A week after Eric Adams became the first sitting mayor of New York City ever to be charged with federal crimes, including soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals in Turkey, new information reveals that his office also allegedly endeavoured to gain favour with China—in part through an attempted exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.
According to emails reviewed by the journalists Yoav Gonen and April Xu (of the local news sites The City and Documented, respectively), in August 2016, while Adams was still borough president of Brooklyn—a position he held for eight years prior to becoming mayor in 2022—his office pitched an exhibition to the Brooklyn Museum on behalf of the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China, asking that the show open the following month. The initial request was made by Adams’s aide Winnie Greco, who is currently under federal investigation.
According to Gonen and Xu: “When museum officials baulked at the quick turnaround, longtime Adams advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin made a second attempt, writing to Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak that she wanted to ‘ensure that the museum was fully aware of Borough Hall’s interest in supporting the request, if it were possible’.” Pasternak wrote back that the galleries were occupied and that “no museum can not [sic] turn around an exhibition in one month. It normally takes at least 2-3 years”.
The exhibition in question was dedicated to Sun Yat-sen, the first provisional president of the Republic of China, whom Greco allegedly called “leader of China’s republican revolution” in her email correspondence with the Brooklyn Museum. The show, organised by the Chinese consul general to New York, ultimately opened on 7 September 2016 at Brooklyn Borough Hall.
Adams has denied wrongdoing in all cases, blaming his political enemies and painting himself as a martyr who was merely trying to do right by his constituents. He has also rejected repeated calls to step down as mayor. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors have warned that more charges could be forthcoming against both Adams and his associates. Neither the mayor’s office nor the Brooklyn Museum immediately responded to requests for comment.
