Federal authorities, as part of a corruption investigation, are examining a New York City pastor and a political action committee he formed to support Mayor Eric Adams’s agenda, according to people with knowledge of the inquiry.
The criminal investigation adds to the welter of corruption inquiries involving the mayor or members of his inner circle, a level of scrutiny unprecedented in and around City Hall in recent New York City history.
The precise scope of the investigation is unclear, but federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and the F.B.I. are focused at least in part on the conduct of the pastor, the Rev. Alfred Cockfield II, and the finances of his political action committee, Striving for a Better New York, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Two weeks ago, the people said, F.B.I. agents searched the Far Rockaway home of Mr. Cockfield, who formed the committee three years ago to support Mr. Adams’s agenda.
Mr. Cockfield did not respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Mr. Adams’s criminal defense lawyer also declined to comment.
Mr. Cockfield was a member of the mayor’s transition team and appeared onstage with him at his election night victory party despite having pleaded guilty in 1998 to transporting three kilograms of cocaine for a drug organization called the Poison Clan.
One person with knowledge of the federal investigation involving Mr. Cockfield’s committee said the inquiry was also linked to Weihong Hu, a hotel developer with close ties to Mr. Adams and Mr. Cockfield. Mr. Cockfield has worked as a consultant for Ms. Hu, according to a report in the nonprofit news organization The City.
Ms. Hu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Neither she, Mr. Cockfield or his committee have been accused of wrongdoing, and it is unclear whether the investigation will result in any charges.
Spokesmen for the F.B.I. and for the office of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace, declined to comment.
Mr. Cockfield formed the political action committee in 2021, after Mr. Adams had won the Democratic mayoral primary and his election as mayor was all but assured. The group’s stated purpose was advancing Mr. Adams’s agenda and supporting like-minded candidates.
Mr. Adams and his team helped steer donors to the group.
But much of the money that the committee raised ended up going to Mr. Cockfield and his associates, including Brianna Suggs, who worked for the committee even as she was also acting as the mayor’s chief fund-raiser.
Ms. Suggs’s home would later be searched as part of a separate federal investigation into the mayor’s campaign fund-raising, one that resulted in him being indicted in September on bribery and other charges. Mr. Adams has pleaded not guilty and vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Ms. Suggs has not been charged in that case and there is no indication that she is under scrutiny in connection with the investigation involving Mr. Cockfield.
Months after it was created, the committee drew attention from state regulators.
In 2022, the enforcement arm of the state Board of Elections raised concerns about 39 donations worth nearly $100,000 the committee had accepted from limited liability companies without disclosing the names of the companies’ owners, as legally required.
The committee ultimately refunded the donations and paid a $1,000 fine.
Last year, Michael Johnson, the head of the board’s enforcement arm, expressed “significant concerns regarding potential violations of New York Election Law” in a letter to the committee’s lawyer acquired by The New York Times via a public records request.
Mr. Johnson specifically flagged the committee’s $60,000 donation to a charter school run by Mr. Cockfield, a sum that represented more than 7 percent of the committee’s expenditures. He also questioned Mr. Cockfield’s compensation, which from May 2022 and December of that year totaled more than $144,000, or about 17 percent of all expenditures.
Mr. Johnson also raised concerns about $90,000 the committee paid to Ms. Suggs.
Excluding legal fees, roughly half of the committee’s expenditures went to compensation, Mr. Johnson concluded.
Martin Connor, a lawyer for the committee at the time, defended the expenditures in a written reply, noting Ms. Suggs’s fund-raising efforts and experience; Mr. Cockfield’s master’s degree in business administration; and the fact that the law governing political committees “does not contain any qualifications” for the person running a political committee.
Ultimately, Mr. Cockfield’s charter school refunded the donation to his political action committee.
Mr. Connor did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
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