Eric Adams agrees to pay $4,000 fine to NYC Conflicts of Interest Board
Former New York City mayor Eric Adams will pay thousands of dollars as a penalty for a campaign stunt at one of his official City Hall press conferences.
The New York City Conflicts of Interest Board said Monday that Adams agreed to a $4,000 fine after he had City Hall staffers put whistles on reporters' chairs, a dig at Andrew Cuomo, who was running against him and faced sexual harassment allegations as governor.
According to the Board, a reporter there asked Adams about the whistles and he said: "Many of these women here are interviewing Andrew Cuomo, and they feel unsafe. They're going to have a whistle to help them through it, OK?"
The press conference where the violation occurred was in August 2025, before Adams dropped out of the race while sinking in the polls behind Cuomo and his eventual successor Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
In his signed disposition, Adams admitted he violated the City Charter, "by having City Hall staffers distribute whistles for attendees of an official City Hall press conference for the purpose of drawing negative attention to an opponent in my reelection campaign during that press conference and when they were required to be performing work for the City."
Adams said he did not consider whether he was doing anything wrong at the time.
"To resolve his misuse of City time, City resources, and City personnel for the campaign purpose of drawing negative attention to one of his opponents in the upcoming election, Adams agreed to pay a $4,000 fine," the Board said.
A spokesperson for Adams released the statement: "The Mayor cooperated fully with the Conflicts of Interest Board and resolved this matter promptly. The issue involved routine event preparation by staff and was never intended to support any political activity. There was no misuse of public funds for campaign purposes. Mayor Adams takes ethics and compliance seriously, has always held his administration to a high standard."
The Board also said City Council Member Joann Ariola agreed to pay a $2,000 fine for posting a press release with the City Council seal endorsing Republican Curtis Sliwa for mayor on her X account in July 2025.
