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Dear New Yorkers,

Mayor Eric Adams’ legal defense fund raised just $2,200 from two donors over the last three months, even as his expenses to battle federal corruption charges mount ahead of an expected April trial, new filings show.

The donors include Tzvi Odzer, who donated $2,000 to the fund. A convicted bank fraudster with multiple aliases, Odzer was pardoned by outgoing president Donald Trump on his last day in office in 2021.

The only other new donor to the fund, Alan Sclar, is an attorney who previously donated to Adams’ reelection campaign, as did Odzer.

The two recent donations raised Adams’ total haul for his legal defense to about $1.65 million — around $167,000 of which it has had to refund, because many of the contributions came from those who were prohibited from donating. It’s paid out more than $2.5 million since it was established shortly after federal agents seized Adams’ cell phones in a probe in late 2023.

And Adams’ legal defense team isn’t cheap: In October, the trust paid a $200,000 retainer to his current lawyer’s firm, and in November it paid out roughly $411,000 to the firm Adams initially hired to handle his defense.

The slow trickle of donations leaves his fund almost $1 million in debt.

Read more here about Adams’ legal defense fund.

Weather 🌧️

It’ll get cloudier as the day goes on, with a high around 32. And there’s a slight chance of snow this afternoon!

MTA 🚇

There’s no 2 train at Wakefield-241 Street in The Bronx from 9:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.

Alternate side parking 🚙

It’s in effect today, Jan. 16.

By the way…

Is it just us, or does it feel like everyone is sick right now? Our friends at Healthbeat are diving into respiratory data to explain. Plus, here’s a guide from Gothamist on the norovirus — the stomach bug going around.

Our Other Top Stories

More than 100 clergy and humanitarian directors who work with the city’s migrants and asylum seekers met Friday with Mayor Adams to share concerns around deportation enforcement ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration. They left the meeting “unclear” on Adams’ message — and uninspired.  The NYPD commissioner announced on Wednesday a new vehicle pursuit policy that she said would “make both the police and the public safer,” reforming the aggressive tactics of the previous leadership. The change in policy comes after THE CITY’s consistent reporting on the skyrocketing number of sometimes fatal police chases: in November, we published that there was more than one crash a day recorded on average in 2024, an unprecedented number of collisions. City Councilmember Susan Zhuang — who allegedly bit a police officer during a protest against a forthcoming homeless shelter in her district — raised $66,601 for her legal defense fund from more than 221 supporters, according to a new quarterly filing with the city’s Conflict of Interest Board released Tuesday. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s attempt to skip out on paying nearly $500,000 in restitution and fines for sticking taxpayers with the bill for his NYPD detail during his failed 2020 presidential run was struck down Tuesday by a state Supreme Court judge. The judge tossed out his suit, calling his claims that mayors are exempt from the city’s charter laws “meritless.”  CITY senior reporter Reuven Blau and former intern Max Rivera have won a January Sidney award for their story exposing the pattern of state prisons hiring doctors guilty of misconduct. Read their reporting here (which had help from former intern Safiyah Riddle).

Things To Do

Here’s what’s going on around the city this week.

Today, Jan. 16: Join the Municipal Art Society of New York and the Center for Brooklyn History for a discussion on Atlantic Avenue’s history, culture and preservation. 6:30 p.m. Today, Jan. 16: Test your SET skills at the National Museum of Mathematics’ SET card game tournament! It’s open to players of all abilities — register by 3:30 p.m. today to compete. Tournament starts at 6:30 p.m.  Friday, Jan. 17: Get crafty at the Stavros Niachros Foundation Library. Bring your own project or use their materials for sewing, knitting, coloring and other paper crafts. 1:30 p.m.

THE KICKER: For the first time, public schools across the state will be closed on Jan. 29 in celebration of Lunar New Year. New York is the first state in the country to mandate school closures for the Asian holiday. (City schools began recognizing the holiday in 2016.)

Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Thursday.

Love,

THE CITY

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