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    • Eric Adams ‘forgot’ the password when the FBI came for his phone, the feds say
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    Eric Adams ‘forgot’ the password when the FBI came for his phone, the feds say

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    Who among us hasn’t lost a password?

    There’s hardly a device or service that doesn’t require a unique set of numbers, letters, sentences (or fingerprints and facial expressions) before the user can access what’s rightfully theirs.

    Or rightly ordered by the court.

    Last November, New York Mayor Eric Adams told FBI agents that he had made an innocent mistake by changing — and then forgetting — the passcode on his cell phone, making it harder for investigators to discover its contents. to research.

    A five-count federal indictment unsealed Thursday in Manhattan says it was more than just a mistake.

    More: New York Mayor Eric Adams charged with bribery and foreign financing

    Prosecutors say Adams accepted illegal foreign donations from Turkey, defrauded the city’s public campaign financing program and leaned on the fire department to allow a new Turkish consulate skyscraper to open without a security inspection.

    Adams, who has proclaimed his innocence, is the first sitting New York mayor to be indicted in modern times.

    Phone calls, payphones

    The 57-page indictment is steeped in cellphone scandals, a damning trail that includes messages in which an Adams campaign official allegedly jumped at the chance to make $100,000 in illegal Turkish contributions during the 2021 mayoral campaign. (Adams won the Democratic primary that year with a almost 7,000 votes.)

    Last November 2, the former police commissioner was in Washington for a meeting at the White House when he learned that the FBI had visited the home of his top fundraiser, Brianna Suggs. Suggs called Adams five times before answering the door, prosecutors say.

    The mayor canceled the meeting at the White House and fled back to New York.

    During an interview with the FBI, an associate of Adams apologized and while she was in the bathroom, she allegedly deleted encrypted messaging apps from her phone that she had used to communicate with Adams, a Turkish businessman, and others, the indictment said.

    Four days later, the FBI arrived armed with a search warrant for Adams’ own phones, but the mayor only had his two official devices with him. His personal phone – which he used to discuss campaign finance and, reportedly, official favors for the Turkish government – ​​was at home.

    An absent-minded (now indicted) mayor

    On November 5, Adams turned in that cell phone, but there was a problem.

    “When Adams pulled out his personal cell phone the next day in response to a subpoena, it became ‘locked’ so the device required a password to open,” the complaint said. “Adams claimed that after learning of the investigation into his conduct, he changed his password ‘that same day’ and increased the complexity of his password from four digits to six.”

    The mayor said he changed the password to prevent members of his staff from accidentally deleting anything.

    “But, Adams further alleged, he had forgotten the password he had just set, and so was unable to provide the FBI with a password to unlock the phone,” the complaint said.

    It’s unclear whether investigators were able to crack Adams’ phone without the newly created six-digit password. The indictment quotes from numerous text messages exchanged by members of his circle.

    More: Forgot your password? That’s because blanket password advice is bad, experts say

    The phone call was just one of many attempts by Adams and others to “conceal their unlawful conduct from public and law enforcement scrutiny,” according to the indictment.

    Earlier this month, federal agents seized phones from the Adams police chief, who later resigned, two deputy mayors, the school’s chancellor and a close aide.

    Early Thursday morning, federal agents raided the mayor’s official residence, Gracie Mansion, to seize another Adams phone.

    There was no answer at that number when USA TODAY called Thursday afternoon.

    Vaseline
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