What is KSK, the construction firm at center of Mayor Adams fundraising probe?

A Brooklyn construction company is at the center of a federal investigation into campaign contributions to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, according to multiple reports of a search warrant executed by federal agents.

The firm KSK Construction Group specializes in condo and hotel development near its headquarters in Williamsburg, along with projects elsewhere in the city. The New York Times reported federal investigators are looking into the company’s links to the Turkish government as part of an ongoing inquiry into the mayor’s campaign fundraising operation.

People identifying themselves as KSK employees contributed nearly $14,000 to Adams’ mayoral campaign at a fundraiser on May 7, 2021, according to city campaign finance disclosures. The contributions from KSK employees made the campaign eligible for $18,000 in public matching funds, giving Adams’ campaign an additional boost during a tight Democratic primary race.

Gothamist attempted to contact by phone the 11 contributors who listed KSK as their employer on the disclosure forms. Two immediately hung up after a reporter identified themselves. None of the remaining people returned messages left by voicemail.

KSK has not been charged with wrongdoing related to campaign contributions. A person who answered the phone at the KSK office Friday said the company declined to comment on the investigation, the accusations or whether the FBI visited their office.

The investigation comes as Adams’ campaign already faces scrutiny from Manhattan prosecutors over alleged straw donors — individuals posing as donors to funnel a candidate money from other contributors, without exceeding campaign finance limits. Two of the contributors pleaded guilty to misdemeanor conspiracy charges and have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in an ongoing investigation.

An FBI spokesperson told Gothamist that agents visited the home of Brianna Suggs, a key Adams campaign fundraiser, on Thursday but declined to say whether they executed a search warrant at KSK’s offices.

Adams’ campaign counsel Vito Pitta said the mayor “has not been contacted as part of this inquiry.”

"He has always held the campaign to the highest standards,” Pitta added.

So, what is KSK?

KSK has constructed more than 50 buildings across the city, according to the company's website. That’s not a huge number by NYC real estate standards, but the firm has an appetite for growth, founder Ulgur Aydin said two years ago.

“My hopes and goals for 2022 are to obtain more projects to build, and in the meantime, continue developing,” Aydin told the trade journal Construction Today. “I am certain that, over the next two decades, we will help construct buildings that both give New York City its special aesthetic character and serve as homes for hardworking New Yorkers.”

KSK has at least 33 active construction jobs in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and The Bronx, Department of Buildings records show.

Aydin is listed as general contractor on each of these projects, including a “transient shelter facility and a healthcare clinic” on a vacant lot in The Bronx, according to DOB records.

Aydin founded the firm in 2002 after leaving the company KiSKA Construction Corporation and was later joined by two former KiSKA colleagues, he told Construction Today, including Erden Arkan, who contributed $1,500 to Adams’ campaign in May 2021, with $250 of that amount eligible for an 8-to-1 match.

Brooklyn-based KSK often works with New Jersey-based developer Agime Group, which lists KSK as an affiliate and notes on its website that “most of our NYC developments are executed in partnership with KSK Construction Group LLC.”

Agime’s website also names Arkan, one of KSK's principals, as an advisory board member.

Agime’s CEO Murat Agirnasli did not respond to a phone message Friday. The company did not return a phone message left at its office.

Agime and KSK collaborated on a 54-unit condo high-rise at 570 Broome St. and have worked on various condo complexes near McCarren Park in Williamsburg, according to the companies’ websites.

KSK also built a sustainable “passive house” building on the Upper East Side, according to the company's website.

In May, Aydin purchased a lot near the company’s Williamsburg headquarters for $13.5 million through a limited liability company, property records show.

Has the company faced scrutiny before?

In 2019, a construction worker died on KSK's Broome Street construction site after being crushed by a crane’s counterweight.

The family of victim Gregory Echevarria sued KSK, Agime and other related companies, claiming they failed to properly secure scaffolding and hoists at the site, court records show.

In turn, KSK sued the company United Crane and Rigging, which hired the subcontractor Cranes Express, the Daily News reported. Both lawsuits remain ongoing, with Echevarria’s widow and four children seeking compensation.

KSK Construction has also been accused of negligence in roughly two dozen other job site accidents, according to Gothamist’s review of lawsuits.

Earlier this year, the state Division of Human Rights began investigating Aydin — KSK’s founder — after a Brooklyn developer claimed Aydin had made racist comments about the developer’s wife, the New York Post reported.

The agency said they do not confirm or deny possible investigations.

KSK was working with the developer on a small condo complex known as Gowanus Park.

Earlier this year, the board of managers at the Broome Street condo complex sued KSK’s principals and Agime, claiming they “utterly failed to construct it in accordance with the promises and representations made in the offering plan.”

“Instead, the unit owners were left with a building rife with defective conditions” that do not meet government regulations or building code standards, the lawsuit states.

The KSK principals and Agime attempted and failed to get the complaint dismissed, court records show. The lawsuit is ongoing.

DOB records show no complaints registered at the site since 2020.

Attorney Adam Bailey Leitman represents Agime and said the construction company did a “phenomenal job.”

“The building could not be in better condition,” he said.

Bahar Ostadan contributed reporting.

This story was updated to include comment from an attorney who represents Agime and a response from the Division of Human Rights.