{"id":133,"date":"2023-11-16T15:56:51","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T15:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/table-of-success.local\/?p=133"},"modified":"2023-12-18T13:09:02","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T13:09:02","slug":"rana-abbasova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tableofsuccess.mysites.io\/rana-abbasova\/","title":{"rendered":"Rana Abbasova"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
In the immediate aftermath of the November 2 FBI raid of the home of Eric Adams’s chief fundraiser Brianna Suggs<\/a>, Vito Pitta <\/a>(see entries), lawyer for the Adams campaign, said that the campaign had “started an extensive review of all documents and actions by campaign workers connected to the contributors in question.” Soon after, the campaign did find something, and someone: One staffer had acted “improperly,” and Adams’s lawyers alerted the FBI to let them know about it. According to reporting by the New York Post, that staffer was Rana Abbasova<\/a>, director of protocol for the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs. And the “improper” behavior? Federal investigators had raided not only Suggs’s apartment on November 2, but Abbasova’s Fort Lee, New Jersey, home as well, and in response, she had told other staffers to delete text messages<\/a>, the Post reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Federal agents soon seized the mayor’s phones and iPad<\/a>, reportedly to determine<\/a> whether Adams had received any texts from Abbasova, according to the Post. (One source told the paper that he did not receive any texts.) Abbasova, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing by the feds, has been placed on leave<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So who is Rana Abbasova, and how did she become someone the Adams administration was willing to flag to the FBI? Abbasova, whose family is from Azerbaijan, started volunteering for Adams during his first term as Brooklyn borough president<\/a>, at a time when he was trying “to make inroads to the Turkish and Azerbaijani communities in Brooklyn<\/a>.” When she was hired as Adams’s community coordinator at Borough Hall, she was, in the words of her official bio<\/a>, “responsible for international relations and maintaining relationships between the Borough President and stakeholders, including the Middle East and Central Asian countries, Muslim and Russian-speaking communities, and Non-profit organizations” and “also organized Turkic Heritage events.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n At City Hall, Abbasova continued roughly the same work, like helping facilitate a flag-raising event for Turkey near Wall Street. (Other responsibilities included vetting and setting up meetings with foreign delegations and creating events<\/a> for their visits.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n During Adams’s time as state senator and Brooklyn borough president, he would not only regularly host foreign dignitaries, but accept offers of free airfare and lodging to visit their countries\u2014trips that are now being scrutinized due to his failure to disclose them<\/a> as required.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n