FBI agents raid home of NYC Mayor Adams' key fundraiser

FBI agents raided the home of Brianna Suggs — a key fundraiser for New York City Mayor Eric Adams — in Brooklyn on Thursday morning, according to a bureau spokesperson.

Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign is under scrutiny from the Manhattan district attorney’s office due to allegations that six donors tried to buy political influence with concealed donations that tapped into the city’s generous matching funds program. It’s unclear if the FBI’s investigation is related to that or to the mayor, and the FBI spokesperson declined to go into greater detail.

“Mayor Adams has not been contacted as part of this inquiry," said Adams' campaign counsel Vito Pitta in a statement. "He has always held the campaign to the highest standards.”

A call to Suggs' office was immediately disconnected. A second call went straight to voicemail. Suggs did not immediately respond to an email or to messages sent on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Suggs’ neighbors in Crown Heights said they saw FBI agents enter her residence at around 9 a.m.

“I woke up to the FBI," said neighbor Christopher Burwell. "I saw the FBI on the block and it was really scary.”

A reporter viewed cellphone footage of several FBI agents in bureau vests entering the home and carrying boxes out.

Adams was scheduled to meet with top White House and congressional officials, along with two other U.S. mayors, in Washington on Thursday morning to discuss the ongoing migrant crisis, according to his public schedule. At 6:22 a.m., Adams’ Deputy Press Secretary Kayla Mamalek posted a video of the mayor in an airplane. Several hours later, she wrote, “The mayor is returning to New York City to address a matter. These meetings will be rescheduled as soon as possible.”

Speaking at an unrelated event in the city on Thursday night, Adams said he canceled the series of meetings.

"I have not been contacted by anyone from any law enforcement agency and that's why I came back from D.C. to be here to be on the ground and look at this inquiry as it was made," he said.

Suggs rose up as an intern while working for Adams in 2017, when he was Brooklyn borough president. According to LinkedIn, she later became a special liaison who worked on women’s health issues.

A person familiar with Suggs' work said she reported directly to Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the mayor’s chief adviser who was the deputy Brooklyn borough president. Lewis-Martin's relationship with the mayor stretches back to the 1980s, and she is considered one of his closest confidantes.

According to the same person, Suggs later took on a role with the campaign, where she mostly planned fundraising events, and was considered a close adviser to Adams. After the campaign ended, she took on several lobbying jobs. She was hired as a consultant for a political action committee started by Al Cockfield, a politically influential Brooklyn pastor. His PAC, Striving for a Better New York, has close ties to Adams and paid Suggs roughly $100,000.

Suggs and her Brooklyn-based company, Suggs Solutions LLC, received $149,798 in wages, consultant payments and advance repayments from Adams’ mayoral campaign since 2021, according to city campaign finance records.

State records show Suggs and her company did limited campaign work for other candidates, with former Adams aide Hercules Reid’s campaign paying Suggs’ firm $9,000 for consulting on his failed bid for state Assembly last year. Former Bronx state Senate candidate Miguelina Camilo’s campaign paid Suggs’ firm $10,000 for “professional services” last year, while Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Dakota Ramseur’s campaign paid the firm $5,000 for fundraising fees.

A spokesperson for the Manhattan DA's office declined to comment. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office in the Southern District of New York, which is pursuing a case against Adams' mentee Pastor Lamor Whitehead, also declined to comment.

Jon Campbell and Samantha Max contributed reporting.

This story has been updated with new information.