A former interim New York police commissioner is alleging New York City Mayor Eric Adams and his officials were embroiled in a "coordinated criminal conspiracy" in City Hall and the New York Police Department.
Thomas Donlon filed a 251-page lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on Wednesday morning, alleging Adams and officials were inappropriately rewarding allies and exacting payback on foes, the New York Post reported.
"A coordinated criminal conspiracy had taken root at the highest levels of City government — carried out through wire fraud, mail fraud, honest services fraud, obstruction of justice, and retaliation against whistleblowers," the document reads, according to the report.
Donlon was briefly the NYPD commissioner after the prior one was ousted amid the Biden administration raids that ultimately brought an investigation into Adams.
The lawsuit accuses the NYPD of abandoning "lawful governance, and engage in outright malfeasance by using the NYPD to consolidate political power, obstruct justice, and punish dissent."
Also, Donlon alleged, others in leadership used his commissioner autopen to forge documents "to promote unqualified, politically connected officers over those who had earned advancement through merit."
"This corruption triggered a massive, unlawful transfer of public wealth — millions of dollars in unearned salary increases, overtime eligibility, pension enhancements, and post-retirement benefits," the lawsuit added.
Donlon reportedly butted heads with top NYPD officials while he was interim commissioner.
The lawsuit comes months after the Trump administration Justice Department dropped the Biden-DOJ case against Adams due to its politically motivated prosecution. It came as Adams had been critical of the Biden administration's massive illegal migrant relocation program flooded New York City, straining NYPD and housing resources.
Adams was ostracized from the Democratic Party and is running for reelection as an independent against Democrat nominee Zohran Mamdani, independent Andrew Cuomo, Republican Curtis Sliwa, and relative unknown independent Jim Warden. Polling shows Adams trailing Mamdani, Cuomo, and Sliwa by wide margins.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.