As straw donor case looms, sketchy characters continue to give to Mayor Adams’ re-election bid

When speaking publicly, Mayor Eric Adams often recites one of his political mantras: “if you don’t inspect what you expect, it’s all suspect” — but it appears very little is being inspected in his most recent campaign fundraising filings.

A review by the Daily News shows several donors who contributed to the mayor’s recent $1.3 million campaign cash haul have checkered pasts and, in some cases, documented histories of malfeasance.

They include a man who got drummed out of the city Buildings Department for hosting drugged-fueled parties in city offices, a used car salesman who agreed to pay a cash settlement on the heels of a fraud probe and another named as a defendant in a civil racketeering case, records show.

The release of Adams’ most recent campaign filing came just days after the Manhattan District Attorney unveiled an indictment charging six people with concocting a straw donor scheme to benefit his 2021 City Hall run.

One defendant in that indictment, Shamsuddin Riza, gave $600 to Adams’ campaign. Years before donating, he was sentenced to six years in prison after being indicted on 24 counts of various “extortion-related offenses.”

Donations like that raise questions about whether campaigns should accept cash from people who’ve had run-ins with the law. If not, what can and should they do to vet such donations?

Martin Connor, a former state senator turned lawyer for political campaigns, said vetting donors is not only difficult, but can be impractical for smaller campaign operations. In general, he said, the only campaigns that do vet donors are candidates running for district attorney because accepting donations from a convicted felon or someone under investigation could be politically fatal when vying to become a top prosecutor.

“It’s a difficult thing,” he said. “Even campaigns that try to vet are going to miss stuff, and if you think about what it would take to do a search — a campaign that has a thousand contributors — well, who’s going to look up a thousand people? The fundraiser? The fundraiser is busy doing the next event and processing the checks and making reports to the Board of Elections and the Campaign Finance Board. They don’t have time to do that. Basically, you have to hire somebody just to do that — maybe more than one person. Then it becomes, at what level is it worth doing? You’d be spending campaign money on it. That’s not getting you any votes.”

Aside from keeping donations within contribution limits, there are no rules on the books requiring campaigns to vet their donors, Connor noted.

Long-time political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said it’s certainly possible for campaigns to do more, though, and that requiring them to vet donations could help candidates better protect themselves legally and in maintaining a clean reputation.

“If there were a vetting system, then people with these kinds of involvements would not be able to taint decent campaigns,” he said. “It’s worth examining.”

While many big-name real estate interests have helped bankroll the mayor’s latest campaign filing, another smaller subset of donors includes political benefactors who’ve been in legal hot water over the years.

One donor who falls into that category is Ron Lattanzio, a former Department of Buildings commissioner who was accused of throwing cocaine-fueled parties in city offices back in 1986 and bribery in 1998.

This May, Lattanzio maxed out to Adams with a $2,100 political donation, campaign finance records show.

Exactly why he donated is unclear. Lattanzio didn’t respond to a call from the Daily News, and his spokesman said simply that Lattanzio “supports the mayor.”

What’s more clear is Lattanzio’s long and sordid history as a city official as far back as 1986, and later as a wire-wearing snitch embedded into the same Buildings Department he was fired from to gather incriminating information on former colleagues.

That led, in 2000, to several arrests and Lattanzio’s testimony that, while working in the private sector as a permits expeditor, he bribed department officials and cultivated relationships with politicos like then-Queens Councilman Tom Ognibene. Lattanzio testified that Ognibene “helped me place people in positions in the administration” and “made phone calls for me to resolve certain problems.”

The now-deceased city lawmaker was never charged.

Ognibene was once a political mentor to another former Buildings Department official who’s been in the news lately, Eric Ulrich. Ulrich served as that agency’s commissioner until resigning from his job last November after investigators from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office executed a search warrant at his Queens home. An indictment in that case is expected as soon as next week.

According to campaign finance records, Lattanzio continues to work in the expediting business. When he made his donation, he listed himself as the president of Domani Consulting, which specializes in “building permitting.”

A rep for Adams’ re-election campaign would not yet say if it intends to return the donation from Lattanzio or other contributions like it — or whether there should be a requirement to vet donors.

“The campaign already has the support of more than 2,000 contributors, but also has limited staff with two years until the election. Our primary focus is ensuring that the campaign always follows the laws and rules governing contributors and contributions — and it always has,” said Vito Pitta, counsel to the campaign. “We will of course also review any questionable contributions brought to our attention.”

Lattanzio’s donation, his first ever to Adams’ mayoral campaign, isn’t the only eyebrow-raising contribution the mayor’s collected in recent months.

The campaign also raked in a maxed-out $2,100 donation from Tim Djuraev, campaign records show. According to social media posts and public records, Djuraev signed off on a New Jersey attorney general’s consent agreement as a result of a fraud probe stemming from his company’s sale of used cars.

As part of the consent order, Djuraev agreed to pay $7,536 to cover civil penalties, investigative costs and for failing to issue a written warranty. In exchange for being released from civil claims, he also agreed to “not engage in any acts or practices in violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act.”

Djuraev did not respond to calls requesting comment.

Another donor who’s faced trouble in court is Dmitriy Khavko, who also maxed out with a $2,100 donation, according to records. Khavko acknowledged making the donation to Adams’ campaign and called himself a “passionate supporter” of the mayor.

Court records online show Khavko was named as a defendant in a 2011 civil racketeering case brought by GEICO in Brooklyn federal court.

The case was dismissed in 2012. When contacted by The News about it, Khavko said simply that he was “just an employee” at the time. In the complaint against him, he was listed as a secret owner of SS Medical Care and accused of using the company to “submit large-scale fraudulent No-Fault billing to GEICO and other insurers.”

GEICO and the defendants agreed on a stipulation of dismissal in 2012.

Records also show that Ariel Kandhorov, who donated $2,100 to the Adams camp, was named as defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Allstate Insurance Company accusing dozens of people of taking part in “schemes to defraud automobile insurance companies.”

That lawsuit, which was filed in July 2013, resulted in a 2017 judgement against Kandhorov and the company Six Star Supply for the amount of $416,050.

Records show that Kandahrov’s brother is Daniel Kandhorov, a friend of the mayor’s who co-founded Financial Vision Group with Adams’ former chief of staff Frank Carone. That entity sued Daniel Kandhorov last year, accusing him of providing faulty investment information that caused its investors to lose $12.4 million.

Daniel Kandhorov declined to comment. Ariel Kandhorov did not return multiple calls.