The rejections come at a crucial time for Adams’ marketing campaign. The CFB is weighing whether or not to present Adams’ 2025 marketing campaign any matching funds in any respect amid his federal indictment on fees alleging he took unlawful political donations and bribes, largely from Turkish authorities operatives.
A call by the board to withhold public funds from Adams, who has pleaded not responsible, might deal a critical blow, with hundreds of thousands of {dollars} at stake as he faces seven challengers in June’s Democratic mayoral major.
The board — which is ready to announce Monday whether or not to award Adams matching funds — has stated it’s contemplating the allegations in his indictment as a part of its ultimate choice, on prime of varied different elements required underneath CFB guidelines, like declare denial charges.
Of them, 134 — 50% of all claims the marketing campaign submitted within the interval — have been discovered by the CFB to be “invalid,” the data present. The explanations for the rejections included contributions in query not being “timely reported,” no “backup documentation” being supplied by Adams’ marketing campaign and donors being listed within the metropolis’s Doing Enterprise database.
Beneath the matching funds program, mayoral campaigns get eligible contributions from metropolis residents matched by the CFB at an 8-to-1 fee as much as $250. The Adams marketing campaign’s 134 “invalid” claims whole $31,051, that means they may very well be price a mixed $248,408 if matched with public funds.
The 50% denial fee is the very best Adams has seen in a reporting interval since he began elevating money for his reelection run shortly after taking workplace in 2022. The second highest was the 25% of matching claims denied within the first interval of the 2025 cycle, which ran between Jan. 15, 2022 and July 11, 2022, data present.
In a Nov. 12 letter to Sharon Adams, the mayor’s marketing campaign treasurer, CFB auditing director Danielle Willemin wrote the Adams workforce has till Jan. 15 to answer the most recent findings in the event that they consider among the claims are legitimate.
Vito Pitta, Adams’ marketing campaign legal professional, didn’t reply to questions in regards to the CFB findings this week.
Apart from the most recent reporting window, Adams nonetheless has 458 “invalid” claims from the 5 earlier 2025 cycle reporting durations that haven’t been cured by his marketing campaign thus far, the data present. These excellent claims are price $108,433, giving them a complete matched worth of $876,464, the data say.
Some matching fund declare denials are frequent, stated Marty Connor, a former state senator and veteran New York marketing campaign finance compliance lawyer. Nevertheless, Connor stated Adams’ 50% denial fee stands out. “That’s high comparatively,” Connor stated, including charges exceeding roughly 20% are exterior the norm.
The 50% denial fee got here in a interval through which Adams’ reelection marketing campaign obtained $146,151 in donations, the bottom fundraising stretch he has had since changing into mayor.
Amid the money dip, Adams’ workforce stated it had primarily ceased fundraising for his reelection, arguing he had hit the marketing campaign spending cap if anticipated matching funds are factored in. The drop additionally got here as Adams was specializing in elevating cash for his authorized protection fund, which he’s utilizing to cowl legal professional charges he’s racking as much as defend himself in his corruption case prosecuted by the Manhattan U.S. legal professional’s workplace.
The CFB has dinged Adams’ political operation for alleged bookkeeping errors earlier than, together with compiling a draft audit earlier this 12 months figuring out $2.3 million in improperly documented spending by his 2021 marketing campaign.
In whole, Adams’ 2025 marketing campaign has submitted 1,747 matching claims deemed legitimate on preliminary inspection by the CFB, totaling $404,142, data present. With matching funds, these donations are price a cumulative $3.2 million if CFB finally opts to present Adams public money.
Initially Printed: December 10, 2024 at 1:35 PM EST
