|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By: Meyer Wolfsheim
A review of campaign finance records for a Super PAC backing former New York City Mayor Eric Adams has uncovered more than $1 million in expenditures to little-known companies with scant transparency — including one tied to a longtime friend of the ex-mayor who was recently federally indicted, the New York Post reported.
The NY Post reported that Empower NYC, a pro-Adams political action committee, raised over $3.5 million from donors but spent nearly $2 million in ways that have raised eyebrows among ethics watchdogs and good-government advocates. The disclosures show a string of payments to so-called “mystery” limited-liability companies with little to no publicly available background on who actually controls them.
One of the largest questionable payouts — roughly $120,000 — went in late 2025 to Tesseract Management LLC, a Wyoming-based firm listing the convicted drug trafficker and unlicensed crypto dealer Eldon Stone Ross in official state records, the NY Post reported. Ross previously served time in Pennsylvania on drug charges and was also arrested for selling bitcoin without a license, making his appearance on a political spending ledger particularly striking.
Another substantial disbursement — about $292,000 — was routed to GOTV Ops Inc., a vendor run by Tony Herbert, identified by The Post as a longtime Adams ally. Herbert was recently indicted in federal court on charges that he accepted $16,000 in bribes while working for the mayor’s administration, though he has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing.
Advocates for stricter campaign finance oversight were quick to criticize the lack of transparency in how Empower NYC’s funds were spent. The NY Post reported that groups like Citizens Union and Reinvent Albany warn that current regulations allow Super PACs to operate with minimal disclosure, creating opportunities for money to slip through to opaque entities with limited public accountability.
“This is further evidence that Super PACs are by and large allowed to operate like the Wild West,” said Grace Rauh, president of Citizens Union, in comments reported by The Post. She urged New York state lawmakers to adopt stronger disclosure requirements so that donors can meaningfully track how their contributions are being used.
Some of the PAC’s expenditures also appear to touch on figures linked closely to Adams’ own political network. According to The Post, scrutiny has focused on whether the PAC’s leadership — including CEO and lawyer Abraham George — maintained adequate independence from the former mayor’s campaign, as federal campaign finance law requires.
