Billionaire businessman with a history of ties to sanctioned Russian oligarch among donors to Adams’ legal defense trust

Leonard Blavatnik, a billionaire businessman with a history of ties to a U.S.-sanctioned Russian oligarch, and cryptocurrency tycoon Brock Pierce are among the donors who have poured more than $666,000 into Mayor Adams’ legal defense trust, contribution filings show.

The filings, which were first reported by the Daily News before their public release late Tuesday, show Blavatnik and Pierce each donated the maximum $5,000 allowed by law to the trust. Adams launched the trust in mid-November to cover legal fees he and his associates may rack up as part of an FBI investigation into his 2021 campaign’s finances and connections to the Turkish government.

Blavatnik, a Soviet-born investor with an estimated net worth of $31.3 billion, has a long record of dealings with Viktor Vekselberg.

Vekselberg, a Russian oligarch known to be close with President Vladimir Putin, was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2018 and 2022 for “enabling” and financially supporting the Kremlin’s “worldwide malign” activities, including its war in Ukraine and interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

In 1990, Blavatnik and Vekselberg, who were college classmates in Russia, co-founded Renova Group, a corporation with business connections to the Kremlin. The two men have also held stake in Rusal, Russia’s largest aluminum company.

In 2019, Vekselberg told the Financial Times of Blavatnik: “All his main money, he made here in Russia, with me.”

However, Blavatnik, who holds American citizenship, is not and has never been involved in Russian politics or government, a spokeswoman for him said Tuesday.

The spokeswoman also said Blavatnik is as of 2022 completely divested from all his Russian business interests and has not spoken with Vekselberg since he came under sanctions, other than communications authorized by the U.S. government related to divestments.

Blavatnik, who doesn’t have a previous record of making political donations to Adams, contributed to his defense trust “because he appreciates the mayor’s strong, consistent support for Israel” amid its war with Hamas, the spokeswoman said.

Pierce, a childhood actor-turned-cryptocurrency industry booster, has donated to Adams’ political campaigns before.

The billionaire crypto magnate also landed in the headlines after Adams flew on his private jet to Puerto Rico shortly after his 2021 election. At the time, the incoming mayor had started showing an increasing interest in crypto and vowed to take his first three mayoral paychecks in Bitcoin.

Representatives for Pierce could not be immediately reached for comment on his defense trust donation.

The filings show the trust has already spent more than $430,000.

The largest chunk of that — $397,189 — was paid out to WilmerHale, an international law firm Adams retained last year to represent him and his campaign in the FBI investigation. The trust also paid out $6,432 to Haystack, a software company, for “forensic data collection” and $18,664 to Artus Group, a Connecticut-based private detective firm, for “vetting and investigative services,” the filing states.

Adams’ defense trust disclosure confirms others who have given the max amount to it include three members of the Cayre family, who run Midtown Equities, a real estate firm that owns downtown Manhattan’s Battery Maritime Building. The Maritime Building houses Casa Cipriani, a ritzy members-only club that the mayor is known to frequent, including by holding political fundraisers there.

Midtown Equities did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Other real estate investors who contributed the max $5,000 to the trust include Alexander Rovt, who owns dozens of buildings across the city, and David Mack, founder of the Mack Company, according to the records.

Also among the defense fund donors are Frank Carone, the mayor’s former chief of staff, and six of his relatives, including his wife and brother, all of whom chipped in $5,000 each, the filing shows.

Carone, who’s expected to help lead Adams’ 2025 reelection campaign and has launched a consulting firm since leaving City Hall, confirmed his extended family’s donations in a statement to The News on Tuesday afternoon.

“We are encouraged by the outpouring of support from such a diverse body, all who recognize the mayor’s sincere commitment to NYC and see as well as feel the energy of the city coming back,” said Carone, who acknowledged last year he planned to help raise money for the trust.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is known to advise Adams informally, also gave $5,000 to his legal defense trust, while state Assemblywoman Jennifer Rajkumar, a top ally to the mayor in Albany, gave $2,500, the filings reveal.

Vito Pitta, the mayor’s longtime compliance lawyer who serves as the trust’s counsel, first confirmed Monday that the trust’s first disclosure would show it has raised more than $650,000.

The filing, which covers contributions made through Dec. 31, shows the trust accepted $666,510 from 212 individual donors in that period. Since Dec. 31, Pitta said the trust has accepted roughly another $58,000, putting its current total around $725,000.

“The trust received support from a diverse cross section of New Yorkers who believe in the mayor and what he is doing to improve our city,” Pitta said in a statement Tuesday.

In a briefing at City Hall earlier Tuesday, Adams echoed Pitta’s sentiment.

“You sometimes don’t realize how people appreciate your life of service, from wearing that bulletproof vest to being the mayor of the city, so I just thank those New Yorkers who responded,” said Adams, a retired NYPD captain.

The federal investigation that prompted the creation of the trust is scrutinizing allegations that the Turkish government funneled illegal foreign cash into Adams’ 2021 campaign coffers.

Neither the mayor nor anyone connected to his campaign have been formally accused of wrongdoing in the probe. The investigation has touched on the mayor directly, though.

In November, FBI agents stopped him in the street and seized his electronics, including two cell phones. Before that, the FBI raided the homes of Brianna Suggs, Adams’ top campaign fundraiser, and Rana Abbasova, an aide at City Hall.