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Mayor’s 25-Year-Old Fund-Raising

Chief in Spotlight After F.B.I. Raid
A recent college graduate, Brianna Suggs was an unusual choice
to run Eric Adams’s big-money fund-raising operation as he
campaigned for mayor.

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When Eric Adams was running for mayor, he put Brianna Suggs, then 23, in charge of his fund-raising
operation. Benjamin Norman for The New York Times

By Dana Rubinstein , Jeffery C. Mays and William K. Rashbaum

Nov. 6, 2023, 3:00 a.m. ET

The choice was unconventional: Eric Adams, the candidate who

would go on to win the 2021 election for mayor of the nation’s
financial capital, had picked an inexperienced 23-year-old to run
his campaign’s fund-raising operation.

Ostensibly, the fund-raiser, Brianna Suggs, did her job. Thanks in

part to her work, the campaign would spend more than $18 million
and win the election.

But the unusual arrangement, which raised eyebrows in the tight-

nit, professional world of Democratic political fund-raising, might
have come at an extraordinary cost.

On Thursday morning, federal agents raided Ms. Suggs’s home in

Brooklyn and walked away with a wide range of materials,
including three iPhones, two laptop computers and a manila folder
labeled “Eric Adams.” The court-authorized search was part of an
expansive public corruption investigation into whether the
campaign conspired with the government of Turkey to receive
illegal foreign donations.

Neither Ms. Suggs nor Mr. Adams has been accused of any
wrongdoing. Mr. Adams has denied any knowledge of improper
fund-raising, and said in a statement that his campaign would
“work with officials to respond to inquiries, as appropriate — as we
always have.”

Ms. Suggs, now 25 has not spoken publicly since the pre-dawn raid,
and could not be reached for comment.

Interviews with nearly 20 people who know and have dealt with
Ms. Suggs, most of whom requested anonymity so as to avoid
alienating the mayor, portray an inexperienced young woman
whose connections gave her access to the incoming mayor and his
wealthy donors, a heady combination.

Mr. Adams has a habit of elevating loyalists to important positions,

but Ms. Suggs appears to be the youngest member of that insular
coterie. And her privileged position within the Adams orbit now
has her embroiled her in a sprawling criminal investigation with an
uncertain outcome.

Ms. Suggs’s house in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was raided by federal agents, who took
out a folder labeled “Eric Adams.” Stephanie Keith for The New York Times

“Often, young African American ladies don’t get the opportunities

that others receive in this business of politics,” Mr. Adams told
PIX11 last week , in his first sit-down interview since the raid,
describing Ms. Suggs as a “very bright, energetic, smart, young
lady who worked hard.”

Ms. Suggs started working as a $20-an-hour employee for Mr.

Adams when he was the Brooklyn borough president in 2018,
according to city payroll records compiled by the Empire Center, a
watchdog group. By fiscal year 2019, she was on staff, earning a
salary of $52,500 a year. She graduated from Brooklyn College the
following year, with a bachelor’s in business management. By the
time Mr. Adams became mayor, she was earning nearly $80,000 in
the borough president’s Office.

A person who worked with Ms. Suggs at Brooklyn Borough Hall

said it was clear when she arrived that she had a “closeness” with
both Mr. Adams and Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who is now the mayor’s
top aide . Ms. Lewis-Martin often referred to Ms. Suggs as her
“goddaughter,” according to several people who saw the two
women together.

More recently, when Ms. Lewis-Martin asked another fund-raiser

to hire Ms. Suggs, she described her as “part of the family,” the
fund-raiser said.

“I have known Brianna in personal and professional settings, and

she has always been kind and hard-working,” Ms. Lewis-Martin
said on Sunday. “I feel confident that she has always conducted
herself in accordance with any rules and regulations. She continues
to have my full support.”

At Borough Hall, Ms. Suggs had the “youthful brazenness” of

someone who was close with the two most powerful people in the
office, one person who dealt with Ms. Suggs then said.

She was also eager to work on Mr. Adams’s mayoral campaign, the
person recalled. And so she did.

Mr. Adams’s first mayoral campaign paid her more than $50,000 to
manage its fund-raising. In the past two years, his re-election
campaign has paid Ms. Suggs nearly $100,000 for fund-raising and
campaign consulting services via her company, Suggs Solutions,
according to city records.

Ms. Suggs was also able to leverage her connections to work as a

fund-raiser for a political action committee that aimed to advance
Mr. Adams’s statewide agenda. In that position, she has earned
another $100,000.

She even worked as a fund-raiser for the Brooklyn Democratic

Party, one of the largest Democratic organizations in the country.

Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, t he assemblywoman who leads the

Brooklyn Democratic Party and is a close Adams ally, said Ms.
Suggs was mainly responsible for the logistics of fund-raising and
described her as a volunteer. Ms. Suggs would call the venue,
confirm the food and drink menu, the sound system, decorations
and the table layout for fund-raising events.

