Turkish businesswoman Demet Sabancı Çetindoğan, who provided free or discounted luxury stays at her İstanbul hotel to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, has denied any corrupt dealings with the mayor, saying she was just trying to show him “Turkish hospitality,” Deutsche Welle Turkish edition reported.
Adams faces charges of bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy and soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals in a 57-page indictment unsealed last Thursday.
In the indictment Sabancı, whose name is not mentioned, is referred to as “a wealthy Turkish businesswoman (the “Businesswoman”), who later gave ADAMS multiple free or steeply discounted stays in a luxury hotel she owned, and organized contributions to the 2021 Campaign.“
According to the indictment, Adams received illegal donations and more than $100,000 worth of free plane tickets and luxury hotel stays from wealthy Turkish nationals and at least one government official in a nearly decade-long corruption scheme.
The businesswoman said in statement to Deutsche Welle that she made no donations to Adams’ election campaign and that she only intended to show the mayor Turkish hospitality by hosting him at her hotel at a discounted rate, just as she does for other high-level guests.
Sabancı is a member of the Sabancı family, one of the wealthiest in Turkey, and owner of the St. Regis Hotel in İstanbul, which is cited in the indictment against Adams. She is also co-founder of Demsa Holding with her husband, Cengiz Çetindoğan.
According to the indictment, Adams also accepted valuable travel and hospitality benefits for himself and his companions during their visits in Turkey.
For example, during a stay in İstanbul on a trip in July and August 2017, Adams, one of his relatives and his campaign liaison officer “accepted a heavily discounted stay at the St. Regis Istanbul.”
“The St. Regis Istanbul is owned by the Businesswoman, who sought to ingratiate herself with ADAMS. ADAMS stayed in the ‘Bentley Suite’,” the indictment says, also featuring photos of the luxury room.
In 2017 Adams, who was the Brooklyn Borough president at the time, paid $600 to spend two nights in the luxury suite at the St. Regis, far below the actual cost of $7,000.
In 2019 he stayed for free in the “Cosmopolitan Suite” at the St. Regis, which would normally cost $3,000. This stay was arranged by a Turkish organizer who brought Adams together with Turkish businesspeople.
The mayor states that he visited Turkey at least six times and met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan when he was Brooklyn borough president.
Sabancı said she is voluntarily engaged in the promotion of Turkey within and outside the country against “anti-Turkey propaganda” and has always hosted such high-level foreign guests to promote intercultural dialogue with other countries and eliminate biased views against Turkey.
Sabancı said she also hosted other foreign guests at her hotel such as Princes Michael of Kent and Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, both members of the British royal family, former US secretaries of state Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright and famous US television producer Oprah Winfrey.
She said she met Adams at a UN event in New York in March 2016 and that the last time she contacted the mayor was to congratulate him when he was elected in November 2021, saying she has never made any donations to his election campaign.
US federal law prohibits contributions, donations, expenditures (including independent expenditures) and disbursements solicited, directed, received or made directly or indirectly by or from foreign nationals in connection with any federal, state or local election.
Adams and his staff are accused in the indictment of disguising the foreign money donated to his election campaign by funneling it through US citizens. His campaign received more than $10 million in matching public funds as a result of the false certifications, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors allege these bribes were offered in exchange for Adams’ political influence to speed up the approval of the Turkish Consulate General building in New York City.
Meanwhile Adams, who appeared before a judge in a Manhattan federal court on Friday, pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud, soliciting illegal campaign donations and bribery conspiracy involving Turkish citizens.
Adams is the first sitting New York City mayor to be criminally indicted in a case that marks a stunning downfall for a man once touted as a future Democratic Party star.