A Brooklyn building magnate was sentenced Friday to a 12 months of probation for working with a Turkish authorities official to funnel unlawful marketing campaign contributions to New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams, resolving one in every of two associated federal instances after the mayor’s prison fees have been dropped.
Erden Arkan, 76, instructed Manhattan federal Decide Dale Ho that he regretted his “poor judgments” in participating within the straw donor scheme, which helped Adams fraudulently acquire public cash for his 2021 mayoral bid beneath town’s matching funds program.
Ho cited Arkan’s age and in any other case clear report in imposing the sentence, telling the Turkish-born businessman that his immigrant success story “exemplifies the American dream.”
“I hope that you don’t let this one mistake define you,” Ho instructed Arkan.
Arkan confronted as much as six months in jail beneath federal sentencing tips, however prosecutors and the federal probation officer agreed that no jail time was warranted. Along with probation, he should additionally pay a $9,500 high-quality and $18,000 in restitution.
Arkan pleaded responsible in January to a conspiracy cost in Manhattan federal court docket. Weeks later, President Donald Trump’s Justice Division pressured prosecutors to drop their underlying case in opposition to Adams, finally getting it dismissed.
In court docket Friday, Arkan’s lawyer Jonathan Rosen blasted the federal government for persevering with to pursue his case after getting Adams’ fees dismissed.
“To put it mildly, this is a very unusual case. In fact, it is unprecedented,” Rosen argued.
In February, Justice Division management ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors to drop Adams’ case, arguing that it was hindering the Democratic mayor’s means to help the Republican administration’s immigration crackdown.
Ho, who additionally oversaw the mayor’s case, dismissed his fees in April. In a written opinion, he agreed it was the one sensible consequence but additionally criticized what he mentioned was the federal government’s “troubling” rationale for wanting the fees thrown out.
Whereas Adams was spared, prosecutors continued to pursue associated instances in opposition to Arkan and a former aide to the mayor, Mohamed Bahi.
Bahi, who served as Metropolis Corridor’s chief liaison to the Muslim group, pleaded responsible on Tuesday to soliciting straw donations for Adams’ mayoral marketing campaign from staff of a unique Brooklyn building firm at a December 2020 fundraiser.
Arkan acknowledged in his January plea that he knowingly violated the regulation by reimbursing staff of his building agency for his or her donations to Adams’ marketing campaign.
Briefly remarks Friday, he apologized to metropolis taxpayers who bankroll the matching funds program, telling Ho: “I love this city. I dedicated my life to making it better. It pains me that I have harmed it.”
Based on prosecutors, Adams personally solicited donations from Arkan and a Turkish consular official at an April 2021 dinner. The next month, Arkan held a fundraiser on the headquarters of his building firm, KSK, wherein 10 staff donated between $1,200 and $1,500 to the marketing campaign. They have been later reimbursed by Arkan, making them unlawful straw donations.
Adams then used these funds to fraudulently acquire public cash beneath town’s matching funds program, which offers a beneficiant match for small-dollar donations, prosecutors allege.
A widely known member of New York’s Turkish group, Arkan’s ties to Adams first emerged in November 2023 after federal investigators searched the businessman’s residence, together with the house of Adams’ chief fundraiser and his liaison to the Turkish group.
Adams pleaded not responsible to bribery and different fees after a 2024 indictment accused him of accepting unlawful marketing campaign contributions and journey reductions from a Turkish official and others — and returning the favors by, amongst different issues, serving to Turkey open a diplomatic constructing with out passing fireplace inspections.
At a Feb. 19 listening to that precipitated the dismissal of his case, Adams instructed Ho: “I have not committed a crime.” The primary-term mayor, a former police captain, skipped the June Democratic major and is at the moment operating for reelection as an impartial.
