Former NYPD colleague of Mayor Eric Adams at center of alleged straw donor scheme

NEW YORK — An acquaintance of New York City Mayor Eric Adams is at the center of an alleged straw-donor scheme, announced by the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Friday, that funneled tens of thousands of dollars in illicit contributions to the Democratic mayor’s campaign.

Dwayne Montgomery is a retired deputy inspector with the NYPD, where he overlapped with Adams before the mayor retired to pursue a political career. In addition to donating to Adams’ 2021 campaign for mayor, Montgomery gave $2,000 to Adams’ 2013 reelection bid for Brooklyn borough president, campaign finance records show.

The two also appeared to run in the same social circles. A Facebook profile includes photos from 2014 showing them them posing together at a birthday party for Montgomery in Harlem.

According to an indictment unveiled by Bragg Friday, Montgomery was among six people charged with an elaborate scheme to circumvent campaign finance laws and ply the campaign with cash in the hopes of currying favor for future business deals with the city, once Adams was elected.

The indictment does not implicate Adams or the campaign, and the defendants pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court Friday morning.

In a statement, a campaign spokesperson acknowledged that Montgomery and Adams know each other from their time at the NYPD, but stressed that many people in the public safety realm were supporters of the campaign.

“Montgomery was a colleague of the mayor in the police department whom he knew socially and worked on criminal justice issues with,” said Evan Thies, a spokesperson for the 2021 campaign.

“Dozens of former police officers and criminal justice advocates hosted events for the mayor over the course of the campaign,” he added.

The case also has ties to Manhattan politics.

Three of the defendants — Shamsuddin Riza, Millicent Redick and Ronald Peek — are known in Harlem political circles, according to a person familiar with the dynamics of the neighborhood.

Riza, who is related to Montgomery through marriage, has donated to past campaigns for prominent Harlem political figures: Keith Wright, the Manhattan Democratic Party leader, Bill Perkins, the late City Council representative, and Brian Benjamin, the former state Senator and lieutenant governor who was ensnared in a separate straw donor scheme before the charges against him were dropped.

One of the alleged straw donors, who Bragg identifies as an unindicted co-conspirator, is an unnamed Manhattan Democratic district leader, a volunteer position in the New York political system.

The remaining defendants — Yahya Mushtaq and Shahid Mushtaq — run a construction safety firm called Ecosafety Consultants in Queens and allegedly provided their employees as straw donors to the campaign. The firm is a subcontractor on a current contract with the city that was inked before Adams took office.

City statutes limit the amount of money any one person can donate to a candidate in an effort to curb influence peddling. However, the rules also provide an 8-to-1 match on the first $250 given by city residents to encourage small, local donations.

In this case, when some of the defendants maxed out their contributions, the DA alleged they orchestrated a system to reimburse family members, coworkers and even random senior citizens for their donations to the Adams campaign that ended up totaling tens of thousands of dollars.

“If they’ve already done $250 in their names then yes. They’re done. It has to be in someone else’s name in their household who did not contribute,” Montgomery said in a July 2021 phone conversation with Riza, according to court papers.

“Like with me. I got me, my brother, and my son, my wife, and my mother-in-law,” he continued. “If I contribute $250 in my name, say I was a City resident, alright? I get Chanita to write a $250 check. I get, uh, Brandon to write a $250. I get Miss Jackson. So now, you know, so on, now I got four people to write a $250 check. I’m donating $1000 but it’s coming in $250 intervals by other members and we get matching funds.”

The effort appeared to be very organized. The defendants threw two fundraisers, at least one of which Adams apparently was aware of, according to court documents, and used a spreadsheet to track the straw donors and the total lump of cash headed into the campaign’s coffers.

“[The Candidate] said he doesn’t want to do anything if he doesn’t get 25 Gs,” Montgomery told Riza in a July 9, 2021 phone conversation, according to court papers. They were apparently referring to Adams’ preferences about a fundraising event (many campaigns require a minimum haul before the principal will appear before donors).

