NYC Mayor Adams spotted at same event as Turkish businessman who reportedly could testify against him

After coming under federal indictment, Mayor Adams appeared at a food giveaway event in Manhattan last month that was also attended by a scandal-scarred Turkish business tycoon who reportedly could testify against him at his corruption trial, the Daily News has learned.
The tycoon, Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, is mentioned in Adams’ indictment, identified as “Businessman 3,” a development first reported by LA Magazine on Tuesday. Citing several sources familiar with the matter, the California magazine also reported Korkmaz is a reputed CIA asset and expected to testify against Adams at his trial, which is slated to start this April.
According to his indictment, Adams met with “Businessman 3” in Istanbul in January 2019 to discuss plans for the businessman to make an allegedly illegal $50,000 contribution to his 2021 campaign via straw donors.
“During the meeting, Businessman 3 agreed to contribute $50,000 or more to the 2021 campaign, believing that Adams might one day be the president of the United States and hoping to gain influence with Adams,” the indictment says. The businessman ultimately never made that contribution as his legal troubles in the U.S. began to emerge, the feds say.
Adams crossing paths with Korkmaz at last month’s food giveaway on the Lower East Side comes as the mayor is under a federal protective order prohibiting him from speaking with “witnesses and individuals mentioned in” his indictment “about the facts/circumstances listed in the indictment.”
Days after indicting Adams in September on charges that he solicited bribes and illegal campaign cash from Turkish government operatives in exchange for political favors, prosecutors from the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office provided the mayor’s legal team with a list identifying the individuals he shouldn’t interact with.
It’s unclear if Korkmaz — who’s currently facing unrelated federal charges in a money laundering case in Utah — is on that list. Adams’ attorney, Alex Spiro, didn’t return a request for comment Wednesday, and the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.
A video reviewed by The News posted by Korkmaz on LinkedIn shows him handing out food, money and supplies to New Yorkers at the Oct. 16 giveaway, as the mayor can be seen standing feet away wearing his signature “GSD NYC” bomber jacket and a cap. The video doesn’t show Adams and Korkmaz speaking to each other.
City Hall spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said Adams “had no idea Mr. Korkmaz was planning on attending this event and neither spoke, nor interacted with him while he was there.”
The food giveaway wasn’t on Adams’ public schedule. That was because Adams went on short notice to the event, which was hosted by People Connecting New York and the Ellen Maguire Foundation, according to Mamelak.
Ali Baba, a Turkish restaurant in Kips Bay where Adams hosted multiple fundraisers for his 2021 campaign, also played a role in the giveaway, according to the restaurant’s Instagram feed.
“Ali Baba, alongside Mayor Eric Adams, continues his heartfelt mission of giving back to the community by providing food to the homeless and immigrants,” the restaurant’s Instagram handle captioned a video showing its owner, Ali Riza Dogan, and Adams at the confab. “It’s a beautiful example of how a successful business can contribute to the well-being of its city, ensuring that everyone has a meal, no matter their circumstances. We Love you. Mr mayor. We Always support you.”
Dogan couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.
As previously reported by The News, a 2021 fundraiser Adams hosted at Ali Baba was attended by members of a Turkish influence group connected to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime. Adams was spotted dining at the eatery just last month.
Dogan has his own connections to Korkmaz. Following Korkmaz’s Utah indictment, Dogan came to his defense, writing in a post on his personal Instagram handle this past summer that the businessman is a “dear friend” and “our brother.”
“He loves my food and is a frequent customer. I’m the type of person who doesn’t care about anyone’s past,” Dogan wrote in Turkish.
Korkmaz’s lawyer in the Utah case didn’t immediately return a request for comment about how he came to attend last month’s food giveaway.
Details about the event are emerging as Korkmaz is fighting his own federal case in Utah.
Korkmaz was indicted in that case in 2021 on charges alleging he helped launder millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded biofuel subsidies that his co-conspirators had stolen. Korkmaz has pleaded not guilty in that case, and his trial was initially supposed to start this month. However, just last week, he got the trial pushed back to start March 10 instead.
Korkmaz, a friend to ex-CIA Director James Woolsey, was first arrested in Austria in June 2021, extradited to Utah and jailed without bail after being deemed a flight risk, court papers say.
It’s unclear exactly when or why Korkmaz has since been released pending trial. Before the October food giveaway, he was publicly spotted in New York City in an Aug. 5 video posted on X showing him cooking at Ali Baba with Dogan.