Mayor Eric Adams’ former liaison to the Muslim community — considered a key witness in the feds’ quashed corruption case against Hizzoner — on Tuesday pleaded guilty in a funding scam tied to Adams’ 2021 campaign.
Months after the Justice Department moved to toss Adams’ corruption case in an arrangement a judge said smacked of an unsavory “bargain,” Mohamed Bahi admitted that “it was wrong” for him to falsely claim he collected $32,000 in donations from real-estate firms at a Brooklyn fundraiser in 2020.
Bahi, 41, pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to commit wire fraud at the Manhattan federal court hearing, where he said he knew Adams’ campaign was ripping off city taxpayers by fraudulently applying for 8-to-1 so-called “matching funds” off the phantom donations.
He will face a likely sentence of probation to six months in jail when he is sentenced Nov. 18 — two weeks after the mayoral election in which Adams is running for another term.
Bahi cracked a wry half-smile but kept walking when asked as he left court whether it was “fair” for him to have to plead guilty to a felony while his former boss Adams saw his case dismissed.
The former aide had been expected to testify as a prosecution witness at Adams’ trial on bribery and wire fraud charges after the feds in Manhattan’s Southern District revealed in October 2024 that he allegedly name-dropped the mayor while encouraging a campaign donor to lie to the FBI.
Bahi copped a plea deal for himself with the feds in February, court papers say.
Soon afterward, Manhattan federal prosecutors prepped a new bombshell indictment charging Adams, 64, with destroying evidence and telling people to lie to the FBI, according to the interim US Attorney for the Southern District at the time, Danielle Sassoon.
But before the new indictment could be unveiled, President Trump’s Department of Justice moved to dismiss Adams’ case — prompting Sassoon and the lead prosecutor on Adams’ case to resign in protest.
The mayor, who is seeking re-election as an independent, pleaded not guilty after being charged with soliciting tens of thousands of illegal donations and taking $123,000 worth of travel-perk bribes from Turkish nationals in exchange for fast-tracking the opening of the Turkish Consulate in Manhattan.
He denied wrongdoing, with his lawyers deriding the case as overhyped and “politically motivated.”
The judge overseeing Adams’ case, Dale Ho, has written that the situation struck him as a “bargain” in which the DOJ agreed to toss the charges in exchange for Adams’ compliance with the White House’s aggressive deportation efforts.
“Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions,” Ho said in a 78-page ruling formally getting rid of the case.
City Hall spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak Atlus told The Post on Tuesday, “As Mayor Adams has said both publicly and under oath, he has broken no laws and has always instructed his team to follow the law.”
–– Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy