NYC Mayor Adams sues city board over campaign financing

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is taking the city's campaign finance board to court over its decision to deny his reelection campaign more than $3.4 million in public matching funds.

In the lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court on Tuesday, Adams' lawyers say the New York City Campaign Finance Board's decision was "unfair" and was based on a federal indictment that has since been dismissed.

The lawsuit says the board's decision has "deprived Adams and his supporters of the right to campaign on the same terms as every other candidate."

“The CFB’s reliance on the indictment as proof of anything, particularly now that it has been dismissed with prejudice, is, therefore, arbitrary, capricious, violative of lawful procedure, and erroneous as a matter of law," Adams lawyers wrote in the complaint. "The CFB’s failure to cite any evidence to support its determination other than the indictment establishes that the CFB has no other evidence."

The campaign finance board administers New York City's public matching funds program and reviews the finances of campaigns that receive public funding from the program.

Adams was indicted on federal corruption and bribery charges. Federal prosecutors accused him of accepting more than $100,000 in illegal gifts, travel and campaign contributions from the Turkish government and wealthy foreign businessmen for several years. He was also accused of accepting more than $10 million in illegal "straw" donations traced to Turkey.

That case was dismissed earlier this year, after President Donald Trump’s Justice Department intervened. It said the indictments against Adams were politically motivated.

Adams dropped out of the Democratic primary after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced he was running, and is now campaigning as a long-shot independent candidate. Several other Democrats, including New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, are running for mayor.

In April, the campaign finance board sent a letter to Adams' campaign saying it believes the mayor engaged in conduct that "violates federal, state or city law." The board cites his federal indictment and correspondence between the U.S. Attorney’s office and the Trump administration and Justice Department over whether the case should be dropped.

Adams, a former police captain, was elected to lead the nation's largest city in 2021, pledging to reduce crime and guide the city out of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is the second Black mayor.

Two years ago, Adams was fined nearly $20,000 by the campaign finance watchdog for failing to account for more than $120,000 in bank deposits and missed disclosure deadlines during his 2021 run for mayor.

In a report, the board detailed financial discrepancies and dozens of prohibited contributions, including anonymous donations and allegations that unlawful foreign money flowed into the Adams campaign's coffers.

The Adams campaign raised more than $8.9 million for his 2021 mayoral election, and collected more than $10 million in public funds, the largest amount of any citywide candidate in that election cycle, according to the board.