Eric Adams celebrated his 60th birthday at the home of a Chinese billionaire accused of donating straw

New York City Mayor Eric Adams celebrated his 60th birthday at the luxury Plaza Hotel penthouse of a Chinese billionaire guilty of making $11,000 in illegal 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 of a candidate for New York City political office, a New York congressman and a candidate for a House of Representatives from Rhode Island between at December 2021 and 2022.

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

Adams has denied having a close relationship with the billionaire, claiming he was just one of ‘thousands and thousands of people’ he met on his campaign trail.

But new photos and videos showed Adams at a party hosted by Qin and his ex-model wife Emma Duo Liu at their luxurious Plaza Hotel penthouse in 2020 as he began his 2021 mayoral campaign. Daily news reported.

A picture of a birthday cake with the then city president’s name was submitted to Facebook, shaped like a Cohiba Behike cigar box and a cut-off caption reading ‘Mayor of -‘, the outlet reported, citing an anonymous source.

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

In a statement to The News, Vito Pitta, Adams’ campaign compliance attorney, echoed Brooklyn federal prosecutors’ allegations that Qin “concealed” his use of straw contributors.

‘When he was city 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 lawsuit, the Adams campaign had no knowledge of Mr. Qin’s illegal activity — and any other inference is reckless and false.”

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

Per outlet, the party participants can be heard singing ‘Happy Birthday Emma’ and ‘Happy Birthday Eric.’

‘Look around the room, people. Look at the diversity in this space. We all have one thing in common. We love New York. They’re messing it up, but we want to show people what New Yorkers are made of,” Adams was heard saying in the video, according to the broadcast. ‘Happy Birthday. Let’s make sure we take our city back.’

A study from the business The city claimed that Qin and Adams had closer ties than Adams claimed.

Not long after Adams took office, Liu was named 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 home in the Bronx was raided by the FBI as she faced allegations that she promised a contact a job in the mayor’s office in exchange for a kitchen renovation.

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

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

The investigation led to a search of the New World Mall in Queens, a place Greco visited at least twice in 2021 to raise money for Adams.

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

Under the city’s campaign finance rules, green card holders can contribute to races and participate in the city’s generous matching fund 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 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 accused or charged with any wrongdoing,” Pitta said.

Sources said 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 was running for Congress.

The mayor has close ties to several people who have been indicted or investigated for campaign finance fraud.

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

In November, the FBI raided the home of Adams’ fundraising manager Brianna Suggs, who helped Adams raise more than $2.5 million 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 on the street and seized his cell phones and a iPad.

In July, the district attorney accused several donors to Adams’ campaign, including a former NYPD inspector, of illegally structuring campaign contributions to maximize additional money obtained through the city’s matching funds program.