Six Charged With Organizing Illegal Donations to Adams’s 2021 Campaign

Four construction industry executives, a retired police inspector and a bookkeeper who were equipped with a sophisticated knowledge of campaign finance law were charged on Friday with conspiring to funnel illegal donations to the 2021 campaign of Mayor Eric Adams.

The 27-count indictment accuses the defendants of trying to conceal the source of thousands of dollars in donations by making them in the names of colleagues and relatives, and says the group had sought influence and perhaps city contracts. The indictment did not accuse Mr. Adams’s campaign or the mayor himself of misconduct, and nothing suggested he was aware of the scheme.

The district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, said in a statement that the defendants had concocted “a deliberate scheme to game the system in a blatant attempt to gain power.”

Prosecutors identified the defendants as Dwayne Montgomery, Shamsuddin Riza, Millicent Redick, Ronald Peek, Yahya Mushtaq and Shahid Mushtaq.

The indictment describes the brothers Yahya and Shahid Mushtaq as principals in a construction firm called EcoSafety Consultants, which was also charged in the indictment. Mr. Riza, the principal of another construction firm that was separately charged Friday, also worked with EcoSafety, the district attorney’s office said.

EcoSafety has been a city subcontractor since April 2021, according to records maintained by the New York City Comptroller’s Office. During that time, the city has paid it $470,000.

Mr. Montgomery, a retired police inspector, is related by marriage to Mr. Riza, for whom Ms. Redick worked as an accountant. Mr. Peek works at another construction safety firm.

Scott Grauman, the lawyer for Shahid Mushtaq and who also represents EcoSafety, noted that his clients entered not-guilty pleas on Friday morning, and added: “We will be vigorously defending against the allegations.”

Alexei Grosshtern, a lawyer for Ms. Redick, the bookkeeper, said she knows only one co-defendant, Mr. Riza, and added that his client was unaware of any scheme and was surprised by her arrest.

Lawyers for Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Riza could not immediately be reached for comment.

New York City’s complex campaign finance law sits at the heart of the events sketched out in the court papers. To diminish the influence of big donors and give less-connected candidates a leg up, New York City octuples the first $250 of a resident’s donation. The defendants are accused of trying to mask large donations by funneling them through straw donors. That enabled the campaign to garner more city funds, and potentially amplified the defendants’ influence with the incoming mayor.

It was unclear how much public money was spent as a result of the scheme.

On Friday, Evan Thies, a spokesman for the 2021 Adams campaign, thanked prosecutors for “their hard work on behalf of taxpayers.”

“The campaign always held itself to the highest standards and we would never tolerate these actions,” Mr. Thies said. “The campaign will of course work with the D.A.’s office, the Campaign Finance Board and any relevant authorities.”

The defendants held two fund-raisers for Mr. Adams, one in August 2020 and the other a year later. The second took place after Mr. Adams had won his primary, effectively ensuring his election as mayor of the heavily Democratic city.

For each fund-raiser, according to prosecutors, the defendants recruited straw donors and then reimbursed them.

“I’ll put the money up for you,” Mr. Riza texted one relative, according to the indictment.

The defendants seemed aware that they were engaging in risky behavior.

“You gotta be careful cause you gotta make sure you do it through workers they trust, that’s not gonna talk, because remember a guy went to jail for that,” Mr. Peek told Mr. Riza at one point, according to the indictment.

The defendants appeared hopeful that their donations would help them win contracts on a development project. In July of 2021, Mr. Riza forwarded an email to Mr. Montgomery advertising the project.

“FYI! This is the one I want, Safety, Drywall, and Security one project but we all can eat!” Mr. Riza wrote.

It is unclear whether Mr. Adams personally appeared at the fund-raisers. But Mr. Montgomery told Mr. Riza that the mayor would be more likely to if they could promise a certain amount of money would be raised, a practice that is not uncommon among politicians.

Mr. Adams “doesn’t want to do anything if he doesn’t get 25 Gs,” Mr. Montgomery said, according to the indictment.

Mr. Adams’s campaign said Mr. Montgomery appeared to be referring to the standard amount expected of hosts for a general election fund-raiser.

In a July 2021 phone call, Mr. Riza told Mr. Peek: “I know what the campaign finance laws is. Make sure it’s $1,000 in your name and $1,000 in another person’s name because the matching funds is eight-to-one, so $2,000 is $16,000.”