New York Mayor Adams Raised Money for Federal Indictment, Taking Money from ‘Turkish Trump’

NEW YORK — A real estate developer calling himself “Turkish Trump” was among a group of businessmen who gave money to Mayor Eric Adams’ re-election campaign as part of a 2023 fundraising campaign that is emerging as a focus in the federal corruption case against the mayor. the New York Daily News has learned.

Mukemmel Sarimsakci, a Turkish-born developer who has used the Trump name for years and was once involved in a project to build a Trump-branded hotel in Texas, contributed $2,100 — the legal maximum — to Adams in connection with the attack of October 9. 2023 fundraiser in Weehawken, New Jersey, according to an internal campaign document obtained by the Daily News.

Sarimsakci’s involvement in the fundraising – as a wealthy Turkish government-connected businessman who has overseen real estate projects around the world worth hundreds of millions of dollars – highlights how individuals linked to Turkish interests are trying to boost campaigns by US politicians, a theme that lies is at the heart of the mayor’s recent corruption indictment.

Last February, after the federal investigation into Adams’ ties to Turkey first came to light, the Daily News reported that the Weehawken fundraiser was attended and co-hosted by members of two Turkish advocacy groups.

Federal prosecutors have since charged Adams with criminal charges alleging that he solicited bribes and illegal campaign contributions from Turkish government officials in exchange for providing political favors to the Turkish government, including helping to resolve security violations at the Manhattan consulate. Adams has pleaded not guilty.

The complaint notes that the organizers of the Weehawken fundraiser, Turk of America publisher Cemil Ozyurt and PR representative Cuneyt Gurkan, are “associates” of Reyhan Özgür, the Turkish consul general in New York, who was informed about the planning for the event.

Sarimsakci’s participation in the fundraising for Adams was not mentioned in the indictment and was not previously known. It is not clear whether Sarimsakci actually attended the meeting or just donated as part of it.

While emphasizing that he has no personal knowledge of Sarimsakci’s ties, Henri Barkey, an expert on Turkish affairs, said businessmen of his caliber have long been key to advancing Turkish President Recep’s agenda Tayyip Erdogan abroad, including by financially supporting American politicians.

“Erdogan has dramatically expanded his network of business people around the world in recent years, and it is individuals like Sarimsakci that he typically turns to,” said Barkey, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, before noting that Erdogan’s government the Turkish government strictly controls. business sectors. “He gives them contracts, permission to build, and they help him abroad. They both benefit from that kind of relationship.”

The FBI has not accused Sarimsakci of any wrongdoing. He did not return multiple requests for comment this month.

Sarimsakci — who has been involved in the Turkish government’s efforts in the U.S. and has significant real estate interests in Turkey — paid his contribution to Adams in two installments, $100 on Sept. 25, 2023, and $2,000 the next day, city records show.

Although Sarimsakci gave money two weeks before the Weehawken fundraiser, the internal Adams campaign record obtained by the Daily News lists his contributions as one of nine contributions totaling $9,450 received as part of the event.

The document will be filed with the city’s Campaign Finance Board and should reveal any donations the Adams team received in connection with the event.

But The News independently confirmed in February that the fundraiser actually raised at least $17,750 from nearly 20 donors. Many of the contributors whose names do not appear on the campaign document are affiliated with the two Turkish interest groups, which go by the acronyms TASC and TACCI.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, which is prosecuting Adams, declined to comment this week, as did the CFB.

The Weehawken event, the FBI said in the indictment against Adams, was one of several fundraising campaigns the mayor attended that were coordinated by Turkish nationals, in which “attendees agreed to make straw donations, and Adam’s greed to to accept” – contributions that illegally mask the foreign source of the money through U.S. individuals.

The indictment does not make clear whether Sarimsakci’s contributions were among the so-called straw contributions.

Sarimsakci got his start in U.S. real estate in the 1990s when he joined Bechtel, a Virginia construction company, after graduating from a college in Colorado after moving to the U.S. from Turkey, according to his website. Years later, Sarimsakci founded Alterra, a real estate company with offices in Istanbul that has overseen major residential and commercial projects in Texas and California.

However, most of Alterra’s business deals take place abroad, with several projects in Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iraq and Niger, according to the company’s website and news reports. In Niger, Alterra helped build the country’s presidential palace, according to its website.

In 2017, Sarimsakci — who has publicly toyed with the idea of ​​running for the U.S. Senate — made headlines for being in talks with then-President Donald Trump’s company to build a Trump hotel in Dallas, where Alterra’s other deals include the construction of a $142 million luxury apartment. building. The hotel deal eventually collapsed.

“Do what you want, go ahead and do it,” Sarimsakci said in a 2015 interview when asked what advice he has for young entrepreneurs. “If you work with the right people, the sky is the limit.”

Adams’ suit alleges that straw donations from the Weehawken fundraiser were funneled into his campaign after organizers “instructed” a businessman, previously identified by The News as Eyup Ulu, to use a “unique” website link to “direct foreign donations through U.S. to lead citizens’. ” Ulu, owner of an import-export company, became involved because he allowed Gurkan and Ozyurt to host the fundraiser in a building overlooking the Manhattan skyline, where he has an apartment, the indictment said.

Adams’ complaint cites texts exchanged between his longtime fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, and Rana Abbasova, his Turkish community liaison, the day before the event. Abbasova, who is cooperating with the FBI, was recently fired from her job at City Hall.

“Are they going to reach the limit?” Suggs is quoted as texting Abbasova on October 8, 2023, referring to Gurkan and Ozyurt. “Yes. They said we would collect the 25,000 euros as agreed,” replied Abbasova, who accompanied Adams to the fundraiser.

Ulu, Gurkan and Ozyurt did not return requests for comment on Sarimsakci’s participation in the fundraiser, nor did Vito Pitta, Adams’ campaign attorney.

The Adams campaign document obtained by the Daily News, which reported a lower amount of money raised than what was discussed by Abbasova and Suggs, does not mention whether Sarimsakci was personally at the Weehawken event.

His donations to Adams are the only ones recorded by Sarimsakci donating to a political candidate in New York. Records show he has contributed at the federal level to both Democrats and Republicans, including Trump’s 2024 campaign.

Like many others involved in the Weehawken fundraiser, Sarimsakci’s Turkish government connections are tied to advocacy groups active in the U.S.

A 2019 press release from the Turkish Coalition of America, the Turkish government’s main U.S. lobbying arm, named Sarimsakci as a “silver sponsor” of the organization’s annual youth leadership conference in Washington, DC. Sarimsakci is also a board member of the EastWest Institute, a think tank that has hosted Erdogan for speaking engagements in the US

In 2017, Sarimsakci moderated a real estate panel at a conference in Manhattan organized by the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association, a pro-Erdogan trade group that regularly hosts events with the Turkish leader around the world.

Adams, who was serving as Brooklyn borough president at the time, also attended the 2017 event. There he delivered remarks as a “keynote” speaker alongside Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu and Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci.