Eric Adams accuses DOJ of leaking sensitive case info

NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams’ legal team asked a judge Tuesday to investigate nearly a year’s worth of leaks related to the New York City Democrat’s criminal case, arguing the steady drip of information has made a fair trial impossible.

Adams’ lawyers also pointed to another casualty of the coverage: the mayor’s reelection campaign.

“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,” Alex Spiro, the mayor’s private attorney, wrote in a federal court filing.

Spiro directly accused the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District in New York of being the source of leaks about raids, subpoenas and other information related to charges Adams accepted travel perks and illicit campaign donations from Turkish officials and business interests in exchange for expediting the opening of the Turkish embassy in Manhattan in 2021, after he had won the Democratic mayoral primary. The mayor was indicted last week and has pleaded not-guilty.

Should the judge indeed hold a hearing to determine the source of the leaks — though hearings of this nature are rarely granted — Spiro said remedies could include suppression of certain evidence at trial or dismissal of the case altogether.

Over the summer, other attorneys retained by Adams wrote to federal prosecutors to complain that press coverage of the investigation was tainting Adams’ 2025 reelection campaign.

“Unfortunately, there can be no question that the leaks have already influenced next year’s mayoral election,” Brendan McGuire and Boyd Johnson wrote in a June letter. “If they continue, they have the potential to fundamentally compromise the Mayor’s reelection candidacy.”

While McGuire and Johnson stopped short of blaming the Southern District itself, Spiro on Tuesday accused the office point blank — part of an aggressive defense strategy that featured a press conference at the white-collar defense attorney’s Manhattan office Monday.

A representative for the Southern District declined to comment.