Despite pulling the plug on his reelection bid, Mayor Adams will continue fighting the Campaign Finance Board in court to try to unlock the more than $4 million in public matching funds withheld from him due to issues related to his corruption indictment.
Robert Spolzino, an attorney for Adams, wrote in a filing submitted in Brooklyn Federal Court on Monday that the mayor will continue the court battle because “campaign expenditures incurred prior to the date the candidate has ceased actively campaigning remain eligible expenditures.”
“The Adams Campaign has incurred such expenditures and is therefore entitled to the relief it seeks in this action today, just as it was prior to Mayor Adams’ announcement,” Spolzino wrote in the filing, which was posted on the court docket the day after the mayor officially suspended his bid for reelection after President Trump’s team and business leaders spent weeks pressuring him to drop out.
In his Sunday announcement, Adams specifically called out the Campaign Finance Board’s denial of matching cash as one of the reasons he was stepping out of the race, saying the “decision to withhold millions of dollars has undermined my ability to raise the funds needed for a serious campaign.”
A spokesman for the Campaign Finance Board declined to comment on Spolzino’s filing.
According to his latest disclosure, Adams already has nearly $4 million in private cash in his reelection campaign coffers. His campaign spokesman Todd Shapiro didn’t immediately return a request for additional comment.
Under the CFB’s system, mayoral candidates can get donations from local residents matched with taxpayer funds at an 8-to-1 rate up to $250, providing a big monetary incentive.
The board first denied Adams more than $4 million in the coveted public cash in December 2024 due to his corruption indictment, which alleged he took bribes and illegal campaign donations, mostly from Turkish government operatives, in exchange for political favors. According to his indictment, Adams’ campaign unlocked illicit matching funds on some of those illegal donations — a big no-no in the eyes of the CFB.
After Trump’s Department of Justice dismissed Adams’ indictment this spring as part of a controversial arrangement, the board continued to deny him matching funds on the grounds that it still had “reason to believe” the mayor broke city laws by allegedly soliciting illegal donations from foreigners.
The board has also said Adams’ campaign has failed to comply with some of the board’s requests for records.
Adams’ campaign has been challenging the board’s denial in court since May.
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