Federal authorities raided a Long Island City hotel last week, owned by a significant fundraiser to Mayor Eric Adams who also sought special favors for development projects.
The search warrant on the Mayflower Howard Johnson Hotel in Long Island City came from prosecutors working with Eastern District of New York U.S. Attorney Breon Peace, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Officials presented a warrant and executed a search early last Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Mayflower Howard Johnson Hotel in Long Island City, a spokesperson for Housing Works, which operates the hotel, told THE CITY.
“The areas of interest to law enforcement were not those in which Housing Works operates its short-term residential re-entry program for individuals transitioning from correctional settings,” the spokesperson said.
“Housing Works was not the target of the action by Federal authorities — nor were any of the clients Housing Works serves at this site, agency management, any subsidiaries, subcontractors, etc.”
The hotel is owned by Weihong Hu, a Chinese businesswoman and developer who bundled tens of thousands of dollars of donations to Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign. Donors to Adams’ current reelection campaign told THE CITY, Documented and The Guardian that family members of Hu’s reimbursed them in cash for their donations to Adams, which is illegal.
Hu owns multiple hotels, including a Wyndham Garden in Fresh Meadows, Queens, where Winnie Greco, a former aide to Adams, lived in a room paid for by taxpayers, an investigation by THE CITY, Documented and The Guardian found in May.
The hotel in Long Island City is used as a transitional shelter for formerly incarcerated individuals.
Hu’s attorney, Kevin Tung, did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment. A spokesperson for Adams did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Additional reporting by George Joseph/The Guardian.
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