Judge denies NYC Mayor Eric Adams' motion to dismiss bribery count in corruption case

Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News on Dec 17, 2024

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NEW YORK — A Manhattan judge on Tuesday denied Mayor Eric Adams’ motion to dismiss the bribery count in his public corruption case.

In a 30-page order, Manhattan federal court Judge Dale Ho rejected Adams’ arguments that the government’s allegations did not meet the legal standard for bribery and said dismissal of the most serious charge facing the mayor was not warranted.

The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office says Adams is guilty of bribery for accepting luxury travel benefits from wealthy Turkish officials in exchange for pressuring the FDNY to open a 36-story Midtown skyscraper that houses the country’s consulate before it was safe to do so after he’d won the Democratic mayoral primary.

In his motion to dismiss the bribery charge— one of five counts Adams faces — Adams’ lawyer Alex Spiro had argued, among other positions, that the claims were “extraordinarily vague” and tantamount to “normal and perfectly lawful acts that many city officials would undertake for the consulate of an important foreign nation.”

Spiro argued that the government had failed to establish a “quid pro quo” showing Adams agreed to take action in exchange for luxury perks, citing a Supreme Court ruling that said officials may accept gratuities “after an official act as a token of appreciation.”

He said Adams’ alleged communications with FDNY officials about the consulate in the months before he was elected was not equivalent to him abusing his official power because he didn’t then have formal authority over the fire department or the Turkish Consulate.

“[A] public official may use their role to influence those who are not within their direct line of authority — and federal bribery laws seek to limit the possibility of such corrupt influence,” Judge Ho wrote in his Tuesday opinion, citing precedent.

The judge later added, “Ultimately, whether or not Adams used his official position as Brooklyn Borough President to exert pressure on the FDNY is a factual question for a jury to resolve.”

Reached for comment, Spiro said, “The prosecution’s case is so contrived that it took several months for the court to unwind its legal theories, questioning several of them in its ruling — and proving the point that this case was simply invented to harm Mayor Adams and not about justice at all.”

Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, declined to comment.

The embattled mayor has pleaded not guilty to bribery, wire fraud, and secretly soliciting illegal campaign contributions from overseas donors in the case that alleges he put a price on his political influence dating back to his days as Brooklyn borough president.

Among other allegations, he’s accused of raking in more than $100,000 worth of lavish trips around the world, cruises, and hotel stays paid for by a Turkish government official and wealthy Turkish businessmen who believed the former NYPD captain would one day make it to the White House.

The mayor, who has rebuffed calls to step down and vowed to run again next year, has claimed the feds are targeting him for his criticisms of the Biden administration’s handling of the migrant crisis. However, his lawyers have not reflected those claims in legal arguments. President-elect Donald Trump has sympathized with him and on Monday said he’d consider offering him a pardon.

The case is headed to trial on April 21.

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