The criminal indictment against Mayor Eric Adams is over.
Federal Judge Dale Ho dismissed the five-count criminal campaign fraud indictment against Adams in a Wednesday ruling “with prejudice,” meaning that federal prosecutors will not be able to resurrect the case against him.
Ho wrote that he is dismissing the charges because the court cannot force the Justice Department to proceed with a case it no longer wants to prosecute, but that he is doing it with prejudice to avoid the appearance that Adams is beholden to the Trump administration — especially when it comes to immigration enforcement.
“In light of DOJ’s rationales, dismissing the case without prejudice would create the unavoidable perception that the Mayor’s freedom depends on his ability to carry out the immigration enforcement priorities of the administration and that he might be more beholden to the demands of the federal government than to the wishes of his own constituents,” Ho wrote. “That appearance is inevitable, and it counsels in favor of dismissal with prejudice.”
The judge also appeared to all but agree with widespread allegations that Adams’ attorneys traded his cooperation with Trump’s immigration crackdown for dropping his charges.
“Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the Indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions,” Ho said.
However, Ho excoriated Trump Justice Department officials over their central rationales for dismissing the case and wrote that arguments made by those seeking to keep it alive “have merit.”
Nonetheless, Adams’ attorney Alex Spiro expressed relief the indictment was dead.
“The case against Eric Adams should have never been brought in the first place—and finally, today, that case is gone forever,” Spiro said. “From Day 1, the mayor has maintained his innocence, and now, justice for Eric Adams and New Yorkers has prevailed.”
Battle won, war lost?
While the decision marks a clear win for the mayor, the damage to his political future wrought by the corruption case may be irreversible. Since the charges were brought in September, Adams has faced numerous calls to resign, lost the support of many key allies, and seen his job approval rating plummet to historic lows.
Hizzoner has also barely campaigned for re-election, allowing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo—the front-runner in the race—to win the support of many of his strongest political supporters.
Ho’s ruling comes after six weeks of speculation about the future of the historic indictment handed down, which accused the mayor of accepting luxury travel perks and illegal campaign donations from Turkish nationals in exchange for helping them open a Manhattan consulate building that did not pass city fire inspections.
The DOJ initially moved to dismiss the case in February, arguing that the impending trial against Adams would interfere with his ability to assist the Trump administration in its immigration crackdown. They also argued that the Manhattan federal prosecutors who brought the case against Adams did so for political reasons — both to give themselves publicity and as retribution for the mayor’s criticisms of former President Biden’s immigration policies.
However, prosecutors, under the direction of acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, sought to end the case “without prejudice,” giving them room to resurrect the indictment at any time and for any reason.
That decision led to upheaval at the Justice Department that culminated with a wave of resignations, including that of acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon, who argued in a Feb. 12 letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi that Adams’ attorneys had requested a “quid pro quo” — cooperation with Trump in exchange for having the case dismissed. Adams’ defense team denied the charge and moved to have the case dismissed “with prejudice,” citing alleged prosecutorial misconduct.
Critics, however, alleged that the rumored “quid pro quo” and the Justice Department’s “without prejudice” request had put Mayor Adams in a compromised position, virtually making him subservient to President Trump for fear of having the indictment brought back. While Mayor Adams initially expressed vindication with the Justice Department’s efforts, calls mounted for his resignation or removal from office by Gov. Kathy Hochul. The governor ultimately declined to fire Adams, instead urging approval of new legislative guardrails to check the mayor’s power.
In the 78-page brief announcing his decision on April 2, Judge Ho rebuffed the Justice Department’s arguments that the case itself had impaired Adams “in his immigration efforts.”
“Instead, it shows that after DOJ decided to seek dismissal of his case, the Mayor took at least one new immigration-related action consistent with the preferences of the new administration,” Ho wrote, citing Mayor Adams’ decision to reopen the ICE office on Rikers Island days after the DOJ’s move to dismiss the case and the mayor’s meeting with Trump Border Czar Tom Homan.
Judge Ho also shut down Trump DOJ officials’ other reasons for dismissing the case. He said there is “zero evidence” that federal prosecutors had inproper motives in bringing the charges and said the department’s contention that bringing the case nine months before the Democratic mayoral primary amounted to election interference “lacks any support in Justice Department guidelines.”
In the end, Ho said that he had to dismiss the indictment because the court cannot compel the DOJ to prosecute a defendant and does not have the authority to appoint an independent prosecutor in the case. He noted that his decision did not mean that Mayor Adams was necessarily not guilty of the charges against him.
“Mayor Adams, like any person accused of a crime, is presumed innocent until proven guilty,” Ho wrote. “If this case were to proceed to trial, it would be the Government’s burden to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, each element of the offenses with which he is charged. Because of DOJ’s decision to abandon this case, that trial will not occur.”
