Federal Prosecutors Turn Over Brady Evidence Concerning Key Witness
The defense team representing indicted New York Mayor Eric Adams conveyed their belief to the media that the case against the embattled Mayor is weak after they recently received Brady evidence from the Department of Justice that could discredit a key witness in the case. So-called “Brady evidence” is any evidence in the government’s possession that could be favorable to the defense, named after the Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland, which ruled that the failure for the prosecution to turn over any such evidence violated a defendant’s right to a fair trial, and thus prosecutors are obliged to turn over such evidence in a timely manner. Adams was arraigned late last month on bribery and fraud charges, with allegations that he had secretly solicited and accepted bribes and illegal campaign donations from wealthy foreigners, including Turkish officials, in violation of federal law. Citing a protective order issued by the Judge overseeing the case, the defense attorneys declined to give specific details about who/what materials they had received, but it is believed they are referring to evidence concerning a longtime staffer of Mayor Adams, Rana Abbasova. Abbasova is believed to be at least one of the cooperating witnesses for the prosecution, allegedly referred to as “the Mayor’s staffer” in the indictment, and that she was responsible for coordinating the improper straw donations and arranging luxury travel accommodations for the Mayor paid for by foreign actors. It is alleged in the indictment that the staffer believed to be Abbasova, “agreed to speak with FBI agents and falsely denied the criminal conduct of herself and Adams” before excusing herself to go to the bathroom in the middle of the interview and deleting encryption chat apps on her phone that she used to communicate with Adams and others. Defense Attorney Alex Spiro told NBC New York that, “These prosecutors, finally, after much delay and misdirection, have admitted they were hiding Brady material about the key witness in the case that proves Mayor Adams is innocent” because he did not know of the alleged scheme, but other legal experts have indicated that the week-long delay of turning over evidence after his arraignment does not necessarily reflect a weak case for the prosecution.
Case Highlights Limitations of “Encryption” Apps Designed to Protect Privacy
The allegation in the indictment concerning the deletion of encryption apps by the staffer reflects the reality that there is a limit to just how effective these apps can be and that they often still leave a digital footprint, albeit a more limited one than regular messaging apps. According to the indictment, at one point a staffer, again believed to be Abbasova, texted Mayor Adams that to, “be o[n the] safe side Please Delete all messages you send me” to which he replies, “Always do.” It is not clear if the text message referred in this part of the indictment was using a regular app or one of the popular encryption apps like Signal, which offers a variety of options to delete messages, but even encryption app developers would acknowledge there are some limits to completely deleting evidence of messages on their platforms and that there is often trace amounts of evidence leftover. In fact, another former aide to Mayor Adams, Mohamed Bahi who ran the mayor’s community affairs office, was just arrested on charges of witness tampering and destroying evidence, and the indictment alleges that law enforcement is aware that he deleted the app Signal from his phone when he realized there was a federal investigation underway. Beyond just the fact that an app is deleted from a phone, there are several forensic techniques that law enforcement can employ to recover data and deleted texts, records, and/or applications from a smartphone, so deleting such materials or using encrypted apps may not be as effective of an obfuscation strategy as those employing said methods for criminal endeavors may believe it to be. In addition, it could lead to charges of obstruction of justice and other crimes.