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New York City Mayor Eric Adams accused federal agents and prosecutors involved in his indictment of illegally leaking confidential grand jury information to the media and called on the judge overseeing his criminal case to intervene in a motion filed Tuesday (October 1) morning, the New York Post reports.
“For nearly a year, the government has leaked grand jury material and other sensitive information to the media to aggrandize itself, further its investigation, and unfairly prejudice the defendant, Mayor Eric Adams,” the attorneys wrote in the motion.
Adams, 64, the first New York City mayor indicted while in office, was indicted on five total criminal charges, which include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as prosecutors accused him of seeking and accepting luxury benefits, as well as allowing a Turkish government official to gain influence over him. Hizzoner's legal team argued that authorities tied to the case have whispered developments to news outlets over the past year in an effort to portray him negatively.
The defense acknowledged several New York Times articles published between November 2023 and the time of the indictment last week, which cited unnamed sources, as proof of the feds leaking information to the press.
“The prejudice from these leaks has been severe,” lawyer Alex Spiro and company wrote via the New York Post. “A cascade of critical articles based on one-sided, misleading leaks by the government has eroded public support for the Mayor long before he was ever charged with a crime and able to defend himself in court.”
Nearly a dozen federal agents were reported to have searched Gracie Mansion, Adams' mayoral home, last Thursday (September 26) morning hours, after the indictment announcement, the New York Post reported. The mayor's administration was already facing several high-level resignations and at least four federal probes prior to the indictment including an investigation into whether his campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal contributions from foreign sources.
A Brooklyn home belonging to Adams' chief fundraiser was searched last year amid the allegations. Adams still served as Brooklyn's borough president at the time of his Democratic mayoral primary victory in 2021, at which point he reportedly reached out to then-Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro and encouraged him to evaluate a request from the Turkish government to use the building, which hadn't yet opened as fire department officials refused to sign off on the safety of its occupancy, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to NBC News.
Adams' phones were reportedly seized and Nigro was questioned by authorities as a witness twice, two sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed. Federal investigators also reportedly searched the homes and seized the phones of multiple other top officials within the Adams administration, which included Police Commissioner Edward Caban, who resigned earlier this month.
The Adams administration was also previously accused of a public corruption investigation and was part of another federal probe that resulted in the home of Adams' former director of Asian affairs, Winnie Greco, being searched.