{"id":192620,"date":"2026-04-10T20:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T20:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/192620\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T20:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T20:08:08","slug":"whats-eric-adams-up-to-now-that-hes-not-nycs-mayor-becoming-an-albanian-citizen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/192620\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Eric Adams up to now that he’s not NYC’s mayor? Becoming an Albanian citizen."},"content":{"rendered":"

Is Tirana the New York City of Albania<\/a>? Former Mayor Eric Adams may soon find out.<\/p>\n

Adams has been granted citizenship from the Balkan nation just 100 days after leaving office under a cloud of corruption and abysmal polling numbers. An official decree issued by Albanian President Bajram Begaj on Friday granted Adams citizenship “upon his request.”<\/p>\n

Euronews<\/a> reported Adams has also received an Albanian passport.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loves the world,\u201d said Todd Shapiro, a spokesperson for the former mayor told Gothamist. In a statement, Shapiro cast the move as in keeping with mayoral duties that come with running a cosmopolitan city.<\/p>\n

As mayor, Adams participated in an extraordinary number of flag raising ceremonies where he would describe \u201cNew York City as the [insert international city] of America<\/a>.\u201d The routine became a bit of a running joke, which Adams embraced.<\/p>\n

But Adams\u2019 affinity for travel abroad also became one element of a five-count criminal indictment<\/a> for bribery and official favor-trading that alleged he accepted illegal flight upgrades from officials with ties to the Turkish government. The charges were dismissed at the request of President Donald Trump\u2019s Department of Justice so Adams could cooperate with a federal immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n

The case against Adams was dismissed just over a year ago<\/a> \u201cwith prejudice,\u201d meaning the former mayor cannot face trial for the same charges again in the future.<\/p>\n

Mayor Adams at an Albanian flag raising ceremony in 2022.<\/p>\n

Ed Reed\/Mayoral Photography Office<\/p>\n

Adams\u2019 associates, however, are not so lucky. His former senior adviser Ingrid Lewis Martin is due back in court next month on charges of bribery and money laundering. A restaurateur who is close with Adams was charged with health care fraud<\/a> last week. A former Adams aide was accused of taking thousands in bribes and kickbacks<\/a> in exchange for political favors. All have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

Adams faces an unresolved audit over his 2021 campaign fundraising by the New York City Campaign Finance Board, which in a worst case scenario could force the mayor\u2019s campaign to repay all $10 million in public matching funds it received.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe CFB does not comment on ongoing audits or investigations,\u201d said Amy Lebowitz, a spokesperson for the Board.<\/p>\n

During his time in office Adams cultivated unusually close ties<\/a> to Albania. After ending his re-election bid, the mayor took a four-day trip to Albania<\/a> for meetings with government officials that he said were focused on tourism and business opportunities. The Albanian government covered the cost of lodging and ground transportation.<\/p>\n

Adams\u2019 son also competed in an \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d-inspired contest in Albania in 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is Tirana the New York City of Albania? Former Mayor Eric Adams may soon find out. Adams has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-192620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-ny","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-nyc-headlines","12":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}