Eric Adams is using Elon Musk's go-to lawyer
Ramsay de Give-Pool, ABC/Heidi Gutman via Getty Images
- NYC Mayor Eric Adams isn't messing around defending himself against a federal indictment.
- The mayor has hired high-powered attorney and Elon Musk favorite, Alex Spiro, Bloomberg reported.
- Adams was indicted this week on charges related to bribery, fraud, and conspiracy.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is reportedly turning to one high-profile person to help fight his recent indictment: Elon Musk's favorite lawyer.
The mayor and former NYPD police captain was indicted by a federal grand jury over allegations that he solicited bribes from foreign businesspeople to fund his political campaigns.
The 57-page indictment, unsealed on Thursday, charges Adams with five counts related to bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, and soliciting contributions from a foreign national.
To fight the charges against him, Adams has hired controversial and high-powered attorney Alex Spiro.
Spiro, a partner at firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, is also representing Adams in a sexual assault lawsuit filed against the mayor earlier this year, according to The New York Times.
The 41-year-old celebrity attorney has also defended hip-hop mogul Jay-Z, rapper Megan Thee Stallion, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and rapper-entrepreneur Kanye West.
But Spiro is perhaps best known for representing the current richest man in the world: billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
Spiro has defended Musk in a number of cases, including during Musk's $44 billion takeover of the social media platform Twitter, now called X.
Spiro first repped Musk in a 2018 lawsuit in which Musk was accused of defaming a man online whom he called a "pedo guy."
The tenacious litigator is also known for his love of attention, abrasive style, and cutthroat defense approach, people who know him previously told Business Insider.
"A client coming to Alex knows you're going to get the truth. You're going to get it straight," Randy Zelin, a white-collar defense lawyer who's had Spiro speak to his Cornell Law School students, previously told Business Insider. "Alex will tell you, me, or anyone else to go fuck themselves if they don't agree."
Zelin added that while some lawyers would stab you in the back, Spiro would "stab me in the chest."
Alex Spiro did not immediately respond to calls and messages seeking comment from BI, nor did city representatives for Adams.