Mayor Eric Adams swatted away questions on Thursday over this week’s revelation that he is $3 million in debt to the criminal defense lawyers who helped him beat his now-dismissed federal corruption case.
During his weekly City Hall news conference on April 17, Hizzoner appeared incredulous that a reporter bothered to ask about his massive debts to the white shoe law firms Quinn Emanuel and WilmerHale incurred over the past year and a half.
“Unless you guys are planning on chipping in money, why are you asking me?” Adams asked reporters. “I don’t understand. If the desire is ‘Eric owes money,’ then I’m not going to fulfill that.”
Adams insisted, “I have a relationship with my attorney,” and that it is not anyone else’s business how he pays his private legal bills.
“I’m going to do my job as the mayor, and how I pay my legal fees is between Eric Adams and his attorney,” he said while referencing himself in the third person.
Adams did not elaborate further on exactly what he meant or how he plans to pay down his legal bills. But when asked if he has any concerns that what he owes could leave him vulnerable to the whims of his attorneys, Adams simply answered, “No.”
The mayor’s debt came to light in an updated filing on how much his legal defense fund, which he established in late 2023 after a federal investigation into his campaign became public, has raised and spent over the past three months. The filing with the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board showed that while Adams racked up millions of dollars in legal bills over the past several months, his defense fund has not raised a cent so far this year.
Donations to both Adams’ defense fund and his re-election campaign have slowed significantly in recent months following his indictment and as his approval rating has reached a historic low of 20%.
Adams retained Wilmer Hale shortly after his former top campaign fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, had her home raided by federal agents in late 2023. But when he was hit with a five-count federal indictment nearly a year later, he brought on Quinn Emmanuel partner Alex Spiro as his lead tiral attorney.
Spiro, whose firm charged Adams over $700,000 a month, was successful in getting the charges against him abandoned by President Trump’s Justice Department after meeting with top DOJ officials in January. A federal district judge—Dale Ho—dismissed the case earlier this month with prejudice, meaning the charges cannot be resurrected.
But even though Adams beat the charges, he paid a heavy political price that has thrown his re-election chances into serious doubt.
That came in the form of ex-Manhattan US Attorney Danielle Sassoon alleging that Spiro and top DOJ officials engaged in a quid pro quo — trading Adams’ cooperation with executing Trump’s immigration agenda with dismissing his case.
In his decision, Ho appeared to agree with Sassoon, writing: “Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the Indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.”
