Adams’ longtime friend had illegally made campaign funds
NEW YORK — Dwayne Montgomery, a former NYPD inspector and longtime friend of Mayor Eric Adams, admitted as part of a guilty plea Monday that he helped orchestrate a scheme to funnel illegal donations into the mayor’s 2021 campaign coffers.
During a morning hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court, Montgomery copped to one count of fifth-degree conspiracy, a Class A misdemeanor, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Alvin Bragg confirmed.
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Under his plea deal, Montgomery is admitting he conspired with construction contractor Shamsuddin Riza and five other men between at least August 2020 and November 2021 to make and facilitate illegal contributions to Adams’ 2021 City Hall run. The deal doesn’t implicate the mayor or his campaign in wrongdoing.
Montgomery won’t have to serve prison time, as long as he pays a $500 fine and does 200 hours of community service with BKLYN Combine, a group that provides educational and social support for Black teens and young adults.
His attorney, Anthony Ricco, didn’t return requests for comment from the Daily News.
According to the plea agreement, Montgomery and his co-defendants gave money to Adams’ campaign in the names of dozens of unwitting individuals and reimbursed other people for making their own contributions to the campaign. The practice — known as straw donating — was illegal as it generated illicit public matching funds for the mayor’s campaign and violated caps on how much money an individual can donate.
Specifically, Montgomery admitted to transferring $260 to an unnamed straw donor via Cash App on Aug. 14, 2020, which the person then contributed to Adams’ campaign, according to the plea paperwork. Montgomery also admitted to having “directed and aided” others to commit campaign finance crimes.
