联邦检察官正在调查纽约市长埃里克·阿当姆斯是否与土耳其政府合谋，通过非法外国捐款资助他的竞选活动一事。知情人士表示，在最近的调查活动中，检察官向市府、市长及其竞选团队索取了与另外五个国家互动的信息——以色列、中国、卡塔尔、韩国和乌兹别克斯坦。这是对阿当姆斯涉及国外关系调查的首次报道。
这项针对其他五国的询问涉及范围广泛，并在7月通过大陪审团传票的形式向市府、市长及竞选团队提出，传票内容包括与这些国家的相关通信以及记录。此前，有关阿当姆斯海外关系和非法捐款争议的详细信息并不为公众所知，调查也尚未明确说明为何会关注这五个额外的国家或者市长是否与其有直接联系。
调查的核心至少部分是围绕阿当姆斯是否会利用不法捐赠，迫使纽约消防局批准在曼哈顿中城新建一座高塔式的土耳其领事馆。此外，调查还包括了市长收到土耳其航空公司提供的免费航班和升舱服务的情况。《纽约时报》此前已报道了7月传票的细节。
纽约市长埃里克·阿当姆斯面临的海外捐款指控是迄今为止最长的一起，由美国纽约南区检察官办公室、联邦调查局以及市审计部门共同进行。这三方面机构代表均拒绝发表评论。
在本月早些时候的搜查行动中，联邦探员对包括警察局长、第一副市长、教育委员会主席、公共安全副市长和一位被市长视为亲密顾问的高级助手在内的五位阿当姆斯政府高层人员进行了搜索并没收了他们的电话。这起事件导致纽约市当前有四起涉及市长及其高级官员的腐败调查。
在本周五，FBI对代理警察局长汤姆·多隆进行了搜查，他于9月12日被阿当姆斯任命。多隆在周六晚的声明中表示，FBI探员已取走了20年的“材料”，但多位知情人士表示这些材料是机密文件，并且该搜索与此前四起针对市长及高级官员的调查无关。
当前和前任检察官表示，对市长及其高层助手进行如此广泛搜查表明调查人员认为阿当姆斯周围存在较高的腐败问题。然而，由于目前尚未起诉市长、其团队或任何人，所以调查人员无需公开证据收集情况以及它们是否支持提起刑事指控的依据。
市长办公室发言人法比恩·莱维表示，“官员们被要求不评论传票的内容，但我们反复强调，将继续全面配合任何法律机构的调查。”
纽约市对非法捐款的调查正在进行中，并且已持续一段时间。该调查是由美国纽约南区检察官办公室、FBI以及城市审计部门共同进行的。
在7月份针对非法捐款的调查中，获取了与这五个国家相关联的通讯和其他信息的要求，同时包括关于卡塔尔2022年世界杯门票、以及土耳其方面提供的进一步细节。传票还要求提供警察局为外国领事馆安装安全岗亭的相关记录，并收集有关市长使用加密消息应用Signal的信息。
调查人员还寻求与土耳其前纽约总领事雷汉·奥兹古尔等人的相关数据，该人在2022年土耳其国旗升旗仪式上，阿当姆斯将其描述为一个“多年的好友”。在那一年前的土耳其领事馆Instagram账号发布了一张照片，在照片中，奥兹古尔与阿当姆斯握手并参观了领事馆的曼哈顿高楼建筑。
此外，一位名为阿尔达·塞尼埃尔的企业顾问、影响者和记者也被传票牵涉其中。他自称在土耳其开展业务，并且在自己的网站上炫耀了一次曾与阿当姆斯进行过的访谈。
塞尼埃尔曾在2015年与市长一同访问了土耳其。在他担任布鲁克林区长时，作为市府国际关系办公室的助手参加了由阿当姆斯主持的一个包含土耳其官员和土耳其航空公司的晚宴。随后在阿当姆斯成为市长后，塞尼埃尔去了那里工作。
至少有一次，塞尼埃尔与阿当姆斯、他的团队成员以及纽约的土耳其社区一起参加了一个私人晚餐讨论前往土耳其的旅行计划。塞尼埃尔本人也无法取得联系。在2017年12月的晚宴上，他向市长办公室国际事务助理拉娜·阿巴斯沃转发了由土耳其航空公司提供的机票信息。
这起调查是在对阿当姆斯和其竞选团队非法捐款问题公开揭露八个月后展开的。去年11月，联邦探员对市长主要筹款人布丽安娜·索格斯、作为国际事务办公室助手并为阿当姆斯工作过的阿巴斯沃以及在市政府过渡委员会任职的前土耳其航空公司高管岑克·奥卡尔进行了住宅搜索。
以上为内容优化翻译后的中文版本。
新闻来源：www.nytimes.com
原文地址：U.S. Inquiry Into N.Y. Mayor’s Foreign Ties Said to Include 6 Countries
新闻日期：2024-09-23
原文摘要：
Federal prosecutors investigating whether Mayor Eric Adams conspired with the Turkish government to funnel illegal foreign donations into his campaign have recently sought information about interactions with five other countries, people with knowledge of the matter said. The demand for information related to the other countries — Israel, China, Qatar, South Korea and Uzbekistan — was made in expansive grand jury subpoenas issued in July to City Hall, the mayor and his campaign, the people said. The prosecutors’ focus on the other five countries has not been previously reported. The full scope of the inquiry into the mayor is not publicly known, and it remains unclear why investigators were seeking information about the additional countries or whether Mr. Adams has had dealings with them. But the investigation has focused at least in part on whether, in exchange for illegal donations, Mr. Adams pressured the Fire Department to approve a new, high-rise Turkish Consulate in Midtown Manhattan despite safety concerns. Investigators have also examined free flights and flight upgrades the mayor received from Turkish Airlines. The New York Times first reported on the July subpoenas last month, weeks before a burst of investigative activity focused on five of the mayor’s highest-ranking aides. On Sept. 4, federal agents conducted searches and seized the phones of the police commissioner, the first deputy mayor, the schools chancellor, the deputy mayor for public safety and a senior adviser who is one the mayor’s closest confidants. Those actions brought to four the number of federal corruption inquiries swirling around Mr. Adams’s administration, and prompted the resignations of the police commissioner, Edward A. Caban, and the mayor’s chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, who left the administration after Mr. Adams resisted her advice to clean house. On Friday, F.B.I. agents also searched the homes of the interim police commissioner, Thomas G. Donlon, whom the mayor appointed on Sept. 12. Mr. Donlon disclosed the search in a statement late Saturday in which he said agents had taken 20-year-old “materials.” But several people with knowledge of the matter said the materials were classified documents and that the search was unrelated to the four other investigations of the mayor and senior members of his administration. Current and former prosecutors said the searches and seizures of phones of so many senior mayoral