Politics

4 things to know about Brianna Suggs

Eric Adams’ campaign consultant was questioned by the FBI Thursday as her home was raided, apparently prompting the mayor to cancel a crucial trip to meet with the White House.

The home of an Eric Adams’ fundraiser was raided Thursday.

The home of an Eric Adams’ fundraiser was raided Thursday. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

A few hours after New York City Mayor Eric Adams abruptly canceled several meetings in Washington D.C., news broke Thursday that the FBI was searching the home of his chief fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Suggs, a 25-year-old campaign consultant deeply embedded in advancing the mayor’s agenda, was also questioned by agents from a public corruption squad in the FBI New York office, according to The New York Times. The reason for the raid was not immediately clear, although the Times reported that it was part of a public corruption investigation into whether Adams' 2021 campaign conspired with both the Turkish government and a construction company in Brooklyn to give foreign money to the campaign. It is not clear whether or not Adams is involved. On Friday, CNN reported that multiple sites were raided in connection to the investigation.

Calls to Suggs’ office have gone unanswered.

The raid comes at a particularly inconvenient time. Adams had been scheduled to meet Thursday with a number of White House officials and lawmakers about the influx of migrants who’ve come to the city over the past year and a half. The mayors of Chicago and Denver – other big cities that have seen a surge of new arrivals – were also expected to attend those meetings.

When asked for details about the abrupt pivot in plans, a spokesperson for City Hall said the mayor was returning to “address a matter” and that the meetings would be rescheduled as soon as possible. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that a staff member from Adams’ office stayed to attend the meeting with federal officials. As for the mayor’s departure, “You saw the reports. Obviously I can’t speak to his schedule and why he couldn’t attend,” she said.

During an unrelated event Thursday night, Adams said he returned to the city because he wanted to be on the ground to “look at this inquiry” as it rolls forward, but that he hasn’t been contacted by anyone in law enforcement. 

“I hold my campaign to the highest ethical standards,” he said. “Any inquiry that is done we're going to fully participate and make sure that it's done correctly.”

Here are four things to know about Suggs.

She claims to have raised millions for Eric Adams

Adams' reelection campaign has paid Suggs more than $65,000 for campaign consulting services. In 2021, his first mayoral campaign paid her company $35,000, according to the city campaign finance database. On her LinkedIn profile, where she listed her title as “Fundraiser and Director of Logistics,” she claimed to have raised $18.4 million for Adams’ 2021 campaign during the primary and general elections. That’s an eye-popping sum, given that the mayor spent about $18.5 million on those 2021 campaigns, per city campaign finance records. 

Leading fundraising for a major mayoral campaign – which requires extensive compliance knowledge of campaign finance law – is certainly a complex job for someone early in her career as Suggs was.

“Do I think she was the mastermind behind some insane scheme? Absolutely not,” said someone familiar with Adams’ inner circle. “She ended up in that position because (Adams) is governed by loyalty.”

She’s also a lobbyist

In 2021 and 2022, Suggs was paid to lobby on behalf of East Broadway Mall, Inc. The Daily News reported in April that she was fundraising for Adams’ campaign while she was lobbying his administration on behalf of East Broadway Mall, a Manhattan company. While likely not illegal, the mixing of campaign and government donations is frowned upon by ethics groups.

She worked for Eric Adams for years

According to her LinkedIn, Suggs has been a fundraiser for the Kings County Democratic County Committee since September 2021. There she organizes and manages the party’s fundraising activity. 

Though she is young, Suggs’ ties to the mayor go back even further than her time as his fundraiser. Back when Adams was Brooklyn borough president, she was a special liaison and women’s health analyst for the office, according to her LinkedIn. She started working in the office in 2017 as an intern.

Politico reported that Suggs was particularly close to and mentored by Adams’ Chief Adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin.

Her client list

On her website, Suggs included the logos for Al Taylor for Assembly, the Brooklyn Democratic Party, Hercules Reid for Assembly, Miguelina Camilo for state Senate and, of course, Eric Adams for mayor under her “Clients Past + Current” list.

Brooklyn Dems Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn said she was surprised at the news of the raid. In a statement she said that Suggs served in a volunteer capacity for the Kings County Democratic County Committee on a couple planned events. “I know Brianna Suggs as a smart, conscientious, and dedicated professional through our interactions, and I hold her in the highest regards,” she said. 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.