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Federal agents are probing Mayor Eric Adams’ use of a private email server and how records from seven different trips he made to China have disappeared, The Post has learned.
Both the FBI and Manhattan federal prosecutors have flagged at least one trip taken by Adams that was partly funded by the Chinese Communist Party when he headed the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office.
The discoveries were made as part of a widening investigation into alleged public corruption involving the New York City mayor and key adviser Winnie Greco, a source close to the probe told The Post.
Adams used three personal emails, including [email protected], which did not store their data on New York City government servers — meaning there is little or no trace of the arrangements for the China meetings, who paid for them, whom he met with and what was discussed.
Adams, Greco and their aides used the non-official servers and emails between 2014 and 2021 while he was Brooklyn Borough president, the source said. Adams was sworn in as mayor of New York City on Jan. 1, 2022.
Repeated requests for records related to a 2014 trip to China were denied.
The Mayor’s office denies he used a private server at that time and noted he is allowed to use private email addresses for non-governmental matters.
Referring to the Conflicts of Interest Board, the independent agency that enforces ethics for the city, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office said Monday that the China trip was “approved in writing by COIB through official email channels.”
However, an attorney for the COIB refused to provide a copy of the letter authorizing the trip, the source told The Post.
The administration of current Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso said it can’t locate or access data kept on unauthorized private servers, according to a December document seen by The Post.
In the document, the general counsel for the Brooklyn borough president raised concern that the information is relevant to the FBI’s investigation, including itineraries and funding for the trip, but it has no way to trace it.
“Because the prior administration … might have kept records such as those outside this office’s infrastructure such as on a private Google drive, it is possible that this office does not maintain the records,” said the nine-page letter from Gregory Louis.
“I note that this office would lack access to the prior administration’s records maintained on private servers.”
It is unclear what specific evidence the federal government is seeking to find from Adams’ China trips or how it would fit into a wider investigation.
The 2014 visit to China in question was financed by the Sino-America New York Brooklyn Archway Association Corp., a nonprofit run by Greco, who was then a volunteer at the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office, according to emails seen by The Post.
“We have had great government meetings,” Adams wrote. “It is not our job to give the cost of any item on the trip. Information of cost of hotel, food, etc that is paid for by china government or the Sino American is not our role to report.
“We do not ask the government how much they paid for dinner. If anyone wants that information they must get it from them. In our report we will list the item … and only who paid.”
In addition to Adams and Greco, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, deputy Brooklyn borough president and now senior policy adviser to the mayor, also used a private Gmail and AOL account, emails seen by The Post show.
Greco, 61, who is head of Asian affairs for the city, is a longtime “consultant” to Chinese Communist Party-backed organizations, The Post first revealed last year.
Adams has participated in numerous Chinese community events in the city, including gala dinners and parades.
Neither Greco nor other members of the nonprofit explained where the money for the trips came from when asked by reporters at the time.
In February, FBI agents raided homes in the Bronx owned by Greco. She has also come under scrutiny by the city’s Department of Investigation over allegations she improperly used her City Hall position to obtain perks, including renovations to her properties. The DOI probe is ongoing, a spokeswoman for the agency told The Post Friday.
Last year, FBI agents seized Adams’ electronic devices as part of a probe into his campaign fundraising, The Post revealed. At that time, the feds also raided the homes of a City Hall staffer and chief fundraiser Brianna Suggs.
A search warrant showed that investigators were seeking documents related to a small Turkish university, based in Washington, DC, and evidence that a Brooklyn-based construction company — KSK Construction Group — as well as Turkish government officials illegally donated to the mayor’s 2021 campaign.
The FBI is also looking into business class upgrades Adams received on Turkish Airlines as part of the federal probe into his 2021 campaign finances, law enforcement sources confirmed Friday.
The feds are eyeing Adams’ flights, both during his time as Brooklyn borough president and since taking office as mayor in January 2022, according to the sources.
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio used private emails at the beginning of his administration until he was forced by court order to make them public in 2018.
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came under fire and FBI investigations for using private email servers during her 2009-13 tenure.