Eric Adams faces accusations of corruption as he uses city hall lawyer to fight ... trends now
Embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing a new scandal after it emerged that he used a City Hall lawyer to fight a private summons over a rat infestation at his former home in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn.
According to a new report from the New York Times, Adams enlisted deputy chief counsel in the mayor's office, Rahul Agarwal, to handle the summons.
Adams' record showed an unpaid summons penalty for $330 that he received in May - after it was found that the residence he owns along Lafayette Avenue is flooded with the rodents. In September, Agarwal filed a motion to vacate the summons, an official in the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings told the Times.
The mayor repeatedly failed to appear before the tribunal. Agarwal argued that Adams only found out about the summons in September because he now lives at the mayoral residence at Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side.
On Tuesday, Adams finally appeared at a virtual hearing and stressed that he has taken steps to read his former residence of the rats. The panel will take 30 days to render a verdict.
The mayor's hatred of rodents is famous. During his time as Brooklyn Borough President, Adams endorsed and demonstrated an elaborate rat drowning device that required users to scoop dead rodents out of a vat.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been outspoken in his hatred of rats and his wish to rid the Big Apple of the rodents
Deputy Chief Counsel Rahul Agarwal has been working in City Hall since January 2022 having previously worked at the United States Attorney's Office in New Jersey
Adams' home is seen on Lafayette Street in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. During his run for mayor, Adams said that lives in the basement and rents out the other two floors
When Adams failed to appear at a hearing in November, Agarwal argued that his absence was due to scheduling conflicts. Bizarrely during that appearance, Agarwal told a tribunal: 'I am not actually appearing officially on his behalf.'
One of Adams' spokespeople, Fabian Levy, did not address Adams' use of a city hall lawyer in the case but said that it had been the mayor's plan to represent himself in the hearing.
Levy told the New York Times: '[Adams] spent thousands of dollars to remediate an infestation at his residence in Brooklyn earlier this year, and was happy to appear before OATH today to state as much.'
The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings is referred to as being an independent body tasked with investigating internal affairs in the New York City's government.
The commissioner of the body, Asim Rehman, was personally appointed by Adams in March.
The mayor previously said he hated nothing more than rats. He is currently searching for someone to handle the city's rat infestation
The mayor declared a war on city rats last week when he posted a job searching for what he called the Big Apples 'Rat Czar,' more formally known as Citywide Director of Rodent Mitigation.
'There's nothing I hate more than rats,' he said last week while advertising the new job posting.
This comes after Jessica Tisch, Department of Sanitation's commissioner, sensationally said last month: 'The rats don’t run this city, we do.'
Adams appeared to be tackling his rat issues by putting rat traps around his home, photos obtained by New York Daily News showed.
Bags of trash also sat in front of his home
