Eric Adams Sues NYC Campaign Finance Board Over $3.4 Million in Denied Funds

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is suing the city’s campaign finance regulators for denying him millions of dollars in public matching campaign funds.

Adams, who is running for reelection as an independent, filed the suit on May 27 at the state Supreme Court.

In the complaint, he accuses the Campaign Finance Board (CFB) of violating city, state, and federal rules by withholding $3.4 million he said he is entitled to under the city’s public campaign financing program, which offers candidates an 8-to-1 match for small donations, from $5 up to $250, that they raise from residents of their districts.

The suit argues that the board improperly based its denial on a 2024 criminal indictment that has since been dismissed. That five-count corruption indictment accused Adams of accepting illegal straw donations to his 2021 mayoral campaign in exchange for official favors, including expediting permits for a Turkish consulate.

Those charges, to which Adams had pleaded not guilty, were tossed in April after the U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump intervened.

“An indictment is not a conviction; a politically-driven indictment that has been dismissed and for which there is no corroborating evidence is worth nothing at all,” Adams’ legal team argued in the complaint.

“If the CFB has any evidence beyond the indictment, it would have relied on that evidence publicly to support its determination because of its stated commitment to transparency,” they continued. “The CFB’s failure to cite any evidence to support its determination other than the indictment establishes that the CFB has no other evidence.”

The board initially denied Adams’ matching fund claims in December, citing both the federal indictment and his campaign’s failure to provide required documentation. Tuesday’s lawsuit states that the campaign has since submitted the necessary paperwork.

The CFB declined to comment on the pending litigation. It’s scheduled to vote on the next round of matching fund requests on May 30.

Recent CFB fundraising reports show signs of recovery for Adams. Between mid-March and mid-May, his campaign brought in $155,000, a significant rebound from the $19,000 collected in the previous two-month period, before the indictment was dismissed. His campaign is estimated to have $2.7 million in cash on hand.

Several Democrats with strong fundraising numbers are competing for the party’s nomination, including Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is attempting a political comeback after resigning in 2021 amid sexual misconduct accusations.

Cuomo maintains a commanding fundraising lead of the pack with $3.9 million since he entered the race on March 1, as well as another $9.1 million from a pro-Cuomo PAC called “Fix the City,” according to CFB data.

Cuomo also holds a double-digit lead in recent polls, with less than a month remaining until the June 24 Democratic primary.

A much less crowded Republican primary will likely once again nominate Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, a neighborhood watch organizer, who ran against Adams in 2021 on a platform focusing on addressing crime and illegal immigration.

Sliwa has raised over $220,000 since launching his campaign in February, according to the CFB.