Cryptocurrency billionaire Brock Pierce, a longtime supporter and friend of Mayor Adams, is declining an offer to be returned a $1.1 million donation he made to a pro-Adams super PAC last week — because he wants the incumbent to reverse his decision to drop out of November’s election.
Pierce hopes his donation, made to the EmpowerNYC PAC days before Adams’ campaign suspension, can become the starting point for an effort to convince Adams to re-launch his reelection bid and get back in the race, he said an interview with the Daily News late Monday.
“He can’t come off the ballot. I want New York City to draft him back. We need him,” Pierce said, a reference to a deadline that has passed for Adams to get his name off the Nov. 4 ballot.
“It’s Adams’ Apple, not some rotten apple.”
The billionaire Bitcoin investor, who’s also a big Trump donor, said he has spoken directly with the mayor about the effort to get him back into the race.
“Mayor Adams deeply appreciates the support he has received from New Yorkers from all walks of life,” Todd Shapiro, a spokesman for the mayor, said in a statement. “Many New Yorkers have reached out to him after his announcement. Mayor Adams will continuing doing what is best for New York City.”
Shapiro initially issued a statement that clearly stated the mayor was not running for re-election, but requested that a revised version be used instead, saying he wasn’t immediately able to get approval.
Pierce, who used to be a child actor, also ripped into Frank Carone, Adams’ longtime political confidant and reelection campaign chair. Immediately after the mayor’s Sunday dropout announcement, Carone said he would start working to get Andrew Cuomo elected.
“He jumped ship a long time ago. Brutus,” Pierce said, accusing Carone of working behind the scenes to help Cuomo for months. “I blame [Carone] as the principal reason for the elections being what they are right now. Not Cuomo.”
Pierce, in a second call with The News on Monday evening, said he has tried to convince the mayor that Carone was working against his best interests. “[Adams] didn’t want to believe it,” Pierce said. “He trusted this man with his life.”
Carone — who has acknowledged being in direct touch with Cuomo weeks before Adams officially dropped his independent reelection bid — brushed off Pierce’s broadside, saying repeatedly he has no idea who the billionaire is. “Never heard of him,” Carone said.
Pierce made the $1,111,111 million donation to EmpowerNYC on Sept. 23, nearly doubling the cash the pro-Adams super PAC had on hand, records show.
Pierce said PAC leaders asked him if he wanted his money back after Adams abandoned his reelection bid Sunday.
“Not asking for it back. Prepared to give more,” Pierce said in describing what he told the PAC. “I believe in the mayor.”
Still, Pierce acknowledged he didn’t get a commitment from EmpowerNYC that it will start spending on some sort of effort to re-recruit Adams.
Abe George, an attorney who has operated EmpowerNYC, didn’t return a request for comment.
Adams’ decision to suspend his reelection campaign came after President Trump’s team and New York business leaders pressured him for months to drop out in order to help clear the field against Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral nominee and favorite to win November’s election. Still reeling from his federal corruption indictment, alleged closeness to Trump and surrounding controversies, Adams was for months polling at the very back of the pack of the mayoral race before he dropped out.
Cuomo, who is also running as an independent in November’s election, could be helped by Adams’ exit, as he shares overlap with the mayor’s political base.
Pierce has been friends with Adams for years and even flew Adams, as mayor-elect, on his private jet to political schmooze-fest SOMOS in 2021. He previously donated $100,000 to a group backing Adams’ first run for mayor.
The crypto mogul has hosted fundraisers for the mayor, including one in late 2024 at his mansion in Puerto Rico. He hosted another fundraiser for Adams in Las Vegas in May that coincided with a taxpayer-funded trip the mayor took to Sin City for a Bitcoin conference.
Pierce also appeared with the mayor at Trump’s second inauguration in January.
