Eric Adamswanted to see the world, to see it in style.
In October, he went again to Istanbul and Beijing, and then on to Nepal.
Those tickets were, all told, worth $51,000.
Photo illustration by Matthew Cooley. Photographs in illustration by Corey Sipkin/AP; Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images; Cem Ozdel/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
But he got it all for free.
The relationship deepened from there, as Adams began to run for mayor in earnest.
The Turks allegedly funneled money to his campaign through false entities, or straw donors.
Accepting such donations is against the law and Adams allegedly received public matching funds based on these contributions.
It also assumes that the Turks were the only government to allegedly turn Adams into an unregistered foreign agent.
An aide to New Yorks governor was indicted as a foreign agent on Sept. 3.
Anex-corrections officergot 20 months for harassing an artist who lampooned Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
In September, prosecutors in Manhattan revealed an alleged Russian plot tofunnel $10 million to MAGA influencers.
This is a partial list.
A snippet of a list, really.
But they all agreed that such efforts are widespread and being directed by countries across the globe.
Yan Xiong was a student activist there,jailedfor being part of the big Tiananmen Square protests.
By 2021, Xiong was running for Congress in lower Manhattan.
He could tell that something was off.
Hed show up to candidate forums, and then wouldnt be allowed to speak.
Hed attempt to raise money, no dice.
There was an old man who wouldnt stop taking pictures of Yans campaign.
Xiong would go out to his driveway late at night and find a car there, headlights blazing.
It was unnerving, but Xiong was used to looking over his shoulder.
The goal: to surveil and sabotage the chaplains long-shot campaign.
Go deep and dig up something.
If the private investigator couldnt come up with or make up any dirt, the P.I.
hired by the Chinese government never found any dirt on Yan, or physically attacked him.
But the attempt to ratfuck Yans campaign continues to leave a wound.
Yans getting ready to move for the fifth time in two years in part for safety, for psychology.
In August, prosecutorsunveiledanother layer to the alleged plot against him.
The old man whod been taking all those pictures?
To Yan, hes another victim of a regime thats all-too-willing to extend its reach here.
Its a tragedy, thats my opinion, Xiong tells me.
And Yans case isnt the only one in which there seem to be shadowy figures just out of frame.
Shujun Wang, another longtime Chinese dissident, was convicted in late Augustof working as Beijings spy.
What was he doing there?
He is nobody, the lawyer answered.
Over the years, she gained leverage.
She did her job.
Didnt cause any trouble, never caused any drama.
But in hindsight, [there was] a lot of trust in that particular position.
Not how it played in Beijing, that source tells me.
Hochul made sure to attend Chinese American community celebrations and events to promote trade with Beijing.
Sun made sure there were all sorts of meetings Hochulwouldnttake, wouldnt even know were offered.
Hochul began to be quoted favorably and often by Beijings official state news agency.
As Suns responsibilities increased, her profile grew.
She worked with legislators when Korean American nail salons were revealed to be serially underpaying their workers.
She helped steer money to Asian American groups as threats to them rose during the pandemic.
By 2021, Hochul was governor.
Sun had a bigger title, deputy chief of staff, and was displaying sharper elbows.
This might seem arcane and sort of small-ball.
Who cares if some local pol doesnt issue a Taiwan proclamation?
Have a strong downward pressure on the things that China wants to quiet.
Linda Suns case never reached that kind of crisis point.
But her value to Chinese officials was clear.
The wire transfers were in the millions by 2021.
People were definitely talking about how she went from rags to riches overnight, Kim tells me.
But all of a sudden, now shes living in a mansion.
And in a sweet vacation home, too.
SUN AND ADAMS ARE the first local officials to be charged with acting as agents of a foreign power.
They probably wont be the last, or even the last in New York.
These diasporas also can wield outsized power in local politics, too.
They each poured more than $600,000 into that tiny-turnout primary race.
Adams immediate predecessor, de Blasio, dodged indictment for violating campaign finance laws, but not by much.
Especially New York City.
So lets talk about the mayor.
Adams has beenducking corruption allegations and playing diaspora politics for more than 15 years.
Some of those events actually upset his Turkish government contacts, according to the indictment.
And the politicking seemingly continued overseas.
Its totally appropriate, he said after the first of the trips to China, in 2014.
Im not going to be a MetroCard borough president Im going to be a passport borough president.
City Hall wont say what all of the trips were for.
(They didnt respond to requests to comment for this story.)
MAYBE ALL OF THESE connections were on the up-and-up.
Of course they did.
Huang was a gregarious, effective, charming diplomat.
This is personal for him.
They did find some straw donors, and a top aide did go to jail.
But Liu himself was only fined $26,000 proof, he says, that the whole investigation was overheated.
Nor is it a one-off.
By that time, the NYPD had fired him.
It bothers me that theres no accountability of any kind.
But theres a lot of fear right now in the Asian American community, she adds.
A formerRepublican Congressmanis under indictment for covertly working for Venezuelas dictator.
The MAGA crowd can whine all they want about the #resistance obsession with Russia, Russia, Russia.
It takes a kind of willful blindness not to see a pattern here.
This isnt a Republican problem or a Democratic problem its completely bipartisan, Michel tells me.
And as were now seeing, its not just one level of government these regimes are targeting.
That changed after the 2016 election, when Trump recruited the O.G.
Its not exactly dying down, either.
I would say that a couple things are true in this specific situation.
Yes, there are more investigations, because there are allowed to be.
Theres a good argument that the number of prosecutions isnt even the right metric to gauge foreign influence.
Biden talked in 2020 about banning former officials from lobbying for foreign powers.
It was just talk.
Thats allowed Americans closely aligned with foreign governments to make enormous investments in shaping U.S. policy.
None of this violates any laws.
But maybe thats beside the point.
The real foreign influence scandal, Michel tells me, is how much of it is perfectly legal.
If youre mad at outside actors for exploiting Americas system, dont be.
Try directing your anger a little closer to home.
All of these politicians on the take, we voted for them.
The bullshit China or Iran pumps out on TikTok?
Its downright factual compared to the nonsense we Americans push one another.
The Congressweelected has bottled up nearly every attempt to close these foreign-funding loopholes.
The campaignswesupported went along with the Supreme Courts decision to make elections a feeding frenzy.
This is a choice.
Collectively, we made it.
Pictures werepostedto the consulates website two days later.
Consul General Huang Ping is performing his duties as normal, read a statement sent out to reporters.
A few hours after he was indicted, Huangs longtime interlocutor Eric Adams promised to do much the same.
My day to day will not change.
