Less than a week into his federal corruption case, lawyers for Mayor Eric Adams filed a motion Monday to dismiss a charge that Adams accepted bribes from Turkish officials, citing a three-month-old Supreme Court decision that weakened federal enforcement of bribery.
Attorney Alex Spiro’s motion attempts to undermine federal prosecutors’ argument that Adams accepted luxury travel in exchange for pressuring FDNY officials to allow a new Turkish consulate to open even while the 36-story skyscraper was riddled with dozens of safety defects.
“That extraordinarily vague allegation encompasses a wide array of normal and perfectly lawful acts that many city officials would undertake for the consulate of an important foreign nation, such as arranging meetings with regulators, offering advice about how to navigate the city’s bureaucracy, and referring diplomatic personnel to attorneys who specialize in regulatory affairs or building-code disputes,” Spiro wrote.
The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York indicted Adams Thursday on federal charges including bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy. The indictment capped one of at least five investigations swirling around the mayor and members of his inner circle over the last year and a half.
In another possible probe, the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — which first indicted Adams fundraisers in July 2023 — seized yet another Adams official’s phone Friday, the same day federal law enforcement served her a subpoena.
In Monday’s filing, Adams’ lawyers mocked federal prosecutors for doing a “makeover” of a previous investigation that was limited by the Supreme Court’s ruling in June, which allows government officials to accept gratuities for past acts. Gratuities are defined as gifts given to thank an official — but not directly in exchange for their help — or to “curry favor” without any specific request.
Recent court decisions have made it increasingly difficult to convict government officials for corruption. In June, the Supreme Court ruled an official must carry out — or at least promise — an “official act” in exchange for a bribe, a definition that has narrowed over time. Setting up meetings, hosting events or answering questions on the phone wouldn’t necessarily constitute a crime, judges have decided.
“Yet here goes the [Justice] Department again,” Spiro wrote. “It appears that after years of casting about for something, anything, to support a federal charge against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, prosecutors had settled on a theory [about gratuities being criminal].”
But in light of the Supreme Court ruling, he wrote, prosecutors made vaguer allegations about a more serious accusation of bribery.
The argument rests on the assumption that the approval of the Turkish consulate’s permitting does not qualify as an official act.
Attorneys for former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin made a similar argument after he was indicted on federal bribery and fraud charges — an indictment that prompted his resignation — claiming that Benjamin never made “an explicit promise” or actually carried out an “official act” in exchange for campaign donations. A district judge agreed and dismissed the charges. But a higher court reinstated them earlier this year, and the case is ongoing.
Adams’ attorney said Friday outside of court that the Benjamin case — which is being prosecuted by the same office — is based on a “similar shaky theory.”
Still, the Southern District has had some success in federal bribery cases since the June Supreme Court decision. Over the summer, federal prosecutors convicted then-U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey. Menendez is currently appealing his conviction.
Adams’ 25-page filing describes the prosecutors who brought the case as “zealous” and repeatedly refers to their allegations as “vague.” It claims that he never took any regulatory action, either as Brooklyn borough president or as mayor, to benefit the Turkish House.
The motion also rebuts the government’s assertions about an illegal straw donor scheme, calling them “meritless because they rest on a host of false claims evidently attributable to a self-interested staffer with an axe to grind.”
Also on Monday, Adams added two more private lawyers to his legal team, bringing the total to three attorneys with the white shoe firm Quinn Emanuel.
Adams’ political fate arguably strengthened over the weekend. On Saturday, the Rev. Al Sharpton cautioned Gov. Kathy Hochul not to remove Adams from office, as the city charter permits her to do in the event of criminal charges.
Meanwhile, voters in East New York, Adams’ home base, told Gothamist they felt betrayed but still reserved judgment as the case proceeded.
