Do Mamdani’s Late-night Basketball Games At An Nypd Gym Run Afoul Of City Ethics Laws?

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s habit of hosting friends for late-night basketball at the NYPD’s Police Academy gym is raising the hackles of two former municipal attorneys who say the pickup games may flout city ethics laws.

As first reported Monday by POLITICO, Mamdani and a group of friends have played ball at the NYPD’s training facility in Queens since this summer. The games have scrambled operations at the facility at least three times, angering some in the NYPD, which has had a fraught relationship with Mamdani because of his history of criticizing the department.

In his first public comments on the basketball kerfuffle, Mamdani told reporters at a press conference Wednesday: “If my use of the facility were to ever cause a disruption then I would find somewhere else to play.”

Still, the fresh ethics concerns add a new wrinkle to the 35-year-old mayor’s unfolding predicament, which could very well persist even if he stops balling at the NYPD academy.

Under city ethics laws, municipal employees, including elected officials, can be fined for using city government "personnel, equipment, resources or supplies for any non-city purpose.” The laws also prohibit the use of a government position to “obtain any financial gain” or “other private or personal advantage.”

Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law School professor and former chair of the city Conflicts of Interest Board, which enforces local ethics laws, said the NYPD gym can be considered a city resource. And since the facility isn’t available to the general public, Mamdani’s use of it may violate ethics laws given that “the NYPD gym allowed the mayor and his friends to avoid having to pay for a private gym membership or a fee for using a gym,” Briffault said.

He added that being able to get such a freebie could amount to an unlawful “personal advantage,” though it remains unclear if the matter has been presented to the Conflicts of Interest Board in the form of a formal complaint.

The mayor’s position is unique in city government, and there are security considerations that can exempt him from ethics guardrails. But Briffault said such considerations wouldn't extend to the friends Mamdani invited, noting that past mayors managed to work out in private gyms where they paid their own way.

“I don't know if there is a security argument in favor of using the NYPD gym, although that would only apply to when the mayor himself was playing, and I remember de Blasio using a private gym,” Briffault said, referring to former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s regular visits to a Brooklyn YMCA, which were controversial for the long commutes they entailed.

Another municipal ethics law expert, Charles Diamond, told POLITICO the Conflicts of Interest Board would be unlikely to issue violations if Mamdani reimbursed the city for use of the gym.

“COIB sees some flexibility in ‘security + mayor’ if costs are proactively considered and reimbursed,” said Diamond, who worked on city ethics law issues while serving as a municipal procurement attorney during the administrations of de Blasio and former Mayor Eric Adams. “I would still consider that improper, but I would not call it a ‘clear’ COIB violation.”

When asked about possible ethics violations, Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec declined to comment and wouldn’t say if the mayor or his friends have reimbursed the city for using the gym.

Pekec also declined to say whether Mamdani consulted the conflicts board before he started hosting the games, instead only referring to a statement issued Monday in which she said the mayor’s office “was told using a part of this facility for late-night basketball would not disrupt academy training.”

Another unanswered question is who Mamdani has been hooping with. At Wednesday’s press conference, he described them as “five people who are better than me at basketball, which is also not very difficult.”

“There are a lot of people who have come away from that article thinking I’m much better at basketball than I am,” he said, referring to POLITICO’s reporting.

Mamdani, an enthusiastic New York Knicks fan, refused to say who told his team using the gym would not disrupt academy training. His office would not disclose whether NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch was made aware of the basketball sessions.

Tisch met with Mamdani at City Hall on Tuesday, according to a person with knowledge of the sit-down who was granted anonymity to discuss it. It’s unclear if they discussed the mayor’s use of the Police Academy gym, and an NYPD spokesperson declined to comment Wednesday.

Briffault stressed that the conflicts board is most likely to issue violations “if the mayor's use of the gym was imposing costs on the city that would not have been incurred otherwise.” Diamond said the mayor’s use of the space incurred additional cost for the city no matter what.

“Just turning on the lights has a cost,” he said, noting that any additional staffing for the mayor’s entourage would fall under that category as well.

Conflicts of Interest Board Executive Director Carolyn Miller would only speak generally as the panel’s confidentiality rules preclude her from discussing any particular city employee. She said that, by default, “having access to a space has a value — certainly in a city as crowded as ours.”

“But that is not the end of the analysis for the application of the conflicts of interest law to the conduct of a particular public servant. For that, the facts and the context matter,” she wrote in an email.

As it relates to a mayor and his friends using a city government gym for after-hours basketball, Miller said the board hasn’t “opined in any public way on this issue or anything similar.”

“These are questions for the Board if and when they receive a complaint about an individual public servant’s past conduct,” she added. “I could not opine in advance of a Board determination.”

The board doesn’t need to receive a complaint to launch an investigation or an enforcement action.

Council member Phil Wong, a conservative Democrat who sits on the chamber’s Public Safety Committee, said he hopes the board will penalize Mamdani — but voiced skepticism that it will, citing the panel’s lack of action over what he views as the mayor’s use of public funds for political purposes.

“This is just the latest example of a mayor who campaigned on ethics and transparency but now seems to think the rules don't apply to him, and with COIB missing in action, who's going to hold him accountable?” Wong said.

After POLITICO first reported on Mamdani’s use of the NYPD gym, many of his supporters cheered the news online, with some interpreting it as Mamdani showing the police department who’s boss.

The political pushback Mamdani faced was initially limited to a police department union and the New York City Council’s Republican leader.

But in light of the possible ethics law infractions, a more progressive Democratic Council member than Wong also took aim at Mamdani.

“This was obviously special access that was obtained due to his position and deserves serious scrutiny,” said the lawmaker, who was granted anonymity for fear of angering Mamdani. “The mayor cannot use public facilities for private benefit, and he should know that … I hope this is thoroughly investigated.”

While Miller said her board hasn’t opined on a similar issue before, the panel has previously reprimanded city employees for using government gyms.

In 2007, the board fined a New York City Housing Authority employee $500 for using her municipal position to work out at a city government gym after hours with a physical fitness consultant hired by NYCHA.

“The Board took the occasion of this Disposition to remind public servants they are prohibited from using their positions as public servants to benefit themselves and are prohibited from using City resources for any non-City purpose,” the board wrote in a decision at the time.

Concern about misuse of police resources for personal benefit has been especially heightened since the Department of Investigation found in 2021 that de Blasio misused his NYPD security detail by bringing it along with him around the country during his ill-fated 2020 presidential run. The DOI referred the case to the conflicts board, which determined de Blasio needed to reimburse the NYPD.

De Blasio challenged the order in court, but ultimately resolved the case with the conflicts board last year by paying $319,000 in restitution as well as a $10,000 fine. “I acknowledge that I made a mistake, and I deeply regret it,” de Blasio wrote on social media when the case was settled last May. “Now it’s time to move forward.”

With additional reporting by Janaki Chadha