Mayor Eric Adams stated ‘we follow the rules’ when requested a couple of new report of straw donations to his 2025 reelection marketing campaign. Thursday, July 24, 2025.
Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
Nonetheless, when reporters requested concerning the newest occasion of Adams’ marketing campaign accepting straw donations on Thursday, he stated, “We follow all rules.” Adams has lengthy insisted that his marketing campaign doesn’t knowingly settle for straw donations, though a number of situations of it doing so have been reported in recent times. They performed a central position in his now-dismissed federal case.
“Those are credit card donations,” he added, referring to all of the contributions made by bank card.
Adams didn’t elaborate any additional, as a substitute telling reporters to achieve out to his marketing campaign’s compliance legal professional.
“Talk to Vito Pitta,” he stated. “He does a great job on compliance.”
Pitta didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, however Adams’ marketing campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro supplied a press release.
“As with any campaign receiving thousands of contributions, there may be a small number of instances requiring clarification or review,” Shapiro stated. “In such cases, our campaign works closely and proactively with the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) to ensure full compliance with all applicable regulations. Where necessary, donations have been voluntarily returned by CFB guidance and our longstanding commitment to transparency and integrity.”
The CFB has repeatedly denied Adams’ 2025 marketing campaign’s public matching funds claims, citing its incapability to file well timed responses to the board’s requests for info.
Tim Hunter, a CFB spokesperson, declined to touch upon the report.
Adams has been vigorously fundraising in latest months, after an prolonged lull late final 12 months and early this 12 months, to gasoline his longshot impartial bid for a second time period. He’s dealing with off towards Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, and impartial legal professional Jim Walden.
The donations reported by THE CITY, every of which was the utmost allowable quantity of $2,100 a chunk, arrived on two dates in Could and totaled $35,700, the outlet reported. If the CFB approves the claims for the 8:1 match, sixteen of the donations might generate one other $32,000 in matching funds for the mayor’s marketing campaign.
The alleged illicit donations got here only a month after Federal District Decide Dale Ho dropped Adams’ felony indictment on April 2. Neither the DOJ’s rationale for dropping the costs nor Ho’s clarification for granting its request was based mostly on the info of the case.
As an alternative, Ho appeared to aspect with allegations that Adams traded his cooperation with Trump’s immigration crackdown for having his case scuttled, writing it “smacked of a bargain.”
Among the many allegations in Adams’ indictment had been that his marketing campaign knowingly solicited and accepted 1000’s of {dollars} in straw donations, which it then used to rake in $10 million in matching funds. One of many businessmen named in Adams’ indictment, Erden Arkan, pleaded responsible to funnelling straw donations to the mayor’s 2021 marketing campaign in January.
One other former mayoral aide accused of orchestrating a straw donor scheme was reportedly in talks with federal prosecutors about pleading responsible himself, as of April.
