Mayor Adams’ campaign has secured another extension to respond to a critical draft audit of its finances by making the case that his compliance attorneys are too busy addressing a federal subpoena issued as part of the Turkey-related investigation into his campaign, according to records obtained by the Daily News.
The draft audit by the city Campaign Finance Board, which first surfaced in news reports in July, found Adams’ 2021 campaign failed to properly document more than $2.3 million in spending, including salary payments to several of his key advisers.
The draft audit — which flagged various other suspected violations, too, including receipt of illegal straw donations — raised the specter that Adams’ campaign could face hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines just as he’s gearing up to run for reelection next year against multiple challengers.
Adams’ campaign was initially supposed to respond to the draft audit by July 1, but secured a 60-day extension.
Iinternal communications obtained by The News via a Freedom of Information Law request Thursday reveals Adams’ team got another 90-day extension on Aug. 30 — the day before its response was originally due. The campaign’s final response to the draft audit is now due Nov. 29.
“This is your last extension,” Danielle Willemin, CFB’s audit director, wrote in an Aug. 30 letter to Sharon Adams, the mayor’s sister-in-law, who is his campaign treasurer.
Willemin granted the extension in response to Vito Pitta, Adams’ chief compliance attorney, saying in an Aug. 29 email to the CFB that the mayor’s team wouldn’t be able to make the deadline due an investigation led by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office that’s looking into whether Turkey’s government funneled illegal donations into Adams’ campaign coffers.
“The ongoing investigation and, in particular, the recent issuance of a subpoena presents an ‘unforeseeable extenuating circumstance’ for the committee, as significant time, attention, resources, staff, etc. are being devoted to cooperating with the USAO’s investigation,” Pitta wrote to the board, using an acronym for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office.
The subpoena in question was issued in July. It sought a range of records from the campaign related to its finances and was leveled along with a subpoena served directly on the mayor and his City Hall office as part of the sprawling Turkey probe.
The Turkey probe, which last year prompted feds to seize Adams’ cellphones and raid the home of his top political fundraiser, is part of a number of investigations looming over the mayor’s campaign and administration that also includes a corruption probe that led to NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban resigning Thursday.
The CFB’s draft audit was first released to news organizations in July in response to FOIL requests.
In response to the original disclosure, Pitta told Gothamist that “this is a draft audit seeking information from the campaign to clarify potential issues — not a binding determination by CFB.” He told the outlet the campaign “always followed the law to the letter.”
Also included in the communications obtained by The News was an email from Pitta blasting the board for releasing the draft findings under FOIL, calling that practice “extraordinarily concerning.”
“It has caused unwarranted scrutiny and accusations against the campaign that are based on only a preliminary review,” Pitta wrote in an Aug. 8 email to the board. “It has caused the campaign to expend valuable time and focus in fielding and responding top media inquiries related to the [draft audit] that could have been used to continue preparing the response to the [draft audit].”
The CFB responded by informing Pitta the board by law has release draft findings in response to FOIL requests.
