Mayor Adams’ federal corruption indictment is dead, but New York City’s Campaign Finance Board isn’t forgetting about it.
The board will continue to deny Adams’ reelection campaign $4 million in public matching funds due to his indictment, as it still has “reason to believe” he and his team broke “various” federal and local laws despite the controversial dismissal of his case, according to communications obtained by the Daily News.
In the communications from mid-April, the board also for the first time told Adams it believes his 2021 and 2025 campaigns violated “various” federal and local laws in connection with fundraising events that have drawn straw donor concerns, but weren’t referenced in his indictment. The events in question include multiple fundraisers co-hosted in 2021 at Queens’ New World Mall by Winnie Greco, a top adviser to Adams who resigned from City Hall last year after her homes were raided by federal investigators as part of a corruption probe.
Adams’ indictment alleged he solicited bribes and illegal contributions to both his 2021 and 2025 campaigns, mostly from Turkish government operatives. In exchange, Adams — who has denied wrongdoing — secured his benefactors various political favors, like expedited building permits, according to the indictment.
On April 2, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Dale Ho dismissed Adams’ indictment after President Trump’s Department of Justice requested it be dropped so the mayor could play a larger role in helping Trump target undocumented New Yorkers for “mass deportations.” That arrangement has led many to believe that Adams is beholden to Trump’s agenda, and even Judge Ho wrote in a scathing opinion that the dismissal “smacks” of a political “bargain.”
In denying Adams matching funds despite the dismissal, CFB auditing director Danielle Willemin wrote in an April 15 letter to his team that its decision was based, in part, on Ho’s opinion, as well as guilty pleas from two men, Erden Arkan and Mohamed Bahi, allegedly involved in the mayor’s campaign finance fraud conspiracy.
The board also cited a letter written by former interim Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, one of several prosecutors who refused the Trump DOJ’s order to drop Adams’ case and instead resigned in protest after affirming they believed the mayor was guilty and that a dismissal would amount to a “quid pro quo.”
In pointing to the additional suspected violations beyond his indictment, the board wrote in an April 11 letter it wants Adams’ team to provide a lease, invoices and other documents related to a New World Mall office that Greco is believed to have worked out of during the 2021 campaign, as first reported by news outlet The City. The board also requested the campaign provide all communications between Greco and representatives of the shopping center, including Tian Ji LI, its former owner.
Besides Greco, the board flagged several other fundraising events and individuals it suspects were involved with the campaign in breaking local and federal laws, amounting to additional grounds for matching funds denial.
One of the individuals referenced was Hui Qin, a Chinese billionaire who pleaded guilty last year to federal charges alleging he pumped illegal straw donations into Adams’ 2021 campaign. The board wrote in the letter that Adams’ team must furnish the panel with all communications with Hui and his associates about campaign contributions, “including information on any reimbursements.”
Adams’ reelection campaign didn’t immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.
The public matching funds system allows mayoral candidates to get contributions from city residents matched by an 8-to-1 margin with taxpayer dollars up to $250. It can provide massive cash boosts, and most of the other candidates in this year’s mayoral race have already been awarded millions of dollars in public matching funds.
Adams was first denied matching funds due to his indictment in December. He has since had the ability to appeal the CFB’s denial, but had not done so as of earlier this month.
After the dismissal of his corruption case, Adams dropped out of June’s Democratic mayoral primary in favor of seeking reelection as an independent in November’s general election. He recently said he will “fight” to secure the $4 million in matching funds that his team has submitted claims for.
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