Mayor Eric Adams' attorney submits a brief arguing that media leaks violated the right to a fair trial

Mayor Eric Adams' defense attorney filed a brief Tuesday morning accusing Manhattan prosecutors of violating the mayor's right to a fair trial by leaking grand jury testimony on his federal corruption charges to the press.

Attorney Alex Spiro has asked Manhattan federal Judge Dale Ho to schedule a hearing on the issue and impose sanctions on prosecutors if the allegations are proven.

“Given the government’s refusal to police its own misconduct, the court must intervene to protect the mayor’s pretrial and trial rights and preserve the integrity of the judicial process,” Spiro wrote in his motion, adding that the judge will go forward must ensure compliance with grand jury secrecy rules “in a case where the government admits it is still looking for evidence to support its theories.”

Last week, Adams became the first sitting mayor of New York City to be impeached. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced on September 26 that the mayor was charged with soliciting and accepting campaign donations from Turkish nationals – a violation of federal election law – and subverting campaign finance law by disclosing the source of those donations Straw donors and bribery concealed.

The attorney said in the 29-page brief that news of the indictment reached the press before the mayor's legal team learned of it.

“Only three groups of people could have known that the indictment was returned when it was released to the Times: the prosecution team, the jury and the court staff who processed the then-sealed indictment,” Spiro said in his letter. “But only the prosecution team knew about this, and the government planned to reveal more details the next day (as it did in a self-praising press conference). It is therefore clear that the public prosecutor’s office is responsible for the leak.”

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.

News of the Adams investigation broke nearly a year ago, in November 2023, when The New York Times and other media outlets reported that the FBI was raiding Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the home of the mayor's top fundraiser, Brianna Suggs , had carried out. Suggs has not been criminally charged.

Spiro points out that the newspaper reported that it has a copy of the search warrant that has not yet been made public and mentioned that three iPhones, two laptops and papers were seized.

Days later, CNN reported that the investigation focused on campaign contributions to Adams from foreign nations.

In the indictment, prosecutors accuse Adams of receiving expensive upgrades to Turkish Airlines and other luxury services and, in return, being tricked by the city's fire department into opening a newly constructed 36-story Turkish consulate in Manhattan despite fire safety problems – allegations that that appeared in the press almost a year before they became public.

As a result of the leaks, Spiro argued in his filing, public sentiment had turned against the mayor.

“A cascade of critical articles based on one-sided, misleading government information undermined public support for the mayor long before he was ever charged with a crime and able to defend himself in court,” the attorney wrote.

The mayor's lawyers raised the matter with federal prosecutors earlier this year, urging them to stop the leaks, but Spiro said the U.S. Attorney's Office has not admitted to being the source of the information.

“The government also appears to have taken no action to stop the leak of confidential investigative information that leaked to the media nearly a year before the mayor was indicted,” the lawyer said.

The result of the leaks, Spiro said, was a drumbeat from officials calling for Adams to resign, making it difficult to fulfill his elected duties. Additionally, it may have turned potential jurors against the mayor.

“And by releasing information to the press, the government violated the mayor's right to a flawless grand jury process and impaired his ability to receive a fair trial from an impartial jury,” the attorney said.