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Published on January 16, 2025
Former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio Ordered to Pay $475K for Misuse of Public Funds During Presidential CampaignSource: Wikipedia/Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bill de Blasio, New York City's former mayor, was dealt a legal defeat this week when a judge ruled that he must pay a $475,000 fine for misusing public funds. The fine was imposed after he utilized a police security detail during his unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign. According to NBC New York, Judge Shahabuddeen Ally dismissed de Blasio's arguments as perplexing and baseless, affirming that the former mayor was clearly informed that he could not use city resources for campaign-related travel.

De Blasio's challenge to the fine, the largest ever bestowed by New York's Conflicts of Interest Board, pivoted on his contention that the ethics board overstepped its bounds and that he received unclear guidance on the permissible uses of public funds. Despite the assertion, Judge Ally's 80-page ruling made it clear that de Blasio chose to bring his security detail on out-of-state trips despite the explicit instructions, thus violating city ethics laws. "His position essentially eliminates his own agency in the choices he made," the judge wrote, an excerpt as reported by NBC New York. The decision leaves de Blasio accountable for $320,000 in travel costs and a $155,000 fine.

Details from The City elaborate on the case against de Blasio, highlighting the distinction between permissible and impermissible expenses according to the city's Conflicts of Interest Board. The board's confidential memo stipulated that while the city could bear the cost of salaries and overtime for officers, it could not extend to their travel expenses outside the city. Disregarding this, de Blasio still took his police detail to states including Iowa, Illinois, and South Carolina on the campaign trail.

In rebuffing de Blasio's legal stance, Judge Ally found no ground for de Blasio’s argument that the board's ruling imposed an "unequal burden" between wealthy candidates and career public servants. Moreover, the judge supported the board's position that having taxpayers finance police protection on the campaign trail constituted abuse of official position for personal gain. "The city demonstrated that petitioner's claims that respondents acted arbitrarily and capriciously and in violation of law are meritless," the judge stated, according to The City.

As it stands, neither de Blasio nor his attorney, Andrew G. Celli Jr., have publicly commented on the ruling. De Blasio, who has since left office and taken up lecturing and public speaking roles, has been previously chastised for a pattern of using his security detail for personal and family services, as noted by investigations prior to his mayoral term conclusion in 2021.