New York City mayor scored free US Open tickets, according to annual financial disclosure

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams accepted free tickets to the U.S. Open last summer, according to an annual financial disclosure released Monday that also provided insight into his trips abroad and showcased his expanding profile as leader of the nation’s largest city.

The tickets were valued between $50 and $999, according to the mandated form.

Accepting tickets to the Open has previously landed politicians in hot water . City rules bar elected officials from taking gifts of $50 or more from entities doing business with the city. And the United States Tennis Association — which puts on the Open in the city-operated Flushing Meadows Corona Park and provided the tickets — falls into that category.

Because of the USTA’s status, the city Conflicts of Interest Board ruled in 2012 that elected officials were no longer allowed to score primo seats to the event for free, ending a decadeslong tradition .

But the gift ban is nullified when the politician performs an official duty at the event.

City Hall spokesperson Fabien Levy said Adams spoke at the opening ceremony and did not stay for the entire first match. Levy added that the mayor’s office sought advice from the COIB in advance.

Adams also attended the U.S. Open in 2022, but did not disclose any free tickets for that year in his annual filing. Levy did not immediately respond to questions about Adams' attendance.

Adams also bolstered his influence among mayors across the state and country last year — an elevated station he sought in part because of federal inaction on the migrant crisis .

He is newly listed as a board member of the African American Mayors Association — which recently held an annual event he attended in Atlanta — and as a member of the executive committee of the New York State Conference of Mayors.

The mayor also disclosed payments that covered several trips abroad in 2023: The UJA Federation of New York dropped between $1,000 and $5,000 on flights, accommodations, meals and transportation associated with Adams’ trip to Israel less than two months before the onset of the country’s ongoing war in Gaza.

The Colombian government shelled out the same range for security services and ground and air transportation — Adams at one point flew in a helicopter — during the mayor’s trip to assess migrant crossings through the dangerous Darién Gap in October.

And the North Capital Forum, an event exploring economic activity across North America, paid a similar amount to get Adams to a Mexico City conference during his excursion to Mexico and Central and South America. (It was at the North Capital Forum conference where POLITICO spotted Adams’ close friend, Zhan “Johnny” Petrosyants, in a Hilton elevator ).

The mayor’s disclosure form also indicated a plum Department of Education job his sister-in-law snagged in 2023 .

Other elements of Adams’ finances were unchanged from the previous year, such as the $5,000 to $55,000 in book royalties from his 2020 guide to healthy eating. (Levy said Adams has not received any profits from Don’t Let it Happen, an Adams-penned book whose 2009 publication the mayor has said he was unaware of .)

Adams also reported a 50 percent stake in a Brooklyn co-op that he repeatedly claimed to have divested from before changing his mind . And he declared rental income from his Bedford Stuyvesant Home, a chunk of Bitcoin worth between $5,000 and $55,000 and his NYPD pension.