Manhattan DA cuts no jail deal with Mayor Adams’ ex-colleague in illegal donation scheme
A former NYPD inspector who was once close with Mayor Eric Adams admitted Monday to ripping off taxpayers in a plot to funnel thousands of dollars’ worth of illegal funds to Hizzoner’s 2021 campaign.
Dwayne Montgomery, 64, will dodge jail time under the terms of his plea agreement with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which had accused him in July of being the scheme’s ringleader.
Montgomery abused a city program designed to amplify the impact of contributions from everyday New Yorkers — matching donations of up to $250 eight-to-one with taxpayer dollars — by orchestrating a scheme to reimburse “straw donors” who chipped in toward Adams’ successful mayoral run, terms of his plea deal state.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office alleged that Montgomery set up 23 phony donations for Adams between 2020 and 2021, paying the donors back with $40,000 of his own money and securing tens of thousands of illegally obtained “matching” funds.
“We allege a deliberate scheme to game the system in a blatant attempt to gain power,” Bragg said at the time.
Montgomery admitted as part of the agreement to paying one phony donor $260 in August 2020 before telling them to donate to Adams — scoring $2,000 of ill-gotten taxpayer funds.
Terms of the deal reached Monday call for Montgomery to complete 200 hours of community service and pay a $500 fine. Montgomery also agreed not to organize any fundraisers or make any donations for a full year.
In exchange, he pleaded guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court to one count of fifth-degree conspiracy, a misdemeanor.
Adams, his campaign and his staff have all not been accused of wrongdoing in the case.
But top City Hall aide Rachel Atcheson was outed in July as organizing a fundraiser with Montgomery and receiving an email from him requesting credit for one of the phony donors’ donations.
“I think the DA clearly reported that there was nothing our campaign did that was a part of what was done wrong,” the mayor said at an unrelated press conference Monday. “I say, let the DA handle the situation.”
A spokesman for Adams’ campaign previously described Montgomery as Hizzoner’s former colleague during their time overlapping at the NYPD.
Adams has also acknowledged that Montgomery visited the mayor’s residence at Gracie Mansion for events.
Federal prosecutors are separately investigating whether Adams’s 2021 campaign colluded with the Turkish government and others to illegally funnel money into his mayoral effort.
The FBI seized the mayor’s phones in a dramatic November moment in the ongoing corruption probe, law enforcement sources have told the Post.
A rep for Adams’ campaign and an attorney for Montgomery both did not respond Monday to requests for comment.
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy.
