Democrat party donor with close Turkey ties bankrolled Harris, Obama, Eric Adams: ‘Should be scrutinized’

A Turkish Democrat mega-donor who has poured millions into campaigns for Kamala Harris and Barack Obama is under scrutiny after the indictment of New York City mayor Eric Adams.

Murat Guzel, 63, contributed around $10,000 to the mayoral campaign of Adams, who the federal government have accused of accepting illegal donations from Turkish officials concealed through “straw donors,” according to court papers.

A lawyer who has represented Guzel denied the Turkish-American businessman is one of those straw donors and say he is not part of the Southern District of New York’s ongoing investigation into Adams.

However, Guzel does have strong ties to the Turkish government and also made some of his previous political donations with the help of Pakistani-American venture capitalist Imaad Shah Zuberi, who is now in prison, convicted of being a foreign agent.

“They were in close coordination,” a former federal agent told The Post this week.

Guzel was granted immunity from prosecution in connection with the federal investigation into Zuberi, after co-operating with authorities. He has not been accused of any wrongdoing. 

Guzel, who runs a food importing company, gave $25,000 to Harris’ Victory Fund in April. Pictures he posted online show him shaking hands with ex-president Barack Obama, current president Joe Biden and longtime party supporter, actor Robert De Niro. Paperwork also shows he has donated more than $660,000 to campaigns and political action committees for Democrats across the country.

Guzel has been instrumental in Pennsylvania Democratic Party politics and is particularly close to state senator Bob Casey, crediting him with introducing him to party bigwigs. He has also contributed more than $20,000 to Casey’s re-election campaigns.

He also donated $100,000 to a project run by Casey’s wife, Terese Casey, to raise funds for the state’s celebration of the 250th birthday of the US in 2026.

Guzel has also contributed to Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman as well as Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar and donated more than $220,000 to the Democratic National Committee alone, according to federal filings.

In 2012, Guzel even served as a Pennsylvanian delegate nominating Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential candidate in his re-election bid.

“I was the first Turkish American to do so,” he told Turk Network Magazine of his role, adding he took on other important positions within the party, including with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign.

“In this capacity I was one of 50 individuals authorized to resolve internal party disputes by hearing from all involved parties,” he told TurkNetwork.

At that time Guzel worked with California venture capitalist Zuberi, according to the source.

Zuberi was a top fundraiser for Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and “a significant donor to political candidates and campaigns, making millions of dollars in contributions in his name, the name of his spouse and the name of his venture capital firm, Avenue Ventures,” according to court filings.

Zuberi also donated more than $10,000 to Casey’s re-election campaign in 2012 and 2013, federal filings show.

In 2015, he was known as a “Hillblazer” because he had contributed more than $100,000 to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in its first few months. He also made significant contributions to Republican candidates.

However, Zuberi pleaded guilty to illegally acting as a lobbyist for foreign governments and making illegal campaign contributions in 2019.

He was convicted in 2021 of acting as a foreign agent of Sri Lanka, among other countries, and sentenced to 12 years in prison, according to reports.

Guzel was born in Turkey where he studied electrical engineering, and now runs a food importing company in Whitehall, Penn.

He was a founding member of the Turkish American National Steering Committee, a US-based nonprofit with close ties to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to a report in the Washington Free Beacon.

Guzel was also the president and co-founder of MUSIAD USA, a group of Muslim Turkish industrialists close to Erdogan. In May, 2021, the group issued a statement on its Facebook page criticizing “Israeli occupation forces and fanatical Jews” during the 2021 Gaza war.

“MUSIAD is a Turkish business association that is very close to the government of Turkey,” according to a Turkish-American professor who did not want to be identified. “I think someone like Murat Guzel should be scrutinized for all of his ties to Erdogan.”

According to the newspaper, he reported to Erdogan’s son, Bilal Erdogan, about the president’s Turkish adversaries in the US.

And in a 2014 email, obtained through Wikileaks, Guzel wrote to Erodgan’s son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, that “to stand by Erdogan and do whatever we can against evil powers is not just an act of kindness, but rather an Islamic obligation upon all of us.”

In 2017, Guzel also defended Erdogan after bodyguards at the Turkish Embassy in Washington brutally attacked demonstrators protesting his visit to the US.

Nearly a dozen people were injured outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in what police called “a brutal attack on peaceful protestors.”

Adams has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and has refused numerous calls to step down from his position as mayor.