About 40% of the $7.5 million reported as sitting in Mayor Adams’ reelection campaign coffers isn’t accounted for with finance paperwork, new records obtained by the Daily News show.
Adams recently reported to the Campaign Finance Board that as of Dec. 31 his reelection bid had received just under $4.6 million in contributions. But the new records, obtained by The News via a Freedom of Information Law request, say the CFB’s auditors found that the Adams campaign’s bank statements — which are supposed to match its reports to the board — show it had actually taken in $7.5 million as of that date.
That means the campaign hasn’t disclosed the source for nearly $3 million of the money reported in its bank account. It’s not clear if the discrepancy is the result of a paperwork error or reflects a true variance.
Adams campaign attorney Vito Pitta didn’t return a request for comment Thursday. A CFB spokesman declined to comment. Adams’ team is supposed to provide a formal response to the board about the undocumented money by March 17.
The records obtained by The News show the discrepancy is particularly high on a proportionate basis for the cash that has come into Adams’ 2025 campaign account. The campaign has gotten $8,200 in cash deposits, the records show, but only $700 of that sum is backed up with paperwork spelling out its source, meaning the variance is a whopping 1071% for that category alone.
Politico first reported Thursday that the CFB cited the overall high documentation variance rate earlier this month as reason to deny Adams’ campaign public matching funds.
That determination is on top of the CFB’s December decision that the mayor can’t get such funds due to his federal corruption indictment, which accuses him, among other things, of engaging in a conspiracy to solicit illegal 2021 campaign contributions from Turkish government operatives that he maximized the value of by submitting them for public matching.
Adams, who’s enduring political headwinds as he continues to face indictment, low approval ratings and several challengers in June’s Democratic mayoral primary, has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing.
President Trump’s Justice Department is seeking to drop Adams’ indictment in a highly controversial move that has led the mayor’s allies and critics alike to argue he’s a “hostage” to Trump’s agenda. The dismissal request is pending approval from a federal judge.
Several of Adams’ challengers in June’s primary don’t have any documentation variance rates, according to CFB reviews of their campaign finances obtained by The News.
One of the challengers who does have a variance rate, Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos, had as of Dec. 31 not provided documentation for roughly $12,000 of the cash in her campaign account, translating to roughly 10% of its total receipts.
CFB auditors found as part of an audit released last summer that Adams’ 2021 campaign didn’t properly document $2.3 million in spending during that election cycle. The audit process for the 2021 election, which Adams won, remains ongoing, but the CFB recently warned the mayor could face hefty fines for bookkeeping irregularities in that cycle.