Cache of sealed documents in Mayor Eric Adams' criminal case revealed — giving inside look at prosecution that will never be

Yahoo

10-05-2025

Newly unsealed documents in Mayor Eric Adams' historic corruption case revealed the FBI accused him of lying about the location of his cellphone and uncovered a trove of other electronics at Gracie Mansion – including a satellite phone found on his nightstand.
The massive cache of documents — made public after The Post and other outlets fought for access — include unredacted warrants, some 50 court exhibits and affidavits describing evidence collected, giving a rare glimpse into the case that will never see the inside of a courtroom.
The 1,785 pages in court filings exposed the painstaking steps that the FBI and federal prosecutors went through to piece together an investigation that Hizzoner and the Trump White House has derided as a 'political' hit job.
Trump's DOJ, however, has noted that it made its decision to toss the case without considering a single piece of evidence.
Court filings showed that Adams had his Signal messages set to auto-delete – with federal investigators recovering conversations that were missing from his iCloud accounts.
The documents also included warrants for Adams' personal cellphone that was seized and his alleged attempt to prevent the feds from getting access to the device.
'I respectfully submit that there is probable cause to believe that Adams concealed the Adams personal cellphone from law enforcement and made false statements about its location,' an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit, the records show.
Adams allegedly lied to federal agents showing 'evidence of consciousness of guilt' because he believed the feds could uncover evidence of other crimes on the phone, according to the FBI.
Adams told his lawyer that he'd forgotten the passcode to the phone in question and 'incorrectly' believed it was 936639, the filing said.
The feds also seized another iPhone on the floor of Adams' personal bathroom, two iPads near his bedroom and an Iridium satellite phone nestled on a nightstand next to the mayor's bed when Gracie Mansion was raided on Sept. 26, 2024.
The FBI agent made the assertions while seeking a warrant to track the whereabouts of the phone and Adams' other personal devices. Magistrate Judge Robert Lehrburger signed off on the request, finding there was probable cause that Adams had committed a crime.
Manhattan Federal Judge Dale Ho ordered that documents be made public last month, siding with the media it was in the best interest of New Yorkers with the upcoming mayoral election.
Adams' corruption case was dismissed in April with no option to resurrect it. With his decision, Ho ruled against the Department of Justice, which wanted the ability to potentially prosecute Adams at a later date.
Ho said the Trump administration should not be able to hold the case over the mayor's head while he runs the Big Apple — and while he runs for reelection.
The judge skewered the DOJ's dismissal motion in his long-awaited 78-page ruling, writing, 'Everything here smacks of a bargain.'
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'[D]ismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.'
The Post and New York Times, along with other third parties, urged the judge to release the sealed documents. Ho granted the request, ordering the DOJ to drop the document by May 2.
The feds, though, blew the deadline and asked the judge the next day for more time, delaying the release a week.
Adams became the first sitting New York City mayor to be indicted last September when a five-count indictment was unsealed, accusing him of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in luxury travel by foreign officials looking to buy influence in City Hall.
Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York had also said they had evidence that Adams lied to the feds and destroyed evidence, the details of which were expected to come down in an expanded indictment.
The mayor has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing.
The controversial dismissal request by then-Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove put Adams in a political quagmire, leading to a mass exodus in the top ranks of his administration and Gov. Hochul considering removing him from office.
Bove had told the judge that the mayor needed the case to go away so he could assist the new Trump admin with its immigration plans, not on the merits of the case.
The shocking February filing also sparked a series of resignations inside the SDNY, including the interim head of the department, Danielle Sassoon, and a half-dozen prosecutors in Washington DC, who worked on the case.
The same week it emerged the dismissal request was in the works, Adams sat down with border czar Tom Homan and agreed to find a way to reopen ICE offices on Rikers Island. The effort has since stalled as the City Council fights the recent executive order in court.It took more than six weeks for Ho to rule on the request, which Adams said forced him to withdraw from the Democratic primary and instead set his sights on the general elections as a long-shot third-party candidate.