NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s law department on Tuesday sought a judge’s approval to stop representing former Mayor Eric Adams in a sexual assault lawsuit brought against him in 2024.

In a filing in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, New York City’s corporation counsel argued that Adams should not be represented by the city because, contrary to the law department’s earlier determination, he was not acting within the scope of his city employment when the alleged assault occurred.

“Based on my review of new evidence since the original decision to represent him was made, I have determined that he is not entitled to representation by the City in this matter,” the corporation counsel, Steve Banks, said in a statement. “Accordingly, the Law Department has asked the court to permit our office to withdraw from representing the former Mayor.”

The city’s action on Tuesday is the latest indication that Mamdani, 2 1/2 months into his tenure, is systematically washing his hands of some of the various legal entanglements that came to define his predecessor’s term in office.

During his four years as mayor, Adams was indicted on federal corruption charges that were ultimately dropped at the behest of the Trump administration, and roughly a dozen of his aides and associates drew scrutiny from federal and state investigators.

Several have since been charged with corruption crimes, including Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Adams’ former chief adviser.

Mamdani, who took office Jan. 1, campaigned on a platform of ending the era of cronyism in City Hall.

The lawsuit against Adams was filed in March 2024 by Lorna Beach-Mathura, a former employee of the transit bureau of the New York Police Department. She accused Adams of sexually assaulting her in 1993, when he was a police officer and her colleague, after she sought career advice.

In the suit, Beach-Mathura said that Adams drove her to a vacant lot and sought oral sex from her.

“When she refused, Defendant Adams forcibly pushed Plaintiff’s hand onto his erect penis, and then, after she removed her hand, masturbated himself to completion and ejaculated on her,” the suit read.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Adams, Todd Shapiro, denied the sexual assault accusations and said the former mayor “remains confident that the facts will ultimately prevail.”

He added: “We do not comment on ongoing litigation. What we can say is that throughout his time in office, Mayor Adams conducted himself with professionalism and a deep commitment to the people of New York City.”

The Mamdani administration’s decision to stop representing Adams comes just days after it announced similar actions regarding two other former city officials, both Adams allies.

They are Timothy Pearson, one of Adams’ closest aides and a defendant in at least four sexual harassment suits, and Jeffrey Maddrey, a former top police official accused of demanding sex from a subordinate in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime.

In the likely event the judge allows the city to stop representing Adams, he will have to find new lawyers and another way to pay them. He also still has substantial legal debts tied to his 2024 indictment.

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department successfully moved to have the federal charges against Adams dismissed in 2025, an apparent quid pro quo in exchange for his help with Trump’s deportation agenda.

The judge overseeing the case sharply criticized the arrangement at the time, saying, “Everything here smacks of a bargain: Dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Dana Rubinstein and William K. Rashbaum/James Estrin
c. 2026 The New York Times Company