(Bloomberg) -- New York Mayor Eric Adams may be charged with further counts in his corruption case, prosecutors said, adding it was “quite likely” other defendants will be named.
The US told a federal judge of those prospects Wednesday morning as Adams appeared in a Manhattan courtroom for the second time in a week. They said further counts for the mayor were “possible.” The US said its case would include “multiple witnesses.”
Adams was indicted last week, the first sitting New York mayor to face federal felony charges, amid a widespread criminal probe in which top City Hall aides have had their homes searched and phones seized by investigators. The next day, he pleaded not guilty and was freed without bail.
Since then the mayor has rolled out an aggressive defense to corruption charges that threaten to bring down the administration of the largest US city. He has denied the charges, resisted calls to step down and shown he intends to fight back. His lawyer has blasted federal prosecutors for allegedly leaking details of the case to the press and is demanding a speedy trial.
The Charges
Prosecutors claim Adams began accepting improper benefits, including luxury travel from wealthy Turkish businesspeople, when he was Brooklyn borough president before running for mayor. He is also accused of secretly accepting illegal foreign contributions and defrauding taxpayers out of matching funds for his 2021 mayoral campaign.
He was summoned to appear Wednesday for an initial pretrial conference in the case. Such proceedings are an opportunity for the parties and judge to discuss scheduling, possible legal motions and the exchange of evidence, all with an eye toward moving the case toward trial.
Alex Spiro, the mayor’s lawyer, asked US District Judge Dale Ho, a Biden appointee who took the bench in August 2023, for a speedy trial.
“We do not want this case dragging,” Spiro said.
At one point he objected to the government’s answers to questions about the pretrial exchange of information.
“They have a weak case, I get this,” he said, but the US was making “a long opening statement about what the witnesses are going to say,” which Spiro said was mostly “misleading and false.”
Evidence in Case
Prosecutors said evidence against Adams includes business records that are typical for white collar cases and items specific to the case, such as records from a Turkish airline showing he didn’t pay for $50,000 of flights he took in 2017. It will also include government papers and electronic records such as GPS data, photographs and voice memos.
Spiro has taken the unusual step of asking the judge to dismiss part of the case right away. On Monday he filed a motion to dismiss a criminal count of federal program bribery, arguing that a series of Supreme Court rulings in recent years makes the charge untenable. He held a press conference minimizing the allegations and vowing to seek dismissal of the four other charges as well, which he says appear to be based on the word of a staffer with an ax to grind.
Convincing a judge to dismiss charges at this early stage requires showing that even if the government’s allegations are true, they don’t add up to a crime.
Then, on Tuesday, Spiro filed a motion for a court hearing and sanctions against the government for alleged leaks.
“For nearly a year, the government has leaked grand jury material and other sensitive information to the media to aggrandize itself, further its investigation and unfairly prejudice the defendant, Mayor Eric Adams,” he said in the court filing. Spiro said the judge should “remedy the government’s brazen violations of the rules governing grand jury secrecy,” possibly including dismissal of the indictment or suppressing some evidence.
The case is US v. Adams, 24-cr-566, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
--With assistance from Laura Nahmias and Myles Miller.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
