Mayor Eric Adams has a lot to worry about these days, from the five-count federal indictment against him to his dimming re-election prospects next year.
Now another pressing concern has emerged: His legal defense fund is empty.
Over the last year, Mr. Adams has spent nearly all of the roughly $1.8 million he has raised to pay for legal expenses related to a federal investigation into his campaign fund-raising, according to a new filing submitted late Tuesday.
And the pace of the donations has slowed. The mayor has received only one donation since his indictment on Sept. 26 on federal charges of bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. The donation, for $1,000, was from Deborah Robins, who lives in Miami Beach, and who did not respond to a request for comment.
The defense fund has raised roughly $92,000 since July — less than in other recent periods, according to a quarterly filing with city’s Conflicts of Interest Board. The fund was created in November 2023, when the federal investigation burst into public view and federal agents seized the mayor’s phones.
Recent donors include James Dolan, who oversees a family empire that includes Madison Square Garden and the Knicks. Mr. Dolan donated $5,000 to the defense fund, as did several of his family members. Daniel Loeb, a prominent hedge fund manager, and his wife, Margaret, donated $10,000.
When Mr. Adams was asked on Wednesday if he was concerned that his legal defense fund was running out of money, he said “nope” and laughed.
The defense fund had to return more than $137,000 in donations that were prohibited under law, or were returned at a donor’s request or at the fund’s discretion.
Frank Carone, an adviser to Mr. Adams who has led fund-raising for his campaign and his legal defense fund, said that the mayor — whose fund-raising for the 2025 campaign has also slowed as it reached the maximum allowed — would prioritize the defense fund in the coming months.
“Now we will turn our attention to a focused initiative on the defense fund,” Mr. Carone said in an interview. “The good news is that we don’t have to worry about campaign fund-raising anymore, and the mayor can focus on running the city and on campaigning when the time comes.”
Mr. Adams said at his weekly news conference on Tuesday that his re-election campaign had been nearing the maximum that can be spent and did not need to raise more.
“Many of your articles highlighted the money that others raised, but we were at the max,” he said. “And so we were pivoting and shifting. We had just a small amount to raise.”
Some elected officials have raised concerns about whether Mr. Adams should receive public matching funds for his 2025 campaign since he was charged with abusing the system, which awards candidates $8 for every dollar they receive from a city resident up to the first $250.
Brad Lander, the city comptroller who is running for mayor against Mr. Adams, said on NY1 on Tuesday that he did not think that Mr. Adams would receive public matching funds, which would significantly hurt his campaign.
Mounting a strong legal defense can be expensive. Mr. Adams’s predecessor, Bill de Blasio, faced a federal investigation into his fund-raising, and even though he was not charged, the city spent more than $10 million for taxpayer-funded defense lawyers. He also owed roughly $300,000 for his own legal fees, and it is unclear whether he has paid them off.
Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is considering running for mayor, faced several sexual harassment investigations and resigned in 2021. The state has spent more than $25 million representing his legal interests.
The City Council authorized legal defense funds in 2019 after the Conflicts of Interest Board ruled that city gift restrictions prohibited Mr. de Blasio from soliciting more than $50 per donor to pay legal bills.
Mr. Adams’s defense fund has spent more than $240,000 on legal services since the indictment. Those payments went primarily to a high-powered team from the law firm WilmerHale that includes Brendan McGuire, the mayor’s former chief counsel.
There were no payments listed to Alex Spiro, another prominent lawyer who is representing Mr. Adams. Mr. Spiro, who held news conferences in the days after the indictment on the mayor’s behalf, has said that he will represent Mr. Adams during his trial and previously represented him in a separate sexual assault lawsuit.
Ms. Robins, the Florida woman who was listed as a donor to the mayor’s defense fund, told The Daily News that she did not make the donation: “I was not the one that did it. I didn’t put it in there.”
Elvir Mrkulic, a New York City resident, gave Mr. Adams’s legal defense fund $5,000 in July, according to the filing. In a phone call on Wednesday, he said “that was a while ago” and he could not recall the details.
“I’ve got to double-check,” he said. “I don’t remember what happened.”
He asked a reporter to call him back and did not pick up again.
The post As Eric Adams’s Problems Mount, His Legal Defense Fund Is Empty appeared first on New York Times.