aides — and the seizure of the mayor’s own devices 10 months ago — were highly aggressive steps that suggested investigators believe there is a significant level of corruption around the mayor. But because no charges have been filed against the mayor, his aides or anyone else as a result of the investigations, prosecutors have not had to disclose anything about the evidence they have collected or whether it might support bringing criminal charges. A spokesman for the mayor’s office, Fabien Levy, said City Hall officials had been asked not to comment on the content of the subpoenas, “but, as we have repeatedly said, we will continue to fully comply with any law enforcement inquiry.” The fund-raising investigation into the mayor and his campaign appears to have been going on the longest. It is being conducted by the office of the U. S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, along with the F.B.I. and the city’s Department of Investigation. Representatives of the three agencies declined to comment. The July subpoenas in the fund-raising investigation sought communications and other information related to the five nations, as well as records related to tickets to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which the mayor attended, and additional information about Turkey. The subpoenas demanded information about the Police Department’s placement of security booths, which are sometimes installed outside foreign consulates, and the mayor’s use of the encrypted messaging app Signal, several of the people said. Investigators also sought information related to a number of people, including the former Turkish consul general in New York, Reyhan Özgür, whom Mr. Adams, during a flag-raising ceremony for Turkey in 2022, described as a “good friend” he has known for years. A year earlier, the Turkish consulate’s Instagram account posted a photo of Mr. Özgür clasping the mayor’s hand during a tour of the consulate’s new Midtown high-rise. Mr. Özgür, when he was deputy consul general, was on the guest list for a December 2017 dinner Mr. Adams was hosting for Turkish officials and executives from Turkish Airlines at a Brooklyn seafood restaurant run by Mr. Adams’s close friends, according to emails reviewed by The New York Times. Mr. Özgür later served as consul general in New York from August 2020 until last month. He could not be reached for comment. Another person named in the subpoenas was Arda Sayiner, a self-described brand adviser, influencer and journalist who does business in Turkey and whose website touts an interview he once conducted with Mr. Adams. “I have known New York Mayor Eric Adams for nearly 10 years,” Mr. Sayiner wrote in the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet last year. He added that the two had met while Mr. Adams was Brooklyn borough president and that he had accompanied Mr. Adams “on many of his trips to Turkey.” Mr. Sayiner was involved in arranging Mr. Adams’s itinerary for a December 2015 trip he made to Turkey while he was borough president, his second official visit to the country in four months. Among his stops on the trip, Mr. Adams met with a developer and promised to introduce him to contractors in Brooklyn, according to a Turkish news report. Emails show that Mr. Sayiner forwarded Turkish Airlines ticketing information for Mr. Adams to Rana Abbasova, who was Mr. Adams’s liaison to the Turkish community in the borough president’s office at the time and went to work for him when he became mayor. Since then, Ms. Abbasova has turned against Mr. Adams and is cooperating with the investigation. At least once, Mr. Sayiner attended a private dinner with Mr. Adams, members of his staff and the Turkish community in New York to discuss travel to the country, according to a person who was at the dinner. Mr. Sayiner could not be reached for comment. The July subpoenas were issued eight months after the investigation into the mayor first spilled into public view. In November, federal agents searched the homes of Mr. Adams’s chief fund-raiser, Brianna Suggs, Ms. Abbasova, who was an aide in his international affairs office, and a former Turkish Airlines executive who served on the mayor’s transition committee, Cenk Öcal.
