New York City Mayor Zahran Mamdani’s administration wants to stop representing Eric Adams in elections lawsuit The former mayor allegedly sexually assaulted a woman more than three decades ago, according to a court filing Tuesday.
The move comes just a few months after Mamdani took office, following a bitter campaign season last year in which the two Democrats took turns attacking each other in scathing and often personal terms.
suit, Introduced while Adams was still in officeThe former mayor is accused of sexually assaulting a woman, Lorna Beach-Mathura, in 1993 while he was a police officer, alleging that he requested a sexual favor in exchange for his help developing her career in the police department. Adams strongly denied the allegation and said he had no recollection of meeting her.
The Associated Press does not typically identify alleged sexual assault victims in stories unless they agree to be named, as Peach Mathura did through her attorney.
In a statement, Todd Shapiro, a spokesman for Adams, said the former mayor “remains confident that the facts will ultimately prevail.”
The motion filed by the city’s corporate attorney to withdraw from the civil case states that Adams is not entitled to city-funded legal support because he “was not acting within the scope of his employment with the city” at the time of the alleged assault.
A spokesperson for Mamdani said Tuesday that the move “was made independently by corporate counsel, as required by law” and that the mayor “did not direct corporate counsel to conduct this review, nor did he direct corporate counsel to reach a specific decision.”
“Of course, Mayor Mamdani has full faith and confidence in the independent judgment of corporate counsel and in his ability to reach appropriate and fair legal conclusions,” said company spokeswoman Dora Piecek.
However, there was no love lost between Mamdani and Adams.
Adams — who withdrew from last year’s Democratic primary in the wake of a federal corruption case that was ultimately dismissed after the election Exceptional intervention From the Trump administration – running for re-election as an independent, he portrayed Mamdani as a liberal outlier.
Meanwhile, Mamdani sought to portray Adams as a corrupt leader whose warm relationship with the Trump administration weakened his ability to serve the city.
Adams eventually dropped out of the race entirely, endorsing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s candidacy, but escalated his attacks against Mamdani in an attempt to halt the young progressive’s political rise. At one point, Adams appeared to suggest without explanation that a terrorist attack might become more likely in the city if Mamdani is elected.
“New York can’t be Europe, folks.” Adams said At a campaign event where he endorsed Cuomo. “I don’t know what’s wrong with people. You see what’s happening in other countries because of Islamic extremism,” he continued, citing examples of recent terrorist attacks in Europe and Africa.
Mamdani went on to soundly defeat Cuomo in the city’s mayoral election in November, becoming the city’s first Muslim mayor and its youngest leader in generations. In the months that followed, Adams continued to criticize his successor in social media posts.
In addition to requesting to withdraw from the Adams case, the city’s law department recently said it would no longer pay for the legal representation of two close allies of Adams in separate matters.
The case against Adams was brought under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law that extended the time limit for filing sexual assault claims. The woman first filed suit in November 2023, just before the law expired, and months later filed a detailed lawsuit against Adams.
At the time of filing, the company’s city attorney called the allegations “ridiculous” and said he expected “full proof in court.”