Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams is set to lose his taxpayer-funded legal representation in a sexual assault civil lawsuit against him, the city’s Law Department said Tuesday.
Corporation Counsel Steve Banks argued in a court filing that Adams shouldn’t be represented by the city because he wasn’t acting within the bounds of his city employment when the alleged assault occurred.
“Based on my review of new evidence since the original decision to represent him was made, I have determined that he is not entitled to representation by the City in this matter,” Banks said in a statement.
“Accordingly, the Law Department has asked the court to permit our office to withdraw from representing the former Mayor.”
Nov. 24, 2023: Adams under pressure
New York Daily News Front page for Friday, Nov. 24, 2023: Adams under pressure- $5M sex case filing accusing him of ’93 assault comes amid concerns over FBI campaign probe. Mayor Adams faces claim that he sexually assaulted a woman who worked for the city while he was a police officer in 1993. Adams denied the accusation, saying he doesn’t “recall ever meeting this person.”
The move from the Mamdani administration to yank the free legal representation could pose a financial problem for the former mayor, who is over $3.1 million in the hole already for his now-dismissed federal corruption case, per city records.
Former transit bureau employee Lorna Beach-Mathura accused Adams of sexually assaulting her after she sought career advice from him in 1993. The suit, which alleges Adams drove her to a vacant lot and solicited oral sex from her, was filed in in Manhattan Supreme Court in March 2024.
“Mayor Adams has been proven innocent before and remains confident that the facts will ultimately prevail,” Todd Shapiro, a spokesperson for Adams, said. “We do not comment on ongoing litigation. What we can say is that throughout his time in office, Mayor Adams conducted himself with professionalism and a deep commitment to the people of New York City.”
This decision to stop representing Adams comes just days after Mamdani’s Law Department similarly announced they’d stop funding attorneys for former Adams aide Tim Pearson and NYPD Chief of Department Jeff Maddrey.
Pearson was sued in 2024 by four current and former NYPD employees alleging he sexually harassed one of them and then retaliated against the others when they spoke out.
The sexual assault case against Adams hit a bump last summer as the mayor’s Law Department attorneys said they couldn’t produce his NYPD employment records because they were destroyed in Hurricane Sandy more than a decade prior.
The ex-mayor has strongly denied the accusations from Beach-Mathura, saying he couldn’t recall ever even meeting her.
