Probation sought for business owner over illegal donations to Eric Adams campaign

The Brooklyn construction company owner who skirted donation limits for Mayor Eric Adams' 2021 campaign by using his employees as straw donors should get a year of probation, pay $18,000 in restitution and a $9,500 fine, federal prosecutors recommended.

Erden Arkan, 76, of KSK Construction Group, pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to commit wire fraud after prosecutors said he worked with the Adams campaign to funnel illegal cash to the mayor’s election bid.

The business owner will be the first person to be punished in the federal investigation into the mayor for allegedly soliciting bribes from foreign nationals.

The Department of Justice under the Trump administration interceded on Adams’ behalf and dropped the prosecution against the mayor, claiming that it interfered with his ability to support the president’s aggressive anti-immigration agenda.

In the Adams indictment handed down last September, Arkan was identified as “Businessman-5,” who sought favor from Adams, at the time the Brooklyn borough president, by donating to his campaign.

Arkan’s lawyer, Jonathan Rosen, said his client sent Adams a letter in April 2021 letting him know how he could lift the burden of the business community during the pandemic and offered to hold a fundraiser for him.

Prosecutors said campaign staffers informed him that Adams would not show up unless the donations reached at least $15,000.

After reaching out to his fellow businesspeople in the Turkish business community, he could only raise $1,000, his lawyer said.

“Fearing embarrassment from the now-impending fundraiser, Erden pivoted to a new strategy. Ten employees would each make a $1,250 campaign donation,” Rosen said in his sentencing submission, adding, “Although misguided, Erden acted to avoid what he saw as an unfair imposition on his employees.”

Though Adams will not be prosecuted for the crimes alleged in the indictment supported by Arkan, his lawyer said that it is unfair for him to be punished instead of the mayor.

“It should never have been Mr. Arkan holding the bag for Mayor Adams. Mr. Arkan acknowledges that he acted illegally. However, Mr. Arkan’s acceptance of responsibility cannot validate the invalid,” Rosen said in his sentencing submission.

“Remarkably, the government’s frantic push to convict Mr. Arkan had nothing to do with proving the merits of the Adams case, which involved alleged corruption in ‘the form of illegal foreign influence on our democratic system.’ ”

Rosen also suggested 1 year of probation would be appropriate for his client’s crime.

Prosecutors do not charge that Arkan ever called in his favor to the mayor.

“The defendant, to his credit, recognized the criminality of his conduct and accepted responsibility without requiring the government to expend additional resources to affirmatively bring charges against him or produce discovery material,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman said in the government’s submission.

One other federal defendant will remain after the judge sentences Arkan on Friday.

Mohamed Bahi, the mayor’s former chief liaison with the Muslim community, is also expected to plead guilty for funneling money through straw donors. Prosecutors say that he laundered cash donations, much like Arkan, through employees who he then reimbursed. His case continues to wind its way through federal court.

Although the mayor no longer faces criminal prosecution for the corruption charges, the cloud created by the federal prosecution has severely damaged his chances of reelection.

Adams bowed out of the Democratic Party primary and will run as an independent candidate in the general election in the fall. He will be running against the Democratic nominee, Assemb. Zohran Mamdani; former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Jim Walden, who are running as independent candidates; and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate.