Eric Adams celebrated his 60th birthday at home of Chinese billionaire accused of making straw donations

New York mayor Eric Adams celebrated his 60th birthday at the luxury Plaza Hotel penthouse of a Chinese billionaire guilty of making $11,000 in illicit straw donations, it has been revealed.

Hui Qin, 56, admitted last month to illegally reimbursing people who made contributions on his behalf to the campaign committees for a candidate for a New York City-wide political office, a New York congressman and candidate for a House of Representatives from Rhode Island between December 2021 and 2022.

While court papers filed by federal prosecutors do not identify the candidates backed by Qin, there were only a handful of citywide races in New York that year, including the election of mayor Eric Adams. The New York Times has previously named Adams as one of the recipients of Qin's illicit donations. 

Adams has denied having a close relationship with the billionaire and claimed he was just one of 'the thousands upon thousands of people' he met on his campaign trail.

But new photos and videos showed Adams at a party hosted by Qin and his former model wife Emma Duo Liu at their luxury Plaza Hotel penthouse in 2020 while embarking on his 2021 mayoral campaign, the Daily News reported. 

Photos and video have been revealed of Mayor Adams (pictured center) celebrating his 60th birthday at the luxury Plaza Hotel penthouse of a Chinese billionaire guilty of straw donations

Following Qin's (pictured) guilty plea of making $11,000 in illicit straw donations to political candidates, the mayor denied having a close relationship with the billionaire

While court papers filed by federal prosecutors do not identify the candidates backed by Qin, there were only a handful of citywide races in New York that year, including the election of mayor Eric Adams (pictured)

A picture of a birthday cake with the then borough president's name was posted to Facebook, shaped like a Cohiba Behike cigar box and a cut off caption that reads 'mayor in the -', the outlet reported, citing an anonymous source.

That night, Qin's now ex wife Liu, appeared to also be celebrating her birthday.

In a statement to The News, Vito Pitta, Adams' campaign compliance counsel, reiterated Brooklyn federal prosecutors' claims that Qin 'concealed' his use of straw contributors.

'When he was borough president, the mayor stopped by a birthday party for Ms. Liu. This was not a campaign event,' he said. 

'As the federal government made clear in its court filing, the Adams campaign had no knowledge of illegal activity by Mr. Qin — and any inference otherwise is reckless and false.'

In September 2020, Adams (pictured middle right) was celebrating his birthday with Qin as he was continuing his 2021 mayoral campaign, according to an anonymous source cited by Daily News with inside information about the event

A picture of a birthday cake with the then borough president's name was posted to Facebook, shaped like a Cohiba Behike cigar box and a cut off caption that reads 'mayor in the -'

Pictures of a party hosted by Qin and his former model wife Emma Duo Liu at their luxury Plaza Hotel (pictured) penthouse that have been circulating show that Adams and Qin were previously connected

In a statement to The News, Vito Pitta, Adams' campaign compliance counsel, reiterated Brooklyn federal prosecutors' claims that Qin 'concealed' his use of straw contributors

In video obtained by the Daily News from the 2020 Plaza party, Adams is socializing with other partygoers on the roof deck moments before he cuts his cigar-themed birthday cake

In video obtained by the Daily News from the 2020 Plaza party, Adams was seen socializing with other partygoers on the roof deck moments before cutting his cigar-themed birthday cake.

Per the outlet, attendees of the party can be heard chanting, 'Happy Birthday Emma' and 'Happy Birthday Eric.'

'Look around the room folks. Look at the diversity in this room. We all have one thing in common. We love New York. They're about to mess it up, but we're going to show people what New Yorkers are made of,' Adams was heard saying in the video, according to the outlet. 'Happy birthday. Let's make sure we take back our city.' 

An investigation by the outlet The City alleged that Qin and Adams had closer ties than Adams claimed. 

Not long after Adams assumed office, Liu was appointed to serve on the Asian Affairs Advisory Council, which was founded by top aide and director of Asian affairs at City Hall Winnie Greco.

Greco was also photographed at that party with Adams' arm wrapped around her.

In February Greco's Bronx home was raided by the FBI as she faced accusations of promising a contact a job in the mayor's office in return for a kitchen refurbishment. 

It is not clear if the raid is related to the accusation, and Greco went on medical leave shortly after. 

The FBI investigation is currently being overseen by prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn. 

The probe led to a search warrant for the New World Mall in Queens, a place Greco attended at least twice in 2021 for fundraisers for Adams. 

Not long after Adams (pictured left) assumed office, Liu was appointed to the Asian Affairs Advisory Council, which was founded by top City Hall aide Winnie Greco (pictured right)

Campaign finance records show Qin, who is a Chinese citizen with a U.S. green card, donated $2,000 to Adams in March of 2021. 

Under the city's campaign finance rules, green card-holders can contribute to races and participate in the city's generous matching funds program, which caps donations at $2,100. 

Nine months after he donated to Adams, federal prosecutors said Qin began working 'to find individuals to make more than $10,000 in straw donor contributions' to an unnamed New York City candidate.

At least one person donated $1,000 on Qin's behalf on Dec. 9, according to prosecutors. The following day, Qin spoke with an unnamed co-conspirator, who told him they expected to be able to obtain up to $20,000 in straw donor contributions for the candidate.

'As the federal government made clear today, the campaign had no knowledge of a straw donor scheme - and no member of the campaign has been charged with or accused of any wrongdoing,' said Pitta.

Sources told The New York Times the other politicians were two Republicans, Representative Andrew Garbarino of Long Island and Allan Fung, a former mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island who ran for Congress.

An FBI investigation into Greco (pictured) is currently being overseen by prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn. The probe led to a search warrant for the New World Mall in Queens, a place Greco attended at least twice in 2021 for fundraisers for Adams

The mayor has close connections to several people indicted or investigated on campaign finance fraud.

Eric Ulrich, the former New York City buildings department commissioner who raised funds for Mayor Eric Adams, was charged in five separate indictments for accepting more than $150,000 worth of bribes in September.

In November, the FBI raided the home of Adam's fundraising chief Brianna Suggs, who helped Adams has raised more than $2.5million for his re-election campaign, as part of an investigation into an alleged kickback scheme tied to the Turkish government and others.

Shortly after the Suggs raid, FBI agents stopped the mayor in the street and seized his cellphones and an iPad.

In July, the district attorney’s office charged several donors to Adam’s campaign, including a former NYPD inspector, for illegally structuring campaign contributions to maximize additional money gained through the city’s funds matching program.