Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo may have to forfeit more than $600,000 in public matching funds, the New York City Campaign Finance Board announced Monday, stating it had found reason to believe his mayoral campaign had inappropriately coordinated with an independent expenditure committee that’s spending millions of dollars to boost his campaign.

The preliminary ruling came during a public meeting where the board voted to approve a new round matching funds payments for dozens of candidates for mayor, comptroller, City Council, public advocate and borough president running in the June 24 primary — while denying any funds for mayoral candidates Adrienne Adams, Jessica Ramos and Michael Blake.

For the second time, the board also denied Mayor Eric Adams eligibility for matching funds as he looks toward the November general election as an independent candidate, ratifying last week’s decision by board chair Frederick Schaffer. Schaffer cited the campaign’s failure to cooperate with its investigation of allegedly fraudulent donations.

The mayor’s campaign attorney Vito Pitto didn’t respond to a request for comment. 

Cuomo got approved for his first round of matching funds — minus the $622,056 penalty for alleged coordination with independent expenditure group Fix the City — yielding a net $1.5 million in public dollars .

The board objected to an ad first aired on May 4 and paid for by $622,056 from Fix the City, which is backing Cuomo’s bid for the Democratic primary nomination.

Independent expenditure groups are permitted to raise and spend unlimited sums of money under the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision, but they are barred from coordinating with the campaigns they . As flagged last month by Politico New York, Cuomo’s campaign used a tactic called “redboxing,” placing an inconspicuous link on its campaign website to messaging and videos intended to be used by the independent expenditure group. 

Investigators with the finance board found the May 4 ad was “not independent of the Cuomo campaign,” according to Richard Davis, a board member. 

“The board’s investigation into this matter is ongoing, and we will continue to evaluate the issue of improper coordination,” Davis said.

The board said Schaffer recused himself from voting on Cuomo’s matching funds “out of an abundance of caution” due to his interactions with then-Gov. Cuomo’s executive chamber in his role as general counsel to the City University of New York (CUNY).

Fix the City has amassed more than $7 million to Cuomo, drawing heavily on the of major finance and real estate players including hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, businessman Barry Diller, Related Companies chairman Stephen Ross, Mets owner and casino bidder Steven Cohen and developer Two Trees Management. It’s the most influential outside spending group in the crowded mayoral race, having spent more than $3 million so far to buoy Cuomo’s campaign.

Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo’s campaign, said they planned to appeal the board’s decision. 

“Our campaign has operated in full compliance with the campaign finance laws and rules, and everything on our website was reviewed and approved by our legal team in advance of publication,” he said, pointing to similar tactics used by mayoral candidate Scott Stringer and comptroller candidate Justin Brannan, as noted in Politico’s coverage. No independent expenditure committees have reported activity in either race so far. 

State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani (D-Queens), a candidate for mayor who is consistently polling second behind Cuomo, slammed Cuomo’s campaign.  

“We don’t need another mayor who thinks the rules don’t apply to him,” he said. 

Mamdani has already pulled in just over $8 million in public and private funds for the June 24 primary, the maximum possible for candidates participating in the public financing program, and has received contributions from more individual donors than any other candidate in the race. 

The Money Race

Also getting public funding for the first time Monday in a run for mayor is former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson, approved by the board for $1.9 million in public matching funds. State Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) and city Comptroller Brad Lander, who previously qualified for matching funds, received several thousand additional dollars in additional payments, bringing them up to $3.5 and $6 million raised respectively in public and private funds. 

Though he didn’t qualify for additional public funding Monday, with $4.5 million in public and private funds Stringer is the third biggest fundraiser after Mamdani and Lander.

But several other candidates have failed to qualify for public funds. With just a month before early voting kicks off, on June 14, they face an increasingly difficult path to victory. 

Among them are City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, State Senator Jessica Ramos and former State Assemblymember Michael Blake. None of them had met the required threshold of $250,000 raised from 1,000 individual donors, the board said. 

Additional reporting by Greg B. Smith.