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Adams’ fundraising disclosures reveal big spending on legal defense, billionaire donors - POLITICOPOLITICO

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Adams’ fundraising disclosures reveal big spending on legal defense, billionaire donors

New disclosures show the New York City mayor raised $732,000 for his new trust, $525,000 for his campaign.

Adams' former chief counsel, Brendan McGuire, is now working on his legal defense. | Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

By Jeff Coltin

01/16/2024 09:13 PM EST

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NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams has already spent more than $400,000 on legal costs for a federal investigation involving his 2021 campaign. The expense was revealed Tuesday, in the first disclosure of a fund he established to allow him to fundraise to pay off the bills.

Meanwhile a 2025 campaign filing also released Tuesday night shows Adams’ reelection bid doled out more than $181,000 over the course of six-and-a-half months to his former fundraiser, whose Brooklyn home was raided by FBI agents in November as part of the probe.

A campaign spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment about the unusually high payment to Brianna Suggs.

Adams still has almost $300,000 left in his Legal Defense Fund and plans to continue seeking contributions, a representative for the trust told POLITICO.

The bulk of his legal defense spending —$397,000 — went to WilmerHale, the white shoe firm employing Adams’ lawyers Boyd Johnson and Brendan McGuire. McGuire worked as Adams’ chief counsel in City Hall before resigning last summer.

A smaller payment of about $6,000 went to the firm Haystack for “forensic data collection” — a hire by the legal team to review electronic records, explained the representative, who was granted anonymity to speak freely.

Adams’ campaign compliance attorney, Vito Pitta, serves as counsel for the trust and his firm was paid $7,500 for its work to date. Artus Group, a firm of private detectives, was paid $18,664 to vet would-be donors.

The trust is overseen by the city Conflicts of Interest Board and must adhere to strict limits on who can give: City employees, lobbyists and their family members, among others, are prohibited from donating.

The trust reported raising more than $732,000 in eight weeks from about 223 individual donors, about half giving the maximum allowable donation of $5,000.

Contributors include Alexander Rovt, a billionaire businessperson who’s been accused of running a “fiefdom” through his board chair position in a Brooklyn health care system. Two of Rovt’s family members, Olga and Maxwell, also gave $5,000 each.

Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, a steadfast ally of the mayor who’s regularly seen by his side at official events, gave $2,500. She appeared to be the only elected official to donate.

Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg donated, as POLITICO first reported ahead of the filing. “Mike thinks it’s in the city’s interest for Mayor Adams to succeed, and it’s not in the city’s interest for him to be distracted,” longtime Bloomberg adviser Howard Wolfson said.

Other billionaires who gave include cryptocurrency investor Brock Pierce and former Russian-tied businessperson Leonard Blavatnik, the Daily News first reported.

Frank Carone, Adams’ former chief of staff who now runs a consulting firm, gave $5,000, as did three members of his family. People with business before the city aren’t allowed to contribute, but Carone — who remains close to the mayor — is not a registered lobbyist.

The list of donors includes many names who aren’t known in New York’s political circles.

Most donors listed addresses in the five boroughs, but some people living in Georgia, California and Florida cut checks.

“People have known my character and they said we want to help,” Adams said at an unrelated press conference Tuesday. “You sometimes don’t realize how people appreciate your life of service. I just thank those New Yorkers who responded.”

Adams made phone soliciting donations, but the trust didn’t hold any fundraising events, the representative said. Other people sent in checks on their own.

It’s unclear how much further legal representation Adams will need. The mayor’s cell phones were briefly seized by the FBI in November, as part of a federal investigation into Turkish influence.

Adams has maintained his innocence and said he’s been nothing but cooperative. The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York has repeatedly declined to comment on the investigation, and no charges have been brought.

Adams’ reelection campaign brought in $525,000 since July, netting about $400,000 after processing some $125,000 in refunds to people who gave in excess of the limits or are otherwise barred from donating. It has spent $304,000 — including the payments to Suggs, a 25-year-old fundraiser whom Adams has said would no longer raise for him after the FBI raid. He said she will continue to play a role on his reelection campaign.

As Adams dealt with the investigation and record-low poll numbers, his political campaign showed a relatively weak fundraising period. The representative attributed the drop to attention shifting to the Legal Defense Fund during the final weeks of 2023.

Among Adams’ top reelection fundraisers: Former Staten Island Rep. Max Rose, a Democrat who served one term before losing his seat in 2020 and has since become a lobbyist. Rose pulled in $41,450, far outpacing the other four people listed as having bundled donations for the 2025 bid. Rose recently joined Carone’s firm.

Despite his troubles, no serious challengers have yet filed to run against Adams. Political speculation remains about whether the Democratic mayor is vulnerable to a challenge.

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