“The person who fund-raises for the party is me,” Ms. Bichotte
Hermelyn said, adding that the party has not been contacted by
federal authorities.

Unlike many professional fund-raisers, Ms. Suggs did not initially

have her own Rolodex of donors. But given the prominence of her
client, she did not necessarily need one. When someone would call
and say they wanted to donate money, they would be referred to
Ms. Suggs, according to six people who have raised money for Mr.
Adams.

Two said it was clear that she had a shaky grasp on the job. Details
for events were hard to come by. Dates frequently changed.

After Mr. Adams won the competitive Democratic Primary for

mayor in summer 2021, the coffers of the city’s political class
opened wider. Everyone from fellow politicians to real estate
developers to lawyers was eager to give money to the likely 110th
mayor of New York City. The mayor, and Ms. Suggs, made the most
of it.

The minimum amount to get Mr. Adams to appear at a fund-raiser

was $25,000, according to two fund-raisers who communicated
directly with Ms. Suggs about an event. Time is precious for an
incoming mayor.

Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the mayor’s top aide at City Hall, often referred to Ms. Suggs as
her “goddaughter,” several people said. James Estrin/The New York Times

At one fund-raiser in 2021, a person who helped connect the

campaign with donors said that Ms. Suggs arrived with the mayor,
escorted him around the room as he spoke with guests and
received the checks. Ms. Suggs stood next to the mayor and had a
drink and a couple of hors d’oeuvres.

To at least a few people in the donor class, Ms. Suggs made a good
impression, even as others questioned her youth and inexperience.

“She’s smart, she’s quick. She’s responsive, she’s easy to work

with,” said Kathryn Wylde, the chief executive for the Partnership
for New York City, an organization that represents major New York
business leaders. Ms. Suggs, she said, is “a nice person.”

Al Taylor, an assemblyman from Harlem, said that he couldn’t “say

enough good things about” Ms. Suggs, who helped him raise
money.

“Anytime I called her, she picked up the phone,” said Mr. Taylor,
adding that he was surprised to find out how young she was
because she handled herself with a high level of professionalism.

He said he would be “shocked” if Ms. Suggs was involved in

wrongdoing because “s he doesn’t have those kinds of
characteristics.”

In September, Arthur Aidala, an attorney and radio host, hosted a

fund-raiser for Mr. Adams at his midtown offices. Ms. Suggs was
there, greeting donors, while Mr. Adams worked the room.

“She was very insistent that all of the necessary paperwork that
needed to accompany any contributions was completed
accurately,” he said.

But another fund-raiser who organized an event for Mr. Adams

found it strange that Ms. Suggs had been entrusted with the keys
to a multimillion-dollar campaign fund-raising effort and raised the
issue with the mayor. The mayor seemed unconcerned, even
enthusiastic, arguing that all you need for a fund-raiser was an
organized young person with a spreadsheet, the fund-raiser added.

To others who worked with her, she could come off as territorial
and deeply aware of her privileged status with the mayor.

She seemed empowered by the way Mr. Adams treated her — more
like a friend than a colleague, they said. At least once, Mr. Adams
used his motorcade to pick up Ms. Suggs en route to a fund-raiser.

One member of the political class said the power profile of Ms.
Suggs and the influence she wielded was palpable. When she
arrived at an event or a dinner, some people would almost
instinctively rise and offer her their place.

By last year, Ms. Suggs seemed to have settled into her role as a
fund-raiser for the mayor. She was exploring the possibility of fund-
aising for statewide campaigns, according to a Democratic
political consultant who spoke with her about her ambitions.

By June of 2023, she was no longer just choosing venues and

collecting checks for clients, said one donor whom Ms. Suggs called
that month.

She was now directly asking donors to attend and recruit donations
for a fund-raiser Mr. Adams’s campaign was hosting at the
Broadway show “New York, New York.” Top-priced tickets for the
event were selling for $2,100 apiece.

Susan C. Beachy contributed research.

Dana Rubinstein is a reporter on the Metro desk covering New York City politics. Before
joining The Times in 2020, she spent nine years at the publication now known as Politico
New York. More about Dana Rubinstein
Jeffery C. Mays is a reporter on the Metro desk who covers politics with a focus on New
York City Hall. A native of Brooklyn, he is a graduate of Columbia University. More about
Jeffery C. Mays
William K. Rashbaum is a senior writer on the Metro desk, where he covers political and
municipal corruption, courts, terrorism and law enforcement. He was a part of the team
awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News. More about William K. Rashbaum
A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 6, 2023 , Section A , Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline:
Adams’s Choice For Fund-Raiser Surprised Many . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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