’s
preferred pronunciation.

On PIX11’s “PIX on Politics” on Sunday, Adams said he doesn’t have a
specific fascination with Turkey; it’s a fascination with all countries
with significant immigrant communities in New York City.

Clarification: This story has been updated to include comment and
information provided by the Adams campaign.
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