By James Fanelli, msn.com | Editorial Credit: Lev Radin / shutterstock.com

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the elected official who would replace Mayor Eric Adams if he resigns, accepted political contributions from a businessman who is accused of orchestrating illegal donations to Adams.

Earlier this year, Williams’s re-election campaign received a total of $5,000 in donations from Brooklyn, N.Y., construction contractor Tolib Mansurov and two of his company’s employees, city campaign-finance records show.

A federal indictment unsealed last week against Adams alleges that Mansurov illegally reimbursed four of his employees who each donated $2,000 to Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign. Mansurov, who also directly contributed $2,000 to the mayor’s 2021 campaign, later received favors from Adams, prosecutors said.

The contractor, an Uzbek American, got help from Adams and his assistants in arranging events celebrating the national heritage of his ethnic community, according to prosecutors. The mayor also helped to resolve a stop-work order that the city Buildings Department had imposed on one of Mansurov’s building projects, according to the indictment. Additionally, records show Mansurov donated $1,000 to Adams’s re-election campaign last year.

Mansurov is referred to only as Businessman-4 in the Adams indictment and hasn’t been charged with wrongdoing. He didn’t respond to requests for comment. State and city campaign-finance records show he has donated only to the campaigns of Adams and Williams.

A spokesman for Williams said the public advocate met Mansurov as part of his engagement with the Uzbek community.

“We were unaware of his donations to the mayor and have no specific reason to believe the contribution to the public advocate was improper, but the campaign will closely review the donation to ensure both ethical and legal compliance,” the spokesman said.

A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which brought the case against Adams, declined to comment.

Adams, a Democrat, was charged last week with bribery, fraud and campaign-finance violations. He is the first sitting New York City mayor in modern times to be indicted. Prosecutors allege he funneled illegal donations into his campaign coffers. Adams also accepted tens of thousands of dollars in free travel, hotel stays and other benefits from Turkish nationals without properly disclosing the perks, they said.

At a court hearing Wednesday, a prosecutor said that Adams could face additional charges and that more defendants would likely be charged in connection with the alleged schemes. He said the continuing investigation was moving quickly but he couldn’t specify when it would conclude.

The mayor has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He has called the allegations lies and launched an aggressive push to have the bribery charge dismissed. Some fellow Democrats and political rivals have urged him to resign, but the mayor has said he won’t step down.

A lawyer for Adams pushed for a quick trial, asking the court Wednesday that the proceedings be completed by March. With that schedule, a verdict would come before the deadline for Adams to be certified for the ballot for the mayoral primary, the lawyer said. The prosecution asked for a trial in May.

U.S. District Judge Dale Ho said he would set a trial date at a later hearing but acknowledged that the timing was a concern for Adams and the public. “I’m going to do my best to keep the case moving forward,” he said.

Williams was elected public advocate in 2019. The seat comes with few powers but it serves as a watchdog who can raise concerns about city problems. Under the city charter, if the mayor were to step down or be removed, Williams would become acting mayor until an election could be held. Williams has called the Adams indictment a painful time for the city and questioned whether the mayor can lead effectively while fighting the charges.

Mansurov, the Brooklyn contractor, donated to Williams when he ran for governor in the Democratic primary two years ago. Records show he made two contributions to Williams’s gubernatorial campaign totaling $10,000. Williams lost the primary in June 2022 to Gov. Kathy Hochul.

In January of this year, Mansurov donated $2,100 to Williams’s re-election campaign for public advocate. On the same day, two employees at Mansurov’s company, United Elite Group, donated a total of $2,900 to Williams. The public advocate’s campaign also collected an additional $750 in public funds for the three donations as part of a city program that matches contributions up to a certain amount, records show.

In March, Williams co-hosted a Ramadan Iftar event with the Silk Road Foundation, a nonprofit in which Mansurov serves as the executive director. The foundation’s mission is to provide support and services to Central Asian migrants, according to its website.

The public advocate personally thanked Mansurov in a speech at the event, which took place in the lobby of a state courthouse in lower Manhattan. The public advocate later posted about the event on social-media platform X and linked to a video of the celebration on his office’s YouTube channel.

A spokesman for Williams said the Ramadan Iftar is an annual event that the public advocate’s office has held since 2022 to uplift the holy month in the Muslim community. Silk Road helped provide supplies for a meal to serve to attending constituents, the spokesman said.

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