Turkish businessman hit with probation, fines for funneling illegal cash to Mayor Adams’ campaign
Though the related criminal case against Adams is over, it was revealed in court Friday that Arkan has been cooperating in the city Campaign Finance Board’s ongoing investigation into allegations that the mayor’s 2021 and 2025 campaigns engaged in a variety of straw donor schemes.
Arkan, a Turkish national and owner of Williamsburg-based KSK Construction who first pleaded guilty in January, was on the verge of tears as he accepted his sentence during a morning hearing in Manhattan Federal Court.
“I feel profound sadness for the choices I (made),” he said, his voice cracking up. “I’m sincerely sorry to the New York City taxpayers … I also apologize to this court.”
The cash Arkan must cough up comprises a $9,500 fine and an $18,000 restitution payment to the Campaign Finance Board.
According to his indictment, Arkan, 76, hosted a fundraiser at his offices for Adams’ first mayoral campaign in May 2021 that drew in a total of $14,000 from 11 individuals. Records show Adams’ team then submitted those contributions for public matching funds, netting his campaign an additional $18,000 in taxpayer cash.
Prosecutors allege the donations were illegal, as Arkan reimbursed his employees for making them in violation of federal and local laws, resulting in the public matching funds unlocked also being fraudulent. Additionally, prosecutors allege Arkan made the illicit donations to Adams “at the behest” of Reyhan Ozgur, the Turkish government’s ex-consul general in New York, identified in court papers as “Turkish Official.”
President Trump’s administration dropped the Adams indictment as part of a controversial deal that didn’t address the merits of the case. The presiding judge, Dale Ho, wrote the deal “smacks of a bargain” in which the mayor was spared prosecution in exchange for assisting Trump’s immigration agenda; Adams has denied any quid pro quo.
Arkan’s defense attorney, Jonathan Rosen, questioned during Friday’s court hearing how it makes sense for the Trump-controlled Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office to quash the mayor’s case, but move forward with Arkan’s, given the overlap between them.
“Nothing can normalize this unfair exercise of prosecutorial discretion,” Rosen said.
Ho, who has presided over the Arkan case as well, acknowledged there was “incongruity” between his indictment and the Adams case. However, the judge rejected the idea Arkan shouldn’t face the music as a result.
“It is not a victimless crime,” Ho said, arguing Arkan’s offenses violated the public trust in a way that “breeds cynicism.”
In a sentencing submission filed earlier this month, Rosen wrote Arkan “did not coordinate his decision to use straw donors” with the Turkish government, though he did acknowledge his client was first introduced to Adams via the Turkish consul general.
Rosen wrote Arkan devised the straw donor scheme after failing to line up enough individual donors to contribute a minimum of $10,000 that the mayor’s campaign had informed him he needed to come up with in order to host the fundraiser.
In a letter to the court filed ahead of Arkan’s sentencing, the Campaign Finance Board’s general counsel, Joseph Gallagher, wrote his crimes “wasted taxpayer dollars” and “deteriorated the integrity” of the city’s public matching funds program.
Gallagher also wrote: “The Board appreciates that Mr. Arkan is cooperating with the Board’s ongoing audit and investigation of the Adams 2021 and 2025 Campaigns.”
As part of its ongoing probe, the CFB has denied the mayor millions of dollars in public matching funds for his reelection bid this year, declaring it continues to believe he has “violated the law” despite the dismissal of his federal case. The mayor maintains he has done nothing wrong and is contesting the matching funds denial.
Arkan is the first person to be sentenced as part of a criminal case connected to the mayor’s historic indictment.
A second man, former Adams administration official Mohamed Bahi, pleaded guilty earlier this week to orchestrating a similar straw donor scheme in which another real estate executive of Uzbek descent pumped illegal cash into the mayor’s 2021 campaign by making contributions in the names of employees. Bahi is expected to be sentenced this fall.
