New York City Mayor Adams, who is suspected of accepting Turkish bribes, is facing federal prosecution which may involve national security secrets. To prevent leaks, Manhattan Assistant U.S. Attorney Cohen wrote a letter to presiding judge Dale Ho on October 3, requesting a unilateral hearing in the absence of the defendant.
According to Gothamist, Cohen requested Judge Ho to hold a unilateral hearing in the absence of Adams or his lawyers, without disclosing the details of the evidence. Defense attorney Shroff, who has experience handling terrorism and espionage cases, mentioned that a unilateral hearing is a special procedure of the court usually used to prevent the leakage of sensitive information. The prosecutor’s request indicates that the bribery case involving Adams may relate to evidence collected through surveillance of foreign individuals.
Shroff pointed out that evidence in the Adams case may have been gathered by various federal government agencies such as the CIA, FBI, NSA, or State Department. The U.S. may be monitoring certain individuals from Turkey but does not want this information exposed to protect national security. However, the government tends to be overly secretive, so the evidence in the Adams case may not necessarily be classified.
Adams faces charges including wire fraud, conspiracy, bribery, and two counts of accepting campaign donations from foreign individuals. Adams has pleaded not guilty, with his lawyer Spiro claiming the case is fundamentally unsubstantiated and that the alleged “bribes” were merely “rewards,” and he is requesting the judge to dismiss the case.