Newly revealed correspondence between the Eric Adams campaign and the Campaign Finance Board shows that the Board is continuing to deny the mayor’s request for matching funds, citing matters related to the federal corruption case against the incumbent mayor that was dropped last month.
In the letter dated April 15th, CFB Director of Auditing and Accounting Danielle Willemin communicates to the Adams campaign that the Board “has determined that the Eric Adams 2025 campaign has not demonstrated eligibility for a public funds payment.” Though the mayor is no longer facing a federal trial on corruption and bribery charges, Willemin lists a number of factors from the indictment documents as well as others related to it as reason for the denial.
These include a guilty plea from Erden Arkan, who admitted to arranging a straw donor scheme to finance the mayor’s campaign in consultation with the Turkish government. Similar allegations were made against Mohamed Bahi, another aide to Adams who was expected to also render a guilty plea, but is seeking a different resolution to his case after the one against the mayor was dropped. Willemin also points to the resignation letter of former SDNY US Attorney Danielle Sassoon, in which she claimed that she witnessed DOJ officials arrange a quid pro quo agreement with Adams and his lawyers, whereby they would agree to drop the case in exchange for Adams’ cooperation on President Trump’s immigration policy. She further cites Judge Dale Ho’s order dismissing the case, where he nonetheless maintained that “everything here smacks of a bargain” between the DOJ and the incumbent mayor.
Based on these factors, Willemin explains, “the Board has reason to believe that Eric Adams has, in the course of public funds program participation, engaged in conduct detrimental to the Program that is in violation of federal, state, and/or City law, including the Campaign Finance Act and Board Rules.”
The letter explaining the CFB’s decision appears to be a part of a broader inquest into the Adams campaign. In another letter from April 11th, the CFB’s director of special compliance, Jesse Schaffer, requested information about a lease for a campaign office used by Winnie Greco, a former fundraiser whose homes were raided by the FBI in February. Schaffer also sought information about fundraisers and campaign contributions related to Adams’ 2021 campaign.
New York City has one of the most generous matching funds programs of its kind in the country, offering candidates up to eight dollars for every dollar they raise on their own. In Adams’ case, this amounts to some $4 million that the Board has denied him over its suspicions of his corruption.
