A former aide to New York City Mayor Eric Adams allegedly destroyed evidence and coerced witnesses to lie to law enforcement officers investigating an illegal political donation scheme involving the mayor’s campaign, federal prosecutors revealed on Tuesday. Mohamed Bahi, a senior liaison in Adams’s community affairs unit, was charged with witness tampering and destroying records, the Wall Street Journal reports. Prosecutors said that Bahi advised a construction company executive to lie to investigators. He told the executive that he had just spoken to Adams. The charges come after the mayor was indicted last month for allegedly funneling illegal foreign donations into his campaign and accepting free travel and other perks from foreign nationals. Adams has denied the allegations. City Hall is grappling with multiple corruption probes and high-level resignations.
Federal prosecutors said in Tuesday’s complaint that Bahi helped coordinate a December 2020 fundraiser where four employees of a construction company each made a $2,000 contribution to the mayoral campaign. The chief executive of the company later reimbursed the employees, prosecutors said. Campaign finance laws prohibit a donor from using another individual’s money to contribute. In June, Bahi tried to interfere with the probe after learning that investigators had searched the executive’s home. Later, when the FBI searched Bahi’s home, he deleted an encrypted messaging application before investigators could seize it. Bahi had used the application to communicate with Adams, prosecutors said. Bahi resigned Monday, a City Hall spokesman said. Asked at a news conference about Bahi, Adams said, “I know he delivered for New Yorkers, and I thank him for that.” The Democratic mayor declined to address the charges, but said, “I will never instruct anyone to do anything that’s improper—never have, never will."
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