Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
A former aide to New York Mayor Eric Adams has been sentenced to three years of probation, including a year of home confinement, for soliciting illegal campaign contributions on the mayor’s behalf.
Mohammad Bahi, who worked as a liaison for the city’s Muslim communities, was sentenced on Tuesday. During the proceedings, a federal judge highlighted the “elephant in the room”: the fact that Mr. Adams’s own corruption charges were “erased” through “remarkable interference” by the Trump administration.
“There is a notable absence here of the person at the top of the pyramid,” said Judge Dale E. Ho, who also presided over Adams’s dismissed case. “It is difficult to avoid the impression that Mr. Bahi, as his lawyer said, is left here holding the bag.”
41-year-old Bahi had pleaded guilty to helping solicit illegal donations from employees. brooklyn The construction company during a December 2020 fundraiser for Adams’ first mayoral campaign.
The case arose out of a widespread corruption investigation into Adams and his campaign, which led to the mayor’s conviction on bribery and campaign finance crimes in September 2024. Earlier this year, Justice Department A motion was made to dismiss the case against Adams, arguing that it was hindering his cooperation with the President donald trump‘s immigration preferences.
The extraordinary development led to protests and resignations from several top prosecutors, including the interim US Attorney manhattanWho accused Adams of making a quid pro quo deal with Trump.
Adams has denied wrongdoing, and has insisted that the charges were political retaliation for her criticism of President Joe Biden’s immigration policy. He ran for re-election this year as an independent, but ended his campaign prematurely.
In the months since the dismissal, prosecutors have continued their cases against people accused in schemes tied to the mayor’s 2021 campaign, including a Brooklyn construction giant who worked with a Turkish government official to make illegal donations to Adams.
Bahi’s lawyer, Derek Adams, addressed those unusual circumstances Tuesday, accusing federal prosecutors of sparing “people in positions of power.”
He added, “The public sentiment was that his client was left “holding the bag” while Adams got off.
When Ho asked the government how they should weigh the fact that Adams was not facing charges, the prosecutor, Robert Sobelman, demurred, saying he could only discuss the case against Bahi.
For his part, Bahi told the judge that he accepted “full responsibility for my actions” and focused on rebuilding trust. “Election integrity is one of our most sacred rights and I have violated it,” he said, crying.
Bahi previously said he was “instructed” by another Adams volunteer to set up the straw donation plan, which allowed the campaign to collect larger contributions through the city’s generous matching fund program.
Prosecutors also said that after learning that federal agents were outside his home, Bahi deleted Signal, an encrypted messaging app, from his phone. He had urged the judge to sentence him to one year in jail.
After learning he would avoid jail, Bahi embraced dozens of his supporters in the courtroom. Their imprisonment would allow them to leave home for work and attend religious services, among other reasons.
“I feel satisfied that this whole ordeal is over,” he told reporters as he left the courtroom. “Spending time with my family for a year is probably the best thing I could do.”