Mayor Eric Adams has racked up more than $1 million in unsecured loans from the prominent law firms that represented him during his now-defunct federal corruption case, including a firm that’s on the current list of entities doing business with the City of New York.
In a financial disclosure covering 2024 and made public Thursday by the city Conflicts of Interest Board, the mayor says he owes the law firms of Wilmer Hale and Quinn Emanuel at least $500,000 each. He described the debts to both firms as “unsecured loans,” with no guarantor and no collateral listed.
The of these loans remain unknown, including what, if any, interest they’re charging the mayor and how long he gets to repay the outstanding debts in full.
Neither of the firms responded to THE CITY’s emailed questions about the loan . A spokesperson for the Mayor said the money in question was “an outstanding balance, not a loan.” She said the mayor identified it as an “unsecured loan” because that was the category he felt was most appropriate for the debt in question.
Wilmer Hale began representing Adams shortly after the FBI seized his electronic devices in November 2023. One of the firm’s lawyers handling the case was Brendan McGuire, Adams’ former general counsel at City Hall. McGuire did not respond to THE CITY’s request for comment.
Quinn Emanuel entered the picture in September 2024, shortly before the Manhattan U.S. attorney unsealed an indictment charging the mayor with bribery and a campaign finance fraud conspiracy.
Quinn Emanuel was put on the city’s “doing business” list in December, records show, indicating it’s interacting with some aspect of city government. The firm did not respond to THE CITY’s request for comment.
Although the mayor last year created a legal defense fund that raised more than $1.8 million, records show his fundraising efforts fell far short of the $4.8 million he spent — mostly on legal bills. By November, Wilmer had billed Adams $2 million. Through mid-January, Quinn had billed Adams $2.4 million.
In his financial disclosure forms, the mayor also reported owing a private investigator, Sage Intelligence Group, and a forensic researcher, Haystack, amounts ranging between $5,000 and $54,999 each. Both assisted the law firms in defending the mayor against the federal charges.
Adams even owes the lawyer who represents his campaign and set up the legal defense fund, Vito Pitta, at least $5,000.
And last month he and his campaign retained yet another firm, Abrams Fensterman, to sue the city Campaign Finance Board over its decision to deny his campaign matching public funds. Abrams Fensterman previously employed Adams’ first chief of staff, Frank Carone.
When he first set up his legal defense fund, the mayor insisted he’d be able to pay all his legal bills. Since then he has cited the multi-million dollar debt when complaining about the impact the federal criminal case had on him. A spokesperson for the mayor did not respond to THE CITY’s request for comment.
Adams’ outstanding bills to lawyers are similar to the more than $400,000 his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, still owes to the law firm of Kramer Levin that represented him in pay-to-play investigations by the Manhattan U.S. attorney and the Manhattan District Attorney. Both prosecutors ultimately declined to press charges but found de Blasio had pressed aides to assist donors to a nonprofit that promoted his causes.
Although Adams’ legal bills still linger, the case that triggered those costs came crashing down early this year after Adams’ attorney Alex Spiro appealed directly to the Department of Justice under President Donald Trump to dismiss the case brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
A top Justice Department lawyer, Emil Bove, granted his wish, ordering the then-Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon to toss the case. Bove did that without assessing the merits of the case but argued it was necessary to free up Adams’ cooperation in the Trump istration’s immigration deportation campaign.
In response, Sassoon resigned, accusing Adams and the Justice Department of entering into an improper quid pro quo by obtaining the mayor’s collaboration on immigration in exchange for removing the possibility of conviction on criminal charges from his plate.
In April, Manhattan Federal Judge Dale Ho granted the dismissal request, but questioned the credibility of the transaction, writing, “Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.”
In his newly released financial disclosures, the mayor also revealed that he has transferred to his partner Tracey Collins his 50% share of a Fort Lee, N.J., co-op he co-owned with her. He reported the value of this gift as between $100,000 and $249,999.
He also reported doing the same thing with a Brooklyn co-op he co-owned with Sylvia Cowan, whom he has described as a “close friend.” Records show he turned over ownership for no compensation to Cowan in December. His disclosure puts the value of this gift as between $100,000 and $249,999.
That transaction marks a significant change in Adams’ story about his ownership stake in that co-op. In June 2021 when he was running for City Hall, he provided THE CITY with a one-page letter, dated 2007 and signed by him but not by Cowan, in which he declares he has gifted his share of the co-op to her. He surfaced the letter that after THE CITY found evidence he still had ownership in that apartment but had not reported that on his financial disclosure forms for years.
Adams ultimately claimed his ant hadn’t handled the transfer properly, then claimed he was actually keeping his share because property values had risen in the neighborhood where the co-op was located.
Then in December he quietly handed the 50% share to Cowan.
