Photos: Brianna Suggs/Police Raid, NYCLU
In a shocking turn of events, federal agents executed an early-morning raid at the Brooklyn, NY, home of Brianna Suggs, the chief fundraiser for New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s action was part of an ongoing investigation into an alleged kickback scheme involving the Turkish government and a Brooklyn construction company, The New York Times reported.
Suggs, a 25-year-old campaign consultant, was born and raised in Brooklyn and graduated with her Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Health from Brooklyn College, City University of New York, according to her website that offers limited information about her experience.
Suggs is credited with raising $18.4 million for Adams’ successful mayor election campaign in 2021 and $2.5 million for his 2025 re-election campaign, The New York Times reported.
The investigation also looks into whether foreign money was funneled into Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign, which would mean there was a violation of campaign finance laws, The New York Post reported.
The federal agents executed the raid while Mayor Adams, also known as the Cop Mayor, having spent 22 years in the New York Police Department and retiring from the NYPD as captain, was out of town. The search warrant, obtained by The Times, revealed that investigators were looking for evidence of a straw donor scheme, where donations are made in the names of people who did not actually give money.
The warrant specified that the investigation extended to the Turkish government’s possible involvement and focused on benefits provided to the construction company, KSK Construction Group, and Turkish officials. Individuals who listed their employer as KSK donated nearly $14,000 to Adams’s 2021 campaign, according to campaign finance records.
Investigators searched for documents relating to Bay Atlantic University, a small Turkish-owned institution that opened in Washington, D.C., in 2014. In 2015, Adams visited one of the school’s sister universities in Istanbul, where he was given various certificates and was informed that a scholarship would be created in his name.
Suggs’ firm received more than $150,000 from Mayor Adams’ campaign since 2021.
Neither Suggs nor Adams have not been charged with any crimes.
The search warrant also detailed that the FBI sought to obtain Suggs’ financial records and those of any entities associated with her. Additionally, it demanded documents related to contributions to Adams’s 2021 campaign, records of travel to Turkey by campaign employees or associates, and documents related to interactions between the campaign and the Turkish government. Electronic devices, including cell phones, tablets, and laptops used by Suggs, were also within the scope of the warrant.
Photos: Brianna Suggs, https://www.briannasuggs.com/Police Raid, NYCLU, https://www.nyclu.org/en/news/botched-raid-put-innocent-ny-man-hospital-10-years-later-hes-waiting-justice
