A former aide to New York City Mayor Eric Adams is accused of destroying evidence after the top lawmaker resigned

NEW YORK (AP) — A former New York official was charged Tuesday with witness tampering and destruction of evidence in a federal investigation that led to the bribery indictment of Mayor Eric Adams. The arrest came amid other high-profile departures from Adams' administration.

Federal prosecutors allege Mohamed Bahi, who resigned as community affairs liaison on Monday, advised a businessman and campaign donors to lie to the FBI in June and deleted the encrypted messaging app Signal from his cellphone when FBI agents arrived at his home to search July. Bahi used the app to communicate with Adams, prosecutors said.

Bahi, 40, of Staten Island, was arrested Tuesday and is expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan. Information about an attorney who could speak on his behalf was not listed in an online court filing.

Bahi is the first person, along with Adams, to be charged in the investigation.

In recent weeks, more than half a dozen of the mayor's top aides have departed amid a barrage of searches and subpoenas, as Gov. Kathy Hochul continues to pressure Adams to restructure his administration and provide stability in city government.

First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright submitted her resignation Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss personnel changes.

That exit came a day after Adams confirmed the resignations of Philip Banks, the deputy mayor for public safety, and Winnie Greco, his director of Asian affairs, whose own fundraising efforts for the mayor have come under scrutiny. Last week he announced that the school's chancellor, David Banks – Wright's husband and Philip Banks' brother – would resign later this month.

The city's police commissioner, Edward Caban, and a senior mayoral aide, Timothy Pearson, also resigned. All officers' devices were confiscated by federal investigators. Each has denied wrongdoing.

A voicemail left with a representative for Wright was not immediately returned.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Bahi's allegations “should leave no doubt about the seriousness of any effort to interfere in a federal investigation, particularly when undertaken by a government employee.”

“Our commitment to uncovering the truth and following the facts wherever they lead is unwavering,” Williams said.

Adams, a Democrat, has vowed to stay in office after pleading not guilty Sept. 27 for arraignment that he accepted free or deeply discounted international flights, hotel stays, meals and entertainment valued at approximately $100,000 and solicited illegal campaign contributions from foreign interests.

Hochul, a Democrat who has the power to remove Adams from office, said last week she was working with the mayor to ensure key positions are filled “with people who will take responsibility.”

“We expect change, that’s no secret, and change is beginning,” Hochul said.

Bahi's criminal complaint alleges that he organized a fundraiser at the headquarters of a construction company in Brooklyn in December 2020, where Bahi suggested to the company owner that his employees donate to Adams' campaign and then made the $2,000 payments to the workers refund – slightly less than the maximum allowed by a single donor in the city.

Four employees and the owner donated to the campaign, with the workers' payments reimbursed by the company, the complaint says. All subsequently spoke with law enforcement, and the owner admitted his involvement in the illegal straw donations, according to prosecutors.

His own indictment also accuses Adams of knowingly accepting illegal donations from straw donors – in his case, conspiring to accept campaign contributions from Turkish nationals and concealing the payments by routing them through U.S. citizens. This allowed Adams to release public funds that provided an eight-to-one ratio for small donations, prosecutors said.

At a hearing last week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten said prosecutors would do so pursuing “several related investigations.” and that it was “likely” that additional defendants would be charged and that it was “possible” that additional charges would be filed against Adams.

Bahi's criminal complaint says federal and city authorities began investigating straw donations to the Adams campaign in 2021 when he was running for mayor while holding another elected office, Brooklyn borough president. Adams was sworn in as mayor in 2022.

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Associated Press journalist Ruth Brown contributed to this report.