First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro’s legal work for the Madison Square Garden corporate empire technically violated local ethics law, as he engaged in it while serving as the second-in-command at City Hall, according to the city’s Department of Investigation.
The DOI, though, concluded in a report released Thursday that Mastro himself wasn’t at fault for the violation and stressed the agency is “not investigating” him. Rather, the department blasted the city Conflicts of Interest Board for the way in which it gave Mastro the green light this past spring to keep working as an attorney for the MSG empire, which holds extensive business interests before the city government.
The DOI called for a range of reforms in response to its findings, including enhanced transparency requirements and potential tweaks to existing ethics law, in order to ensure similar arrangements don’t play out in the future. The DOI initiated its review of the Mastro matter in direct response to the Daily News reporting in March 2025 that Mastro would hold on to his MSG job in an unpaid capacity while in City Hall.
Mastro, who has served as Mayor Adams’ No. 2 at City Hall since early 2025, was cleared by the board to retain his MSG role without receiving a formal waiver for it, shrouding the process in secrecy. The News’ report drew outrage from government watchdog groups at the time, as both the Conflicts of Interest Board and Adams’ office refused to disclose the advice the board had offered Mastro authorizing him to keep the job.
Citing the “plain language” of city ethics laws, the DOI’s report stated that if the board was going to permit Mastro to keep representing MSG, it should have issued a public waiver that found his representation of the corporation “technically violated” the law but “did not conflict with the city’s interests.” Such a waiver would have allowed for the type of public scrutiny the city’s ethics laws require, including by providing detailed information about the terms of Mastro’s relationship with MSG, the report concluded.
“Indeed, the fact that the First Deputy Mayor obtained COIB’s permission to serve as an attorney for a powerful local business interest was revealed for the first time only in the press,” DOI investigators wrote. “This sort of permission is of particular significance because Mastro, like any senior City Hall official, has broad authority with respect to City matters that in theory could be beneficial to his client.”
In response to the DOI report, Adams spokesman Fabien Levy said it makes “crystal clear that First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro did nothing wrong.”
Mastro “went through all the proper steps to follow all ethics laws, and DOI found that COIB should have analyzed this as a conflict waiver issue, not as it did, giving First Deputy Mayor Mastro advice that he then followed to the letter,” Levy said.
In refusing to disclose its advice to Mastro, the conflicts board cited confidentiality rules related to its communications with city employees.
DOI wrote in its report that such a blanket refusal to disclose information does not comport with city ethics laws.
As a result, the DOI urged the board to review its handling of the Mastro case and amend its advice to him if it finds the department is correct in saying a public waiver should be issued.
Additionally, the DOI laid out a number of broader recommendations, including urging the board to initiate a review to “determine whether it has permitted any other city-employed attorneys to represent private firms with city business.”
The DOI also recommended COIB should start publicizing moonlighting waivers issued to city employees on its website, a step the board has apparently already taken, according to the report.
The board’s executive director, Carolyn Miller, didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Adams, who’s leaving office Jan. 1, appointed Mastro as his first deputy mayor in early 2025 after Mastro’s predecessor resigned over concerns about Adams’ ability to lead the city amid fallout from his federal corruption indictment. Mastro, an alum of the Giuliani administration, is expected to leave city government together with Adams at the end of the year.
