Adams defense trust returns $22K in improper donations from corporation, people with city business

In the first three months of this year, Mayor Adams’ legal defense trust received $22,462 in prohibited donations from a corporate entity and 10 individuals with city government business interests, according to a Daily News review of finance disclosures.

All 11 donations were returned in compliance with the law, Vito Pitta, a lawyer for Adams’ trust, said. The fund has spent $81,300 of the $1.2 million raised so far on vetting services meant to ensure contributions don’t violate any rules, filings released last week show.

Defense trusts can face fines under city ethics law for accepting illegal donations. However, city Conflicts of Interest Board Executive Director Carolyn Miller, whose agency polices legal defense law, noted trusts can generally avoid punishment if they return illegal donations within 20 days of receiving them.

Pitta said all of the 11 donations reviewed by The News were returned within 20 days of receipt and that the vetting process it uses was “approved by COIB.”

But a prominent government watchdog says the returns — which came after the trust gave back another set of similarly illicit contributions earlier this year — point to a problem with the underlying system.

“A simple thing they can and should do is to put the money into a holding pen — an escrow account — and say, ‘We’re not going to do anything with it until we confirm that it’s legal,’ ” said John Kaehny, executive director of the Reinvent Albany government watchdog group.

Escrows aren’t required under the process governing the city legal defense trust system, which Kaehny’s group helped structure as part of its creation in 2019.

Kaehny said in hindsight he wishes he would’ve pushed for legally mandating that trusts set up escrow accounts, where donations would sit locked until it’s affirmed that they’ve been vetted to the Conflicts of Interest Board. Kaehny said he doesn’t know any other U.S. municipalities with elected official legal defense trust systems. The city system caps individual contributions at $5,000.

Individuals and companies who have business dealings with one or more city agencies are listed in a database maintained by the Conflicts of Interest Board.

The law bars those listed in the Doing Business database from donating to mayoral defense trusts to prevent the possibility of pay-to-play politics. Corporate entities are also prohibited from donating.

Adams’ defense trust earlier this year said it was giving back three donations from other contributors who set off Doing Business concerns. And though it eventually returned them, Adams’ 2021 transition committee was fined $5,000 last year for accepting five illegal donations from individuals with city business dealings.

Adams launched his trust in November to raise money for legal fees and other costs he incurs as part of a federal investigation into allegations that Turkey’s government pumped illegal foreign cash into his 2021 campaign.

Adams, who hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing, created the trust days after FBI agents seized his cell phones and raided the homes of his top campaign fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, and Rana Abbasova, a City Hall aide who used to serve as his liaison to the local Turkish community.

The donation vetting services Adams’ trust has spent $81,300 on so far have been performed by two private detective firms, Artus Group and Beau Dietl & Associates, the new filings show.

The trust fired the Dietl firm Wednesday, though, after its owner, Adams pal Bo Dietl, berated reporters from The News and Politico when asked about his work.

Adams trust donors must sign an affirmation promising they aren’t listed in the Doing Business database or exist as a corporate entity.

Pitta said the donors behind the 11 contributions uncovered by The News all signed such affirmations. It’s unclear if they were aware they couldn’t legally donate.

The donors include Option One Title Agency, an LLC incorporated in Queens this past August, which contributed $202 to Adams’ defense fund on Feb. 18. State records list no individuals as being connected to the company.

Pitta said the trust returned Option One’s donation on Feb 19.

Between March 15 and 18, $17,500 was donated from four members of a family that runs Blake Partners, a real estate investment firm specializing in “undervalued real estate,” its website says.

The donations from the four relatives — Tivadar Marcovici, Judith Lebovits, Elias Marcovici and Ethan Marcovici — were prohibited because they’re listed in the Doing Business database as executives of corporate entities that building records show own rental properties in Rockaway Beach, Queens.

The Marcovicis — who donated a combined $5,000 to Adams’ political campaigns, as well — didn’t return requests for comment. Reached by phone Wednesday, Lebovits, who has also previously given money to Adams’ campaigns, said she’s not “confirming or denying anything” when asked about her contribution.

Pitta said the trust returned the cash from the Marcovicis and Lebovits on March 23 and March 24, respectively.

Two other members of the same family — Livia and Etella Marcovici — gave an additional $10,000, but their donations were returned, too, because their spouses are in the database, another category of individuals prohibited from contributing to defense trusts, Pitta said.

The other Adams trust donors in the Doing Business database include Mark Shakarov, a Queens real estate developer who contributed $500, Yoel Shargian, a New Jersey property manager who gave $360, John Pilla, a Bronx construction executive who gave $1,000, Md Islam, a Queens engineer who gave $2,000, and David Koptiev, a Queens developer who gave $400.

Anthony Mormile, a Westchester County banker, gave $500 on Feb. 27. His donation was improper because he’s listed in the Doing Business database as the chief financial officer of the New Bronx Chamber of Commerce, which has city business interests.

On Wednesday, Mormile said he donated as part of a fundraiser for the trust. He said he didn’t recall where the event took place or who hosted it, but he told The News the trust returned his money the next day.

“They did the right thing,’” said Mormile, who also gave $2,100 to Adams’ reelection bid in July and had $1,700 of it returned due to a different Doing Business contribution cap covering campaign donations, records show.