During his successful campaign for mayor last year, Eric Adams was plagued by a burning ethical question regarding his failure to disclose ownership of a Brooklyn apartment.
On Wednesday, Mr. Adams took the opportunity to clarify his estate woes and put the matter to rest. But instead of clarifying the matter, the mayor just sowed more confusion.
At issue was a one-bedroom apartment in the Crown Heights neighborhood that the mayor had owned with his former partner, Sylvia Cowan, since 1988, according to his recent financial disclosure forms.
For many years, the mayor did not mention assets on publicly available forms required by states and cities for elected officials.
When running for mayor last year, Mr. Adams insisted that the forms were accurate, claiming that he had transferred full ownership of the apartment to Ms. Cowan in 2007. He even issued a lengthy letter. 3 sentences about it. not signed by his ex-partner and not yet notarized.
Mr Adams blamed Ms Cowan’s misunderstanding, later saying she had not properly recorded the transfer.
But in his annual filing released Wednesday by the New York City Conflict of Interest Commission, the mayor admit that he still owns half of the property.
This time, Mr. Adams blamed his former accountant, who he said he kept even after the accountant became homeless and has since replaced.
The mayor had a year to clarify the matter himself but failed to do so.
“As stated during last year’s campaign, Mayor Adams believes he transferred his interest in the property to another owner of the property in 2007,” said Fabien Levy, a spokesman for the city. chief, said in a statement. “However, when he got a new accountant, the mayor realized that all the proper paperwork hadn’t been filled out before.”
He asserted that “this process is underway,” adding that the mayor had not lived, earned any income from or controlled the property for more than a decade.
This latest revelation highlights the ambiguity surrounding Mr. Adams’ lifestyle and personal history. He misled the public about being a vegetarian. (He also eats fish.) In February, he told state legislators that he had been convicted of a crime, when he had not been. In his 2019 groundbreaking speech, he usurp a pastor’s story as his own. And in his mayoral campaign, persevere question arose about his place of residence.
This yearAdams refused to release his tax returns, despite mayor precedent, and later suggested that he might not make them public. He then reversed course and said he had applied for extensions and would release them after the next filing date, in October.
Mark Davies, who served as executive director of the city’s Conflicts of Interest Commission from 1994 to 2015, said that although he was unfamiliar with the events in this case, the legal violations the council co-execution is serious.
he said.
The divergence in Mr. Adams’ story over apartment ownership came to light last year, when he was running in the Democratic primary for mayor.
For many years, Mr. Adams did not disclose his apartment to the state during his time as a state senator, according to The City, an online news publication. He also omitted apartment ownership on his disclosure forms submitted to the Conflicts of Interest Division, but revised them in November 2021.
When reporters at City and Politico Asked about Mr. Adams’ ownership last year, he confirmed he had transferred his stake in the cooperative to Ms. Cowan in 2007 and had not lived on the property for many years.
“Sylvia is the owner and has been an owner for a while,” Evan Thies, a spokesman for the Adams campaign, said at the time.
But an email obtained by The New York Times last year suggests that the transfer has yet to happen years later.
In an email Ms Cowan sent to the Prospect Heights partnership board on May 28, 2021, she asked the board to approve the transfer of Mr. Adams’ shares to her and to appoint someone who could “represent representing the board, Eric and I for the transaction” – indicating that the transfer has not yet taken place.
“As I mentioned at the Board meeting, Eric Adams (Co-shareholder) has agreed to sign his 1-K apt transfer to me,” read the email.
A spokesman for Mr Adams said the transfer of ownership was still ongoing.
Asked for comment on Wednesday, Mr. Thies said, “There is no contradiction.”
On Wednesday, Ms Cowan could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Adams’ accounts caused confusion on many levels, including the key position he assigned to his former accountant.
Gary J. Wachtel, a Manhattan real estate attorney, said he could not comment on Mr. Adams’ statements about his accountant without knowing the details of their relationship. But he said it would be unusual for an accountant to be involved in this type of transaction.
“In a typical situation, the accountant has no control or connection to the transfer of shares of the co-op,” said Mr. Wachtel.
Typically, the owner will hire an attorney to mediate with the building’s management company, which often acts as the transfer agent for the board.
A letter such as the one Mr. Adams said he sent Ms. Cowan “certainly does not effectively transfer dividends or proprietary leases”, which allows a shareholder to has the right to occupy an apartment in the building, Mr. Wachtel said. He added that if Mr Adams wanted an extension, a court would not be able to find the binding letter, both because it is not the correct method of transferring assets and is unrelated to the payment.
Cowan also owns an apartment downstairs from another apartment Mr. Adams owns, in Fort Lee, NJ Property records show the mayor co-owns his apartment with Tracey Collins, whom he describes described as his current partner.
Anne Barnard contribution report.
