Six indicted for illegally donating to Mayor Adams’ campaign
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the indictment of six individuals who prosecutors say illegally funneled money into Eric Adams’ mayoral campaign. AP file photo by Mary Altaffer
By Ryan Schwach
Six supporters of Eric Adams’ 2021 campaign mayor for may were indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Friday for a campaign finance scheme concocted to curry favor with the future City Hall occupant.
Neither Adams nor his campaign are implicated in the indictment.
According to the 37-count indictment, Dwayne Montgomery, Shamsuddin Riza, Millicent Redick, Ronald Peek, Yahya Mushtaq, Shahid Mushtaq and the company Ecosafety Consultants Inc. are accused of donating thousands of dollars to the mayor’s campaign in other people’s names in an effort to illegally generate matching funds, paid for by taxpayers.
According to court documents shared by the district attorney’s office, the scheme consisted of structuring campaign contributions to maximize the amount of additional money gained through the New York City Matching Funds Program for Adams’ campaign.
The indictment alleges the scheme was led by Montgomery and Riza, who sought influence in a potential future Adams Administration for themselves as well as their associates, many of whom owned companies that could do business with the city.
The indictment also contains a phone conversation where Montgomery told Riza, "[the candidate] said he doesn't want to do anything if he doesn't get 25 Gs."
The conspirators organized fundraisers and facilitated a straw donor scheme for unlawful campaign contributions by using multiple donors to hide the fact that the money was instead coming from the six defendants, prosecutors said. Straw donors — people who receive money from another entity to contribute to a campaign in their own name — were allegedly recruited for the scheme and were paid back by the conspirators.
Montgomery is a retired NYPD inspector who knew Adams socially, Hellgate reported.
The defendants’ company, Ecosafety Consultants Inc., is based in Long Island City, and has an ongoing contract with the city.
“We allege a deliberate scheme to game the system in a blatant attempt to gain power,” Bragg said in a statement. “The indictment charges the defendants with subverting campaign finance laws by improperly structuring campaign contributions. The New York City Campaign Finance Board program is meant to support our democracy and amplify the voices of New York City voters. When the integrity of that program is corrupted, all New Yorkers suffer.”
Prosecutors say that prior to a virtual fundraiser held on Aug. 20, 2020 in support of Adams’ campaign, Montgomery recruited donors to contribute, and told them would then pay them back, which the donors did not disclose. None of the straw donors were named in the indictment.
Another fundraiser was held at a restaurant in Sunnyside in Queens, where Riza allegedly approached donors and shared information about getting around the campaign finance limits using the scheme.
As for the Queens-based EcoSafety Consultants, Riza and Ronald Peek counseled the owners of the company, Yahya Mushtaq and Shahid Mushtaq, about the scheme, according to the indictment.
“You could use a straw man,” Riza told Yahya Mushtaq during a phone call. “Whoever’s on the LLC or the incorporation, those are the people that do business with the city. Anybody else is an employee, the employees don’t fall under that criteria.”
The owners then purchased money orders and made campaign contributions in the names of their employees without their knowledge, according to the DA.
