Adams's Legal Defense Fund Raises $732K Amid Federal Investigation

Contributors include billionaires Bloomberg, Blavatnik, Rovt, and Pierce; $440K spent mostly on law firm WilmerHale.

Mayor Eric Adams's legal defense fund raised $732,000 in less than two months to pay for legal expenses related to a federal investigation into his campaign fund-raising and possible illegal donations from the Turkish government.
Contributors to the defense fund included billionaires such as former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, Ukrainian-British oligarch Leonard Blavatnik, real-estate and fertilizer tycoon Alexander Rovt, and cryptocurrency investor Brock Pierce.
The fund has so far spent $440,000, most of it on WilmerHale, the law firm Adams hired to represent him in the investigation.
The fund was set up after the FBI searched the home of Brianna Suggs, Adams's chief campaign fund-raiser, as part of a broad public corruption investigation.
The investigation is examining Adams's campaign funding for his 2021 mayoral race and whether there were any foreign influences or favors, although Adams has not been accused of any wrongdoing.