NICE TRY

Six Indicted for Using Straw Donors to Donate to NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ Campaign

The indictment alleges two company owners conspired to use employees’ personal info on contribution forms without their knowledge.

Six people have been indicted in relation to an alleged straw-donor scheme to funnel tens of thousands of dollars to Eric Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced Friday. Adams is not accused of having any knowledge of, or involvement in, the scheme. The indictment alleges Dwayne Montgomery, 64, Shamsuddin Riza, 70, Millicent Redick, 77, Ronald Peek, 65, Yahya Mushtaq, 28, and Shahid Mushtaq, 29, recruited straw donors to make donations in their names using money orders and reimbursed funds. Riza and Peek, the owners of EcoSafety Consultants Inc., also allegedly plotted with Yahya and Mushtaq to use employees’ personal information on contribution forms without their knowledge. During the 2021 race, the NYC Campaign Finance Board matched residents’ first $250 donation eight-to-one. Individuals had a max contribution of $2,000, and businesses with city contracts only had $400. The alleged schemers’ circumvention of those rules has landed them with charges of conspiracy, attempted grand larceny, offering a false instrument for filing, and attempted offering a false instrument for filing.