A defense fund for Mayor Eric Adams raised $732,000 in less than two months to pay for legal expenses related to a federal investigation into his campaign fund-raising and possible illegal donations from the Turkish government, according to a filing submitted Tuesday.
The contributors to Mr. Adams’s defense comprised an array of wealthy players in business and politics, including at least four who have been described as billionaires: the former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Ukrainian-British oligarch Leonard Blavatnik, the real-estate and fertilizer tycoon Alexander Rovt, and the cryptocurrency investor Brock Pierce.
The fund has so far spent $440,000, most of it on WilmerHale, the law firm Mr. Adams hired to represent him in the investigation, the filing shows.
City law permits elected officials to set up defense funds to pay for expenses related to criminal or civil investigations that are unrelated to their government duties and cannot be paid for with public money. Such defense funds can collect up to $5,000 per donor, but are not permitted to solicit or receive contributions from anyone with city contracts or business matters pending with city government.
The Eric Adams Legal Defense Trust was set up late last year after the F.B.I. searched the home of Brianna Suggs, who was then Mr. Adams’s chief campaign fund-raiser. It made its first filing with the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board on Tuesday, as required by law.
Emma Fitzsimmons and Jeffery C. Mays contributed reporting.
