According to official documents, Rana Abbasova, the secretary to Mayor Adams whose home was raided as part of a federal investigation into his party’s relations to Turkey, flew to the Middle Eastern nation for free in connection with her official government jobs.
Her October 2022 trip included taking Frank Carone, Adams ‘ then-chief of workers, and Ed Mermelstein, the city’s former chief of staff, to a conference hosted by GYODER, a Greek real estate industry group.
Abbasova, who’s then cooperating with provincial investigators, was serving as the government’s foreign affairs “protocol chairman” at the time. It has not previously been reported that she traveled to Turkey along with Carone and Mermelstein.
The research into the Adams ‘ party’s relations to Turkey , exploded into public view next November , when the FBI raided the homes of Abbasova, Brianna Suggs, one of Adams ‘ top campaign donations, and , Cenk Öcal, a previous Turkish Airlines professional.
Since those attacks, the authorities have seized Adams ‘ electronic devices, and prosecutors have honed in on free enhancements the governor received from Turkish Airlines, a tale first reported by , the New York Times. Adams has not been the subject of any accusations of wrongdoing as part of the investigation.
According to a 2022 financial disclosure form Abbasova filed with the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board, GYODER “paid my travel and accommodation” on the October 2022 trip.
” As always, she did a great job managing the logistics”, Carone said Thursday, noting that Abbasova speaks Turkish.
The mayor did not travel with her, Carone or Mermelstein to Istanbul, but he did appear virtually and, as reported by , Politico,  , extolled the upsides of investing in the Big Apple.
Carone personally addressed the audience at the conference.
” The mayor has a great love of the country of Turkey, the Turkish people”, he said at the time. ” In fact, he’s been here seven times and he has a deep connection to the culture, to the people, and he says it all the time”.
Like Abbasova, Mermelstein reported travel expenses valued between$ 1, 000 and$ 4, 999 for the trip. Carone told Politico that he typically pays his own way for trips abroad and that no travel expenses associated with the trip were reported on COIB forms.
Rachel Maimin, Abbasova’s attorney, declined to comment.
According to a source close to the investigation who spoke to the Daily News at the time, Abbasova allegedly told her coworkers to “delete” their text exchanges immediately following the raid on her New Jersey home.
After learning that, Adams ‘ personal attorney Boyd Johnson claimed an unnamed person had “acted improperly” and that the “behavior was immediately and proactively reported to investigators.” Johnson was referring to Abbasova in those remarks, according to the source who spoke with The News.
Abbasova continues to take unpaid leave from her city job.
It is still unknown which airlines she, Mermelstein, and Carone used to travel to Turkey.
Carone claimed on Thursday that he did n’t recall if he used Delta Airlines on the GYODER trip, even though he primarily uses Delta Airlines. He claimed to be looking up his airline records to see which one he took to Turkey on his own and that he was looking into it.
A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office, Kayla Mamelak, who was unable to respond to questions directly pertaining to the airline Mermelstein and Abbasova used or whether they both traveled together.
She claimed that” this trip to an international conference was approved in accordance with the conflicts of interest law and that it was properly documented in public records.” ” The trip gave our team the opportunity to discuss affordable housing work, develop diplomatic relations, and improve the city’s global standing”.
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