THEY’RE 11 BIZ ‘STRAW MEN’
Gave Adams similar amounts on same day
Eleven employees of the Brooklyn developer embroiled in an FBI probe involving one of Mayor Adams’ top fundraisers all made donations to Hizzoner’s campaign on the same day in 2021 — and for nearly identical amounts.
One focus of the investigation is whether Adams’ campaign conspired with the KSK Construction Group and the Turkish government to use “straw donors” to illegally funnel foreign cash into Hizzoner’s campaign coffers in exchange for favors, law-enforcement sources have said.
A straw donor is a person or company that illegally makes a donation with someone else’s money but using their own name to hide its source.
Sertac Varol, a Queens resident listed in campaign filings as a “partner” at KSK — and as giving $1,250 to the Adams campaign — told The City news website he doesn’t recall making the donation.
Yet he was one of at least nine KSK employees listed in campaign finance filings as having each donated $1,250 — all on May 7, 2021 — to Adams’ campaign, according to records reviewed by The Post. Two others gave slightly different amounts.
Adams on Friday tried to downplay the FBI raiding the home of his top campaign fundraiser, Brianna Suggs.
“Where’s there’s smoke, there’s not always fire,” he insisted to Dan Mannarino on PIX11. “I have full confidence in [Suggs]. She has done an amazing job. She will stay with the campaign team.”
But in a separate statement, the mayor appeared less sure.
“I am outraged and angry if anyone attempted to use the campaign to manipulate our democracy and defraud our campaign,’’ he said. “I want to be clear, I have no knowledge, direct or otherwise, of any im
proper fundraising activity — and certainly not of any foreign money. We will of course work with officials to respond to inquiries as appropriate — as we always have.”
Details of the nearly $14,000 in total donations from 11 KSK employees came to light a day after it emerged the feds were investigating if any funds were illegally funneled to Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign as part of an alleged kickback scheme involving the Williamsburg company and the Turkish government.
The company’s Turkish owner, Erden Arkan, coughed up slightly more to the Adams campaign on May 7, 2021, donating $1,500, the filings show.
The job titles of other KSK workers listed in the campaign filings range from “project managers” and “construction” to “finance director.” The donations were made at a fundraiser organized by KSK’s owner, The City reported, citing internal campaign documents.
Abigal Nitka — a woman listed as an “engineer/lawyer” for KSK — refused to talk when The Post buzzed her penthouse apartment in Williamsburg. “I’m not making any comments right now,’’ she said. When contacted by The City, she said, “We’re innocent.’’
The Post has reached out to the other employees listed in the filings but has yet to receive comment.
KSK also didn’t respond to requests for comment Friday.
The firm specializes in luxe condo projects, according to its website.
The company has at least one project under construction in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood, records show.
In addition to eyeing KSK, the FBI also is reportedly looking into Bay Atlantic University — a tiny Turkish-owned institution in Washington, DC, that also has ties to Adams.
The mayor’s 2021 campaign accepted five $2,000 donations from apparent Bay Atlantic employees during a fundraiser in September 2021 but returned the money 17 days later, The City reported.
“The campaign had raised more money than it could spend,” a spokesman for Adams’ first mayoral campaign told The Post when asked why the donations were returned.
Adams’ 2021 campaign counsel Vito Pitta said in a statement, “Immediately upon learning about the federal inquiry, the campaign started an extensive review of all documents and actions by campaign workers connected to the contributors in question.”
Investigators have sought documents about records of travel to Turkey by any of the campaign’s employees or associates and documents that could shed light on the campaign’s interactions with the Turkish government, The New York Times reported, citing a copy of the search warrant.
During the raid on Suggs’ home, the feds seized three iPhones, two laptops and a slew of papers and other evidence — including a manila folder labeled “Eric Adams.”
Neither Suggs nor the mayor has been arrested or charged with a crime.