Thies said, “There is no indication that the campaign or the mayor is involved in this case or under investigation.”

“The campaign always held itself to the highest standards and we would never tolerate these actions. The campaign will of course work with the DA’s office, the Campaign Finance Board, and any relevant authorities.”

Bragg spokesperson Danielle Filson said, “The campaign is not charged. The office cannot comment on the status of investigations.”

And a mayoral spokesperson said Adams does not know any of the defendants beyond Montgomery, has never met with any of the defendants at City Hall and has never had conversations with any of them about doing business with the administration.

Muhammad Ikhlas, attorney for Riza, declined to comment other than to say his client pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance.

A lawyer for Montgomery did not respond to messages.

The ultimate idea behind the alleged scheme, according to Bragg, was to use the illicitly-obtained haul to seek favorable treatment from City Hall once Adams was elected.

“We allege a deliberate scheme to game the system in a blatant attempt to gain power. … The New York City Campaign Finance Board program is meant to support our democracy and amplify the voices of New York City voters,” Bragg said in a statement. “When the integrity of that program is corrupted, all New Yorkers suffer.”

Riza, for example, owns a contracting firm called United Construction Brothers Services. And in July 2021, he forwarded an email to Montgomery about a construction project called Vital Brooklyn, according to the indictment.

In the email Riza allegedly wrote, “FYI ! This is the one I want , Safety , Drywall , and Security one project but we all can eat ! Please show to him before Event it will start when he’s in office.”

To reach their stated aim, the defendants discussed the mechanics of the alleged straw donations in starkly blatant terms over a series of phone calls in July and August 2021.

“I’ll put the money up for you. I’ll fill that motherfucker up, write 470 Lenox Avenue on that bitch, and submit the $250,” Riza allegedly told a relative in July. “And your sister will be the one that will be filling out that God damn postal money order.”

A month later, Riza and Redick — one of the defendants with ties to the Harlem political world who was also an accountant for Riza’s contracting company — allegedly discussed “recruiting senior citizens in the Esplanade Gardens area of New York County to serve as straw donors for contributions to the Campaign,” the indictment says.

Redick’s lawyer, Alex Grosshtern, said in an interview that his client thought she was involved in legitimate business with Riza and denies the allegations in the complaint.

Finally in late August 2021, Riza and Mushtaq — one of the owners of Ecosafety Consultants — discussed how to use the firm’s employees in the scheme while circumventing a $400 donation cap that applies to anyone doing business with the city, the indictment says.

“Even though it says on the flier if you do business with the City, the maximum you can donate is $400. ... What you want to do, alright, because we’re sponsoring the event, we’re going to do just like the white boys. ... You could use a straw man,” Riza allegedly instructed Mushtaq in a phone call.

Riza continued, according to court papers: “The principals are the ones that do business with the City. Whoever’s on the LLC or the incorporation, those are the people that do business with the City. Anybody else is an employee, the employees don’t fall under that criteria.”

Mushtaq’s attorney, Scott Grauman, denied the allegations in the indictment and said he would “vigorously defend them.”

Riza was aware that he was committing a crime, according to court papers. In an Aug. 6, 2021 phone call Riza spoke to Peek, who allegedly advised him on how to cover his tracks.

“You gotta be careful, cause you gotta make sure you do it through workers they trust, that’s not gonna talk, because remember,” Peek said, according to the indictment, “a guy went to jail for that.”

Peek’s attorney did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The case — along with a separate indictment of Riza in an alleged construction fraud scheme, also announced by Bragg Friday — grew out of a series of investigations and indictments into the construction world that have included insurance fraud and non-minority construction firms using minority-owned businesses as pass-through entities to score lucrative government contracts.

Throughout that process, Manhattan prosecutors appeared to have amassed wiretap communications, eavesdropping warrants and other discovery material applicable to the straw donor case, which Assistant District Attorney Zachary Weintraub handed over to defense lawyers on a hard drive, according to a transcript of court Friday court proceedings.