Adams’ NYPD pal pleads guilty to spearheading 2021 campaign straw donor scheme
Dwayne Montgomery, a former NYPD inspector who has been friends with Mayor Eric Adams for years, pleaded guiltyto conspiracy Monday for his rolein a scheme to funnel illegal donations into the mayor’s 2021 campaign coffers.
Montgomery pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy during a morning hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Alvin Bragg confirmed.
Under Montgomery’s plea deal, he was required to admit to conspiring with Shamsuddin Riza and “others” for more than a year to make and facilitate illegal contributions to Mayor Adams’ 2021 City Hall run.
According to his plea agreement obtained by The News, Montgomery “directed straw donors to make contributions to the Campaign, and the funds for the contributions were reimbursed by” him and others.
Prosecutors detail how he further “directed and aided others to structure campaign contributions by utilizing straw donors, with the intention of triggering matching funds by submitting falsified campaign contribution forms to the New York City Campaign Finance Board.”
Riza is facing charges similar to those leveled against Montgomery.
According to the July 2023 indictment, Montgomery told Riza in a July 9, 2021, phone call that the mayor was aware of the fundraising efforts.
“[The Candidate] said he doesn’t want to do anything if he doesn’t get 25 Gs,” Montgomery is quoted in court documents.
Not long after, Riza forwarded Montgomery details about an upcoming construction project in Brooklyn that he wanted, saying in an email that “we all can eat!”
“Please show to him before Event it will start when he’s in office,” Riza wrote in an email dated July 21, in an apparent reference to Adams.
Montgomery’s admission Monday comes after two of his co-defendants, brothers Shahid and Yahya Mushtaq, pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme. As part of their deal, the Mushtaqs agreed to cooperate with Bragg’s investigators as their probe into the scheme remains ongoing.
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