A former City Hall aide charged with tampering with witnesses in the federal corruption investigation into Mayor Eric Adams is talking with prosecutors about a potential guilty plea — raising the possibility that he might cooperate with them against the mayor.
The discussions were cited in court papers filed on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, but it is unclear whether the talks will result in a plea, and the papers did not indicate whether any possible deal might involve cooperation and testimony against the mayor. Mr. Adams’s trial is scheduled for April 21.
It is not unusual for prosecutors to offer leniency to potential witnesses against the targets of investigations, and the criminal complaint charging the aide, Mohamed Bahi, suggests the case is strong enough that he might well consider such an agreement if he has evidence of value to the government.
Mr. Bahi, 40, served as a City Hall liaison to New York’s Muslim community until he resigned on Oct. 7, the day before he was arrested on federal charges of witness tampering and destruction of evidence.
One of the prosecutors in the case against Mr. Bahi, Derek Wikstrom, filed the papers to ask the U.S. magistrate judge handling the case to give prosecutors and Mr. Bahi’s lawyer more time to discuss a possible plea. Mr. Bahi’s lawyer, Derek Adams, has consented to the request for more time, Mr. Wikstrom wrote. Mr. Bahi is being prosecuted separately from Mr. Adams.
“Defense counsel and the government have had discussions regarding a possible disposition of this case,” Mr. Wikstrom wrote in the two-page submission. “The discussions have not been completed, and we plan to continue our discussions, but do not anticipate a resolution before the deadline.”
The judge, Jennifer E. Willis, granted the request, ordering the legal deadline postponed until Dec. 9.
The defense lawyer, Derek Adams, did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, which is prosecuting the cases against Mr. Bahi and the mayor, declined to comment.
A lawyer for Mayor Adams could not be reached, and a spokeswoman for his legal team did not provide a comment.
Were Mr. Bahi to cooperate with prosecutors, he would not be the first person in the mayor’s orbit to turn against him. The indictment against Mr. Adams, announced on Sept. 26, charged him with bribery, conspiracy, soliciting and accepting foreign campaign donations and wire fraud. The allegations stem from what prosecutors have called a wide-ranging corruption scheme involving the mayor, his campaign and Turkish government officials who sought to influence him.
At least one other person, a former City Hall staffer named Rana Abbasova, has already turned on the mayor. Ms. Abbasova, whose home was searched last November, has been cooperating with prosecutors since a few weeks after the search, people with knowledge of the matter have said. Ms. Abbasova had been Mr. Adams’s liaison to the Turkish community, both when he was Brooklyn borough president and after he was elected mayor in 2021.
The complaint charging Mr. Bahi revealed that a businessman who allegedly made straw donations to the mayor through four of his employees has also been providing information to prosecutors and F.B.I. agents and has admitted wrongdoing in the hopes of receiving leniency.
It is unclear how many other people who had been involved with the mayor are cooperating with the government. But early last month, the lead prosecutor in the mayor’s case, Hagan C. Scotten, said at a hearing that there were others who would testify for the prosecution.
“We expect offering the testimony of multiple witnesses who directly participated with the defendant in the charged conduct,” Mr. Scotten told Judge Dale E. Ho, who is presiding over the mayor’s case. “And they’ll obviously testify about the things they saw him do and heard him say to commit the charged crimes.”
In that hearing, and in another proceeding in the case against Mr. Adams last week, prosecutors have said they will most likely bring additional charges against the mayor and might also bring charges against additional defendants.
Mr. Bahi was charged with witness tampering and destruction of evidence for actions the prosecutors said grew out of the broader investigation into Mr. Adams and his 2021 campaign fund-raising.
The businessman who is cooperating with federal authorities in the case against Mr. Bahi initially lied to federal agents and was urged by Mr. Bahi — who claimed he had spoken to Mr. Adams — to continue doing so, according to the criminal complaint.
In a subsequent meeting with the businessman, Mr. Bahi indicated that he had met with Mr. Adams, and that Mr. Adams believed the businessman was not cooperating with the authorities.
Mr. Bahi also encouraged four other witnesses — the people who prosecutors say made straw donations — to lie to investigators, the complaint said.
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