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 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 appeared on the court docket the day after the mayor officially suspended his bid for reelection after weeks of pressure to drop out.
In his Sunday announcement, Adams specifically called out the Campaign Finance Board’s denial of matching funds 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 didn’t immediately return a request for comment on Spolzino’s filing.
According to his latest filing, 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 on why the mayor’s continuing to wage the court battle against the board.
The board first denied Adams more than $4 million in the coveted public matching 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.
After President 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 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.
