Mohamed Bahi, a former official for Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams, was charged by federal prosecutors Tuesday with alleged witness tampering and destruction of evidence in relation to an investigation into the mayor’s 2021 mayoral campaign.
The Southern District of New York (SDNY) accused Bahi, the former chief liaison to the Muslim community, of having “used intimidation, threatened, and corruptly persuaded another person” to interfere with an FBI investigation into straw donations sent to Adams’ mayoral campaign, according to a complaint against the defendant. He is charged with one count of witness tampering and one count of destruction of records.
Bahi allegedly instructed others to lie to federal investigators and deleted evidence from his personal devices that may have suggested he was involved in a crime, according to a complaint.
“The charges unsealed today should leave no doubt about the seriousness of any effort to interfere with a federal investigation, particularly when undertaken by a government employee,” U.S. attorney for the Southern District in New York Damien Williams said, according to an SDNY press release. “Our commitment to uncovering the truth and following the facts wherever they may lead is unwavering.”
Bahi allegedly orchestrated straw donations funneled through a Brooklyn construction company in December 2020, which went to Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign, according to the SDNY press release. Bahi allegedly urged the owner of the company and the four donors to continue to lie to federal agents after their donations came under suspicion by the FBI in June.
The indictment further alleged that Bahi deleted an encrypted messaging app called Signal from his phone in the hours before the FBI searched his home and seized the device from him on July 24, according to the press release.
“[Bahi] allegedly interfered with an active investigation by ordering third parties to lie to federal agents and deleting potentially incriminating correspondence from his personal electronic devices,” FBI Assistant Director James Dennehy said in a statement. “These alleged actions were a deceitful attempt to conceal unlawful activity and create unnecessary obstacles for those working to uncover the truth.”
Bahi appeared in Manhattan federal court Tuesday with his attorney, Kevin Puvalowski, Politico reported. His bail is set at a $250,000 bond and he is required to surrender his travel documents and limit his travel to New York’s Southern District, Eastern District and New Jersey.
The district attorney’s office charged Adams on five federal charges for allegedly accepting “improper valuable benefits,” such as luxury international travel” from wealthy business people and at least one Turkish government official for nearly a decade. The Turkish official who gave straw donations to Adams’ mayoral campaign allegedly gave the mayor free or discounted travel on the Turkish airline to several international locations in exchange for Adams agreeing to have a Turkish diplomatic outpost established in the city.
Adams also allegedly pressured the New York City Fire Department to speed up the process of approving the construction of a Turkish consular building without a fire inspection in exchange for the travel perks, according to the indictment.
Featured Image Credit: Dietmar Rabich
