Federal investigators are looking into Mayor Eric Adams’ use of a private email address and how records of his seven trips to China disappeared, The Washington Post has learned.
Both the FBI and federal prosecutors in Manhattan have said Adams took at least one trip paid for in part by the Chinese Communist Party while he was running the Brooklyn borough president’s office.
Sources close to the investigation told The Washington Post that the discovery was made as part of a broader investigation into allegations of public corruption that also implicate the New York mayor and a key adviser, Winnie Greco.
Adams used three personal emails, including voiceofconcern@aol.com, but none of that data was stored on New York City government servers, meaning there is little to no trace left of how the meetings with China were arranged, who paid for them, who met with them, or what was discussed.
Adams, Greco and their aides used the private email system while Adams was Brooklyn borough president from 2014 to 2021, according to sources. Adams became New York City’s mayor on Jan. 1, 2022.
Repeated requests for records relating to his 2014 trip to China were denied.
The mayor’s office denied at the time that the mayor was using a private server, noting that he was allowed to use a private email address for non-government matters.
Referring to the Conflict of Interest Committee, an independent body that enforces ethics for the city, a spokesman for the mayor’s office said Monday that the China trip was “approved in writing by the Conflict of Interest Committee via official email channels.”
But COIB lawyers refused to provide a copy of the letter authorising the travel, sources told The Post.
According to a December document reviewed by The Washington Post, the administration of current Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso said it was unable to find or access the data stored outside the borough.
In the document, the Brooklyn borough president’s counsel expressed concern that the information, including travel itineraries and travel funds, is relevant to the FBI investigation but there is no way to track it.
“The previous administration may have stored records outside of this office’s infrastructure, such as on a private Google Drive, and therefore this office may not have retained the records,” Gregory Lewis’ nine-page letter said.
“I note that this office does not have access to the previous administration’s records, which are stored on private servers.”
It’s unclear what specific evidence the federal government is hoping to find from Adams’ China trip, or how it relates to the broader investigation.
The 2014 China trip in question was funded by the Sino-American New York Brooklyn Archway Association, a nonprofit run by Greco, who was a volunteer in the Brooklyn borough president’s office at the time, according to emails reviewed by The Washington Post.
“We had an excellent government meeting,” Adams wrote. “It is not our job to disclose the costs of this trip. Information about hotel and food costs paid by the Chinese government and/or the Sino-American government is not within our role to report.”
“We don’t ask the government how much was paid for dinner. Anyone who wants to know that information must get it from the government. Our report only lists the items paid for and who paid for them.”
In addition to Adams and Greco, Ingrid Lewis Martin, a former Brooklyn deputy borough president who now serves as a senior policy adviser to the mayor, also used personal Gmail and AOL accounts, according to emails reviewed by The Washington Post.
Greco, 61, the city’s Asia director, is a longtime “consultant” to organizations backed by China’s Communist Party, The Washington Post first reported last year.
Adams has participated in many of the city’s Chinese community events, including gala dinners and parades.
When questioned by reporters at the time, neither Greco nor other members of the nonprofit would explain where the funding for the trip came from.
In February, FBI agents searched a home owned by Greco in the Bronx. Greco is also under investigation by the city’s Bureau of Investigation for allegedly misusing his position at city hall to obtain benefits, including property renovations. A bureau spokesman told The Post on Friday that the bureau’s investigation is ongoing.
FBI agents seized Adams’ electronic devices last year as part of an investigation into his campaign fundraising, The Washington Post reported, and at the time, federal agents also searched the home of City Clerk and fundraising chief Brianna Suggs.
According to the search warrant, agents were seeking documents related to a small Turkish university based in Washington, D.C., and evidence that Brooklyn-based construction company KSK Construction Group and Turkish government officials made illegal donations to the mayor’s 2021 campaign.
A law enforcement source confirmed Friday that the FBI is also investigating a business class upgrade Adams received on Turkish Airlines as part of a federal investigation into his 2021 campaign finances.
The federal government has been monitoring Adams’ flights both while he was Brooklyn borough president and since he took office as mayor in January 2022, according to people familiar with the matter.
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio used private email addresses early in his administration but was forced to release them by court order in 2018.
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was accused of using a private email server during her term in office from 2009 to 2013 and was investigated by the FBI.
