Mayor Adams' prominent lawyer accuses the government of press leaks

Mayor Eric Adams Prominent attorney Alex Spiro accused federal prosecutors Monday of presenting an indictment full of falsehoods — and of breaking the law by leaking the case to the press the night before the historic indictment was unveiled.

Alex Spiro argued in a Sept. 30 news conference in his Manhattan office that the 57-page indictment charging Adams with conspiracy, bribery, soliciting foreign campaign contributions and wire fraud is “not a real case.” The news conference followed Adams' legal team filing a motion asking the federal court to dismiss bribery allegations against the mayor.

Spiro – a highly paid attorney who has represented celebrities such as Jay-Z and Elon Musk – then claimed that the mayor's office, and not the office of US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), Damian Williams, was responsible for the leak violated the law. Details of the mayor's indictment were released to the media last Wednesday evening.

“The prosecutors who just typed up the indictment … are just so excited that they had to release it to the media,” Spiro said. “In doing so, they violated their ethical obligations. Violating grand jury secrecy is a felony.”

Nicholas Biase, an SDNY spokesman, declined to comment on Spiro's allegations.

In the indictment, federal prosecutors allege that Adams oversaw a nearly decade-long scheme in which he solicited and accepted unreported luxury gifts and illegal foreign campaign contributions from Turkish nationals in return for favors. The central favor under investigation is an action by Adams in 2021, when he was still Brooklyn Borough President, to pressure then-FDNY Commissioner Dan Nigro to expedite the opening of a Turkish consulate high-rise in Manhattan, that a Turkish diplomat had failed the fire safety inspections.

Adams pleaded not guilty in federal court last week and is due back in court on Wednesday.

By painting a picture of what he said were ethical and legal violations by prosecutors in bringing charges and leaking details to the press, Sprio mimicked the manner in which Williams described Adams' alleged behavior during the SDNY press conference described where he unsealed the indictment last week.

“Public office is a privilege. We allege that prosecutors abused that privilege,” he said. “These are laws designed to ensure that officials like them serve the people, not the press, not their careers, not their political careers.” These are clear rules, and we contend that prosecutors have repeatedly violated them for months .”

The lawyer claimed to have evidence of the leaks in addition to press reports published since the case broke last November, but refused to reveal it during the press conference.

Spiro then laid out the two reasons why he believes the mayor is not guilty of bribery and that the charges should and will be dismissed.

First, Adams was Brooklyn Borough President, not mayor, when the alleged quid pro quo took place around the Turkish consulate building. He added that if SDNY prosecutors are to be believed, the Turkish Airlines manager who gave Adams free flight upgrades nearly a decade ago predicted at the time that Adams would one day become mayor.

“The position of Brooklyn borough president doesn’t have a lot of powers, in fact it has very few,” Spiro said. “You have to believe that ten years ago the gentleman at the airlines was the one who predicted that Eric Adams, the boy from Brownsville who grew up poor and served the city as a police officer, would one day be mayor. That as he gentrifies Mr. Adams and extends these courtesies to him, that this was his plan, that this was the agreement. It defies all logic.”

The second reason, Spiro explained, is that accepting tips is not a federal crime. He argued that members of Congress constantly received perks without facing consequences and that Adams did nothing else.

“Congressmen are getting upgrades,” Spiro said. “They get corner suites. They get better tables in restaurants. You get free appetizers. They refilled their iced tea. That's exactly what happens. That's the truth.”

Furthermore, Spiro said, there is no clear evidence linking the benefits Adams received to his role in pushing the FDNY to expedite fire safety permits for the Turkish consulate building.

When it comes to the prosecution's allegations that Adams solicited and accepted thousands of dollars in illegal foreign campaign contributions, Spiro argued that the mayor had “no idea” that the donations were being made. Adams is alleged to have added these dollars to his campaign coffers through straw donors – individuals who donate on behalf of others and then receive a refund to avoid contribution limits – and used these donations to raise $10,000,000 in public supplementary funds for his campaign secure.

Spiro said the entire case was uncertain because it was based on the account of one witness, an Adams associate who is not named in the indictment but is believed to be his liaison with the Turkish community, Rana Abasova. He said that because the employee lied to federal investigators during her first interview with them, that meant she had to lie about the mayor knowing about the illegal campaign contributions.

“The main lie is that Eric Adams knew everything involved,” Spiro said. “But there are a lot of lies.”